American desis & classical music

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You may have heard of conductor Zubin Mehta (and his brother Zarin) or soprano Monica Yunus (daughter of  Mohammed Yunus).  But there are MORE desis involved in the world of opera/classical music, as I recently learned.  They are countering stereotypes about the South Asian community in the U.S.  We can be artists AND make a living!      
 
 
Sean Panikkar
 
Sean was born to Sri Lankan parents in small-town Pennsylvania.  As a kid, no one knew he could sing well!  As a teen, he took voice lessons with a Julliard-trained singer who moved to his area.   After undergrad (UMich),  Sean began pursuing opera as a full-time career instead of engineering.

Aside from being a rising opera star, Sean (not yet 30) is also a husband and father to a young son.
 
 
 
Zeshan Baghwade
 
Forget American Idol– this young singer has a MUST-HEAR voice!  Zeshan recently graduated from Northwestern, and will continue there for his master’s.  He had major roles in several operas at school, and plans to make it his career.  However, opera is NOT his only interest-  Zeshan (a tenor) also sings ghazals and works with a non-profit. 
Zeshan’s YouTube channel
 
 
  
Raja Burrows
 

Raja is a friend and classmate of Zeshan’s.  Though he has been trained in opera, he hopes to make a career in pop music. 

http://www.myspace.com/rajaburrows

 
 
Priti Gandhi
 
 
Priti is a native of California (San Dieg0); her natural talent was noticed by a voice teacher when she was in college.  Priti didn’t become involved with opera until she was a sophomore in college.  Now in her late 30s, she is a nationally reknown  mezzo soprano.  
 
The Education of a Opera Singer: a documentary following Priti & her fellow performers when they were starting out their careers. 
 
 
 
Viswa Subbaraman
 
Can a beer and basketball fan also love opera?  You bet!  This 33 y.o. Texas native is the founder/artistic director of Opera Vista in Houston.  Currently, Viswa (who holds degrees in music/biology and an MBA) is one of 3 finalists for the musical director position in Yakima, Washington. 
Viswa is very active online.   One of his goals is to make classical music accessible to diverse/young audiences.  Growing up in a small town, Viswa didn’t learn much about classical music until college (Duke). 

2010 Vancouver Olympics: Ice Dancing

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The best of ice dancing tells the  story of two people falling in love.  -Dick Button

 

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN) – Gold Medal

This couple just WOW-ed the audience (and judges) with their steamy, fast-paced, and technically superb flamenco!  Tessa used her long red skirt very skillfully as a prop; Scott’s expression was TERRIFIC throughout the dance.

At the end of the OD, V&M took the lead.  This is one of the MOST well-choreographed ODs I’ve ever seen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vDLpfGN80g

In the Free Dance (FD), V&M skated after their training partners/good friends Meryl Davis & Charlie White (USA).  I LOVED D&W’s FD, and wondered what V&M would do.  (Did you know BOTH couples have been skating with their respective partners for 13 years!?)

V&M went “old school” w/ a very sweet/elegant FD with one piece of romantic music.  Their costumes were very simple, yet beautiful.   The audience fell in love with them as well!

A fan blog:

http://virtuemoir.blogspot.com/

YouTube channel with many V&M videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gillym123

 

Meryl Davis & Charlie White (USA) – Silver Medal

In the OD, Davis & White wore lovely Indian-inspired outfits.  They danced to music from Bollywood movies, including the international hit Devdas.  In a interview on the NBC web site, Charlie mentioned that they both took a classical Indian dance course to prep for their dance.  Meryl was proud that many in India were watching (and commenting positively) about this program on YouTube.  Very cool!

 

In the FD, D&W skated first in the final group.  They set the bar VERY high!  Their dance was fast, difficult, and passionate.  Charlie is a VERY strong skater; Meryl moves like a ballerina.  (IMHO they performed better than at Nationals.)

Meryl and Charlie looked exhausted at the end of the FD b/c they did their BEST!  That’s how the Olympics should be…

YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/merylandcharlie

Watching these young North Americans, I was reminded of ground-breaking couples from the past: Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (my favorite team- from France), Isabelle & Paul Duchesnay (brother-sister team from France), and Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean (the famed duo from Great Britain).  These teams paved the way for this confident new generation with their creative lifts, innovate choreography, and dedication to improve their sport (with OR without a medal).

I wish Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto got the bronze medal this time; in 2006, they won the silver.  That judgment would have been fair, but it was NOT meant to be.  B&A have contributed a LOT to ice dance over the last decade; it was FUN to watch them grow up and improve.  They were the first U.S  team taken seriously at the international level.

My 1st Olympics

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1988 Calgary Olympics

These were the first Olympics I ever watched!  I have a few vague memories of that time (since I was just 9).  I went to YouTube recently to look back at some programs. 

Brian Orser’s Short Program (SP)

A VERY well choreographed/fast/fun program revealing Orser’s personality, as well as skill.  He was ahead of Boitano after the SP w/ this program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8lQGAxH4VY&feature=related

Brian Boitano’s SP

Who knew a SP could ALSO be this artistic!? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me0RvshG1pY

Boitano’s Long Program (LP)

This was the gold medal-winning performance choreographed by Sandra Bezic (now a NBC commentator).  As you will see, it was ALMOST flawless.  Boitano was the total package, and then some IMHO.  He created the ‘Tano lutz: a triple lutz with the left hand poised above the head.  Besides his jumps (he’s the first American to land the triple axel) and spins, Boitano had a GORGEOUS spread eagle (another one of his signature moves) and TRULY felt the music.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEYNskBniw0&feature=related

Orser’s LP

It was “too close,” as Orser says after he gets silver.  He was the first man to do 2 triple axels at a major competition (1987 Worlds).  Before the Brians in ’88, it wasn’t common to see 2 triple axels in one program.  They BOTH set new standards for excellence, technically and artistically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ4BLCff93M&feature=related

Viktor Petrenko’s LP

An 18 y.o. Ukranian (skating for the then USSR) burst onto the world stage w/ his elegant/mature program.  Look at the height on his jumps, his beautiful lay-back spin, and posture!  GREAT things were up ahead for Petrenko… 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKj0E4U4zrY&feature=related

An interview looking back at the “Battle of the Brians”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=383RoLN-j9E&feature=related

U.S. Figure Skating Champs (Ice Dance)

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I LOVE to watch ice dancing, BUT I never thought the US would have so MANY strong teams in this discipline!  I’m VERY proud that we have such accomplished dancers going to the Vancouver Olympics.  Can we beat the Russians?  Hmmm… we’ll have to see.  But we can be TOUGH competitors this year!

Part-time University of Michigan students Meryl Davis & Charlie White (pic above) defeated Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto for the 1st time in their careers.  Davis & White had a very creative Original Dance (OD) this year with Bollywood music.  Their style and flair remind me of my fave team, Marinna Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA).

In their Free Dance, D&W skated to music from Phantom of the Opera.  Though both teams had well-choreographed/difficult/engaging programs, D&W had better music than B&A.  I think the audience was leaning a little more toward D&W also.  I esp. liked D&W’s lifts and how they used the music.  They are BOTH very strong skaters; they were paired up 10 years ago!

Bronze medalists Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates (pic above) had a very fun and fast-paced country-western OD.  The audience LOVED it!  (Evan shares a house on the UMich campus w/ Charlie White.) 

Samuelson & Bates, who I learned about last year, are very strong/athletic skaters.  But they can also be artistic, as they showed in their FD.

http://www.ice-dance.com/davis-white/

http://emily-evan.ice-dance.com/

Wow, it’s already 2010!!!

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Dear readers,

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a GREAT holiday season w/ family/friends!  My mom and little brother came from Indy to visit us in DC.  They got to see the house Dad just closed on in Silver Spring, MD.  Hopefully, Mom can find a job and move here in the next few months.  We ate (a LOT), watched movies, and hung out w/ a few relatives and family friends.  One of my dad’s younger cousins and her hubby had a baby girl; they live just 45 mins. away in MD.  It’s good to be in touch w/ family.

One of my aunties (a younger cousin of Mom) and 2 of her kids (18 and 24) came to visit NYC & DC from Sweden.  This aunt has met the king of Sweden, works in finance, and assists immigrant women in getting acculturated in their new county.  VERY cool, right?   Her son and daughter are very sweet, laid-back, and smart (fluent in 3 languages: Swedish, Bengali, and English). 

For my b-day, we went to Sam Phai, a Thai restaurant (1019 King St, Old Town Alexandria) with fresh/delicious food.  If you happen to be nearby, check it out!    

Thanks for visiting my corner of the web,

EMMA. 

 

Movies/TV Shows Seen Recently:

State of the Union (1948)

In my opinion, Hepburn+Tracy=Movie Magic!  This film, directed by Frank Capra, is refreshingly modern (with its themes), fast-paced, and funny.  It also stars a very young Angela Lansbury; she plays a tough/single DC powerbroker.  Lansbury’s character, Kay Thorndyke, is in love with Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy), a self-made Midwestern businessman who she encourages to run for president.  But Matthews already has 2 young kids and is married to a very strong woman, Mary (Katherine Hepburn).  Though the Matthews have a close relationship, their marriage is put under pressure during the campaign.  Mary has to keep an eye on the scheming Kay, a former senator’s daughter who projects her ambitions onto Grant.  Mary also worries that Grant’s plans and high moral principles will get squashed by the new political experts around him.       

Mary Matthews: Another thing – he used to hate to hear me swear. Whenever I’d let with something, he’d smack me on my sitter, hard. I’ve done a lot of swearing on this trip.
Jim Conover: And no smacks?
Mary Matthews: It’s a small request, but I’d give anything for a good smack on my south end.

  

Adam’s Rib (1949)

Amanda: What I said was true, there’s no difference between the sexes. Men, women, the same.
Adam: They are?
Amanda: Well, maybe there is a difference, but it’s a little difference.
Adam: Well, you know as the French say…
Amanda: What do they say?
Adam: Vive la difference!
Amanda: Which means?
Adam: Which means hurrah for that little difference.

This is another Hepburn/Tracy film; it’s about married lawyers in Manhattan who end up supporting opposite sides.  Adam Bonner (Tracy) is an ADA assigned to the case of a philadering hubby who was shot by his wife.  Adam’s wife, a defense attorney named Amanda, jumps in to defend the accused wife.  Their loving relationship is put to the test during the much-publicized trial.  

 

Slings & Arrows (2003-2006)

To be, or not to be, — that is the question
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

-Hamlet (Act III, Scene i)

The theater is NOT dead, as this intelligent/quirky Canadian TV series proves.  It stars Paul Gross, the handsome star of  ’90s TV series, Due South, created by Paul Haggis.  (Due South was the first Canadian show to cross-over to the US and achieve primetime success.)  Slings & Arrows, a combo of comedy and drama, puts the spotlight on theater folk- onstage and off.  The ensemble cast includes well-established Canadian stars (Gross/Colm Feore/Geraint Wyn Davies), rising youngsters (Rachel McAdams/Sarah Polley), and comedians (like Mark McKinney of The Kids in the Hall).   

 

Can artists and businesspeople compromise to keep a struggling theater festival alive?  Can relationships (between friends, couples, and co-workers) withstand the pressures of putting on Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear?  Watch this terrific show (3 seasons/3 DVDs) to find out.  (You CANNOT see something like this on US TV!)   

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387779/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slings_and_Arrows

 

Some Recent Music Downloads:

Chris Young (I’m in LOVE with his wonderful voice!)  

You know this old world is full of singers
But just a few are chosen
To tear your heart out when they sing
Imagine life without them
All your radio heros
Like the outlaw that walks through Jesse’s dream

No, there will never be another
Red-headed stranger
A Man in Black and Folsom Prison Blues
The Okie from Muskogee
Or Hello Darling
Lord I wonder, who’s gonna fill their shoes

–Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes (sung by George Jones)

Warm, rich, and pure are some fitting words to describe Chris Young’s voice.  Or you could just stick with GORGEOUS!  His lyrics are touching and simple, but with a modern sensibility.  This young singer (just 24!) is proof that reality TV isn’t ALL bad: he won Nashville Star back in ’06.  Chris has been a working singer/songwriter since his teens.  He lists Keith Whitley and Randy Travis as his main influences.  In the flock of rising country singers, Chris soars above the crowd!

Drinkin’ Me Lonely: This is my fave so far- a sensitive song w/ great lyrics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMbs-NAdREM

Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song): A BIG hit on country radio now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWP7ZtVLPd4&feature=channel

Rainy Night in Georgia: A new version of a classic song.

The Man I Want to Be: A simple song re: forgiveness in the true country tradition  

 

http://www.chrisyoungcountry.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisYoung