August 2004 Articles

Creators at Carnegie

From the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall's resurrected "third stage," Zankel Hall, comes Creators at Carnegie, a series that focuses on artists with powerful creative voices. Their performances are at the center of each broadcast, interspersed with comments from the stage and brief first-person narratives and interviews that focus on the creative process. Your host is NPR's Fred Child.

Dawn Upshaw and Osvaldo Golijov
Sunday, August 15, 8 p.m.
This broadcast showcases an exciting collaboration between world-renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw and contemporary Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov. Upshaw performs the world premiere of Golijov's Ayre in Zankel Hall. Commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation, this new work for small chamber ensemble and voice is a collection of traditional and new folk songs in several different languages, arranged by the composer to work as a companion piece to Luciano Berio's Folk Songs, which was also on the program. Joining Dawn Upshaw on stage are flutist Susan Palma-Nidel, clarinetist David Krakauer, violist Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, cellist Priscilla Lee, harpist Ina Zdorovetchi, and percussionists Maya Gunji and Joseph Gramley. Interviews with Upshaw and Golijov round out the program.

Youssou N'Dour
Sunday, August 22, 8 p.m.
The Senegalese artist Youssou N'Dour is renowned for his remarkable range and poise and for his prodigious musical intelligence as a writer, bandleader and producer. He absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering it through the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside his culture. During his more than twenty years of recording and touring outside of Senegal with his band, The Super Étoile, N'Dour has made mbalax-a blend of Senegal's traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban music-famous throughout the world. This Creators at Carnegie program features Youssou N'Dour and members of his band performing quieter, mostly unplugged mbalax songs at Zankel Hall.

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Compact Discoveries
Sundays in August at 4 p.m.

Fred Flaxman discovers the most exciting and unusual compositions now found on compact disc and introduces them to you on Compact Discoveries. The selections are sometimes masterworks by composers that most listeners have not heard of; sometimes little-known works by the acknowledged masters. But they are always highly accessible and melodious.

August 1: All About Alkan
A search for the theme song to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" leads by mistake to the discovery of the French composer Charles Valentin Alkan. The music includes his parody, the Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot, as well as Charles Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette (the actual Hitchcock theme). Also featured are excerpts from the Concerto for Solo Piano performed by Marc-André Hamelin.

August 8: Favorite Funeral Music
Music lovers can make the task of writing their last will and testament far more interesting by naming the musical selections they would like to be played at their funeral. Schubert's Death and the Maiden string quartet might be appropriate for some, but Fred Flaxman chooses piano pieces he never managed to play well while still alive, played (by more gifted pianists) as he would have liked to play them.

August 15: Hats Off to Coates
A program showcasing the music of English composer Eric Coates. You'll hear movements from The London Suite, The London Again Suite, and The Three Bears Fantasy. The program also includes the Forsyte Saga theme from The Three Elizabeths Suite and By the Sleepy Lagoon, the theme song of the BBC's "Desert Island Discs."

August 22: In Praise of Poulenc
Was Francis Poulenc a great composer? If "great" means a composer who created a significant body of music that is truly original, full of memorable melodies with unique harmonies and colorful, captivating orchestration, the French composer would certainly qualify. Examples of his art presented here include Le Lion Amoureux from Les Animaux Modèles; his piano concerto; and his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.

August 29: The Brooklyn Cowboy
Aaron Copland talked with a Brooklyn accent and composed with a Western touch. In addition to Appalachian Spring, El Salon Mexico and Fanfare for the Common Man, this program includes an excerpt from an interview with the composer.

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America Abroad: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11-CIA Intelligence Failure
Sunday, August 1, 8 p.m.

This America Abroad documentary examines intelligence failures-from the origins of the CIA to the 9/11 attacks and controversy over Iraq's WMD. When and why do intelligence failures occur?
The program begins with an in-depth history segment, narrated by Garrick Utley, that uses rare archival audio to recount the history of intelligence assessments from Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, and the fall of the Shah in Iran, to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ron Nessen examines the CIA's assessments before and during the Vietnam War-a war in which the CIA warned of the dangers of America's involvement, but was ignored by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Steve Roberts discusses a crucial challenge for American intelligence today: the FBI's efforts to recruit Muslim-Americans to assist in the war on terrorism. Finally, Margaret Warner examines the future of intelligence and intelligence community reform. Guests include former Senator Warren Rudman, former FBI Director William Sessions, and Joseph Nye, Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and chair of the National Intelligence Council under the Clinton Administration.

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Humankind: Cancer Support Groups
Sunday, August 1, 9 p.m.

This program was originally scheduled to be aired on June 13, but was pre-empted by NPR's commemoration of the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

Humankind presents the riveting stories of everyday people who have found real purpose in life. Living by their principles-compassion, service, generosity, spirituality, equality, and integrity-they make a profound difference in the quality of life in their communities.
Hosted and produced by David Freudberg, Humankind helps listeners examine some of humanity's biggest questions and illuminates the lives of ordinary people who, by their example, can inspire us all.
The first half-hour of this Humankind program focuses on a cancer support group in Los Angeles where patients identify with others who have the disease and can freely express taboo topics like the fear of death. Group members learn the immense value of emotional support in breaking the isolation and feelings of shame often experienced by cancer patients. Also, a counselor of cancer patients explains how to interrupt the psychological cycle of worrying and despair so common among those who receive a potentially life-threatening diagnosis. The second half of the program shows how patients and counselors use techniques to challenge their anxiety and negativity, to achieve simple relaxation and to laugh.

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Voices of Civil Rights
Sunday, August 8, 8 p.m.

People from all over the United States tell their personal stories about the civil rights movement in this riveting documentary. Through letters, audio recordings and memorabilia, they relate personal accounts of individual struggles and acts of courage in the broad and long struggle for civil rights.
Host Mike Cuthbert airs some of these first-person memories and talks about them with Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and Rick Bowers of the American Association of Retired Persons, which founded the Voices of Civil Rights Project. Listen to the people who lived through the past fifty years of the civil rights movement-how it was, and how today came to be.

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200 Years Later: The Lewis and Clark Bicenntenial
Sunday, August 8, 9 p.m.

For the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, producers Barrett Golding, Larry Massett, and Josef Verbanac bicycled the Lewis and Clark Trail, interviewing people who live and work along the route today. The pair called their two-thousand-mile trip "The Great Pains and Accuracy Tour," after Thomas Jefferson's instructions to Lewis and Clark to explore the Missouri River and to document what they found with "great pains and accuracy." Jefferson charged the pair with finding a water passage that would connect the Mississippi with the Pacific, to allow passage from Europe to Asia through North America. No such passage was found, but Lewis and Clark did find a wilderness known only to its native inhabitants.
In their travels along that trail, the pedaling producers sought to answer the question: What have we done with the woods, waterways, prairies and towns that lined the path taken by Lewis and Clark these past two hundred years? Journeying up the Missouri River, over the Rocky Mountains, then down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, they brought back audio portraits of the people and places along the explorers' route.

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The Count Basie Centennial Concert
Sunday, August 29, 8 p.m.

He was a founding member of America's jazz royalty, a family that included the King-Louis Armstrong; the Duke-Edward Ellington; a First Lady-Ella Fitzgerald; an Earl-Fatha Hines; and the Count-William Basie.
This August marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of William "Count" Basie. From the grounds of the Caramoor Festival in upstate New York, NPR and jazz station WBGO in Newark bring you the nation's pre-eminent concert celebration of the genius of Count Basie and his Big Band. Veteran trumpeter Jon Faddis leads an ensemble featuring Basie veterans Benny Powell and Frank Foster. Joining them are pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Todd Coolman, saxophonist Harry Allen and other special guests.

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A Moment of Science for Kids

"I'm nervous," said 10-year-old Dung Ha Suh, as he sat in the control booth of WFIU's Studio Two. He was waiting his turn to record the script he had written for A Moment of Science for Kids.
Inside the studio, Fatima Fadag, 11, sat before a microphone reading her script that asked the question "Why do tigers have stripes?" The stripes work as camouflage, she explained, which the tigers need to get very close to their prey.
Dung Ha and Fatima had spent the previous week researching their AMOS topics, writing the scripts and practicing reading them into a tape recorder.
Now in its second year, AMOS for Kids is part of the summer reading program at Monroe County Public Library. Childrens' Librarian Lisa Champelli supervised the four children who participated this summer, with help from Childrens' Librarian Kathy Revelle and student volunteers Zach Meunier and Claire Moore.
Despite his initial nervousness, Dung Ha delivered a spirited reading of his script.
He played the part of a boy who asks his dad (played by AMOS producer Don Glass) why people can't just make their own dollar bills. Don discussed how digital technology is making it easier for counterfeiters to create fake money.
Don was impressed with the questions devised by Fatima and Dung Ha. "Kids can come up with interesting questions, but that's no surprise. I am impressed that their questions are so often related to their daily lives and the world around them-which is, of course, what AMOS is all about. I marvel at how they are able to organize their thoughts in such a logical manner. It's true they have help, but they seem to begin at such a high level for their ages."
The two AMOS for Kids episodes were broadcast in July. You can listen to them on the Saturday Feature page on the WFIU Web site (wfiu.indiana.edu) and clicking on "A Moment of Science for Kids."

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Arts on the Square

A perfect pre-summer day helped bring people out to the Bloomington Area Arts Council's Arts Fair on the Square. More than forty artists and craftspeople, mostly local, set up booths around the Monroe County Courthouse lawn.

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August Community Events

WFIU/Red Cross Book Drive II

Saturday, July 31
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Borders Books & Music - Eastland Plaza, Bloomington

Do you have any old books just collecting dust in your closet? Now is your chance to get rid of them, help your local Red Cross and meet the WFIU staff and personalities. WFIU is once again sponsoring a book drive to support the Red Cross's annual Fall Book Fair. Staff and volunteers from WFIU and the Red Cross will be available to accept your good condition boxed books, CDs or records. Your donation is tax-deductible through the Red Cross.

Indiana Shakespeare Festival

The festival is a professional, non-profit theatre company devoted to producing plays written by, inspired by and influenced by William Shakespeare in a summer festival setting in Bloomington.
The inaugural play will be "A Cry of Players" by William Gibson. "A Cry of Players" is the imagined story of Will Shakespeare's life as a young man in the small English country town of Stratford-on-Avon before he moved to London to pursue a life playing and writing for the stage. True to the ISF mission of playing not just the Bard's own works, "A Cry of Players" is a story inspired by Will: a fun, accessible introduction to Shakespeare the man as he might appear to us today. Lust for life, friendship and good times were the order of the day for even the most downtrodden folks of Elizabethan England, and Shakespeare and his family were no exception.
There will be ten performances through August. More information is available at 812-355-3301.

Waldron Arts Center - Rose Firebay
August 6-7
August 13-14
August 20- 22

Southern Indiana Center for the Arts - Small Town Festival

August 6-7
Downtown Seymour, Indiana

In its second year, the festival highlights Seymour, Indiana, known to John Mellencamp fans as the small town the famous musician sings about. A night on the town usually takes place on Friday night at one of the town's bars with "Mellenhead-known" bands. On Saturday the action takes place at the Art Center with several bands at the Don Hill Amphitheater, an exhibition of artwork, Pottery, food vendors and many other activities. All are welcome to enjoy this family-friendly event.

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Janna Graf's Ether Game Party
by Emily Blacklin

Ether Game has been entertaining and frustrating music enthusiasts for years in the WFIU listening area. But Terre Haute piano teacher Janna Graf takes the weekly competition one step further. She holds annual Ether Game parties to reward her students for their dedicated practice during the school year.
At the end of the most recent semester, a boisterous bunch of four teenage piano students came over her house for a night of musical mayhem. Equipped with hot submarine sandwiches, cell phones and a placemat with the names of selected composers, Graf and her students played a stellar game, winning two CDs.
Graf sees Ether Game as providing an opportunity for the students to test their musical knowledge, especially those who are going to further pursue music at the collegiate level. She feels that Ether Game is a great way to teach students how to listen-a vital aspect to being a musician. "Just being able to hear [a piece], then they can take it anywhere they go." Friendly competition abounds, and even Graf feels compelled to keep up-being that one of her students has won more CDs overall than she has!
One student, who plays with the pseudonym "The Enraged Jazzman from Terre Haute," is a regular player on Tuesday nights. He started playing last year at Graf's first Ether Game party. Graf is thoroughly impressed with his musical prowess. "He was really good in that he could listen and tell me what twentieth-century music was."
Janna Graf intends to continue her annual EG parties, and wants to extend the invitation to her younger students in middle school. "It's a great program. I wish they had it everywhere."
Party on-every Tuesday evening at 8 with Ether Game.

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Learning English with WFIU

Classroom study is valuable, but nothing beats real life experience.
That was the philosophy behind faculty instructor Becky McMahan's decision to bring her Intensive English Program class to tour the WFIU studios recently. She wanted them to hear English spoken "from the real world, not from a grammar book."
WFIU Promotions and Marketing Director Mark Zalewski led the tour. Most of the students were from Korea on a "year abroad" program and will return to their native country. Others will choose to study at IU or elsewhere in the States.
In class, the students improve their English by studying current events. They listen to BBC radio, read the Indiana Daily Student and Time magazine, and listen to WFIU.
"Even thought they all come from high tech cultures," said McMahan, "they're impressed with how students working at the stations get hands-on experience. And so am I!"

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Membership Moves to IU Campus

After spending more than ten years in Fountain Square Mall in downtown Bloomington, the WFIU Membership Department has relocated to the IU Radio and Television Center. Membership and production staffs now work in the same building, located near the intersection of Jordan Avenue and 7th Street. The membership staff can still be reached at 855-6114 or 800-662-3311, by e-mail at wfiumbr@indiana.edu or by mail at 1229 E. 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-5501. If you're in the area, stop by Room 118 to say hello and pick up WFIU and WTIU program guides. Guides can also be picked up from Howard's Bookstore in Fountain Square Mall.

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Musical Highlights for August
by Robert Lumpkin, Music Director

New Releases
A major romantic work for piano and a large 20th century choral work are included in this month's highlights of new releases. Pianist Evgeny Kissin plays Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-flat, D. 960 on Wednesday August 4 at 10:12 p.m. That's a new recording of the young Russian pianist from RCA Red Seal. Cellist Steven Honigberg and pianist Carol Honigberg join us on Thursday, August 12 at 7:07 p.m. with a new release from Albany of music by Frederic Chopin for cello and piano. We'll hear the Cello Sonata, Op. 65. On Monday the 23rd at 7:07 p.m., violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Lars Vogt perform the Violin Sonata in A by Cesar Franck. That's a new EMI Classics release. Our choral work is Belshazzar's Feast by William Walton, which airs Wednesday the 25th at 10:12 p.m. That new recording from Naxos features baritone Christopher Purvis, the Leeds Philharmonic Chorus and the English Northern Philharmonic conducted by Paul Daniel.

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Profiles

August 1st - Ann Patchett
In her four novels, author and essayist Ann Patchett brings to life a sweeping array of characters, from a Catholic nun to a black blues drummer to a gay magician. She explores complicated themes such as abandonment, unorthodox love, and the surprising ways that people come to find emotional connections. Her best-known work is "Bel Canto," a novel that focuses on a diverse group of people in an unnamed country unexpectedly thrown together when the posh birthday party they are attending is crashed by terrorists and they are all taken hostage. Her other novels are "Taft," "The Patron Saint of Liars," and "The Magician's Assistant." Pat Holt conducted the interview for KQED's City Arts and Lectures.

August 8th - Dean Sluyter
Dean Sluyter has taught nonsectarian meditation for more than thirty years and developed one of the most successful classroom meditation programs in the United States. His books include "The Zen Commandments: Ten Suggestions for a Life of Inner Freedom." He teaches a practical form of meditation and is known for his clarity, warmth and humor. A former movie critic, he writes about finding enlightenment lessons in movies, songs and other artifacts of popular culture. WFIU's Adam Schwartz hosts this hour-long conversation.

August 15th - Frederick Burgomaster
Frederick Burgomaster is organist and choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, and conductor and music director of the Indianapolis Festival Chorus and Orchestra. He holds a D.M.A. degree from the University of Southern California, and an S.M.M. degree from New York's Union Theological Seminary. He is an author, educator, composer, conductor and recitalist, among other numerous other occupations. For years, Frederick Burgomaster has been a leading musical force in Indianapolis and throughout the state of Indiana. George Walker hosted this hour-long interview. (repeat)

August 22nd - Li-Young Lee
The American Poetry Review called Li-Young Lee "one of the finest young poets alive." He is the author of three volumes of poetry: "Book of My Nights," "Rose," which won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award and "The City in Which I Love You," which was the Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets. He writes on the themes of family, loss, and exile. He also writes about his own journeys with spirituality, cultural translation, and love. In Lee's prose memoir, "The Winged Seed: A Remembrance," he recounts the political imprisonment of his father, who had been Mao Zedong's physician, and his parents' escape from Indonesia. WFIU's Shana Ritter is the host.

August 29th - Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell's essays and stories are heard on This American Life. She takes a quirky yet serious approach to her subjects, whether they are her father's homemade cannon or Cherokee ancestors' forced march in the Trail of Tears. Newsweek named the young writer its non-fiction "Rookie of the Year" for her first book, "Radio On: A Listener's Diary." Vowell's essay collections "Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World" and "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" established her as the querulous voice of her generation. She spoke with David Kipen for KQED's City Arts and Lectures.

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The Radio Reader
with Dick Estell

"The Way We Played The Game"
by John Armstrong
began: August 19

The year is 1903, and football is a much different game from what it would later become. Coaching from the sidelines, huddles, and forward passes are illegal, and the best way to gain yards is to shove the ball carrier into the opposing line as you slug it out in the mud.
The quarterback not only has to think on his feet, he must be good with his fists. Blood, broken bones and the very real risk of death are the main attraction for hometown rooters and gamblers alike. Football at the turn of the century is so dangerous, it's nearly banned, if not for the actions of President Teddy Roosevelt.
"The Way We Played The Game" is the true story of a high school football team, and how its young quarterback and coach pull them into the era of modern-day football. It is a uniquely American tale and an authentic account of a time, a place and a game we never knew.

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Broadcasts from the IU School of Music

Fauré-Piano Trio in d, Op. 120; Emile Naoumoff, p.; Federico Agostini, vln.; Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, vlc.
Airs: 8/2 at 7 p.m., 8/3 at 10 a.m.

Stanley-Concerto III; Stanley Ritchie, vln.; Tomoko Kawachi, vln.; Nathan Whittaker, vlc.; Beth Garfield, hpsd.; Stanley Ritchie/IU Baroque Orch.
Airs: 8/9 at 7 p.m., 8/10 at 10 a.m., 8/13 at 3 p.m.

Fauré-Violin Sonata No. 2 in e, Op. 108; Agostini, Federico, vln.; Emile Naoumoff, p.
Airs: 8/16 at 7 p.m.; 8/17 at 10 a.m.

Fauré-Piano Quartet No. 2 in g, Op. 45; Emile Naoumoff, p.; Federico Agostini, vln.; Yuval Gotlibovich, vla.; Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, vlc.
Airs: 8/18 at 10 p.m.

Lang, D.-Cheating, Lying, Stealing; David Dzubay/IU New Music Ens.
Airs: 8/18 at 11 p.m.

Muffat-FLORILEGIUM PRIMUM: Suite 2; Stanley Ritchie/IU Baroque Orch.
Airs: 8/23 at 7 p.m., 8/24 at 10 a.m., 8/27 at 3 p.m.

Torelli-Concerto in g, Op. 8, No. 6; Stanley Ritchie, vln.; David Wish vln.; Helen Byrne, vlc.; Janet Scott, org.; Stanley Ritchie/IU Baroque Orch.
Airs: 8/30 at 7 p.m., 8/31 at 10 a.m., 9/3 at 3 p.m.

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Veterans Honored on Noon Edition

Noon Edition commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day in June with an interview with two veterans.
Bud Lynch, area volunteer coordinator for the Library of Congress Veterans Oral History Project, and John Tilford of Monroe County Veterans Services discussed their work with veterans in Monroe County.
The volunteers spoke about how they gather the oral histories, which come from veterans of several wars, including World War II to the current conflict in Iraq. So far Lynch has completed nearly one hundred veteran interviews for the project. Hoffman commented on the urgency of the project, in light of the fact that approximately seventeen hundred veterans nationwide pass away each day.
News Director Will Murphy, Mary Catherine McCarthy, and (by phone) Emmy Hoffman from Senator Richard Lugar's office in Indianapolis conducted the interviews. After the program, Will recalled one of program's most memorable moments.
"There was a very moving call from a woman who grew up in a town along the Normandy coast, whose village was liberated following the D-Day invasion," Will recalled. "She broke down and cried, and was wondering how to thank some of the local D-Day veterans."

Caption: Bud Lynch shows Mary Catherine Carmichael his map of the D-Day Normandy invasion.

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Last updated: Tuesday, August 3, 2004
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