MEMORABLE RECENT PERFORMANCES

             

As I have previously announced, AcquaTroupe is up and running and is emerging as one of the more interesting and diversified performing groups of today. I hope you have visited, or will soon visit their website (www.acquatroupe.com). Inevitably, any artists who are launching a performing enterprise will think a lot about great performances by others which stand out in their minds. We have been doing a lot of this thinking; recently I asked half a dozen friends to each tell me one outstanding performance -- in the arts, sports, or other public arenas -- that really inspired them recently. Here are the results, in no particular order:

                       ***U-2 onstage in California last summer

                       ***Alicia Vikander in "Jason Bourne" movie

                       ***Boston Red Sox winning the world series

                       ***Alysa Liu, just crowned youngest ever (13 yo) U.S. figure skating champion

                       ***Ed Sheeran video "Perfect"

                       ***The casts of "Big Bang Theory" and "Victoria" for best ongoing TV series

As you can see, that is quite a variety! I like the breadth of these choices my friends made because it reminds me of what AcquaTroupe is trying to accomplish. There are very few boundaries in an AcquaTroupe performance. You may get folk music and Shakespeare and abstract painting and circus performers all in the same evening. Frankly, many of us feel there are too many instances of one artistic style or genre being widely separated from the others. We think there is strength in numbers. AcquaTroupe has embedded that principle in its initial mission statement.

         What are YOUR favorite recent performances? I'd love to hear from you, and will continue to publish your votes here and on the AcquaTroupe website. Please send them to jamesgibsonallarts@gmail.com or acquatroupe@gmail.com. On with the show!

     --James Gibson
                       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outside the Storm, Finding Each Other

     The previous blog here talks about finding ourselves behind masks, at a distance from others, and seeking kindness where it may be needed more than ever. The capsule announcement which follows demonstrates how we can go beyond the pandemic, beyond the frustration and depression that each of us feels. It begins to lay out a plan for taking music and the other arts, and our resources, and our good will, to people even more desperate than we are.      Our activities in the arts are going to be directly aimed over the next few years at reaching out to everyone in need. We are proud to announce a few initial choices of recipient organizations who will benefit from everything that we can do to share the arts, to provide funds and help and encouragement. These are St. Jude's Children's Hospital, American Behcet's Disease Association, Child Fund International, UNICEF, and the Red Cross. This list will grow as we move into 2021.  Our colleagues at AcquaTroupe and JGA and World
Read more

Beautiful Voices Creating Peace Within Us

I seem to have a fascination with ironies and contradictions in the arts. Unlike some composers who thrive on creating dissonance and chaos and mashing things together, I prefer simpler and more gentle statements, on the whole. There can be a lot of loud power and anguish in my music, but I think and hope that the calm and soothing voices generally win out. I love pondering the seeming contradiction of peace, of utter serenity, emerging from an overwhelming gathering of hundreds of voices singing with passion. This is what I experienced recently at a rehearsal of Eric Whitacre's music, conducted by him and featuring Joanna Burrell, soprano soloist. Because she is a friend and colleague, and as I know how beautiful her singing is, I was not surprised that in the gentle simplicity of Goodnight, Moon  she warmly lifted the power of this beautiful music to a hall full of people. So we were all riding high a bit later when 800 voices filled that hall with more music, gripping and exci
Read more
                               About the Arts, From an Artist, To All Artists        For a year and a half a lot of thoughts about the arts world and about our place in it have continued to swirl in my thinking........some of the worst things than can happen to a large society, indeed the world society, have happened.......huge numbers of people have succumbed, and most everyone has experienced frustration, sadness, impatience, fear, boredom and perplexity about how to move forward.      We artists are kind of in a special category because no matter what our job is, we have the honor and the responsibility of talking to the world about the world and its people. The arts are, in many ways, the most exalted form of exploration and discovery on earth. So it strikes me that as we begin crawling out of the pandemic and toward what we hope will soon be a return to 'normal' life, and a rush back toward the things and people we love........we have an opportunity and a responsibility to
Read more