http://www.newyorker.com/arts/
I learned this weekend about the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, being held this week at various sites in Reno, with both afternoon and evening concerts given. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th evening concerts include some uncommon and interesting pieces: Turina Piano Trio No 2, Brahms String Sextet Op. 18, and Suk Piano Quintet on Tuesday; Dvorak String Quintet Op. 97, Goetz Piano Quintet, and Respighi Piano Quintet on Wednesday; Mendelssohn Piano Sextet, Martinu Piano Quartet, and Faure Piano Quartet Op. 15 on Thursday. So, despite my difficulties sitting still for very long, I was tempted to give the Festival a try, until I found out that the tickets for the evening concerts were $40.00 apiece. Whoever can afford that in this economy, it's not me. I know that I can assemble CDs of all nine of those pieces for considerably less than $120.00, and then own them permanently; in fact, I think I'll make that a little project, to see how little I can spend to do that.
Among notables born on this date are President Woodrow Wilson, visionary General Billy Mitchell (who foresaw the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in print in 1925), French philosopher Guy Debord, English novelist Simon Raven, Argentine novelist Manuel Puig, violinist Nigel Kennedy, author and Japanese culture expert Ian Buruma, jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines, director F.W. Murnau, graphic novelist Chris Ware, Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee, actress Dame Maggie Smith, actor Denzel Washington, actor Lew Ayres, and actress Nichelle Nichols ("Lieutenant Uhura"). Did you know that when Nichols was vacillating about whether to continue her role on Star Trek, no less than Martin Luther King told her that she was having a major social impact and should continue? "Once that door is opened by someone, no one else can close it again."
