Thu, Nov 19, 2020
Dan Harmon is the creator of seminal television shows Rick and Morty and Community. He's found success on his own terms, but now, as he approaches middle age, he's reflecting on how he's gotten here. Liz Lerman creates dance with purpose that fosters engagement; but, like many great creative thinkers, doubt has always been part of the process.
Thu, Nov 26, 2020
Ellen Reid has a lot to say. The music of this softly spoken Pulitzer Prize-winning composer speaks volumes, even when it means confronting her own worst experiences. Vikram Paralkar would appear to be a mass of contradictions: a novelist whose work confronts mortality, a cancer physician who constantly helps others deal with death, an atheist who is married to a minister. Yet his joy for life is.
Thu, Dec 3, 2020
Gish Jen has spent a lifetime navigating internal cultural conflicts, yet the best-selling novelist has found peace with a personal East/West divide that could serve as a model for all. Thomas Newman is among the most highly respected and successful film composers. Though part of a Hollywood musical dynasty, he has created a unique musical voice.
Thu, Dec 17, 2020
Jason Robert Brown lives and breathes musical theater. From his early days as a fledgling composer through multiple Tony awards, he's had to do it his way or not at all. Fate almost conspired to take music away from Angel Blue. But she refused to surrender to such a dark destiny and came out on the other side a better woman and a singer on some of the world's biggest stages.
Thu, Dec 24, 2020
Poetry, as a literary form, is a relatively recent idea, yet weaving stories and thoughts in a concise structure that uses rhythm and sometimes rhyme is as old as time. Today spoken word is a popular, more democratic way for poets to get their work and words out. When the pandemic put a halt to groups performing together, dancers from American Ballet Theatre's teen training program found a way.
Thu, Jan 7, 2021
Leif Ove Andsnes has awesome musical powers, yet in person he is quiet and contemplative. Because, he says, the piano is his true voice. Royce Vavrek doesn't court controversy, but it seems to follow in his shadow. The celebrated opera librettist and lyricist says if his work provokes, it's not to advance any personal agenda.
Thu, Jan 21, 2021
Marin Alsop is one of the world's foremost conductors. She got there by helping change the classical world. For decades, Ian Bostridge has been enraptured by Franz Schubert's Winterreise. The British tenor has found the song cycle to be as effervescent and relevant now as it was when it was first composed two centuries ago.
Thu, Feb 4, 2021
In the late 1800s, the first automobile was invented for its function: to improve human transportation. In the decades following, style and substance have been competing factors in the longevity of the automotive industry. Today, cars are part of our larger identity, as a group and as individuals.
Thu, Feb 11, 2021
The singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has done things his way, struggling, at times, with himself and the world. Yet, he says, these rough periods haven't made him tough. With the backdrop of a global pandemic, composer David Serkin Ludwig created a new work about life in forced isolation.