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Full slate of shows aims to attract wide audiences
By NATE DOUGHERTY
Rochester Business Journal
August 20, 2010
A little more than a year ago, the area's major arts and performance organizations were worried about filling seats.
In the midst of a recession that had cut discretionary spending by the normal patrons, the organizations came up with special offers to entice audiences-like the offer from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra that let any season ticket subscriber who had been laid off keep his or her seats at no cost.
This fall the groups expect higher attendance bolstered by a diverse slate of performances, exhibits and concerts. And even though many have not yet begun their fall schedules, investments in programs and marketing already have started to pay off. Geva Theatre Center, after two seasons of lower attendance, has had its best advance sales of subscription and season tickets in six years.
Here is a closer look at fall shows offered by some arts groups.
George Eastman House
From 1950 until 1990, commuters in New York's Grand Central Station could see giant panoramic photographs of life in 20th-century America. Kodak's Colorama promoted photography as an essential leisure activity and often featured Rochester-area photographers, models and sites.
For the 60th anniversary of the Colorama, the pictures are returning to Rochester for a display that runs through Oct. 17 at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.
"The show has generated a huge amount of local interest, since so many people from Rochester were featured in them," says Alison Nordstrom, curator of photographs at the Eastman House.
Another show, also running through Oct. 17, features 200 years of portraits from the Eastman House collections, some predating photography itself. The show is intended to demonstrate how the medium has changed over time.
"The portrait show is a wonderful slice of art collections ranging back from pre-photography days of the 1820s up until the present," Nordstrom says. "I find the last one particularly touching, a portrait of a soldier in Afghanistan who happens to be a young girl. It's a really compelling portrait and relates to the things we read in the newspaper every day."
Later in the fall, the Eastman House will display memorable photography from the history of popular music in a show titled "Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs Selected by Graham Nash." The show will run from Oct. 30 to Jan. 23, 2011, and feature iconic performance shots of Jimi Hendrix, Elton John and Nirvana and portraits of Joni Mitchell and Johnny Cash.
Besides receiving accolades as a singer-songwriter, guest curator Graham Nash also is recognized as a photographer, collector and pioneer in digital imaging and printing.
"He is a pioneer in the digital field and a pioneer in the music industry," Nordstrom says. "He will also be coming to speak about the show, and we expect that to be a big event."
Unlike other organizations that saw dips in attendance, the Eastman House has a global appeal that helped attract a diverse audience and mitigated the economy's effects, Nordstrom says. The worldwide appeal is evident in this season's shows, which include a later exhibit on the history of the Civil War, she says.
"Of course we would love to have our attendance double, but we have not felt exactly what some of the other institutions in Rochester have," Nordstrom says.
Geva Theatre
Following two seasons in which attendance dropped, Geva Theatre is having its best advance sales in six years for a fall season that features two plays about music and the creative process.
The Tony Award-winning "Amadeus," based on the relationship between composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri, will run from September through October. Mark Cuddy, Geva's artistic director, says the play demonstrates how Mozart was a major celebrity of his time, a theme that should resonate well with today's celebrity culture.
The play should also do well because of the city's affinity for classical music, Cuddy says.
"I chose the play because it's a wonderful story and Rochester is a fabulous classical music town," he says.
It will be followed by "Carry It On," in which folk singer Maureen McGovern explores the music that influenced her and the hits she recorded throughout her career. The multimedia show includes projections of McGovern's life and personal stories from the period.
"This isn't just a show about Maureen. It's actually her with her musical director, just two people on stage with decades of American imagery all around them," Cuddy says.
Following the run of "Carry it On," Geva will return with its annual performances of "A Christmas Carol," a stage adaption by Cuddy.
After the attendance drops of the last two years, the theatre went ahead with a large marketing campaign and what Cuddy calls "a bold season."
"We decided to spend more money and make a big splash in the community, and so far it's really paid off," Cuddy says. "We want to recapture the imagination of the public, let them know it's safe to come out of their houses now."
Memorial Art Gallery
The fall schedule for the Memorial Art Gallery features an exhibit of psychedelic art and another that sheds new light on a local artist and one of the gallery's most popular paintings.
From August until December the gallery will host "Episodes from an Unwritten History: Claude Bragdon and Fritz Trautmann." Most commonly known for his architecture, Bragdon is a local artist who had a strong influence on a community of Rochester artists in the mid-20th century.
The show explores Bragdon's relationship with Trautmann, another local artist interested in color theory. Both men were curious about the afterlife and Eastern philosophy, ideas that came out in their paintings, says Marjorie Searl, MAG chief curator.
Included in the show will be one of the gallery's most popular paintings, "Galaxy" by Trautmann.
"People have long enjoyed seeing this painting, and we will be going a bit more in depth to explain what it's all about," Searl says. "For lovers of the painting it will be a big attraction."
The gallery's other show for the fall is a traveling exhibit organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art that features the bright colors and optical illusions of psychedelic art originating in the 1960s. Titled "Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s," the show features what one MAG curator calls "hallucinative visions" of imagined worlds and fantasy scenes.
"It's really interesting because it has some video and multisensory components too," says Marie Via, MAG director of exhibitions. "Two pieces we built have separate rooms where you go in and are immersed in a light and sound show. It makes for a very cool experience for visitors."
The event also will include a fashion show and a lecture on the 1960s by a University of Rochester doctoral student.
For its annual M&T Bank Clothesline Art Festival, the gallery hopes to attract a crowd similar to last year's 21,000 for what is its largest fundraiser. Taking place Sept. 10 and 11, the festival will include roughly 400 artists from mostly western and central New York displaying and selling a variety of wares.
The number of artists is close to the highest total ever, MAG officials say.
"What we always stress is the variety of the artists, ranging from painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry," says Patty Giordano, MAG marketing manager. "We think we differentiate from the other festivals because of the quality of art. The artists have to submit to be included in the show, and their work has to be approved."
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
After 13 seasons as RPO music director, this fall will mark the beginning of the end for Christopher Seaman. He has announced that he will leave after the season's completion in 2011.
In his last season Seaman is conducting pieces that either have personal significance or are favorites selected by concertgoers or orchestra members for him to perform. The Classical series opens Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 with Seaman conducting Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Igor Itin as soloist in Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.
For a season-closing event in early June, the orchestra will perform Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music," with vocalists from the Eastman Opera Theatre, and Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
"It's bittersweet, and it'll be an emotional season for me, but emotion is good and it's good for music," Seaman says. "I have had the most glowing feelings about my time in Rochester, and after a great deal of thought I decided I should leave when my legacy is at its height."
The season also will feature six guest conductors and a dozen guest artists.
On the Pops side, conductor Jeff Tyzik says he is excited about what he calls "the most adventurous pop series in the country." The Pops season opens Oct. 8 and 9 with music of Ray Charles, featuring tenor Ellis Hall.
"He is sanctioned by the Ray Charles family to present this music, and oddly enough he is visually impaired and plays the organ as well," Tyzik says. "It should be a wonderful tribute."
The Pops season also includes concerts featuring soprano Debbie Gravitte, a veteran of many Broadway shows. In January the RPO will team with Rochester City Ballet for performances that will feature dancers and the orchestra on the same stage.
To reach a wider audience, the RPO is holding ticket prices for the coming season and offering a small section of single tickets at a special $15 price. It will also make $10 Philharmonics student tickets available in advance for the first time.
8/20/10 (c) 2010 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or e-mail service@rbj.net.
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