Culture Fiend

Remembering Jack Benaroya

The Seattle philanthropist and developer has died at age 90.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 11, 2012 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Image courtesy UW University Libraries digital collection.

Jack Benaroya and his wife, Becky, circa 1990s.

Via The Seattle Times:

Sad news about the passing of Jack Benaroya, who died today at age 90, according to a family spokesperson. A leading Seattle developer, philanthropist, and arts patron, Benaroya gave generously and often, leaving his mark on the Seattle Symphony—who have been playing in Benaroya Hall since 1998—and the Virginia Mason Medical Center, which opened the Benaroya Research Institute in 1999.

According to the Times, the Benaroya family will hold a memorial service on Monday, May 14, at 2pm in Benaroya Hall. Former Seattle Symphony director Gerard Schwarz, who worked closely with Jack on the making of the new concert hall, will lead members of the orchestra “in a program of specially selected music.” The memorial is open to the public. RIP Jack.

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Tags: Benaroya Hall

Video: Renée Fleming on How to Be a Diva

The world-class soprano visits Seattle this weekend. As a warmup, watch her give vocal tips to a nervous-looking college student.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 14, 2012 at 11:45AM 1 Comments

Photo: Courtesy Andrew Eccles

Renowned American soprano Renée Fleming, who joins conductor Ludovic Morlot and Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall this Friday, has long been considered “the people’s diva.” Sure, it seems a contradiction in terms—do divas like football and beer?—but just watch her conduct a master class for Harvard students in the video below. She’s warm, charming, and most shocking of all, self-deprecating. The diva can crack a joke. One of my favorite tips she offers: Only sing operas that end in tragedy. “I made the mistake of singing one happy-ending piece at the Met and I got complaints in the mail," she deadpans.

Her humility belies her star power—she’s practically the face of Metropolitan Opera—and her fiercely powerful range, both vocally and emotionally. She walks the walk, coaching students to add tension, passion, or anger to different phrases in their performance. “Otherwise, it’s just a song.”

For her upcoming Seattle concert, Fleming will reinforce her ’people’s diva’ image with a program that spans classical, rock, and indie music. The lineup jumps from Ravel’s Shéhérazade to Gounod’s ‘The Jewel Song,’ to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah,’ Muse’s ‘Endlessly’ and Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Soul Meets Body’ (the latter are selections from Fleming’s 2010 pop album, Dark Hope). Fleming has long been a fan of eclectic music that crosses genre lines, she told The Seattle Times; and even after singing 52 different opera roles, she’s mostly avoided the standards: the Verdi and Puccini heroines. Together with Morlot, another champion of blurred boundaries, Fleming could very well be rocking Benaroya Hall on Friday.

Renee Fleming with Ludovic Morlot and Seattle Symphony
Mar 16 @ 8, Benaroya Hall, tickets still available from $71–$180

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Tags: Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall, Classical and More, Ludovic Morlot, Renée Fleming

Coming in June: Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band

Dr. House is now a piano man—see him at Benaroya Hall.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 23, 2012 at 10:30AM 1 Comments

The Hollywood triple threat is back.

Seems there’s a new genre of music on the rise: Hollywood’s leading men play the blues. Cynics might call it “aging white men and their midlife crisis band,” but a few of these acts are legitimate. Steve Martin won the top bluegrass prize of 2011 with the Steep Canyon Rangers (but then again, we knew the Renaissance man had musical chops ever since he payed tribute to King Tut). And Woody Allen, now touring with his New Orleans Jazz Band, has been playing the clarinet since his teens. Jeff Bridges has gone Method, living out his folk hero role from Crazy Heart in real life, and Tim Robbins? Well, let’s just say he was getting over Susan Sarandon with a really talented backing band…

The latest leading man to reinvent himself is House star Hugh Laurie, who released his debut New Orleans blues album, Let Them Talk, in September. We’ve seen Dr. House at the piano every now and then, but that’s only an inkling of all the pent-up jazz riffs that have occupied Laurie’s ‘gawky English frame’ since he was little. With his backing Copper Bottom Band, he warms up with a little Thelonious Monk or Louis Armstrong; the Brit even takes us down the “Suwannee River.” And he’s not half bad (watch the clip below). The best part about actor/comedians-turned-musicians? A serious upgrade in audience banter.

Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band
June 4, Benaroya Hall, tickets ($35–$75) are on sale now.

Watch Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk on PBS. See more from Great Performances.

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Tags: Concert, Benaroya Hall, Ticket Alerts, Celebrity Appearance

Five Things You Didn’t Know about Joshua Bell

The famed violinist is playing here next week. And he’s jealous of the Seahawks.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Jan 03, 2012 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

We demand a Tiger Beat cover.

Photo by Marc Holm

Let’s start with what you probably already know: Joshua Bell is one of the world’s foremost violin soloists. He’ll bring his furious bow strokes, 1713 Stradivarius, and signature floppy haircut to the Seattle Symphony on January 10, where conductor Ludovic Morlot will lead him in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

But here’s what you probably don’t know about classical music’s hottest pinup (just look at him!):

•He’s a YouTube star. In 2007, a Washington Post writer asked Bell to busk in a D.C. Metro station to see if anyone recognized him. Almost no one did (and he made only $32.17). The writer won a Pulitzer for his article, the video received 2.5 million hits, and Bell hasn’t lived it down. “What surprised me is how it got sent around virally,” Bell told us in a recent interview. “Every country I go to, I’m asked about that story.”

•It takes him a year of “dabbling” to learn a new piece. That’s with four to six hours a day of practice; Bell plays each concerto for about a month before returning it to his repertoire. As for the Bruch he’ll play here, it was dropped from his rotation for five years, but it’s still the piece he’s performed the most in his life. “When I came back to it, I completely fell in love with it again,” he said.

•He doesn’t like gimmicks. To get the youth audience to attend classical concerts, Bell says, it’s more about quality and timing than tunes you can hum. “Even if you’re doing midnight concert, I don’t think you have to mess up the music," he said. “You don’t have to put in the Star Wars theme.”

•January 10 is a big day for him. Not only will Bell be performing with the Seattle Symphony, but he’ll release two albums that day. One is a collection of French works, and the other a soundtrack to the upcoming Christian Bale flick, Flowers of War. For the latter, Bell pays homage to the Chinese violin style: “There’s use of vibrato that’s wide and quite distinctive, and sliding between notes,” he said. It’s similar to how he plays bluegrass: “I allow their style to creep into my style, but when it becomes copying [the pros], I can’t compete with them.”

•He’s a stereotypical dude. When asked how Seattle differs from New York City, Bell doesn’t compare Benaroya Hall to Lincoln Center. His view: “Well, the Seahawks are doing better than the Giants.”

Joshua Bell and the Seattle Symphony perform January 10 at Benaroya Hall.

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Tags: Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall, Classical and More

Hear David Sedaris Read from His Diary at Benaroya Hall

Tickets are on sale now.

Posted by: Allie Oosta on Dec 01, 2011 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

David Sedaris, the humorist and best-selling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, has visited Seattle annually for the last few years to read from his latest work, and we never miss it. He’s as candid on stage as he is in his essays about self-described “humiliating asshole things” he’s done (who can forget his story about being an elf at Macy’s Santaland?). It’s part book tour, part stand-up.

But when he comes to Benaroya Hall on April 29, he won’t have a new book to tout. We’re told he’ll be testing out new work and reading from (among other things) his diary. Fact: Sedaris was discovered by This American Life host Ira Glass while reading his diary at a Chicago club. This isn’t like your childhood lock-and-key journal—his autobiographical (well, semi-autobiographical) works are snarky, witty gems, tied up nicely with insightful commentary on the human condition. Even his story about buying his boyfriend a skeleton for his birthday. Or was it for Christmas?

Tickets ($38–$47) just went on sale this morning at 10am at benaroyahall.org. They typically sell out, so put this on your to-do list. UPDATED 4/25/12. As of this morning, there were still some $47 tickets available on the website. Call to be sure.

In the meantime, enjoy an old clip of Sedaris sharing one of those humiliating experiences with David Letterman.

David Sedaris returns to Benaroya Hall on April 29, 2012, at 7.

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Tags: Benaroya Hall, Ticket Alerts, Books & Talks, David Sedaris

The Sonic Evolution of Seattle Symphony

What’s that we hear? Chamber pop?

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Oct 19, 2011 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

Hey Marseilles

I knew it wasn’t going to be a typical night at the symphony when I saw the crowd. An army of Capitol Hill hipsters had taken Benaroya Hall, stopping only to retie their Converse and check their iPhones. There were as many pairs of jeans and boots as suits and hearing aides. Rumor had it Pearl Jam was in the audience. And for once, I wasn’t the youngest one there.

But what’s typical at the symphony these days, with new conductor Ludovic Morlot at the baton? Over a little more than a week, SSO was slated to host 10 drastically different concerts, including a performance of Star Trek anthems (“Sci-Fi at the Pops”), internationally renowned violinist Hilary Hahn, a Russian orchestra, Haydn’s Cello Concerto, and last night’s Sonic Evolution program of world premieres inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, and Nirvana. It’s blissfully eccentric for someone who can’t tell the difference between Rachmaninov and Chopin— the kind of variety that draws the “enemy of the symphony” to orchestral music, as Morlot cheerfully noted in his opening remarks.

And considering the energetic fury with which the Seattle Symphony members opened last night, they were pretty excited, too. Vladimir Nikolaev’s The Sinewaveland: Homage to Jimi Hendrix was charged with frenetic glissandi, strings working together like Jimi’s whammy bar. Though the music itself didn’t mimic the guitar master’s chords, it was still exhilarating, conjuring an image of Hendrix atop Bald Mountain, lighting his guitar on fire.

The Cuong Vu Group performed its jazz-classical collaboration, a recognizable tribute to Quincy Jones called One, and the orchestra seemed to hit its stride with Bill Brittelle’s Obituary Birthday: A Requiem for Kurt Cobain. Kurt was only really a ghost in that song, but I eventually forgot I was listening for Nirvana because the music was so damn beautiful.

And then there was young Seattle chamber pop band Hey Marseilles, making their symphony debut wearing ties and worried grins. Their fans were vocal, clapping along to hit single “Rio,” but when the band was “backed” by the orchestra, the sound was richer. Like Hey Marseilles was infusing the orchestra with its nervous energy, and pros of the SSO were raising the chamber pop band to a new level. “We get astounding applause after every song,” lead singer Matt Bishop said, eyes wide. “We should do this more often.”

Yes, you should. These worlds aren’t mutually exclusive, and thankfully, Seattle Symphony has taken note.

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Tags: Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall, Classical and More, Hey Marseilles

Quote Unquote: Joyce Carol Oates

The literary luminary talks about A Widow’s Story, her writing life, and cat urine.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 20, 2011 at 09:00AM 1 Comments

“Tragedy is the highest form of art.” —Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates claims to be a shy, quiet girl, the kind who’d rather sit at home and read than listen to someone rattle off her life’s accomplishments in front of hundreds of people at Benaroya Hall. National Book Award winner. Pulitzer Prize finalist. Distinguished professor at Princeton University. Author of 50 novels and countless essays. American chronicler.

“What a lovely introduction. I was breathless,” she said, deadpan. Oates sat stick-straight in an armchair onstage, but spoke effortlessly and candidly on Monday night about her husband’s death (the topic of her new memoir A Widow’s Story), boxing, writing, teaching, ghosts, grief. In one of the evening’s high points, she told a story about how she woke one night to find that her cat had “defiled” her husband’s death certificate, which she then tried to spot-clean with Windex. “Grief isn’t noble, it’s not King Lear,” she said as the crowd laughed along with her. That Oates: shy, quiet, ironic.

On the pain of losing a loved one: “It’s possible that you suffer in a Dostoevskian kind of way for two hours. And then you’re exhausted. It’s best described as illness.”

On suicide: “How could I write a suicide note? It’d somehow never be good enough.”

On writing in journal form: “It’s breathless. Whoever writes (or reads) it doesn’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

On writing a memoir: “Memoir is the most seductive of literary genres, and also the most dangerous. It seems easy, or is in fact easy. [But] it’s only good if it’s honest. … You can’t remember witty, sharp dialogue over 40 years.”

On writing book reviews: “I always try to write about a book I admire. … For critical reviews, I spend a lot of time quoting so the reader can make his or her own judgment.”

On boxing: “Boxing is an art and fighting is something people do.”

On failure: “I’m drawn to failure. I feel that I’m contending with it constantly in my own life. Failure is much more universal than extreme success.”

Joyce Carol Oates spoke at Benaroya Hall on Monday, April 18, during a Seattle Arts and Lectures event. She’s working on a new book, tentatively titled Mud Woman, about a female university professor who suffers and recovers from a breakdown.

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Tags: Benaroya Hall, Books & Talks, Quote Unquote, Seattle Arts and Lectures, Joyce Carol Oates

Tracy Kidder Visits Benaroya Hall

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author knows what he’s talking about.

Posted by: Sarah Hirsch on Mar 02, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Tracy Kidder leads a talk on mountains, doctors, and writing nonfiction.

If Tracy Kidder writes about something, it’s best to pay attention. In 2003, he scored a bestseller with Mountains Beyond Mountains, the biography of American doctor Paul Farmer, whose efforts to improve health care in poverty-ridden Haiti never seemed more vital than after the country’s recent earthquake. Kidder is a pro at narrative nonfiction, and tonight he’ll talk about what he does best at 7:30 at Benaroya Hall.

The author first garnered major attention with the publication of The Soul of a New Machine about corporate America and computer innovation—way back in 1981, long before the rest of us were fretting about computers and corporations. The book won him both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1982. His most recent work, Strength in What Remains, tells the true story of Deo, a young medical student from Burundi who survived a civil war and genocide in Africa only to find himself homeless in New York City’s Central Park.

Kidder’s talk, titled “Another Set of Eyes,” will touch on his current project, which is about the process of writing experiential nonfiction. His Seattle Arts and Lectures event will be introduced and moderated by Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of undergraduate academic affairs at the University of Washington.

Tickets are $15–$17 and will be available at the Box Office at Benaroya Hall at 6pm (cash or check only).

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Tags: Benaroya Hall, SAL, Tracy Kidder

5 Ways to Keep Busy on Valentine’s Day

There’s the obvious way, but we’re talking about going out on the town.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 08, 2011 at 01:00PM 1 Comments

Celebrate love—and all its highs and lows—with Bushwick Book Club’s performance of work inspired by High Fidelity.

Valentine’s Day on a Monday is tricky. Yes, you have the preceding weekend to fulfill celebration duties (aren’t I romantic?). But you know … you just know that when Sunday night rolls around, your lady will have flashbacks to school days and construction paper hearts full of Disney valentines that say “I’m Goofy For You!” and will start staring wistfully at the place on the table where a vase of flowers should be. Face it: You have to keep her busy through Monday, and restaurants are filling up quickly.

But we found five V-Day outings that both entertain and hint at love, lust, and romance. For your consideration:

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Project
Feb 14, 7:30pm
Benaroya Hall

Swoon-inducing crooner and pianist Michael Feinstein brings his 17-piece band to Benaroya to cover standards by Ol’ Blue Eyes and his contemporaries Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. Tickets ($50-$96) are on sale.

Laugh Lover’s Ball
Feb. 14, 6 and 8:30pm
Moore Theatre

Laughter is a highly underrated aphrodisiac. This year’s V-Day stand-up comedy showcase—the 17th annual—features top talent from past performances: Comedy Central regular Maria Bamford, science guy Tim Lee Ph.D, Boston Comedy Fest winner Dwight Slade and Seattle’s David Crowe. Tickets ($27.40-$48) are on sale for both shows.

The Bushwick Book Club Presents: Original Music Inspired by Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity
Feb. 14, 8pm
Century Ballroom

Top five reasons why you should go to this show: 1. The “book club” is made up of local singer-songwriters. 2. They don’t talk about the book—they sing about it. 3. You don’t have to sing; you don’t even have to read the book. You can just watch. 4. Comedy-acoustic-funk duo Bucket of Honey will be there. 5. They’re playing original work inspired by one of our favorite love-hate-love stories, Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. Tickets ($10-$15) are on sale, and a portion of proceeds supports the Seattle Public Library.

Noir City at SIFF
Feb. 14, 7 and 9pm
McCaw Hall

SIFF continues its film noir fest on V-Day with a stellar double feature: Ronald Coleman delivers an Oscar-winning performance in A Double Life (7pm) and a psychopath stirs up trouble in the 1941 horror noir Among the Living. Plenty of lust, fear, and insanity—just like the average relationship! Tickets ($7-$12) are on sale.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Cinderella
Feb. 13, 6:30pm
McCaw Hall

We’re cheating a little with this one. It’s on Valentine’s Eve, but the effect should hold over till Monday with the help of PNB’s complimentary Freixenet sparkling wine toast. Plus, it’s a beautiful ballet with a Prokofiev score based on Charles Perrault’s original French fairy tale—happy ending included.

Bonus! Seattle’s Cinerama is screening three Valentine’s-friendly romances through Feb 17: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday, and The African Queen. Tickets ($9) are on sale at cinerama.com.

Looking for a gift you can wrap? Find six great ideas on our Wear What When blog.

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Tags: Moore Theatre, Benaroya Hall, Holiday Events, SIFF

On Sale May 10: Ira Glass Tickets

Host of This American Life comes to Benaroya on August 21; tickets on sale Monday.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 06, 2010 at 09:00AM 1 Comments

Those glasses. That smile. Oh, Ira.

Even though Ira Glass isn’t coming to Benaroya Hall until August 21, tickets to hear the longtime host of This American Life talk about his writing life will sell out quicker than Seahawks games. After all, he is the “best radio show host in America,” according to Time magazine, and we all love a man with a solid grasp of grammar. Glass is expected to talk about the process of creating a This American Life broadcast, discuss how he became a master storyteller, and play clips of the show (with time for Q&A). But I’d go just to hear him tell stories about chickens (watch the 2007 YouTube clip to see what I’m talking about).

Together Northwest Associated Arts (NWAA), KUOW (NPR) and The Stranger present Ira Glass: Radio Stories and Other Stories. The Stranger editor and regular guest on This American Life, Dan Savage, will introduce the show. Tickets are $25-$47, on sale Monday, May 10, 10am, and available through the Benaroya Hall box office (206-215-4747) or online at benaroyahall.org..

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Tags: Benaroya Hall, Ticket Alerts, Ira Glass

A Night with Patti Smith

Rocker leads a cappella sing-along of “Because the Night” at Benaroya.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 26, 2010 at 02:00PM 1 Comments

I get the chills watching this even though I was there. It’s endearing how nervous Patti Smith was before she launched into ‘Because the Night’—the song that made her famous, that she’s performed countless times in venues much larger than Benaroya Hall. But after you see the rock legend live or read her new memoir Just Kids, you realize her confidence has always been a little shaky. She thought of herself as a gawky teen, someone who was “not gifted, but imaginative”. Rather than dreaming of being a star, she bragged that someday “she’d be an artist’s mistress”, a Frida Khalo to someone’s Diego Rivera. She found strength through companionship, and Just Kids is a tribute to one lost love in particular: photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. While on his death bed, Mapplethorpe made Smith promise to tell their story. It was a labor of love, but 21 years later, she’s done—and it’s beautiful.

With large-rimmed reading specs on, a mellowed godmother of punk read excerpts last night, speaking openly about how she used to sleep on the subway in New York City and barely had enough money to eat; how Mapplethorpe rescued her from a bad date with a sci-fi writer; and how Allen Ginsberg hit on her when he thought she was a boy (“a very pretty boy”). At turns poetic and self-deprecating, Smith charmed every single person in the house. We were in the presence of greatness. And she didn’t even know how great she is.

My favorite line of the night came when Seattle rock critic Charles Cross told Smith that Oprah’s O magazine called her a fashion icon. Without missing a beat, Smith said:
“It’s not my fault.” Pause. Big laughs. “I’ve always loved fashion—I’ve just got my way of dealing with it.”

Patti Smith stars in Robert Mapplethorpe’s Polaroids on display at Henry Art Gallery through January 31.

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Tags: Patti Smith, Benaroya Hall, Music, SAL, Favorite Performances of 2010