Artsedge: The Kitchen Sink

Master Sgt. Jari Villanueva, a musician with the United States Air Force Ceremonial Brass, reviews ceremonial music in military, including the historic 1963 funeral for President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. Sgt. Villanueva discusses the role of musicians in the military, demonstrates battlefield bugle calls and talks about why the 24 notes of  “Taps” are the toughest notes a military bugler has to play.

Join playwright Jerome Hairson and director Scot Reese as they bring the story of Blues Journey from page to stage, developing the original book of blues lyrics into a fully realized play, rich with musical performances. Blues Journey follows the life of a blues performer as he learns to play, finds fame, and witnesses the blues evolve into rock-and-roll in this world premiere Kennedy Center original production based on the children's book by Walter Dean Myers.

Follow the process of bringing Norton Juster’s beloved book from the golden age of children’s literature to the stage. Commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, this world-premiere musical tells the story of Milo, who comes to realize that life is more exciting than his wildest dreams. This inventive musical features a melodious score by Arnold Black and witty lyrics full of wordplay by Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony winner Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me).

Lincoln attended the theater frequently—opera being a particular favorite. In this final episode in the series, we look at the small plays and full-scale spectacles that caught his imagination and interest.

In this second episode, we focus on the political music of Abraham Lincoln’s time—both music created to support the presidential candidates and the music in support—or in protest—of the Civil War.

Abe Lincoln heard and sang much of the music of his time— popular music like the songs of Stephen Foster, as well as concert music and opera.   In this first of three episodes, we explore the President's love of, and reliance upon, the popular and folk music of the time.

The Arab World spans the width of North African Maghreb, across the Arabian Peninsula and into the Levant. Centuries of indigenous and nomadic traditions have created a musical cultural tapestry of unique regional styles bound by common themes and ideas. In the 21st Century, Arabic folk music traditions have been confronted with increased globalization, from Egyptian mega-star Umm Kulthum, to the worldwide influence of Western media. Host Georges Collinet (NPR’s Afropop Worldwide) is joined by Arabic musicians to discuss the many styles and future of music of the Arab World.

Much of what defines the music of the Arab World is the experience, not only for the musician, but also for the listener. In the Arab World, the audience is an active participant, responding to the ornamental and improvisatory offerings of the players, giving vocal feedback while in a state of “musical ecstacy.” Joined by Arabic music scholars and musicians, host Georges Collinet (NPR’s Afropop Worldwide) explores this important bond between musician and audience, and how it creates a unique musical relationship.

To western ears and eyes, musical instruments and of the Arab World may seem exotic. Host Georges Collinet (NPR’s Afropop Worldwide) is joined by scholars and musicians to explore the sounds and history of Arab musical instruments, such as the qanun, the oud, the rebab and the nay. The rhythms and musical tonality that help define the rich sound of Arabic music are explored in this informative podcast.

The space age began on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik-the first artificial satellite. Around the world, millions of people tuned their radios to hear it beeping or waited outside to watch it pass overhead. Narrated by Roger Launius of the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum, this piece examines the world's reaction to Sputnik. From popular music to visual design; from politics to technology, the space race seemed to define much of the culture of the late 1950s and the 1960s.

Composer and self-described “musical anthropologist” Tan Dun (perhaps best familiar for his Oscar-winning score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) creates works that bridge time, place and culture through the fusion of ancient and avant-garde sounds Celebrating the vocal, instrumental, and environmental sounds of the remote Chinese countryside, Tan explores the minority cultures of Hunan Province, where he was born, and brings it into play with modern instruments and orchestrations. Expanding on the video and audio field recordings gathered for his multimedia concerto The Map, a Concerto for Cello, Video, and Orchestra, Tan and scholar Joanna Lee discuss the vanishing musical cultures of ethnic minorities in western Hunan and reflect on the creative challenges of preserving cultural legacies while creating new music fusing traditional, indigenous and contemporary sounds.

Continuing our musical journey into the through the 20th Century, this segment explores how America took its place as force in the world of classical music; not so much through its experimental work but through the music of Hollywood movies. Miles Hoffman, Morning Edition music commentator and dean of the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, takes us through the early years of the last century and discusses where we can, sometimes unexpectedly, find new classical compositions today.

This segment looks at some little-known stories about American Classical music like the role of Cuba in Classical Music and the American who made "Carmen" a hit. NPR's Miles Hoffman continues to lead us through the development of a uniquely American take on traditional European music.

Howard Shalwitz, the longtime artistic director of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, co-founded the theatre back in 1980--at a time when the repertory of American plays was limited to academic classics and NYC vogue. With a commitment to new approaches to theatre and a devotion to bringing new playwriting voices into the limelight, Woolly has had not just a tremendous national impact, but has been an important local influence as well as a partner in community development and a force for bringing new audiences to the theatre.

David Ives (b. 1950) attended Northwestern University where he began writing plays. He produced his first play, Canvas, in New York City with the Circle Repertory Company. He later took on a job as an editor of Foreign Affairs and eventually studied drama at Yale University's School of Drama, where he received his MFA. He is known for many successful plays including, All in the Timing, Words, Words, Words, Sure Thing, and Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread. His latest play, Don Juan in Chicago, received the Outer Critic's Circle's John Gassner Playwriting Award and a Drama Desk nomination for outstanding play. Ives also received the 1994 George and Elizabeth Martin Playwrighting Award from Young Playwrights Inc. Ives lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

Carlos Murillo is a Chicago-based playwright, director and teacher. He is a Visiting Professor at the Theatre School of DePaul University. His play Mimesophobia (or before and after) was produced at Arielle Tepper’s 2005 NYC Summer Play Festival after previous workshops at J.A.W. West Festival at Portland Center Stage (2004), South Coast Rep’s Hispanic Playwrights Project (2003), the Chautauqua Institution Theatre Conservatory (2002) and A.S.K. Theatre Project in Los Angeles (2002). In NY Carlos’ plays have been seen at the Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, En Garde Arts, Lincoln Center, Soho Rep, the Hangar Theatre, the Chautauqua Institute Conservatory, the Flea,INTAR and Nada, Inc. Regionally his work has been seen at South Coast Rep, Theatre at Boston Court, Circle X Theatre, Son of Semele Ensemble and A.S.K.Theatre Projects all in southern California, Red Eye Collaboration and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, The Group Theatre and Annex Theater in Seattle, Portland Center Stage, Madison R

While Europe was alive with new, sophisticated works by Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel, America was a backwater. If you looked for classical music in the early days of America, you'd be hard-pressed to find it, even in the big cities and the centers of wealth, commerce, and social sophistication. But it *was* there; in far-flung locations including the backwoods of North Carolina and the Port of New Orleans. Miles Hoffman, NPR Morning Edition music commentator and dean of the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina takes us on a tour of classical music in early America.

Dael Orlandersmith is an actress, poet and playwright that is best known for her Obie Award winning Beauty's Daughter and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama,Yellowman. Part of her work from the award winning "Beauty's Daughter's" program can be heard as a segment of a September 1996 taping of radio show "This American Life" where Orlandersmith performs "When You Talk About Music" in which she portrays a 31 year old Italian male who meets a black woman at a mutual friends wedding and finds how much he misses musical expression.

Marsha Norman was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Hull-Warriner, and Drama Desk Awards for 'Night Mother, which received its world premiere at the A.R.T. in 1982. Her play Traveller in the Dark also premiered at the A.R.T. in 1984. Ms. Norman won the 1992 Tony Award and Drama Desk awards for The Secret Garden; and the John Gassner Medallion, Newsday Oppenheimer award, and the American Theatre Critics Association Citation for Getting Out. Other plays include Third and Oak, The Laundromat, The Poolhall, The Holdup, Traveler in the Dark, Sarah and Abraham, Loving Daniel Boone, and Trudy Blue. Published work includes Four Plays and a novel, The Fortune Teller. Television and film credits include Face of a Stranger, starring Gena Rowlands and Tyne Daley. Grants and awards include National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; Ms. Norman also serves on the council of the Dramatists Guild. Ms. Norman was born

Lee Blessing (born October 4, 1949) is an American playwright. His best-known play is A Walk in the Woods, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation. The play was nominated for both a Tony award and a Pulitzer Prize. His recent plays include A Body of Water, Whores, The Scottish Play, Black Sheep, Fortinbras and many others. He has also written one act plays including, The Roads That Lead Here and Eleemosynary. He currently heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He is married to fellow playwright Melanie Marnich.