Archive for the ‘Arts’ Category

First round of Shakespeare Theater finalists announced

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 by:Brittany Lyte

Mayor John A. Harkins announced that the following six bidders responding to the Town of Stratford’s Request For Qualifications For American Shakespeare Theater Festival and Arts Programming Consultant will be interviewed for consideration in the town’s efforts to rehabilitate the vacant Shakespeare Theater property:
            -Arts Consulting Group (New York, NY)
            -Center for Creative Resources (New York, NY)
            -AMS Planning & Research (Fairfield, CT)
            -Maggie L. Harrer (Oradell, NJ)
            -Frank Tobin & Associates (New York, NY)
            -Michael Hardy Management (Pittsboro, NC)

The candidates were chosen by a 10-person committee appointed by Harkins to review all applications and make recommendations on the individual or firm to be hired.

“The response to the town’s request for qualifications to reopen and rehabilitate Shakespeare Theater was overwhelming,” Harkins said. “That many well-qualified applicants submitted proposals bodes well for the success of this effort. Over the next several weeks, the committee I have appointed to review the proposals, as called for in the RFQ, will conduct interviews with each of the six applicants they feel are most qualified for the job, and will subsequently report their findings to me and the Town Council. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we eagerly await their findings.”

Jenny Lind rescheduled

Friday, June 25, 2010 by:Amanda Cuda

The Barnum Festival has rescheduled the Jenny Lind concert to Sunday at 7 p.m.

Please read the below press release from the Barnum Festival for details:

The Barnum Festival has announced plans to reschedule the 62nd annual Jenny Lind Concert of sopranos which was planned for Thursday, June 24, until the storm hit in Bridgeport. The American and Swedish 2010 Jenny Lind award winners will now perform on Sunday, June 27 at 7 p.m. the Playhouse on the Green. Featured will be the American winner Jennifer Caraluzzi of Bethel CT and the winner of the Swedish competition Ashley Robillard. They will be accompanied by Andrew Gordon and Henrik Berg respectfully.

“We were sorry to disappoint the advance ticket holders who had counted on seeing and more importantly hearing the concert yesterday,” explained Jeff Zeleny, Executive Director of the Barnum Festival. “City officials made a smart decision to create a curfew, but it did not allow us enough time to get word out to our loyal and faithful classical music lovers that the concert was canceled.”

“We are lucky these talented young women were already scheduled to be in the Great Street Parade and perform at the Norden Club on Sunday,” continued Zeleny. “The concert will now take place at Playhouse on the Green,” allowing for a larger audience and in a venue designed to compliment their glorious voices.”

Advance tickets sold for the Thursday performance will be honored on Sunday. Anyone desiring a refund should contact The Barnum Festival office during regular hours. Tickets are $25 per person and will be available at the door. Tickets include a post-concert reception, with the opportunity to meet the singers and their accompanists. Tasty desserts and coffee will be served by Luigi’s Italian Pastry Shop.

For directions to the theater, or information, please call 203-345-4800, or visit www.playhouseonthegreen.org.

Goodbye sKwirl, hello Gus: Downtown public art unveiling tonight

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by:Lee Steele

Detail of work by Gus Moran. It's still a mystery what his public piece will look like.

As of this morning, the spot on the wall along Broad Street, reserved for a year-long art competition, was still occupied by the highly colorful and conceptual Weather sKwirl,™ and the sKwirl is predicting a hot day today. Not a great day for hoisting a painting onto a brick wall.

But since I haven’t heard otherwise, I’m assuming the public art unveiling is on. This is the year-long juried art competition on Broad Street.

Gus Moran’s art will be the second in a series of six outdoor public displays in downtown Bridgeport. The unveiling will be 6-8 p.m. today with a reception at Tiago’s.

The six artists are presenting their works for two months in the year-long, rotating exhibit on view on the Broad Street side of 211 State St.

The finalists, who are all all Bridgeport residents, are: kHyal, Gus Moran, Yolanda Petrocelli, Liz Squillace, John Lawson and Kelly Bigelow Beccera.

The sKwirl is still on the wall... for now.

The exhibit will culminate in the selection of a grand prize winner and a people’s choice winner, with cash awards of $1,000 and $250 respectively. The judges are Robert Curcio, co-founder of the Scope International Art Fairs and gallerist, New York; MaryAnn Fahey, curator and gallerist, Umbrella Arts, New York; Emily Larned, professor, graphic design, University of Bridgeport; John Favret, director, Housatonic Community College Art Department; and Penny Harrison, an arts consultant.

Artists were announced in February.

MainStateVentures is a joint venture between Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, LLC and Forstone Capital, LLC. MainState acquired the People’s United Bank downtown Bridgeport portfolio, which represents two prime city blocks including seven buildings totaling more than 255,000 square feet with 2.8 adjacent acres of developable land.

Rose garden glories in Trumbull

Friday, June 4, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros:

For years, avid gardeners Al and Nancy Lenoce of Trumbull have invited the public to share in the glories of their award-winning rose gardens on weekends during National Garden Club Week, this year celebrated June 6-12.

Their invitation to the public: “Come sit by a 2,000 gallon pond with colorful fish supported by a 30 foot man-made stream. Sit or walk in the sun or shade while enjoying the dry river bed or the Irish Fairie Village while in The Woodland Park. But most of all, just come!”

Cited by The National Garden Clubs Inc. for their extraordinary beauty, the gardens feature more than 500 colorful roses of numerous varieties including Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, Climbers, Carpet, Shrub, English, French and the new, popular Knock-Out, the owners say.

Adding to the scene are hundreds of perennials and annuals.

Hours are Saturday June 5 & Sunday June 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Saturday June 12 & Sunday, June 13, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free to the gardens at 59 Spinning Wheel Road in Trumbull.

Singers needed for Fairfield U.’s Summer Festival Chorus

Thursday, June 3, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis Boros:

Avid amateur choral singers are always looking for ways to exercise their passion for music. So when an opportunity comes along to perform under the direction of one of the state’s most renowned choral conductors, it’s an invitation to be taken quite seriously.

Here’s one that’s just been issued by Fairfield University:

Conductor Carole Ann Maxwell will conductauditions Tuesday, June 15 at 7 p.m. for the 17th season of the Fairfield University’s Summer Festival Chorus (SFC) at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

Experienced choral singers are invited to audition and should be prepared to sing vocal warm-ups and exercises. Previous participants need not audition.

Rehearsals for the concert, “Viva Vienna!” ( slated for Saturday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m.) take place in the Quick Center for the Arts’ Kelley Theatre, an air-conditioned hall, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from June 22 through July 29 from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

Dr. Maxwell has conducted the SFC since its inception 16 years ago, with each concert having a different theme. This year the concert will be devoted to ”the beautiful, luscious and playful music of Vienna,” featuring Franz Schubert’s Mass in G. Also on the program is Brahms’ “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen”; melodies of Strauss and Lehar; and Viennese stylings with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Merry Widow” and “The Flying Mouse.”

Beth Palmer accompanies rehearsals and at performance. Popular jazz performer and composer Joe Utterback also will be a featured piano soloist and will conduct at the concert.

For information on the Summer Festival Chorus, contact Dr. Maxwell at

203-254-4000, ext. 2577.

Dockside lunch, drinks now possible in downtown Bridgeport

Thursday, May 13, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

Discovering a new “bistro” in downtown Bridgeport is always a source of excitement — especially for those of us who believe that the city’s continued rennaisance is essential to the region’s prosperity.

And when that bistro happens to be on Bridgeport Harbor, it almost makes us want to weep with joy!

As locals know, Bridgeport has an extraordinary harbor — and yet there’s very little restaurant/bar activity surrounding it.

But as we discovered driving around the city on a recent weekend afternoon, having a cold beer and/or glass of wine is now possible while sitting outdoors on the dockside patio at the Bridgeport ferry terminal.

We had just toured Seaside Park, which is indeed a beautiful spot, when we spied a sign for the “Dockside Eatery.” Intrigued, we headed for the ferry terminal, parking our auto in its small on-site lot.

For $5.30, a 16-ounce glass of beer (including tax) was ours for the asking at the counter of the terminal’s indoor snack bar (which we were told was opened about eight months ago) …. a bargain when one takes into account that we spent the next hour being warmed by the sun while sitting at a dockside picnic table, enjoying the free entertainment (watching customers board the vessel, and the ferry’s departure to Long Island).

Wine — Chardonnay, Merlot and white Zinfandel — is also available by the glass, for $6.63 including tax. Soups, sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, coffee, soda, ice cream and other casual fare is available daily from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (from about 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in summer).

Although parking appears to be limited, access is not a problem for walk-ins; the ferry terminal is easily reached from Water Street, near Bridgeport’s rail station, making this spot an ideal warm-weather location for lunch or an after-work rendezvous!

Young North Haven musician inspired by GBS’ Maestro Meier

Thursday, May 6, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

Anyone who has ever doubted whether a child’s life can be deeply touched by a classical concert experience need only consider the case of North Haven student Caroline Salant – who makes her conducting debut May 23 in New Haven.

In February of 2007, the then 12-year-old attended a Greater Bridgeport Symphony concert along with her parents, Dr.Stacey Salant and Michael Peter Salant.

Although Caroline, a gifted music student, was very impressed with the soloist, virtuoso trumpeter Allen Vizzutti, she was even more taken by the conductor, Maestro Gustav Meier, who she had the opportunity to meet following the performance at a Green Room reception at Bridgeport’s Klein Memorial Auditorium.

That brief meeting – and Meier’s energetic and insightful conducting – left a lasting impression on the student, her mother said recently.

Fast forward to a few months ago, and the publication of Meier’s master work on the art of conducting: “The Score, the Orchestra and the Conductor” (Oxford University Press).

Thinking that her daughter might enjoy having a book by one of the most renowned teachers of conducting in the world (and someone she actually had met), Salant, a clinical psychologist, purchased a copy of Meier’s tome and subsequently had it autographed for Caroline.

The book soon became one of Caroline’s most cherished – and the now 15-year-old North Haven High School/Educational Center for the Arts freshman is toying with the idea of conducting as a career.

To explore the option, and to have some fun, Caroline has decided to preside over a performance of Terry Riley’s “In C” on May 23, beginning at 1 p.m., at Neighborhood Music School, where she studies. Performing the piece will be students from the nonprofit school.

It’s a modest piece, but “In C” will give Caroline her first opportunity to wield a conductor’s baton (and she’ll perform on the flute as well), her mother points out. Caroline also is organizing the concert in order to obtain her Girl Scout Silver Award, the most prestigious award obtainable at her age.

Caroline explains that “In C” is a series of 53 melodic patterns played in sequence by any instrument. One may play each phrase as many times as desired before moving on to the next, but the patterns must be played in order. The score can be found at http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Scores.shtml. (To hear the piece, go to In C Terry Riley on YouTube.)

Admission to the concert is one nonperishable/canned item, with the event to benefit the Connecticut Food Bank. The Neighborhood Music School is at 100 Audubon St. in New Haven; for directions, visit www.nmsmusicschool.org

GBS soon to seek Maric’s successor

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

Jena Maric, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony’s executive director since 1988, will resign her post in late August as the orchestra prepares to launch its 65th anniversary season in the fall.

H. Michael Keden, president of the GBS board of trustees, has advised board members that after reviewing the orchestra bylaws, he intends to soon establish a search committee for Maric’s successor, “the members of which are yet to be determined.”

Maric, of Westport, made her announcement late last week at a meeting of the board of trustees’ executive committee. In a subsequent e-mail letter to the entire board, Maric wrote that: “After a period of self-reflection, I have decided that it is the right time in my life to move on.

“So it is with some regret that I announce today my plans to resign from the position of executive director at the end of the current fiscal year, on August 27, 2010. I will be pleased to help in any way I can to ensure a smooth transition.

“Since joining the Greater Bridgeport Symphony in 1982, I have worked with some remarkable people, and I am very proud of the opportunity to have served such a distinguished cultural organization, which I hope will flourish for many years to come.”

Maric is considered by many as having been instrumental in keeping the GBS afloat through more than a decade of lean years — beginning in the early 1990s when Bridgeport’s tarnished reputation and economic woes drove legions of music-lovers away from the GBS’ home at the Klein Memorial Auditorium – and in helping to spark the orchestra’s dramatic renaissance of the past several years.

Keden, in a prepared statement to the Connecticut Post, wrote over the weekend that “It was with regret that I accepted Jena’s resignation, because as you know, she has been synonymous with the symphony for decades.

“I am sorry that she has chosen this time to retire, and Jena will certainly be recognized and honored in a way commensurate with her service to the symphony and her commitment to the Bridgeport community. The GBS is a well-run organization, and like any well-run organization, we will put the appropriate process in place for the search for a new executive director. While we (will) all miss working with Jena, next year’s program is set, (GBS music director Maestro Gustav Meier) is returning for another illustrious season and the symphony looks forward to celebrating its 65th year.”

The nonprofit fully professional orchestra comprises 65 core musician-members with an annual budget of about $600,000. Its patron base is drawn primarily from Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford and Trumbull.

Phyllis A.S. Boros

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