This Saturday night at Greenwich House, composer Ted Hearne pays loving tribute to the glorious achievements of state and federal officials in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. An hour long song cycle, Katrina Ballads enshrines the immortal words of Barbara Bush, Dennis Hastert, Anderson Cooper and others in all the dignity they deserve.
Or (ahem) roasts the above named folks to a crisp.
Either way, tickets are $15 and $8 depending on your social status – so it’s cheap. Workers around the world unite.
I was at the performance in New Haven last night, and it was one of the best new music concerts I’ve been to in years. The piece not only manages to weave political and musical agendas together effortlessly, it also does the same thing with musical styles–mid-20th-century chamber orchestra idioms morph seamlessly into choral music, into jazz, into gospel, and back again. Isaiah Robinson has this ridiculously clear, crisp tenor voice that stretches up to high C# and beyond, and Ted is no slouch in the singing department either. It blew me away, the more so because the whole concert was essentially self-produced. Everyone, please, please do yourselves a favor and see this show if you can.
The audio samples sound fabulous! I’d love to see/hear this live if it ever comes my way (Atlanta). A lot of New Orleans evacuees came to and now live in Atlanta, so I think the audience would be very receptive here.
Links related to post Katrina relief – I’ve had this page up since shortly after the Federal flood.
http://www.beckermusic.com/neworleans.html