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January 25, 2016 - Image 5

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The Michigan Daily

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, January 25, 2016 — 5A

ACROSS
1 ’90s game disc
4 Infield fly
9 Invites home for
dinner, say
14 007 creator
Fleming
15 Banish
16 Unable to sit still
17 *Game where
one might have
an ace in the
hole
19 Actor __ Elba of
“The Wire”
20 Liability offset
21 Settle in a new
country
23 Young Simpson
26 “Coulda been
worse!”
27 Biblical beast
30 Least fatty
33 __-12
conference
36 *Financial page
listing
38 “__ creature was
stirring ... ”
39 Team in
40-Across
40 Arch city: Abbr.
41 Ship carrying
fuel
42 Iowa State city
43 *Only woman
ever elected
governor of
Alaska
45 Very quietly, in
music
46 Artist’s paint
holder
47 Farm pen
48 Gave the nod to
50 Payroll IDs
52 Became
partners
56 To date
60 Ed with seven
Emmys
61 *Stack of
unsolicited
manuscripts
64 “I’ll do it”
65 Gum treatment,
briefly
66 Former president
of Pakistan
67 Relaxed
68 “500” Wall St.
index ... and a
hint to the
answers to
starred clues
69 Reheat quickly

DOWN
1 Leaning Tower
of __
2 Stable diet
3 Bearded
antelopes
4 Coaches’
speeches
5 Losing tic-tac-toe
string
6 Water__: dental
brand
7 Title beekeeper
played by Peter
Fonda
8 Make waves?
9 San Francisco
street that
crosses Ashbury
10 Netman Agassi
11 *Informal surveys
12 “__ just me?”
13 Financial page
abbr.
18 Budding socialite
22 __ dixit: assertion
without proof
24 Sales agent
25 Like ankle bones
27 Songwriters’ org.
28 “Put __ here”:
envelope corner
reminder
29 *Touchy topics
31 Saltpeter, to a
Brit

32 Flashy displays
34 Took the loss,
financially
35 Sideshow barker
37 Music store buys
38 Actress Peeples
41 Workplace where
union membership
is optional
43 DWI-fighting org.
44 Growth chart nos.
46 Looked carefully
49 Krispy __
doughnuts

51 Soak (up)
52 Hardly healthy-
looking
53 Out of port
54 Snail-mail
delivery org.
55 Formal petition
57 Antacid jingle
word repeated
after “plop, plop”
58 Et __: and others
59 Harvest
62 Barista’s vessel
63 Rocker Vicious

By Mary Lou Guizzo
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/25/16

01/25/16

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Monday, January 25, 2016

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

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HELP WANTED
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SERVICES

SUMMER EMPLOYMENT

Zwilich concerto
evokes emotions

USO to perform

classical program at

Hill Auditorium

By DAYTON HARE

Daily Arts Writer

Classical music has long been

justifiably accused of being the
genre of dead white men. It
comes out of
a
European

tradition, and
like almost all
professional
fields, it has
historically
been
domi-

nated by men.
But over the
past 50 years
or so, classi-
cal music has
been
diversi-

fying, mirror-
ing the overall
transforma-
tion of society. This certainly
isn’t happening quickly or eas-
ily — the classical music world
is notorious for its intransigent
and traditional nature — but
more and more women and
minorities have started landing
jobs in major orchestras and
taking the stage as featured
soloists.

One area of classical music in

particular that has been slow to
evolve is the field of composi-
tion. With a few notable excep-
tions — Barbara Strozzi, Fanny
Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann,
Ethel Smyth, Nadia Boulanger
— there have been nearly no
famed female composers until
very recently. Today, numerous
female composers of great tal-
ent and skill are active — such
as Joan Tower, Shulamit Ran,
Augusta Read Thomas, Kaija
Saariaho, Julia Wolfe and many
others — but there is still a
noticeable disparity between
the number of male and female
artists in the public eye.

Another
such
success-

ful woman composer is Ellen
Taaffe Zwilich, who — along
with Joan Tower — is one of the
earliest contemporary female
composers to establish a large
reputation. Still active today,
Zwilich will have her latest
work, Concerto Elegia — for
flute and string orchestra —
performed on Wednesday by
flutist Amy Porter and the Uni-
versity Symphony Orchestra
under the direction of Kenneth
Kiesler. Also on the program
will be Verdi, Wagner and
Ravel.

“I’ve been a musician since

I was — I don’t know — old
enough to climb under the
piano bench,” Zwilich said in
a phone interview with The
Michigan Daily. “I had the very
good fortune to go to a high
school that had a wonderful
music program … I was a trum-
pet player and a violinist, and
wrote music for the band to
play ... it was quite a wonderful
high school music experience I
had, and I lament the fact that
that’s not available to all kids
today.”

Zwilich began her collegiate

musical studies at Florida State
University — where she is now
a professor — and following

her graduation, moved to New
York.

“One of my big reasons [for

moving to New York] was to get
better as a violinist … shortly
after I got [to New York] I began
to work as a violinist,” Zwilich
said. “I had seven years in the
American Symphony Orchestra
under Leopold Stokowski —
which was quite interesting —
and at one point I really wanted
to go further with my composi-
tion … I had never quite written
a piece I was satisfied with.”

Zwilich then began pursu-

ing a degree in composition at
the Juilliard School, studying
with the renowned compos-
ers Elliott Carter and Roger
Sessions. In 1975 she became
the first woman to ever earn
a doctorate in composition
from Juilliard, an event which
marked the beginning of her
many triumphs as a composer.

“Eight years later I had an

overnight
success,”
Zwilich

said, alluding to her winning of
the Pulitzer Prize for her Sym-
phony No. 1. She was the first
woman to win the prestigious
prize, and her ensuing popular-
ity allowed her to compose full-
time, secure in the assumption
that commissions would be
regular enough.

“I’ve been lucky.” Zwilich

said. “Writing has been part of
my life really since I was ten
years old. I love what I do, and
it’s a great honor to write for
some of the people I’ve written
for.”

Concerto Elegia, the piece

which
will
be
performed

Wednesday by the USO, was
commissioned by a group of
eleven universities, including
the University of Michigan.
It was completed last year, in
response to a personal tragedy
which also caused a dry spell
for Zwilich preceding its com-
position.

“I had a commission for flute

and string orchestra … and my
husband [Erik Lamont] died,”
Zwilich said. “And I was real-
ly not able to write much for
a time after that, and it really
just turned into a memorial for
him.”

The piece is in three move-

ments, the first Elegy the sec-
ond Soliloquy and the last
Epilogue, to which Zwilich
affixed an inscription of impor-
tance to her.

“I’ve put in the score a quote

from [the ancient Greek play-
wright] Sophocles, saying ‘One
must wait until evening to see
how splendid the day has been,’
” Zwilich said. “ The odd thing
about it was that this is the next
piece I was supposed to write,
and when I wrote the Elegy —
which was very different from
all the thoughts I had about the
piece — I found out after I’d fin-
ished it that in ancient Greece
the flute was the instrument of
elegy. It was really quite amaz-
ing.”

Concerto Elegia is a concer-

to, which means that it is for a
soloist and orchestra. Tradi-
tionally the orchestra has been
regarded as accompaniment
to the soloist, but many more-
recent composers — including
Zwilich — have come to regard
the form as a dialogue.

“I really love to balance

the weight of the solo instru-
ment against the weight of the
orchestra,” Zwilich said. “For
me a concerto doesn’t mean that
the orchestra is lying down like
a doormat. It involves interac-
tion — almost everything that
moves me in music and what
I want to write is really a lot
like chamber music. Where
there is support and interaction
between the ensemble and the
soloist.”

The piece also gives ample

opportunity for the soloist to
display their skill, artistry and
individuality.

“There’s a little room for

the performer to put their own
stamp on it,” Zwilich said.
“And I like that, because for me
music doesn’t exist until some-
one breathes life into it.”

“It’s a piece left open for

many chances of interpreta-
tion,” said flute soloist Amy
Porter, a professor at the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance.
“I also feel like because it’s in
memory of her late husband,
it’s putting life and death expe-
riences into my performance,
because I’ve suffered loss as
well.”

Porter described the piece as

being extremely fluid, lyrical
and emotionally engaging. For
an open listener, the concerto is
designed to touch strong emo-
tions. When asked if there was
anything she would like audi-
ence members to know before
hearing the piece, the compos-
er had some specific advice.

“One of the saddest things,

in my experience, is when
somebody comes up to me and
asks ‘what should I listen for?’
” Zwilich said. “And my answer
is always ‘open your ears and
your heart and your mind, your
soul — the whole thing — and
just listen.”Zwilich said. “And
my answer is always ‘open your
ears and your heart and your
mind, your soul — the whole
thing — and just listen.”

University
Symphony
Orchestra

Wed. 8 p.m.

Pre-concert
lecture begins
at 7:15

Hill Auditorium

Free and open

to the public

Allure of journalism

HBO

You know what they say about small hands.

By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY

Daily Music & Blog Editor

I love journalism porn. I’m not

talking about Playboy editorials,
nor am I talking about the most
sleekly
designed,
well-written

publications available today.

Specifically, I’m referring to

the second dictionary definition
under “porn”: television programs,
magazine, books, etc. that are
regarded as emphasizing the sen-
suous or sensational aspects of a
nonsexual subject and stimulating
a compulsive interest in their audi-
ence.

In this scenario, the keywords/

phrases are “television, books,
etc.” (film), “sensational aspects”
and
“compulsive
interest
in

their audience.” The sensational
aspects are the dedication, ideal-
ism and honesty of the upward-
looking depictions in my favorite
Journalism porn go-tos: HBO’s
“The Newsroom,” the 2015 film
“Spotlight” and the 2007 FX
series “Dirt” — more different
than similar, all three pieces of
media fluff up the cloudy ped-
estal on which I’ve placed The
Fourth Estate.

“The Newsroom” is an often-

criticized portrayal of an elite
newsroom basked in Sorkin-
esque idealism and crisply engi-
neered banter: often-criticized
in that many media sources find
the show’s tone preachy and ide-
alistic in the way that it offers an
otherworldly example of journal-
ism. It pays no attention to balance
for balance’s sake, gives facts and
asks only knowledgeable guests to

weigh in. But in today’s political
culture where political television
more often than not resembles ide-
ological MMA fighting rather than
intellectual discourse, maybe 2016
could use a little Atlantis Cable
News. Or maybe I just watch “The
Newsroom” too much. I don’t think
that’s anyone’s call to make.

As “The Newsroom” is idealis-

tic, “Spotlight” is raw. “Spotlight,”
one of this year’s least flashy
“Best Picture” nominees, tells
the story of a Boston investiga-
tive journalism team uncovering a
widespread child sex abuse in the
Boston archdiocese of the Catho-
lic Church. It shows the grueling
work — the fact-checking, the
busy work, the frustration and
even the anger and shame that
can accompany aspects of the
job. “Spotlight” gracefully bal-
ances the heavy content with brief
moments of humor that didn’t
detract from the story being told,
as well as highlighting the often-
forgotten origin of journalism:
truth. Not because it’s easy or nec-
essarily what people want to hear,
but because it’s right.

“Dirt” — if the name didn’t give

it away — is lower brow than the
aforementioned and puts more of
its emphasis on the “porn.” The
short-lived FX drama centers on
ruthless gossip magazine editor-
in-chief Lucy Spiller (Courteney
Cox, “Friends”). It’s the epitome
of guilty pleasure. It’s lurid in its
portrayal of both journalism and
celebrity: the nittiest and the grit-
tiest aspects of both played out
over a season and a half of out of
control cover stories including a

beheaded R&B star, fake pregnan-
cies, real pregnancies and (clearly)
a “Sexxx Issue,” polybagged and
loaded with celebs’ private mate-
rial.

While the dirtier aspects of

“Dirt” do offer as much pleasure
as they do guilt, Lucy Spiller
offers a moral compass to a rather
immoral show. Sure, she’s a tab-
loid queen (a business that the
world would be much better off
without), but her commitment to
the truth and always getting “the
scoop” is not only infection, but
in some ways it’s reminiscent of
“The Newsroom.” At D!rt Now,
they are above publishing lies —
instead they just do whatever it
takes to get to the dirtiest truths.


“The Newsroom,” “Spotlight”

and “Dirt” exemplify the porni-
fication of the journalist. More-
over, these quickly paced, highly
addicting dramas point to some-
thing bigger. Think of the average
television drama ... each of them
has a journalist or quasi-journal-
ist character. “Scandal” is filled
to the brim, “House of Cards” has
Zoe, “Orange Is The New Black”
has Larry (bleh), “Parks and Rec”
has talk show hosts and many
more, to name a few.

Journalism is pervasive, rep-

resentationally, in today’s media,
even if only through the use of
minor characters. When the media
elite do take the focus of a project,
I can only liken that product to the
most addicting of addictions. Jour-
nalism porn leaves me with what it
admits to: sensationalism. But sen-
sational is something to aspire to, is
it not?

NO FILTER
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

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