The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, November 25, 2019 — 5A

This past Wednesday evening, Hill Auditorium hosted the Orchestre 
Métropolitain de Montréal as part of the group’s 2019 United States tour.
According to the program, Orchestre Métropolitain began in 1981 with 
a mission “to share its passion for symphonic music and make it accessible 
to all.” Today, the Orchestre Métropolitain is the premier orchestra 
in Quebec and regularly tours to parade their musical capacity. The 
Orchestre Métropolitain visited the University Musical Society at a key 
point in the group’s history, as they will embark on their 40th season in 
2020.
Hill Auditorium was packed wall-to-wall with appreciators of classical 
music. Despite the impressive turnout, I did not see many students in the 
seats.
The performance from Orchestre Métropolitain and Joyce DiDonato 
was a showcase of pure musical talent at the classical, refined level. The 
Orchestre Métropolitain is an example of career orchestral musicians, 
and I believe it is beneficial for students to see the results of that kind of 
musical passion in the form of a beautiful performance from groups like 
the Orchestre Métropolitain.
The Orchestre Métropolitain were joined by multiple Grammy Award 
winner Joyce DiDonato. In the past, DiDonato has held residencies at 
Carnegie Hall and the Barbican Centre in London (an artist-in-residence 
is someone who is recruited by a particular institution to produce creative 
work for them on a regular basis). DiDonato treated Hill Auditorium to 
her sought-after vocals, absolutely sweeping the Ann Arbor audience 
off of their feet, yielding many a rose upon the stage at the end of her 
performance of excerpts from Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito, K. 621.”

The orchestra was led by Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has an 
extensive track record as far as musical directorship goes. Nézet-Séguin 
has been the conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000 and has 
directed music at the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and 
the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
One aspect of Nézet-Séguin’s work that caught my eye was his level 
of comfort with being at the center of the stage. Nézet-Séguin cracked 
smiles, embraced DiDonato and found ways to make the audience laugh. 
The conductor is a position that would seem to carry immense pressure 
and duress, but I saw genuine joy from Nézet-Séguin as he guided the 
orchestra. It was apparent that Nézet-Séguin truly enjoyed the music he 
was cultivating, and it was heartwarming to see real passion at the root of 
this masterful directorship.
It was a remarkable experience to watch the combination of masterful 
conductorship and pure vocal talent with a robust orchestra to back it all 
up.
After leaving Ann Arbor, the Orchestre Métropolitain will continue 
their tour in New York and Philadelphia.

DiDonato’s dream
at Hill Auditorium

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA
Daily Arts Writer

When I tell someone that I’m a country music fan, I usually 
hear one of three different responses. Unless the person is a fan 
themselves, they either laugh me off completely, contextualize 
their interest in the genre (“I listen to it in the summer 
sometimes”) or they mention Dolly Parton. The latter comment 
is demonstrative of “the great unifier” at work, a term that the 
WNYC podcast “Dolly Parton’s America” coined for Dolly in 
its first episode. The podcast’s host, Jad Abumrad, claims that 
deciphering this universal admiration for Dolly is what sparked 
the creation of the series in the first place. Which other musical 
artist can boast crowds of drag queens and red hat wearers 
alike? Which other musician can do this as a woman over 70 
years old? Only Dolly.
My first introduction to the blonde, bedazzled “Backwoods 
Barbie” was memorably immersive. In the summer of 2013, my 
family took a trip 
to Dollywood in 
Tennessee. 
The 
theme park draws 
its 
inspiration 
from the Smoky 
Mountains 
that 
surround it, close 
to 
where 
Dolly 
actually grew up. 
In fact, a replica 
of her childhood 
home sits tucked 
away 
amid 
roller 
coasters, 
carousels 
and 
food 
stands 
in 
the center of the 
park. 
Dolly 
is 
omnipresent 
throughout 
the 
park’s 
150 
acres 
— 
on 
lamppost 
signs, 
in 
loudspeakers, 
etched 
on 
the 
backs of benches. 
But 
this 
two 
room 
cabin 
is 
undoubtedly 
the heartbeat of 
the Dollyverse. When my family huddled inside, we all spoke 
in hushed tones. Then another couple entered behind us and 
simply stared. Although it hit me then that Dolly is somehow 

sacred, I still didn’t understand why.
At first glance, she’s a walking, talking 
contradiction. Displaying a tiny cabin 
in the middle of a commercial theme 
park and presenting both as authentic is 
just one instance. Claiming to be “real” 
underneath her over-the-top appearance 
is another. But the examples continue. 
On recent albums like 2014’s Blue Smoke, 
Parton draws inspiration from a place and 
lifestyle that she left over 50 years ago. 
Dolly is a serious songwriter, but in any 
given interview you’ll find her making a 
joke about her breasts. Her iconic hit “9 to 
5” is a feminist anthem, but Dolly steers 
clear of making any overtly political 
statements. 
In 2019, artists making a stand is not 
only encouraged, but expected. Dolly 
has seemingly 
already 
made 
a 
stand 
by 
penning 
and 
singing “9 to 
5,” 
so 
what 
would 
be 
the harm in weighing in on the 
politics of today? If anything, my 
inclination is that not speaking up 
would be career-damaging. This 
is what the fifth episode of “Dolly 
Parton’s America,” titled “Dollitics,” 
investigates. 
As it turns out, Dolly has her own 
set of rules. “I don’t do politics,” 
Parton asserts in an interview with 
Abumrad, “I have too many fans on 
both sides of the fence. Of course, I 
have my opinion about everything, 
but I learned years ago to keep your 
mouth shut about things.” This was 
disheartening to hear. As a woman 
with so much fame, wealth and 
reach she could a lot of good with 
her platform politically. “Keeping 
her mouth shut” sounded more like 
a business strategy. But as Abumrad 
points out as the episode continues, 
Dolly doesn’t actually keep her 
mouth shut at all. She just doesn’t 
throw stones. 
Her implicit activism spans back to the beginning of her 
career. Never one to back down from difficult topics in song, 
“The Bridge” from 1968 is about an unmarried pregnant woman 

committing suicide. In 1980, an even more popular Parton 
released the album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, which includes several 
songs advocating for the humanity of marginalized people. 
In “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” she sings for the 
migrant workers that are sent back to Mexico and end up dying 
in a plane crash. “The radio said they were just deportees,” 
Dolly cries. In “Dark as a Dungeon,” Dolly illuminates the poor 
working conditions in mines. 
And in the sixth episode of “Dolly Parton’s America,” a 
frustrated present-day Parton admits that “(She hates) those 
Christians that are so judgemental” toward the LGBTQ+ 
community. She refuses to go right out and say it, and she 
refuses to bash anyone, but Dolly is very much her own kind 
of activist — one that charmingly disarms others by making 
jokes about her own appearance, one that accepts everyone, but 
definitely doesn’t always agree with them. Her stance is quiet 
in interviews, but loud on her albums. This is just one piece of 
the puzzle that makes Dolly so enchanting, but it’s especially 
relevant in 2019. 
As the election cycle picks up speed this year, I’m curious to 
see how artists respond. Will more statement songs like “This 
Is America” be released and become popular? Will pop instead 
lean away from reality and into otherworldliness or escapism? 
If one thing is for certain, it’s that Dolly Parton won’t be 
endorsing anyone. But I still think that her approach to politics 
is useful. It’s a strategy for starting a dialogue. Acceptance as 
a means of meeting people where they are, not as a way to let 
harm continue unnoticed. 

It’s Dolly’s world: On the power & politics of Miss Parton

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

KATIE BEEKMAN
Daily Arts Writer

GEORGE BUSH WHITE HOUSE

I had never been to The Fillmore before I went last 
Wednesday night for a ScHoolboy Q concert, with Nav 
as the opener. It seemed counterintuitive to me to see a 
herd of hyped-up young adult rap fans in such a classically 
beautiful theater. Talk about an interesting juxtaposition. 
The wooden floors were what really concerned me: I’ve 
seen the way wooden floors react to lots of jumping, and 
I wasn’t certain they were going to make it through the 
show. I calmed down and rationalized that the people 
running the venue knew what they were doing.
When Nav came out, I was concerned for the fate of the 
rest of the show. The crowd was dead and the performance 
had little energy behind it, with Nav simply walking 
slowly back and forth across the stage, attempting to get 
the audience to sing along to no avail. I never do this at 
concerts, but I stood looking at my phone or talking to 
my friends most of the time. I kept complaining about my 
legs hurting. It was already 8 p.m. and I had class the next 
morning. 
I kept my hopes up for ScHoolboy Q. I had wanted to see 
him in concert ever since some of my high school friends 
told me that he is a terrible live performer. I had heard 
he performed even 
his most energetic 
songs in such a 
half-hearted 
way 
that the audience 
couldn’t 
get 
invested 
in 
the 
performance. This 
fascinated me, as 
SchoolBoy 
had 
always 
been 
an 
artist whose music 
pumped me up. I 
wanted to put it to 
the test and see if 
he could prove his 
critics (my friends) 
wrong.
Long 
story 
short, he did.
Although 
not 
flawless, 
the 
performance itself, 
in 
combination 
with 
the 
energy 
from the crowd, 
allowed 
for 
a 
perfectly 
imperfect concert. 
ScHoolboy himself 
sounded 
great, 
rapping 
a 
large 
portion of the most 
of the songs, as opposed to letting the audience or backing 
track do the work for him. The audience was filled with 
diehard fans who screamed their approval after the first 
note of every song played.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me was how he 
actually played the majority of his songs all the way 

through. Many of his most popular tracks, such as “THat 
Part” with Kanye West, “CHopstix” with Travis Scott, 
“Floating” with 21 Savage, and “Collard Greens” with 
Kendrick Lamar, have substantial features on them. Many 
of the rap artists I’ve seen live only perform their portions 
of the song and then move on. For ScHoolboy, it definitely 
worked in his favor to perform the full versions of the 
songs. When there were lulls in the energy of the crowd, 
he would play one of the fan favorites and get everyone 
back into it again. Even the people in the balcony were 
standing up and dancing around to “Man of the Year” and 
“Numb Numb Juice.” 
ScHoolboy said the crowd at The Fillmore was the 
best he’d ever seen in Detroit. During pretty much the 
only time he spoke to the crowd, he said: “I’m not gonna 
lie, I don’t really be having that much fun in Detroit but 
tonight is kinda fun, dog, this is kinda tight.” Giving us the 
credit we deserved was a smart move on ScHoolboy’s part 
because the energy in the theater amped up even more 
after his speech. 
The setlist itself was quite comprehensive, covering 
most of his biggest hits while also covering a decent 
portion of the album behind this tour, CrasH Talk. The one 
place where ScHoolboy erred was with the song he chose 
to end the show. His penultimate song of the evening was 
“Hell of a Night,” which, by all standards, would have 
been a great song 
to close with. It’s 
a popular, high-
energy tune that 
had all of The 
Fillmore jumping 
off the walls.
Unfortunately, 
ScHoolboy 
tried 
to do something 
a little different 
by 
ending 
with 
“Blessed,” 
a 
slower song that 
isn’t available on 
any 
streaming 
services. 
Although 
it 
would have been 
a 
wonderful 
addition 
to 
the 
setlist 
at 
any 
other point (who 
doesn’t 
love 
an 
ode 
to 
the 
original 
fans?), 
ending the show 
with it killed the 
excitement 
that 
the rest of the 
show had built up. 
I still left sweaty 
and buzzing, but 
definitely not as much as I would have if he’d ended with 
a more “predictable” song. Despite being disappointed 
by the final note, I still left the concert satisfied and 
impressed by both his performance and the excitement of 
the crowd. For my first concert in Detroit, I really can’t 
complain.

ScHoolboy Q at The Fillmore: Good

CONCERT REVIEW

GIGI CIULLA
For The Daily

Although not flawless, 
the performance itself, in 
combination with the energy 
from the crowd, allowed for 
a perfectly imperfect concert. 
ScHoolboy himself sounded 
great, rapping a large portion of 
most of the songs, as opposed to 
letting the audience or backing 
track do the work for him.

Which other musical artist 
can boast crowds of drag 
queens and red hat wearers 
alike? Which other musician 
can do this as a woman over 
70 years old? Only Dolly.

DiDonato treated Hill 
Auditorium to her sought-after 
vocals, absolutely sweeping the 
Ann Arbor audience off of their 
feet.

