Tag Archives: Marty Merkley
Harry Aldrich, founder of the Parade Street Dixieland Jazz Band

Parade Street Jazz Band plays out 2012 Season

August 26, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The Parade Street Dixieland Jazz Band begins its Chautauqua debut performance at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater.

The seven-member band features Harry Aldrich, tenor banjo; Sonny Froman, drumset; Keith Lenz, trumpet; John Marszalek, clarinet; Marilyn Marszalek, piano; Kent Tucker, trombone; and Gary Viebranz, sousaphone.

The group will play a program of musical favorites in a jazz interpretation including “Hello Dolly,” “Armed Forces Medley” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Jazz favorites include “Bourbon Street Blues,” “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Dark Town Strutter’s Ball.”

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Sunday Afternoon Entertainment
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Guest conductor Noam Zur, making his North American debut, leads the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra through its final performance Tuesday evening in the Amphitheater. In 2013, the CSO will play its third summer under the batons of guest conductors as a search begins for a permanent music director. Photo by Eric Shea.

CSO looks forward to third season of guest conductors

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

This was the second season without the presence of a music director for the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, but based on the performances from the orchestra and the feedback from its audience, the absence is hardly noticeable.

While it is a challenge for the orchestra to perform under a new conductor almost every single concert — with the exception of a handful of conductors who joined the CSO for two performances — the orchestra has risen to the occasion.

“It keeps them on the edge of their seat, keeps things charged, keeps things interesting, and the majority of the orchestra likes that — they like that challenge,” said Marty Merkley, Institution vice president and director of programming.

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Symphony
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CTC welcomes new age of maturity with announcement of 2013 line-up

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The 29th season of Chautauqua Theater Company closed last Friday with Bratton Late Night, marking the 52nd performance in 56 days.

The season bubbled with unknowns. Vivienne Benesch became sole artistic director; Sarah Clare Corporandy stepped into the role of managing director; and Fifty Ways, the season’s second full production, offered the first-ever CTC world premiere on the Chautauqua grounds.

As the highest-grossing CTC season yet and with The Philadelphia Story marking the highest-paid capacity of any one show in CTC history, the 29th year has been a smash hit for CTC.

“I am incredibly proud of this season,” Benesch said. “It has been a truly remarkable season.”

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Theater
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Corporation re-elects Miller to board, receives updates from Institution

August 15, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The annual meeting of the Chautauqua Corporation took place Saturday morning in the Hall of Philosophy followed by an open forum.

The meeting began with an introduction of the present trustees and approval of the 2011 minutes.

The Chautauqua Institution board is made up of 24 trustees, 20 of whom are elected by the board itself. Members of the corporation, which includes property owners, elect the other four trustees.

One of those trustees, Greg Miller, will reach the end of his term this season.

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Community
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Becker

From the President: Column by Thomas M. Becker

August 11, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

This time of the season has a bittersweet quality. Our schools of the fine and performing arts and some of our professional arts ensembles are performing for the last time during the upcoming week. Throughout the season we have witnessed the many gifts of these companies. In particular, we have seen the arc of development of the festival dancers, the Music School Festival Orchestra, Chautauqua Theater Company, to cite only those featured in the next few days.

Saturday evening you can enjoy Shakespeare’s As You Like It at Bratton Theater at 6 p.m. and move swiftly on to the Amphitheater for the North Carolina Dance Theatre, our resident professional dance company, accompanied by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Grant Cooper, a newly minted American citizen.

It feels somewhat seamless to think of leaving the Forest of Arden within Bratton Theater for a stroll through Bestor Plaza to the Amphitheater, having just heard that in such a place we must find “tongues in tress, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.”

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Community
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Three Chautauqua stars tread the boards for ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ dramatic reading

August 9, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Geof Follansbee acquiesced to play George Holly in the Chautauqua Women’s Club dramatic reading of Tennessee Williams’ play Suddenly Last Summer at 4 p.m. Friday in Fletcher Music Hall despite the fact that his last theatrical appearance was as a fifth grader.

“I’m just pleased to be able to support the CWC fundraiser,” he said.

He is joined by Institution Vice President and Director of Programming Marty Merkley as Dr. Cukrowicz, and Director of the Department of Religion the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell as Sister Felicity. The three agreed they were happy to “tread the boards” to support the CWC. They play minor but important roles in the production and, regardless of Follansbee’s caveat, are all comfortable on stage.

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Community
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Marty Merkley, vice president and director of programming, discusses the challenges of arts programming at Chautauqua in Wednesday’s Trustees Porch Discussion on the Hultquist Center porch. Photo by Lauren Rock.

Merkley talks arts programming at porch chat

July 28, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

At Wednesday’s weekly Trustees Porch Discussion on the Hultquist Center porch, Institution Vice President and Director of Programming Marty Merkley spoke with members of the community about arts programming in Chautauqua.

Arts programming entails all of the visual and performing arts, Merkley said, including opera, theater, music, dance, chamber music, visual arts and all the groups associated with those genres.

Having a variety in the arts is important, he said, because everyone likes different things.

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Community
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Suki Schorer teaches advanced classes at the School of American Ballet. Submitted photo.

Schorer to receive Dance Artist Teacher Award

July 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Suki Schorer, School of American Ballet faculty member and former Balanchine ballerina, is the 2012 recipient of the Dance Artist Teacher Award.

Chautauquan Kay Logan established the award, which is given to an outstanding educator in the dance world annually, in 1995, because of her respect and appreciation for teachers.

“People do not recognize how important a good teacher is in the lives of so many people,” Logan said in an interview with The Chautauquan Daily in 1997. “Teaching is indeed an art, and it should be more revered than it is in our country.”

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Dance
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