A noteworthy premiere will take place this weekend when the Alaska Chamber Singers present two concerts as part of their 30th anniversary. ACS has commissioned a new work for these concerts, "Litany (For a Year)" by Steven Sametz, set to poetry by Fairbanks writer Susan Campbell. Sametz, of Pennsylvania, is one of the leading conductors of choral music in America. His considerable reputation as a composer received a boost in recent years with the debut of his tribute to the children killed in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, "A Child's Requiem."
Sametz found the exquisitely lyrical poem in "PoetryALASKAwomen: Top of the World." It reads, in part: "When sunlight becomes a fragrance / When skeins of wild geese hem the sky / … When carried grief seems to lift / When the smell of another skin is your own / When you wake to the first rain / When you finally remember."
In his composer's notes, Sametz said he read the poem at a time "when my mother suffers from dementia" and that the last line "took on a particular poignancy."
"Campbell's poem touched a chord for me in this context," he said, "our ability to look back and see where we've been -- our memories -- grounds and defines us."
Titled "30 Seasons of Song," the program reminds us about how active the group has been in commissioning new music over the years. It includes selections from Libby Larsen's setting of poems by Tom Sexton, which ACS debuted here five years ago, Grant Cochran's arrangement of "Simple Gifts" commissioned in 2005 and their version of Pachelbel's Canon for human voices accompanied by loon calls.
Keeping on the theme of northern sounds, the program will include another contemporary piece by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo titled "Tundra" and one we've heard before, Stephen Chatman's "Mosquitoes." The concerts will open with yet another Alaska original, the arrangement of "Alaska's Flag" by Elvera Voth, the group's founder.
In addition to Alaskana, Americana, folk songs and a couple of pop tunes, ACS will be giving a taste of the music they'll present at the American Choral Directors Association Northwest Conference in Seattle, which runs March 3-6.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Eagle River.
Busy weekend for theater
This may be some kind of record in the annals of Anchorage theater. Four plays open their runs on Feb. 26: Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" at UAA, "Good Men Wanted" at Cyrano's, "The Winter's Tale" at Out North and the Alaska Sound Celebration's annual Fur Rondy Melodrama, "Pirates vs. Gold Miners: The Realest Alaska Reality Show," at the Snow Goose Theatre.
In addition, there will be one free show of "The Dream," a play about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. written and directed by Matt Fernandez. It takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 855 E. 20th Ave. And Perseverance Theatre's production of "Our Voices Will be Heard" continues at Sydney Laurence Theatre.
Last weekend for art shows
The current shows at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art will come down after Saturday, Feb. 27. It's worth taking a look primarily for the curiously graceful assemblage and carving pieces by Don Decker. They contain some curious items, like a skull, fossils, dog collar and smashed paint can, all associated with the titles of the pieces. For instance, the smashed can is found in a piece titled "Road Trip."
Also on display are anthropomorphically inspired paintings by Sarah Melissa Whalen and a small curated show of out-of-state artists, the most interesting of which were replicas of gallery labels with odd remarks in the comments field by Alex Gingrow. For instance, "Which one was dropped? The unsold one? Oh, that's fine. Nobody cares about that one anyway."
The gallery at 427 D St. will be open noon-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Read 1,000 books -- out loud
"1,000 Books before Kindergarten" is an upcoming program hosted by the Anchorage Public Library folks to encourage parents to read 1,000 books to their children before the kids get into kindergarten. The kickoff party will take place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 5, on the second floor of Loussac Library. Zoey Grenier, Miss Alaska and cartoon artist Lee Post will be on hand to lead story-readings. Participants will receive logbooks to keep track of what's being read to their children who, when the 1,000 goal is met, will receive an Alaska-themed picture book.
I tend to believe the studies that show the more a child gets read to the bigger his or her vocabulary will be upon entering school. This gives them a huge leg up in reading, comprehension and schoolwork. And while the number sounds big, you can easily read two or three picture books in 20 minutes or less. That means even if a child has a year before starting kindergarten, the goal is reachable without too much effort. I'm not sure from the press release whether reading the same story over and over again, which is a request the reading parent will encounter often, counts as more than 1/1000th of the total.
Don't have 1,000 children's books lying around? No problem. The local library has many times that many, plus comfortable places to read. Back when this writer was waiting to get into kindergarten, it cost 50 cents to get an annual library card from the Anchorage Public Library, $1 if you lived outside the city. But everyone had 'em; they were like our cable. Now the cards are free. What a deal!
As far as actually getting into Loussac is concerned, that's a little more difficult than reading through a stack of Mo Willems' "Elephant and Piggie" books. The library is undergoing major construction right now. The entry for both the library and the Anchorage Assembly chambers is marked on the ground floor across from the parking lot. You need to walk around a chain-link fence, then thread your way into the building past the checkout desk and take an elevator to get to where the books actually are. Take a wrong turn and you may wind up stepping into the horrors of an Assembly meeting.
It's actually not any more inconvenient than the old and now gone Steps of Death were and, we trust, the rebuilt entry will be a vast improvement. In the meantime, think of going to the library as an adventure -- which, to tell the truth, it always is.
The program is sponsored by Alaska Northwest Books and the Friends of the Library.
Rasmuson Foundation announces visiting artists
Four artists from the Lower 48 will spend eight weeks working with Alaska institutions this fall. Robyn Renee Hasty, who works in photography, sculpture and installation, will be in residency at the Anchorage Museum; multidisciplinary artist Courtney M. Leonard of New York will be at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Native Art Center; puppet-maker Claudio Orso-Giacone will be traveling to the Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer from his base in Oberlin, Ohio; and Cleveland, Ohio, poet Nikki Zielinski will be in residence at the Island Institute in Sitka.
The Artist in Residence program, sponsored by the Rasmuson Foundation, is a reciprocal program that brings out-of-state artists to Alaska to work with local art groups and sends an equal number of Alaska artists Outside to residencies at art facilities in the Lower 48.
The strange journey of 'Ilimaq'
We have not yet reported on the curious circumstances that led to the creation of John Luther Adams' "Ilimaq," released by Cantaloupe Music in October. The 40-some-minute piece is for solo drummer and electronics. It was written for Glenn Kotche, the longtime percussionist with the alternative rock band Wilco.
Wilco was touring Alaska in 2008, three years after winning the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album with their CD "A Ghost is Born." Kotche took the opportunity to contact Adams, then living in Fairbanks, and asked to meet with him. On his website, Adams said he had been thinking about the idea of "Ilimaq" for some time and was intrigued by Kotche's request for a new piece of serious music for the percussion medium. Adams had also been a rock drummer at one point and called Kotche "the drummer I always imagined I could be."
"Ilimaq" -- Inupiaq for "spirit journey" -- was ultimately commissioned by music programs at the University of Texas, Stanford University and Duke University. The album credits mixing and mastering to former Anchorage soundsmith Nathaniel Reichman.
Kotche is also a composer who had work premiere at a well-attended concert in Carnegie Hall on Feb. 12. He's still playing with Wilco, which was again nominated for a Grammy this year with "Star Wars." The category was won by Alabama Shakes' "Sound & Color."