Anchorage Daily News

Two months ago, as part of our ongoing commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood, we put photos of Mary Martin online and asked readers if they could help identify some of the Alaskans in the pictures. Particularly difficult was a series that appeared to have been taken when the Broadway star unexpectedly added Nome to her Alaska tour.

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Alvin Aningayou

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But George Johnson of Anchorage may have at least one person tentatively identified. He sent an e-mail saying he thinks the woman in the parka in this photo might be Lily (Tunwenuk) Rose or her niece, Laura (Atuk) Hunter.

Is there anyone out there who can confirm that and maybe tell us more about the occasion? Shoot me an e-mail or phone call. Other unidentified photos from Martin's tour are posted at adn.com/statehood.

Alaskans receive $50,000 awards

A national artists advocacy organization has awarded two Alaskans $50,000 each in grants for artistic excellence. United States Artists honored Alvin Aningayou of Gambell and Andrew Okpeaha MacClean of Anchorage among 50 recipients of USA Fellowship grants Nov. 10 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Aningayou sculpts intricately carved animals -- whales and seals -- using walrus and whalebone. MacClean is a filmmaker whose "Sikumi (On the Ice)" was the first film to be written entirely in the Inupiaq language. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a special jury prize in short filmmaking.

USA Fellows include artists in the fields of architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, media arts, music, theater arts and visual arts. The USA Fellows program, now in its third year, partners with other groups, such as the Rasmuson Foundation, which was associated with the fellowships given to the two Alaskans.

Dark Christmas comedy

Speaking of films by Alaskans, Ron Holmstrom is selling DVDs of "Santa and Death." The movie, based on Forrest Attaway's play by the same name, has St. Nicholas and the Grim Reaper showing up in the same home at the same time on Christmas Eve, when they catch up on the news and recount old times while trying to sort out a bureaucratic mix-up over 8-year-old Tommy's wishes and his suicidal mother.

For those out of ideas about what to give their hard-to-buy-for friends and relatives, try this deadly funny and fairly short video (a 10-minute skit stretched into 22 minutes with credits). You'll be supporting local artists and boosting Alaska's reputation as a cultural mecca, especially if you make things up. Such as:

"It's been banned in North Pole."

"We get together as a family and watch this every Christmas. It's like Alaska's 'It's a Wonderful Life.' "

The film is available at several locations around town or directly from Holmstrom at P.O. Box 101864, Anchorage, AK 99510. It costs $14.99 with a discount for orders of five or more. Act now and he guarantees delivery before Christmas Eve.

It probably won't get into Sundance, but you'll laugh at least once.

Youth Symphony plans ambitious season

One of the more interesting concert series in Anchorage this season will be that of the Anchorage Youth Symphony. I've previously described AYS as the second-best orchestra in the state and see no reason to change that opinion at the moment.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Discovery Theatre, the AYS will give the second performance of Philip Munger's "Sinfonia," dedicated to the late conductor Gordon Wright. When the Anchorage Civic Orchestra gave the premiere of the piece last year, I felt the music was good, but the playing was pretty raw and rough. I expect the AYS players to have had more time to rehearse the two movements of the work that they'll present. The program will also feature music from "Porgy and Bess" and Wagner's Prelude to "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg."

Looking down the road to March 3, the Anchorage Concert Chorus will join the orchestra for Poulenc's "Gloria." This is a dress rehearsal, so to speak, for a trip AYS will make to Australia next summer. There, at the Sydney Opera House, it will accompany a group of international singers in that exuberant modern masterpiece.

The final program, in April, is no less ambitious, with the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2.

For more information, including the opportunity to send a donation their way (flights to Australia are pricey, and those tired of how Alaskans are perceived as rubes may take this as a chance to persuade outsiders that some of us have class), check the Web site, www.anchorageyouthsymphony.org

Christmas cometh

Next Sunday, we'll have a roundup of local holiday offerings including concerts, ballet and theater. But a few such will take place before then:

• UAA University Singers Holiday Concert, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, UAA Fine Arts Building Recital Hall.

• "Make We Joy," Alaska Chamber Singers, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 3900 Wisconsin St. (Repeating at St. Andrew's in Eagle River at 8 p.m. Dec. 14.)

• Anchorage Community Concert Band Holiday Concert, 7 p.m. Saturday, East High School.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

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