From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made about 2.5 hours from Rochester, in an idyllic setting on a lake.

The Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874, and over the past 150 years, it has become known as a center for arts and culture, as well as the space for freedom of speech and diversity of thought.

Guests have included George Gershwin, who composed his Concerto in F in a Chautauqua practice back in 1925.

President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his I Hate War speech at the institution in 1996.

President Bill Clinton, who visited as he prepared for his debate with Senator Bob Dole.

And more recently, performers and authors of various backgrounds, including, as you might have heard.

Salman Rushdie, who was attacked on the Chautauqua stage in 2022.

The story of Chautauqua, which has grown from a small religious retreat to a center that hosts more than 100,000 visitors each year, is told in a new PBS documentary called Chautauqua at 150.

Wynton Marsalis.

All rise in the film, leaders and guests of the institution discuss the power of free speech, of artistic expression, and how they think we can transform differences into collective creativity.

And it's set to the music of jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, who performs with noted artists and students with Chautauqua music School Festival and the Chautauqua Stage.

And by the way, Marsalis will be in Rochester for the Jazz Fest this year.

You can watch the documentary next week and Sky TV.

But first, we're previewing it with our guests and talking about the importance of this landmark in our region and really for our country.

Welcome in studio with me is Debbie Grossman, who is a clarinetist, administrative coordinator for the Greater Rochester Community of Churches, a fifth generation Chautauqua.

And we like to say, someone who's spent a lot of time there.

Thank you for being back with us here.

Thank you for having me in on the line with us.

I should say.

Christopher Farley is senior director of art programing and development at PBS's Christopher.

An honor.

Thank you for being with us.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Appreciate it.

Timothy Muffett is artistic director of the Music school festival at the Chautauqua Institution.

Hello, Timothy.

Hello.

Great to be here.

And Laura Sabia is vice president of performing and visual arts at the Chautauqua Institution.

Hello, Laura.

Hi.

Happy to be here.

You know, I, I am.

It's a home game for me, too.

In fact, Debbie and I were using the phrase home game when, you know, when you get to perform there.

And Debbie is, you know, her family's been there for generations, and she's performed there.

For me, it's a home game.

I've got family who live on Chautauqua Lake.

I, I worked at a YMCA camp a right across from the institution when I was growing up.

I used to take Dawson metal canoes.

That's the that's the that's the big manufacturer in Jamestown.

Is Dawson Metal still there?

And Dawson metal canoes.

We used to row across the lake with the kids to the institution, so we could avoid paying the gate fee, and we can get ice cream and then go back to camp.

And I just want to out myself.

Timothy and Laura, I never paid.

So that's a that is a debt that is decades old now.

I feel like that, too.

You.

Yeah.

I think the statute of limitations might be in your favor here.

Yeah, I think it is.

Either we're talking, like 1995 here.

Christopher Farley is the senior director of art program programing and development of PBS.

And and Christopher, for us in, in the region Chautauqua is is huge.

But it's it's I think it's really special to see it memorialized this way with a national audience.

can you describe why PBS wanted to be involved in this project and how you see the institution?

Well, the main reason we want to be part of this project is because of the greatness of the main partners involved.

You're talking about Wynton Marsalis, jazz legend, and Chautauqua Institution.

Just a terrific place.

And, some place is foundational when it comes to arts and culture in America.

And coming up on its 150th year of existence.

a good time to sort of, measure the place and talk about its greatness and add it all up.

It just seemed like a great, opportune city for PBS to commission a documentary and weigh in on Chautauqua, what it does and where it's going.

So that's really the decision making process for, for for this documentary.

I want to list some of the ways that people have described Chautauqua that come from the film.

And I think these are really on the money, and we're going to talk about them.

it's a feeling you can't necessarily describe, but it makes you feel special and you want more of it.

A place where you can see something you haven't seen before and that causes a shift in you.

A place where you can sit down and really listen to one another.

I those last two are really important to me because I still have family.

I have aunts and uncles who go to Chautauqua to hear speakers and to be challenged.

you know, I had a, friend of the family was there when Salman Rushdie was attacked.

And, in 2022 talking about themes that obviously can be very challenging in society.

I think it is more important than ever that this is celebrated, that we bring intellectuals, that we bring speakers of all backgrounds, and we say we're going to sit in public and we're going to hear it and we're going to digest ideas, and then we may discuss it.

We may listen to one another.

and I feel like, you know, Christopher, working in media, I think it's valuable to have physical spaces to where we can do that, especially as the idea of hearing competing ideas is is less popular these days.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

And the line towards the end of the documentary that says, and I'm paraphrasing, that, that Chautauqua uses the things that pull us apart to bring us together, that the things that pull us apart can bring us together by discussing them, by debating them, by being honest brokers and coming to having some mutual respect for each other's views instead of pushing apart that can bring us together.

It's a powerful notion.

You see it year after year.

It's Ithaca.

You see it, you know, on film, in this documentary.

And some of that I saw firsthand.

It's funny.

but when I was planning this documentary and going down there just doing some reconnaissance of Chautauqua and I talked to had I just happened to talk to my one of my old college roommates and, and just by coincidence, he too was planning to go down to Chautauqua that that same year.

And, so we ended up hanging out together down there and taking in Marcel's performance and going to a couple lectures together.

And, you know, being able to debate and discuss some of the things that we're seeing.

And I get to see firsthand just how powerful that is to connect to somebody else and talk about what you're experiencing idea wise in terms of headlines, the news and long standing themes and ideas.

It's sometimes I think, we think to substitute for just being on the web and being an internet, being on social media, that that's a way of discussing ideas.

And it is one way, but there's a deeper connection you can make when it's in-person, when you're you're on the grounds of people to talk with.

It's history.

And, and some of the great experts that bring their you can leave you to lead to a deeper understanding of the material of your life and of the times we live in.

Well, and you know, Christopher, every time there is, a presidential campaign, we, we hear a listener say, you know, well, what we need to do is bring back the Lincoln-Douglas debates, that style, the long form, and really hear one another and hear what candidates say at length.

And why can't we do that?

And I don't know that Americans, if we did that, would really want that.

I hope they would want that.

People say they want that.

But the beautiful thing about Chautauqua is that is quite literally what is happening with with some of the speakers and some of the presentations and some of the opportunities to hear these ideas at length in person from intellectual, sometimes from political leaders.

We mentioned President Clinton, among many others.

it's old school in that way.

and I think that's why there was this big preservation movement that we talked about on this program for years.

I think people still feel like that is we need that in our society.

And I want to give you a little space.

Christopher, just to mention if you want to and I hope you do.

The value that you see in a similar way we talked about Chautauqua, but I think that that's some of the mission of public broadcasting writ large.

There's going to be conversation this year about what might happen in different sectors of the government and things like that, and we'll deal with that if things happen.

but isn't that the mission of public broadcasting writ large?

Different ideas, challenging your perspective, showing you something new, letting you listen to something new, and maybe seeing how you feel afterwards and seeing how that affects you.

Isn't that what we do?

I think that's exactly right.

We're we're not advocates of one particular viewpoint.

What we do is we let all of America have a platform to talk about what matters to them.

Urban, suburban, rural, you know, all 50 states or all the parts of America get to find themselves in our public television broadcasting, because that's why we're here.

We're here to help give people a voice.

and, you know, it's tricky with me.

I mean, for me as, someone who oversees arts programing at PBS, you know, art just isn't a distraction from the world.

It's really a way of better understanding the world.

And in many cases, it's the reason why we endure all the, sometimes terrible things that happens in the world so we can have that release that comes through art.

And we see that in this documentary with, we went, Marcellus is a great performance of all Rise with, with, with all his terrific players.

And we see that time and time again on the programing that we, we offer on PBS.

We're talking to Christopher Farley, senior director of art programing and development at PBS, with this on connections this afternoon.

And we're talking about the film Chautauqua at 150.

Wynton Marsalis is all rise.

Now, I want to tell you, there is a showing at the little theater tomorrow, but that event is sold out.

So I hope that you have a ticket already.

and if you do, great.

But if you don't, WXXI TV will be bringing this to you next Tuesday.

Tuesday night at 10 p.m.. We'd love for you to take it in from your home theater, your home viewing, and, appreciate and enjoy what what they've done in creating not only a musical piece here, but also a historical look at Chautauqua.

And I want to bring in our other guests.

Debbie, you know, when you when you think about Chautauqua first, what comes to mind for you?

What comes to mind is home and community.

And I loved that one of the movements in All Rise is Come Back Home, because that's exactly what Christopher was saying.

It's the arts, engaging ideas.

So when I think of Chautauqua, I think of, the community that becomes like an extended family.

my husband and I sing in a choir that sings about 15 or 20 hours a week.

Those people really do become family.

And, that's true with all sorts of programing in Chautauqua.

and so lifelong connections are made and, and so you come back, you come back home, for that.

And Chautauqua is just built for that.

You know, when I think of Chautauqua, I think of porches.

yes.

There's a saying life is a porch.

and so you gather because it's a pedestrian community as well.

So it's, really common to have conversations in the street and on people's porches.

You may not even know their last name, but, you know, they're Chautauqua and that you see every year, and you just pick back up where you were.

and that's lovely.

That really is it adds a richness so that, the way we have relationships in our regular lives, is much deepened by the way it happens there.

A colleague introduced Debbie to us as a fifth generation Chautauqua, and I thought, oh, does she live on Chautauqua?

You don't.

But tell me about the idea of being a fifth generation Chautauqua.

Yeah, it just means that my family's been going to Chautauqua, in the summers, 4 or 5 generations.

And there was something to draw everybody.

But in this intellectual, artistic pursuit, my family has always valued those things.

And I grew up doing the children's programing and the youth programing and the, the music programs for middle and high school students.

I was in the festival orchestra for two summers, the one that gets featured in this documentary.

and so through different incarnations of my life, I have, experienced Chautauqua in all these many ways.

Timothy, what comes to mind for you first, when you think of Chautauqua?

Well, I would echo a lot of what Debbie says, and a lot of what what you were talking about in terms of the the national conversation.

It's, the it is a, a fabric of many threads and many different kinds of threads.

but certainly it's a place where many worlds come together.

It's a place where, current events come together.

It's a place where art's old and new.

Not only, you know, the arts that we preserve from hundreds of years ago, but also cutting edge arts, music, plays, theater that are brand new.

it's a place where people come together for recreation.

It's a place where people come together for religious discussion, and of religious discussion of many different, perspectives as well.

so to me, the thing that comes to mind is just a very, intricate, diverse fabric of, of thought and, and activity and people.

Laura, what comes to mind for you?

I think the word enrichment.

The founders of Chautauqua Institution were very bold and very innovative, and they were asking themselves, what kind of recreation can we offer people?

In many cases, people with a new found leisure time to enrich their body, mind and spirit.

And that is still what my colleagues and I are trying to offer the 10,000 people who come to visit us, whether they're coming for one day, you know, a lot of people come dressed on Sundays because we don't charge anything to come on a Sunday or whether they're coming for one week.

we do, organize our summer by week for each week as a theme to wrestle with and engage in, or whether they're coming for the whole summer, maybe even own a home on the grounds we are trying to offer through our four pillars of arts, education, religion and recreation.

This enrichment for the body, for the mind and for the spirit.

And I've personally found that to be true in my experience at Chautauqua and watching my three year old daughter experience Chautauqua is certainly true for her.

and we do try to deliver that for, for everyone who passes through our gates.

Barb from Brighton emails the program to say, Evan, remember Susan B Anthony at Chautauqua.

Susan B Anthony spoke in Chautauqua.

And, on multiple occasions, she was the prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement and a frequent speaker in Chautauqua.

Here are some of those highlights.

So before the institution, 1854, Susan B Anthony spoke with the Chautauqua County Women's Rights Convention.

In 1891, Susan B Anthony spoke at the first annual Political Equality Day at the Chautauqua Institution.

In 1892, Susan B Anthony spoke at a suffrage debate at the Chautauqua Institution, and in 1896 she spoke at Lilydale, inspiring many with her advocacy for women's rights.

Don't forget her Barb from Brighton, says we are not going to forget Susan B Anthony and Barb.

Thank you for that note.

that's a that's another great point.

I mean, really before mass media, places like Chautauqua were where people would need to gather to hear speakers, to hear big ideas at length.

I mean, you would certainly read about them in the newspaper, but Chautauqua was was kind of it, wasn't it?

Laura?

I think it was one of the places, and we like to say that Chautauqua is both a place and a movement.

I mean, the Chautauqua movement, which spawned many iterations, across the country, was exactly that convening thought leaders in a community setting to to get, their ideas out, but also for us to wrestle with them with those ideas.

And I think that, as you said earlier, of and it's never been more important in my life, time to still have a place to do that.

So when I think of Susan B Anthony and we certainly do not forget her for a minute at Chautauqua, I think of how she's still today in conversation with the people and the thought leaders were bringing to the institution, for example.

And this is very much highlighted in the documentary, the playwright and actress Kate Hamill is a feminist voice who has written.

She's one of the most produced playwrights in America.

She premiered a play, we incubated it, and she premiered it at Chautauqua Institution.

That was about a, a painter from the 1600s named Artemisia Gentileschi, a proto feminist.

And Kate was rewriting and rewriting as the election was almost upon us.

I like to say that playwrights are prophets.

They're they're they're casting their their view to the future, but they're also helping us process and synthesize what's happening around us.

You could say the same is true of Wynton Marsalis.

His work All Rise.

and so many of his other works help us understand, the world we're living in.

So I think that one of the things I'm most proud of in the trajectory of talk with history is how voices like Susan B Anthony's and now Kate Hamels can be in conversation across generations.

and in conversation with us today in person.

Yeah.

And let me ask all of our guests, and I'll start with Laura on this one.

listeners may wonder if the Rushdie attack will be mentioned in the documentary.

It is, the documentary, details how people ran toward danger in the moment, on the stage when that chaos was happening.

And by the way, by the way, if you haven't heard anything in a while on that, this is new from the Associated Press.

Just yesterday, Hadi Matar is the man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie.

He is going on trial and Rushdie plans to take the stand.

And in the coming weeks, Rushdie is expected to return to the same New York county to recount the experience as one of the first witnesses in the trial.

jury selection got underway on Tuesday, and, the man accused has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.

So that is proceeding there.

And you know, Laura, I, I was actually where I was I was at a wedding and the southern part of the lake that weekend when that happened with family.

That was my cousin's wedding, down in Chautauqua Lake on the southern side.

And everybody's talking about it.

At the time, I was worried after that event that it might make people reticent to go to public events like that, or it might make Chautauqua pull back in certain ways.

Almost three years on.

Now, what do you what do you think the impact is of that?

I mean, has it receded somewhat?

what would you say about it?

Yeah, that was an unforgettable and truly, truly terrible day for for all of us.

who were working or enjoying their time at Chautauqua Institution.

I don't think any of us will ever forget it.

It, it was an act of violence and attempted murder enacted in front of 4000 people.

and those people are never going to forget it.

And of course, Rushdie being a living embodiment of the values of freedom of expression, was was not lost to anyone.

In the weeks after the attack, our president, Michael Hill, made it very clear that the institution was not receiving from its mission and its call to be a bastion of freedom of expression, but was actually doubling down on the values of democracy and freedom of expression.

we've introduced since then a forum on democracy that actually happens outside of our season in the spring or fall, where we convene thought leaders around the ideas of democracy and freedom of expression.

we have started to, you know, we were in a spotlight we never wanted to be in.

but when we, we were in that spot, we we've entered that national conversation as a thought leader around freedom of expression.

Is Chautauqua different now?

I mean, there are some security measures that are a little bit different on days that we have high profile guests or guests who who request higher security.

But I'm so happy to say that we are seeing, very high and enthusiastic attendance.

as you say, people ran toward danger on that day.

and people seem to still be running toward, freedom of expression and protecting it.

Yeah.

And thank God for that.

Timothy Mumford Timothy was it is the word surreal when you got the news that day?

I mean, what was that like for you?

That's exactly the word.

I was in the middle of rehearsal.

We the orchestra.

The orchestra that you see on the the documentary.

although many different person, actual individuals, but still that body, that musical body, we were literally in the middle of rehearsal.

And one of my colleagues, that I with whom I worked very closely, I saw her enter the rehearsal room and start walking towards me.

And now we were making we were in the middle of rehearsing and and the orchestra was playing, and normally someone who would need to speak to me would wait until we were on a break or defer to the fact that we're in the middle of an intense rehearsal process.

But I noticed that she kept walking towards me and kept walking and kept walking so I could tell something was up, but I had no idea that it was something of this magnitude.

And surreal is exactly the word.

Our world turned upside down that day.

I imagine you are, grateful as I am that, as Laura describes it, that has not stopped the mission of the institution at all.

Right.

And I think, in many ways, it's it's given us even greater reason to double down on what we do and realize the importance of the thrust of the whole institution.

You know, I think that makes the world that.

Well, so, I mean, Debbie been there.

You perform there.

I, what is it like thinking of an attack like that?

Right.

It's surreal.

Is a really good word.

I was there at the time.

I was not in the amphitheater, but my son was crew chief for the amphitheater crew and getting ready to go into work, and, got these texts, and he went running the two blocks from our apartment to the amphitheater.

Jumped over.

You have flashed his badge, jumped over, went running down, and was right there on on site.

I don't think that much has changed Chautauqua in that way, except perhaps we, we're always very fond of talking about Chautauqua as a utopia.

And that burst, that bubble, which never probably should have been there anyway, be as you know, to be realistic.

and, we had some fabulous spiritual help.

the, the acting pastor at the time was the Reverend Natalie Hanson, and she did a phenomenal job of bringing everyone together, to to just be and process.

And she was one who talked about there never was a utopia.

There is reality.

And then to think, okay, how do we deal with that reality?

And what does that pull from us?

And that's the running towards.

Yeah.

And and Chautauqua has continued to do that.

Christopher Farley, anything you want to add there.

Yeah, I was not there at Chautauqua when Salman Rushdie was attacked in 2022, but I had spent time with him some years before that at a book festival in Jamaica, a place called a book festival called calabash, which held every two years in Jamaica.

I remember going around with him and some other authors and just being struck at how far ranging his knowledge was.

What a great conversation list he was, how he was unafraid to talk about any subject and how well versed he was in so many different subjects and so later, many years later, when we when I heard about this attack, it just struck me that he was the guy that, that, was there to speak out about, literary freedom, about freedom of speech and how his sacrifice, I think, was, in a way made for a for all of us, for any other creatives or lovers of free speech and of writing and of art.

And it made me think, you know, exactly sort of Norse mythology and how in Norse mythology, you know, Odin actually loses an eye and trades it for, for wisdom and the ability to see things.

And I felt in a way, was almost a mythic kind of sacrifice on his part to lose an eye in this attack.

He lost, sight in one of his eyes because of because of this tech and I feel like in a way, he was doing that for all of us, for all the creators and lovers of freedom, of speech and of wisdom and of literary matters.

his sacrifice was made for all of us.

And and rather than hold people back from speaking out, I think and encourage it all the more.

And, so I just my head is off to him and just, what he endured and the, emigration, which he endured it because it really wasn't the end for all of us.

Yeah.

What an important perspective that is, because Rushdie, whenever he appeared in public for decades now, he's known there have been threats on his life.

And he has been steadfast in his devotion to speaking what he views as his truth, the truth as he sees it challenging ideas and others.

and as our guest mentioned, the attack did leave him blind in his right eye.

His hand is permanently damaged from the knife attack.

There should also mention the the event moderator, Henry Reese, who's the co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, was also wounded that day.

So we'll be following the trial as it, apparently unfolds in the weeks to come here.

But, that's the update there.

And now we got to take our only break the hour.

We're going to come back here and we're going to talk more about more about the music here.

Chautauqua at 150 Wynton Marsalis.

All Rise is a documentary that will air on PBS this coming Tuesday.

So that's us TV next Tuesday, February 11th, 10 p.m.. We'd love for you to be watching that.

You might have heard it is going to be screened in a live event at the Little Theater tomorrow, with a Q&A with our guests to follow, but that event is sold out, so if you've got tickets, that's great.

If you don't, that's okay.

You can watch it on Qatv and PBS.

Next week.

We will come right back talking about some of the music in Chautauqua at 150.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Thursday on the next connections.

In our first hour, we welcome the new president and vice president of the Rochester City School Board, Camille Simmons and Amy Malloy with us in studio in our second hour.

Do state lawmakers need to prepare for what federal executive orders and changes are coming from the Trump administration?

We talked to Republican Jack Jensen, Democrat Jen Lunsford.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

We are joined this hour by the senior director of art Programing and development at PBS.

Christopher Farley is on the line with us.

Timothy Muffett is artistic director of the Music Fest Music School Festival at the Chautauqua Institution.

Laura Sabia is vice president of performing and visual arts at the institution.

Debbie Grossman is in studio with me, a clarinetist, administrative coordinator for the Greater Rochester Community of Churches and a fifth generation Chautauqua, and talking about their experience there and talking about this documentary that we hope you will watch on PBS and ITV this coming Tuesday night here.

So when it comes to the music here, I mean, Debbie, let me start with you.

You're the clarinetist here.

you know, this is a place.

Yes, of debate, of speech, of ideas.

It's also a great place of music, as it truly is.

And many people know it as the music festival.

because you've got a professional symphony that's playing 3 or 4 times a week, you've got the, student, just a magnificent orchestra, music school, festival orchestra.

You've got chamber music, you've got piano, you've got arts of all different kinds.

it's really quite spectacular.

And that feeds over into, the, into the worship experiences that are offered because it, one of the pillars of Chautauqua is religion, and there are daily worship services and a choir that sings and music that is offered.

there's a wonderful organ.

So there are you've got, gosh, you've got the exciting, gathering of musicians, of artists, of all types.

And, if you want to make Chautauqua an arts festival experience for yourself, you can truly do that.

All rise has 12 movements jazz, blues, classical, and 100 singers and musicians involved.

it was originally commissioned 1999, I think.

as the last of the New York Philharmonic millennial compositions.

It's a really remarkable story.

And let me ask Christopher Farley to talk to us a little bit about the music, of this documentary and what you want potential viewers to know about what they're going to see next Tuesday on PBS and ITV.

Christopher.

Yeah, well, you're going to hear great music and you're going to hear music that's not only entertaining, but also is very thoughtful and just pulls you in.

You know, I think there's also a metaphor in the music that's sort of instructive to anyone who watches, who watches this documentary.

I remember, after the concert, being invited to a small reception where it was a party for Marcellus and some of his band mates, and they had this kind of almost supernatural connection.

It seems to me that you see on stage, when they're playing with each other and improvising together, you also see it offstage in the way they have an unspoken communication that goes on between them.

And I think that's something we all have when we, are we can develop when we work collectively with other people, we can become more than the sum of our parts that we become, something people that have these connections.

And that's what I think all right is all about.

It sort of summons is all to work collectively to, to that create those kinds of connections that make us bigger and better because we're all working together.

you know, and one of the performance notes to All Rise, at one of them was quoted William Faulkner saying that I believe man will not merely endure, you will prevail.

And what Marcellus once wrote in program notes went to this, went along with this piece that said, you know, we choose and still choose to swing.

And the whole idea of going through a lot of difficult obstacles, working together, becoming better together.

On the other side of it.

Again, that's a theme of All Rise, and it comes out in the music.

And one reason why, we were all at PBS so drawn to this great symphonic work and really wanted to capture it, on PBS, because I think it's a good lesson for all of us besides just being really wildly entertaining.

Timothy, what do you want to add to that?

well, that's a very good description of this work.

It is a it's a piece of music that really operates on a global scale.

there are so many different styles of music that are mixed in, to the, to the recipe of this enormous piece of music.

But interestingly enough, they can all be traced to the blues.

And I don't think that a listener when when you, when you listen to hears this entire work, they don't come away thinking, oh, that was a blues tune.

There's nothing like that.

It's operating subliminally.

And, the, the interesting aspect of the blues itself as a, as a musical language is, is one of the first kinds of world music.

There were so many different kinds of music that were mixed into that, you know, you think about how cosmopolitan New Orleans has been for centuries now, and all of those flavors mix.

There.

And New Orleans is one of the places where the blues was originated, but certainly the home of jazz.

And so we have all of this world music that was mixed into that pot in New Orleans, and it gets developed in this work.

All of those ideas that come out of the jazz language get developed into into a symphonic and choral oratorio, Massive Statement, and they grow into their own thing.

and so there is a thread that runs through it.

But the other take away is the remarkable diversity of musical styles that the listener experiences from beginning to end.

Laura, anything you want to add?

There?

Yeah, I just wanted to note the the powerful visual and aural sensation you get when you watch these musicians on stage.

So what you see in the documentary, is the entire Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on stage, surrounded by inside of the the full music school festival Orchestra with Maestro Muffet on the podium.

And then this massive choir, we partnered with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra choir.

It's a tremendous wall of sound and, they go through each movement, with such divine dynamic, musicianship that, it makes for a fantastic kind of full meal of music.

it's our students on stage, sitting side by side inches.

Apart from the great jazz musicians on the planet.

My opinion jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and watching the interplay between those generations, the students and the masters, there's nothing like it.

And that's very Chautauqua.

That's all we do day in and day out.

We are an intergenerational space where people are encompassed for making art together across generations.

and I want to note, because we keep saying that people can tune in, they can watch this, February 11th, at 10 p.m., but they can also stream it for 28 days after that.

This 10 p.m. is not a good time for you.

You can watch it anytime you like, and if you're interested in seeing the entire piece uninterrupted, not only is this documentary coming out that that touches on, and has it sort of spine around.

All right, but there's also a recording of the two hour performance coming out.

and that will be available on passport.

and so, so both of these artifacts, this documentary commemorate 150th and all rights and also what will now be a kind of new definitive reporting of Winton's all rights are both going to be available, and kind of captured lightning in a bottle.

You're hired.

Laura, you are made for this medium.

That's perfect.

no.

Laura is Laura's right.

We should we should stress that.

And by the way, Christopher Farley, I'm going to kick it back to Christopher at PBS here.

I want to say, and maybe Christopher can emphasize this point however he wants to, but, you know, connections.

Recently we we have a we are on, YouTube every day streaming on YouTube.

And the news channel.

Hello there.

If you're watching and we want you to know, we want to be where you are.

So it has been it is a challenge in a fragmented media world.

It was probably a little easier for all of us when there wasn't so much fragmentation.

But that is not a challenge that we take sitting down.

We are going to be where people are.

We're going to find you.

We are going to we're going to stream.

We're going to make sure that we find your passport.

We're going to be on TV and on the radio and online.

And that challenge, it is a big one.

But I think that, that we have to be wherever people are and, Christopher, what is that been like for you at PBS?

Yeah, I think you're exactly right that it's always important to meet viewers where they are.

And that's something.

We've done it.

PBS, we have a very robust streaming operation at, at, PBS.

Consider ourselves a multi-platform organization.

You know, aside from doing this terrific, documentary on Chautauqua, you know, Chautauqua.

151 Marcel's.

All right.

So everyone checks out on February 11th at 10 p.m.. you know, we also do numerous other musical specials.

You know, we did a great New Year's Eve special with Sarah Borealis.

They got millions of views on YouTube.

We did.

Another one year before that with, was Cynthia Erivo, one of the stars of wicked, which has taken the world by storm.

But we had her on PBS and she gave a fantastic concert.

You can check out some of her great performances, on YouTube that she did for PBS.

Just a fantastic cover of Killing Me Softly by the Fugees and Roberta Flack and, just, just a fact.

If you want to see a woman, you can really sing.

Check out the performance she gave given PBS.

It's just exciting to be able to capture these great musical performances on PBS.

And that's one reason why we were so drawn to Chautauqua.

The Chautauqua is a place is known for getting great musicians.

Everyone from, of course, Wynton Marsalis to John Calvin to the Beach Boys to Diana Ross to Ryan Giddens, they all come to Chautauqua.

we knew that by doing a documentary on Chautauqua and its rich history that music could be a big part of it.

And music is one way of putting people on streaming, putting them on YouTube.

And that's something we love to do with PBS and doing it for years.

And we're finding a lot of people are coming to our platforms because of the great musical experiences they know are on PBS.

Christopher started with the list there, but I bet you Laura has got the full list.

I mean, it's a long list of musicians.

And before the hour's up here, I'm going to ask Laura and Timothy to tell listeners a little bit about what is coming up this year that they want on your calendar.

Debbie Grumman, did we miss anything with the music side of things with All Rise here, how do we do?

I was there at one at the performance, and, it was just spectacular.

And and I think, what Timothy said is, is right.

It doesn't hit you over the head with one style or another.

It is just beautifully blended.

And, so, yeah, in terms of, of all Rise, it's really spectacular.

And I always learn something from Wynton Marsalis.

His works, learn something about the civil rights movement with with his, work, the funky low down.

there may be another word in there, I can't think, but, you always learn something.

And I think that's the the connection of Chautauqua and the arts and the learning and the, you know, the whole education piece that's there.

You're always going to be stimulated.

You're always going to learn something.

You're also always going to, be refreshed and rejuvenated.

So I think the arts, as they're offered up at Chautauqua is about, rejuvenating spirits.

I used to say that I would work, work, work, work, work, work, work all through the school year, and I would just be exhausted and I would fall in to Chautauqua arms out, just fall in and let Chautauqua put me back together.

And it's the arts that do that.

In part, it's partly the learning.

Yeah.

There are four pillars education, recreation, religion and the arts.

so all of it together comes in a piece.

And it began to, you know, to, in that sense, put me back together after long and tough school years.

I, I was recently listening to a Beethoven biography, and I was thinking about what it must have been like to compose and then to debut a symphony and then to maybe do a movement again, because the audience at the time was just desperate to hear it again.

They knew that if they didn't hear it again live in that moment, they might not hear it again for a long time, if ever.

And, how different live performance must have been.

How true.

Truly special.

and high stakes and everything was.

And now we're at this time where everybody wants to be able to stream everything on your phone.

And do we take the time to see it live?

What for you is the difference between what we can string?

I believe you looked at me like this is not even the same world here, but live performance in a place like Chautauqua compared to what you can stream.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's such a difference because it's an interplay with the audience.

and this is what live performers will always talk about, whether it's acting or whether it's, it's music.

I've played, for a number of years.

I was part of the Tellis Trio here, and Rochester Flute, clarinet and piano and, it it is just something to play with people.

You've got them.

you've got their attention and you're conversing with them through the music.

at Chautauqua, I'm part of the motet concert, which plays at least weekly and sometimes more often.

and again, it's it's a variety of, of instruments, but, you were playing for you and with you and having a conversation that you cannot get when you stream.

And then there's the acoustical piece to that, because the acoustics change the way that you hear things and bring out certain things.

I would always rather perform live than record.

I think recording is very stressful.

but but performing live is doing your thing in conjunction, in collaboration with the audience.

See, live music.

Karen emails the program and says even Chautauqua is a wonderful place.

It has become expensive.

Something that has deterred many, such as myself, from being able to have the full experience of staying on the grounds as a single parent.

I was able to attend with my young son because of my parents inviting us to share their space for a week so we could have the Chautauqua experience.

One of the speakers that week, author James McBride, criticized from the amphitheater stage the institution on those grounds, for the costs or being elitist and Karen says, how can you make the experience more equitable for those who find cost prohibitive?

it's a fair question.

I'll start with Laura Savio is vice president of performing and visual arts at Chautauqua.

What do you think, Laura?

I love this question.

I think about this question.

Well, my own version of this question all the time.

there are a lot of steps we've taken in this administration under Michael Hill to, to improve upon this, to make more days and more time and more space where there's no charge at all.

this is not new under Michael, but kids 12 and under are always free.

they don't pay anything to come to our programing.

Sundays are always no charge for for anyone.

and we've added, days like a Buffalo day and Chautauqua County day.

and also a new program called Education Wednesdays every single Wednesday in the summer.

Anyone affiliated with Chautauqua County Schools, whether that's a staff member, an educator, a student, can come for free to to everything.

but I hear I hear the question loud and clear.

It is getting harder.

ticket prices are rising.

Inflation, you know, is, is everywhere, including Chautauqua artists are charging us more, and more since Covid, especially to engage them.

And, we have to stay competitive and pay those prices.

so it's a question we wrestle with all the time.

I'm so grateful every day to our partnership with our denominational houses, which offer, in many cases, rooming house type situation that is below market cost for, a person, a single person or a family to come stay for a day or a week on the grounds and you don't necessarily need to be, a member of the domination to take advantage of that.

So I always like to tell people about that on grounds housing option and that incredible partnership with our denominational houses, our arts education works under Chautauqua Arts Education is now trying to go what we say beyond the gates, outside of our gates and serve schools.

in the area, we serve about nine school districts, and that's growing, 12 months a year.

So we take seriously our mandate not to just be, providing programing for, the wealthy.

and we wrestle with this and try to improve upon this all the time.

Karen, thank you for the email.

We're losing time here.

So let me just ask Laura and Timothy.

Laura, what's on the list that you want people to be thinking about at Chautauqua this year?

It's going to be a great summer.

A year's worth of arts programing, packed into nine weeks.

That's between June 21st and August 23rd.

for people who want rolling updates, go to New York and get on that mailing list, because more stuff is going to be announced every single week.

But some highlights I can talk about Lewis Black, the comedian and the voice of anger in Inside Out and the Inside Out movies.

He's anchoring a whole week on comedy with us.

that's going to be in the beginning of the summer.

and he's going to have incredible special guests from his own network, his own comedy network.

coming.

also, Denise Graves, the incredible mezzo soprano, opera star is going to be singing with the CSO and giving a lecture.

She's also newly the artistic advisor to our Opera Conservatory program.

Diana Krall is performing with us and so, so much more.

And I have to note that we're doing our first ever major concert.

This is just announced.

Bonnie Raitt is going to be performing on September 5th, our first ever major concert outside of our nine week season.

So that amphitheater will be rocking on September 5th.

and that's a brand new innovation for us programing outside the summer seasons.

Timothy Mumford, who's the artistic director at the Music School festival.

What are you looking forward to?

Timothy?

Well, we say at the end of every summer is how are we going to top this one?

Somehow we managed to do it.

I don't know that we will.

We'll have Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center with us this summer, but, every year we just see a higher level of of engagement from our students, an increasing number of people enrolling, trying to get into the program.

so what we look forward to is just the continuing advancement of the quality of the program and our ability to reach people.

And, Debbie, what are you looking forward to this year?

Oh, goodness.

some of the the speakers and performers as they are announced, I'm looking forward to, I'm looking forward to following in, like I was describing earlier and to the community, to, to time spent on porches and, and having time on the lake and, and talking about the ideas that are presented.

and, and talking.

You don't have to know people to have great conversations at Chautauqua.

That's great.

Yeah.

I that I look forward to that.

Well, thank you for being here and sharing your stories this hour.

And I want to thank Christopher Farley, senior director of art programing and development at PBS.

Thank you not only for the time, Christopher, but for bringing Chautauqua at 150 Wynton Marsalis as all rise to us, in the audience here.

And, good luck with this.

So we appreciate it and look forward to the next conversation.

Christopher.

Hey, thank you.

Christopher, senior director of Art programing development at PBS Timothy Muffett from Chautauqua Institution.

Have a wonderful year.

Thank you for making time, Timothy.

Thanks for having me.

Laura Sabia, vice president of performing and visual arts at the Chautauqua Institution.

Thank you, Laura, thank you.

See you this summer.

And listeners, thank you for listening.

Once again, the event at the Little Tomorrow is sold out, but the documentary airs on PBS and WFC on Tuesday, February 11th next Tuesday, 10 p.m. and as Laura mentioned.

Streaming as well.

Hope you got passport.

Thanks for listening.

We will be back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

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