- Welcome to "Kalamazoo Lively Arts."

The show that takes you inside Kalamazoo's vibrant creative community, and explores the people who breathe life into the arts.

(upbeat music) - [Presenter] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

Helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

- I'm Jennifer Moss here at Miller Auditorium.

On today's show, we wrap up our artist in residence with the Gilmore here from the team behind Western Michigan University's 2021 international festival, about the three-day event, and learn how the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music has pivoted and created some amazing partnerships in the community.

(Piano music) - Well, the Gilmore, underneath the leadership of Pierre, who is not here to talk well, not necessarily about you, but you're going to talk about some award winning artists and what your programs do for not only Kalamazoo, but our international world.

- Thank you.

Thank you, Shelley.

It's wonderful to be here and talk to you.

The Gilmore was founded in 1989 with the whole idea being to identify exciting, exceptional talent that is deserving of that, you know, attention, and having the world pay attention, and also someone who we know will make an enormous impact on the world of music.

And so, the whole idea is that there is this secret panel that goes around and it's led by me.

So, I'm, you know, one of them.

So I go to concerts in secret a lot (laughs), buy my tickets on another name, et cetera, but we go around the world and we find the next exciting Gilmore Artist .

And we're looking for somebody who is in the middle of their career on their way up, who can benefit from this award, which is a $300,000 cash award.

And with it comes the whole, all of the benefits that frees that artist up, you know, many of these young artists are trying to rely on concertizing and winning competitions, many in their twenties or early thirties, and that can be a very tough environment sometimes not very creative.

So this just raise them up.

And part of this award too, is that they have to really use this award, to exciting projects, projects that would really help expand them creatively as artists as well, expand their horizons, I should say.

So past Gilmore Artist s include Igor Levit, who was just Grammy nominated, and we have Grammy winning Leif Ove Andsnes.

We have Kirill Gerstein, Ingrid Fliter, who's been to the festival many times.

So they're from all over the world.

And then we also have the Gilmore Young Artists Awards.

And this is $25,000 each, award, $15,000 is cash, and then $10,000 they can use toward commissioning a composer to write a piece for them.

So for somebody who's quite young, they have to be under age 22.

So for somebody who's young like that, to be able to go to an established composer and have that person write something for them, is very impactful and it really puts them on the map.

And it's good for the composer as well.

So, and then we often premiere these works at the festival as well.

And we help them record it, et cetera.

- Any names to drop with a young artist?

- Yes, one in particular, Rachel Naomi Kudo, who is a Gilmore young artist who we just had on our series.

She was able to use her award funds, first of all, to commission a virtuoso pianist and composer Mark Andre Hamlin, who has played at the festival before.

And he's played all over the world and has he had his pieces premiered all over the world.

He wrote one specifically for Rachel and, you know she is in Italy, wasn't able to travel.

And so another portion of her awards we helped her find a recording studio in Italy and helped her record his work that we could premiere as part of our virtual series this year.

- What is this impact that you're presenting through your awards?

- The impact for the artist is immense.

You know if you talk to say Ingrid Flitter Argentinian pianist she was also quite young, it... because of the panel and who selects them.

You know, this is a panel of experts leading industry professionals in the recording industry in the arts management industry, orchestra industry.

And they select this artist.

And so for them to give this big stamp of approval or endorsement of this artist and say to the entire music industry, "Hey, you have to listen up.

"This is somebody worth watching, worth hearing."

You know, what better way for young artists to be introduced to the world in this way.

And then of course that to have that financial support for them, you know, some of them like Ingrid didn't have, you know, publicist or management and this allowed her to move forward with that.

It allows them to buy that instrument that they've always been dreaming off because you know a new Steinway concert grand is, you know somewhere in the region of $150,000.

And many of these classical musicians don't have that kind of money.

So this helps them to do that sort of thing.

And then commission new works.

And it's, especially in that realm of commissioning or special projects that they come up with that makes an impact in the music world at large, you know, and we get to partner with organizations like Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and bring projects together that wouldn't have been able to happen otherwise.

- Does this put Kalamazoo on the map?

- 100%.

You know, they, if you go anywhere in the world if you talk about the Gilmore Artists or the Gilmore young artists, our artists are representing throughout the world and especially with, you know big institutions like Carnegie Hall and so on.

And so to see on their material that this is a collaboration with the Gilmore festival or the Gilmore right here in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

- So Gilmore Artist Award, Gilmore Young Artist Award.

How about the rising star?

- The rising stars that is part of our concert series.

And that is also a very important thing that we do in the non festival years.

We have rising stars and we have piano masters who we feature and these rising stars are, you know anywhere from 18 to 30.

They're in their mid twenties and they're just getting their start but they are people who are young pianists who I recognize in who I see as having enormous potential.

And I talk with colleagues in the field they send me recommendations and so on and we've had a pretty good track record.

One of our rising stars was Kirill Gerstein who ended up being a Gilmore young artist and a Gilmore Artist .

And he was on our piano masters and in our festivals.

So, it's certainly is very impactful for them.

- So if an artist is watching and wants to be one day a Gilmore Artist , awardee, or young artist awardee or does it come down to practice, practice, practice?

(Pierre laughing) - That certainly helps practice, practice, practice.

You could put your 10,000 hours in, but also put yourself out there, you know, go out, go do festivals go participate, go network, put yourself out there, you know, have a website, you know, get somebody to get you to help with marketing materials and stuff.

You know, a lot of young pianists focus so much on that practice that they forget that, "Oh, hey I need to also get a gig one day," so.

(Pierre laughing) So I would say this just encouraged them to keep at it because people like me are paying attention.

- Wonderful.

Yeah.

If you see Pierre at the audience, that's a good sign.

Thank you for what you do and for your personal talents as well.

Pierre on behalf of the Gilmore.

- Thank you very much.

- Okay.

(singing in foreign language) Men Ladies.

Can we try that?

One, two, three we go.

Now I am gonna sing okay?

(singing in foreign language) I can't hear you.

Okay.

Now you've done your part, now she's gonna do her part Can you play for me?

Di di di di di di di.

(drums playing) That's how we play the drum in Uganda.

So that drum is called (foreign language) - Well, today my conversation is with Elizabeth Start.

She's the executive director of the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music.

Thanks so much for talking with me here today.

- Okay, well thank you for having me.

- You know, Elizabeth, I've talked to you before about Connecting Chords and Connecting Chords is really beautiful because, you know, we always hear that cliche, you know, music is a universal language but it's really true.

I mean, music, you know, there can be an older guy who's interested in the same piece of music that a younger man or a woman is interested in and connecting cords is all about that.

Isn't it?

- In normal seasons, we're bringing in wonderful artists from different faiths and cultures and presenting music that may be unfamiliar to people.

And then sometimes music that is familiar to people.

I think I remember from our concert in the fall, I mean we did do something Live in person at the nature center back on September 13th, the Migratory Music Program.

And what was so wonderful about that is of course, well for one thing, we were starved for Live music but it was showing all the different types of music and cultures that are in the Kalamazoo area.

We had five different groups there Arab music, Norwegian, Celtic a couple of different African based groups.

And those groups were all over the Arboretum area.

And you could just kind of walk from one to another.

And it was just this wonderful mix of our community and our greater global influence on our community and just a joyous day.

(African tribal music playing) - I wanted to ask you about the Red Resonance music project right?

- Yeah.

Well that's what happened with the festival back in June a year ago, you know, when we realized, oh it's not going to be a question of when can we plan one of our normal events, we're just going to have to try and figure out what we can do.

And one of the ideas that came up was to combine music with art in an exhibit.

And we worked with the KIA, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts with their unveiling American genius project.

We had commissioned eight area musicians and they we're asked to find to the artworks and the exhibit that really spoke to them and write one to two minute pieces of music record them for each of those works.

And so if you go to the exhibit when you go to the exhibit and, and view it there are a little QR codes at, at those 16 artworks.

And if you put your phone up to them it'll stream you the music.

One of the things that the festival decided to do back in June was try and keep our money local, you know, find our, our area musicians and artists and give them a little boost that we can and also celebrate them.

And, you know, we didn't want to put money into people far away streaming at us cause there's so much of that out there already.

And it just seemed like this was the best way to find ways to experience music together.

- This is a tune that is it's called Ring Neeson, it's a couple dance like many of the dances are in Europe.

- Some couple dances, this one originally came from Germany in the Rhineland area but it's called a Ring Neeson and it's actually the name of the dance is Ryan Landow.

There's a lot of spinning in it.

So see if you can hear that (instrument playing) - And the congregation of Moses recently sponsored one of your events.

It was such a cool thing.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- We're doing an event with experimental sound studios in Chicago and they do experimental jazz free jazz.

That is based on ancestral Jewish melodies.

- Elizabeth, thank you so much for talking with me here today.

- Okay.

Well thank you.

- Well, today my conversation is with Cori Force and she is from Western the marketing manager of the global education programs.

Also with Associate Provost of Haenicke Institute Paulo Zagalo Melo close to it, right, close to it.

- Perfect - Tell me about the Haenicke Institute and what its purposes, what its mission is?

- The Haenicke Institute uses Western Michigan university's comprehensive international office.

It houses all the main services you need for driving facilitating, promoting global engagement at Western Michigan.

- And Korey, you know the international festival, it's organized by the Haenicke Institute for global education.

So can you tell me a little bit about what we can expect with the international festival?

- You can expect a three night virtual program all via YouTube live Each night we'll focus on a different theme.

The first night is food.

The second night is fashion and the third night is fun.

What we eat, what we wear and how we have fun are important to all of us and our are things that help define who we all are.

- And since it's an international festival you kind of get to take a trip around the world without ever leaving Kalamazoo, don't you?

- That wouldn't be what it is without the representation that our international students bring to it.

So the festival gives them an opportunity to bring their cultures, their dishes from home, their dishes that their grandmothers taught them to make the clothes that they might wear to traditional wedding ceremonies, those types of things.

It gives them a chance to showcase those and to introduce those and to explain those things to the community and to their friends and to their professors which is something that they don't normally get to do on a daily basis.

- So when it comes to example the art of fashion, okay how do students express that?

What does that look like?

- When it comes to international festival, it allows individuals who come from very different places who come from oceans apart to ask questions of each other based off the things that they can see, the things they can touch and have conversations about why they look the way that they do in a really safe place.

And it allows those conversations to extend to cultural rituals and dressing rituals.

Why do you wear that?

Where do you wear it and bond over the answers, right?

Because the answer may be, "Well, I wear this to weddings" and I have things here that I wear to weddings.

And so it's a really relatable topic because the specifics are different but the themes are the same.

Another important thing to know about the three themes, food, fashion and fun is that they all can, can take place without words.

And they allow us to have a common experience all at the same time.

And we don't have to worry that we're miscommunication.

- How fun.

Paulo, Korey, thank you so much for talking with me here today, sharing about international festival.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, Kim It was wonderful to join you today.

- Thank you for having us.

And I hope we'll see you tuning in on YouTube live.

- Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of "Kalamazoo Lively Arts," check out today's show and other content at wgvu.org.

We leave you tonight with a performance from the Migratory Music event at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, as part of the 2020 Connecting Chords Music Festival.

I'm Jennifer Moss, have a great night.

♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ In Uganda we all dance like this ♪ ♪ In Uganda we all dance like this ♪ ♪ In America they all dance like this ♪ How do you dance in America?

That's how you dance in America.

Yes?

That's how you dance in America ♪ In Uganda we all dance like this ♪ ♪ In Uganda we all dance like this ♪ ♪ In America you all dance like this ♪ I tell you.

♪ In America you all dance like this ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ Let's go.

When I point at you, you clap okay?

Good, that's good.

♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza ♪ ♪ Cheza cheza cheza ♪ (beating drums) Okay now, my part is done, now this is your part.

Just clap like this.

Okay now, since now you are clapping, can you try to stand up and you clap while standing up?

Everyone try to stand up.

We are about to chase joyriders.

We want to go back to normal, okay?

Everyone stand up, stand up and just clap.

Okay That's good.

So this is what we gonna do, we gonna do this This way, one, two, three, This way, one, two, three.

Four now.

One, two, three four.

One, two, three four.

One, two, three four.

Now you've got that, okay?

Now this is what we going to do, we are going to do this.

One, two, three (clapping) One, two, three (clapping).

- [Announcer] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

(upbeat music)