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THE CENTRE COUNTY GAZETTE
NOVEMBER 15-21, 2012
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Maestro Jinbo celebrates 23 years at the podium By HARRY ZIMBLER For The Gazette
STATE COLLEGE — The 2012 Season of the Nittany Valley Symphony marks the 23rd season with Maestro Michael Jinbo at the helm. Jinbo’s career as a conductor began quite by accident. “I first conducted during my senior year in college,” Jinbo said. “Though I was immediately intrigued, it took several years before I felt confident enough to even the possibility that conducting could be my career.” His musical career began while he was playing violin in his middle school orchestra. However his talents came to the surface quickly, and by eighth grade Jinbo was the concertmaster of the Illinois All-State Orchestra. Jinbo earned a bachelor’s degree in music history from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in conducting from Northwestern University. He also attended numerous conducting workshops and institutes. Before becoming a conductor, he worked as a freelance professional violinist in Chicago. Everything changed in 1990 when Jinbo was invited top guest conduct the Nittany Valley Symphony. Several months later, he was selected as the symphony’s music director. “I was invited to guest conduct the Nittany Valley Symphony in a family concert when then music director
Barbara Yahr needed a substitute in order to take a conducting audition with another orchestra. Barbara and I had been colleagues at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and OrMICHAEL JINBO chestra Musicians. As it turned out, Barbara left the Nittany Valley Symphony at the end of that season and I was named her successor.” Over the years, in addition to his duties with the Nittany Valley Symphony, Jinbo has conducted the North Carolina Symphony for four years. He guest conducted the Sinfonieorchester Basel (Switzerland), Orquesta Sinfonica Carlos Chavez (Mexico City), Quebec Festival of Youth Orchestras, Altoona Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Erie Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and the orchestra of the Longy School of Music in Boston. Reflecting on his career here in Happy Valley, Jinbo is grateful for the opportunity. “The greatest thing about the Nittany Valley Symphony is the people involved,” he explained. “The Symphony is so committed to being the best it can be. It’s very rewarding to
me to help the orchestra reach levels that they didn’t think were possible. The quality of the orchestra has risen each year. There are also so many wonderful people behind the scenes, including our executive director, board, symphony guild, and our supportive audience.” As a conductor, Jinbo seeks to find the composer’s voice. That’s his greatest challenge. “It’s always a balancing act to be as faithful as possible to the composer’s writing, but also to figure out what you think the composer intended but didn’t necessarily notate.” he said. “The greatest reward is achieving a performance at the highest level.” Great thought goes into the planning of a Nittany Valley Symphony concert. Next up is “Fascinating Rhythm,” on Dec. 4 in the Eisenhower Auditorium on campus. “Fascinating Rhythm” is a symphonic pops concert of toe-tapping American and Latin selections. “I started with the idea of rhythm and that naturally led to dance,” Jinbo noted. “The program includes an arrangement of George Gershwin’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm,’ as well as the composer’s ‘Cuban Overture,’ and overture to the Broadway musical ‘Girl Crazy.’” As for the future, Jinbo looks forward to celebrating 25 years with the Nittany Valley Symphony in 2015 and celebrating the NVS’s 50th Anniversary in 2017.
‘How to Survive a Plague’ showing From Gazette staff reports STATE COLLEGE — The State Theatre will present “How to Survive a Plague” from Nov. 17 to Nov. 22. “How to Survive a Plague” is a documentary following the story of two coalition groups — ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) — determined to turn AIDS from death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. The activism and innovation of these men and women successfully reversed the tide of the AIDS epidemic and virtually
emptied AIDS wards across America. With never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and ’90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making. Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Beast said, “… the first documentary that I have seen that does justice to this story of a civil rights movement rising from the ashes of our dead.” David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said, “An EPIC celebration of heroism and tenacity.” How to Survive a Plague is being called the best documentary of the year. The State Theatre will show “How to Survive a Plague” at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on
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THE DOCUMENTARY “How to Survive A Plague” will be shown at the State Theatre from Nov. 17-22. Nov. 17, at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. on Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 20 and at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21. For more information on tickets for this event, call The State Theatre box office at (814) 0272-0606 or go online to www.TheStateTheatre.org.
‘Tap Dogs’ comes to Eisenhower From Gazette staff reports UNIVERSITY PARK — “Tap Dogs” — described by a Chicago Tribune critic as “exciting, athletically feisty, fun-loving and often hilarious” — is coming back to Penn State. Eleven years after last appearing at the Center for the Performing Arts, the rough, tough and rocking dance-theater production returns with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in Eisenhower Auditorium. Buy tickets online at www.cpa. psu.edu or by phone at (814) 8630255.
Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Downtown Theatre Center (weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUBRobeson Center Information Desk (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible. “It’s two shows in one,” asserted a
critic for The New York Times. “It revels in both choreographed athleticism and the idealized masculine form.” Winner of 11 international awards, Tap Dogs premiered at the Sydney Theatre Festival, moved on to London and New York City and has been a crowd-pleaser across North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia. Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry created the tap show, with a construction site set by designer/director Nigel Triffitt and a driving score by composer Andrew Wilkie.
State High to stage ‘Into the Woods’ From Gazette staff reports STATE COLLEGE — The State College Area High School Thespians troupe will be opening the 2012-13 school year with its performance of Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Into the Woods.”
Performances will take place at 8 p.m. on Nov. 16 and 17. A 2 p.m. matinee will take place on Nov. 16 and 17. Tickets are $8 for students and $10 for adults. There will be a “Happily Ever After” family matinee at 2 p.m. on Nov. 17. Only the first act of the show
will be performed. Tickets for the matinee will be $7 for students, $9 for adults, and $5 for children 10 and under. To make a reservation, call (814) 231-4188 and leave a message. Tickets also may be bought at the door within an hour of each show.
SAM STITZER/For The Gazette
MISS MELANIE, left, and Erin Condo were the first performers at the Harry Smith Folk Music Festival.
SAM STITZER/For The Gazette
THE CAPACITY crowd enjoyed the music and the food.
Millheim hosts music festival By SAM STITZER pennsvalley@centrecountygazette.com
MILLHEIM — The Elk Creek Café & Aleworks in Millheim hosted the fifth annual Harry Smith Folk Music Festival on Nov. 3. Several musical acts performed songs from the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. The event proceeds went to benefit the Penns Valley Hope Fund, a local charity that assists families facing medical crises and/or personal disasters. HOPE Fund directors, T.J. Coursen and Dan Gensimore spoke at the beginning of the festival, thanking everyone in Penns Valley, as well as organizer Kai Shafft, and Elk Creek Café owner Tim Bowser for their support. They noted that the HOPE Fund has dispensed almost $200,000 in Penns Valley since its inception in 2008. Harry Smith (1923-1991) was an archivist, musicologist, film maker, artist, mystic, and collector of 78 rpm records. Harry worked with Smithsonian Records in 1952 to produce the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, a multi-volume work that is little known in recent times, but has revived many blues, string band, and Cajun recordings made between 1927 and 1933. The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music features over 100 recordings. The release of the Anthology represented the first time American folk and traditional music like this had appeared in an anthology release. These recordings have been highly influential in American music, and some would argue, single-handedly jump-started the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. They have shaped the music of performers and artists like Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello, and many others. The songs were a dichotomy of the desperation of the Great Depression, combined with a great hope for a better future. Festival organizer Kai Shafft addressed the crowd. “This festival was to be a one-off event five years ago,” he said. He noted that the event’s popularity has caused it to continue, growing larger each year. He called it a tribute to “the mystical, cultural, Rosetta Stone that the Harry Smith Anthology was.” Singer Miss Melanie opened the festival with two gospel type songs: “Better get ready for judgment, for God is comin’ down,” and then “I’m on the battlefield for my Lord.” The musical groups appearing sometimes swapped personnel, letting other musicians sit in on their performances. The Wios took the stage with Kai Shafft, of the group Chicken Tractor Deluxe helping out on a steel banjo. The Elk Creek Café was filled to capacity for this event with a crowd of enthusiastic bluegrass and folk music aficionados. The Harry Smith Folk Music Festival has become a major event in the folk music scene, attracting people from all around Pennsylvania and many other states to Millheim.