An Italian-American Writer & Poet with a Yankee Outsider Perspective
Dear Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, and beloved musicians of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Imagine Dickens’ A Christmas Carol without Tiny Tim, the Fezziwigs’ Christmas party, and Scrooge’s redemption! That’s what the cacellation of all SPCO concerts for … Continued
No offense, Senor Tuba, but you mostly don’t belong in a symphony orchestra. Like your overgrown business compatriot–the contemporary “business model”–your music is too raucous, too lumbering, too prone to go awry in favor of swagger and ump-pa-pa. Good for … Continued
One of the strangest novels I’ve ever read. Yet as the small boy wanders from one grotesque encounter to another, uprooted and friendless in war-torn, peasant Poland, it is hard not to become fascinated, even obsessed with the bizarre horrors … Continued
“Over the river and through the woods/ To Grandfather’s house we go” meant traveling three days and two nights on the train from Charleston, South Carolina to Hankinson, North Dakota. Grandfather’s house was a glorious, gingerbread affair set on a … Continued
Let’s admit right from the start: this is not an obvious connection. Just as it’s not obvious that we, in our excessively individualistic and commercial mindset, will notice and shift in time when disaster is barreling down on us. … Continued
“It is a truth universally acknowledged… So begins Jane Austen’s divine novel “Pride and Prejudice.” Austen’s satiric pen turns like a double-edged knife toward the reader and the characters in her novel. Let’s try that tactic: It’s a truth universally … Continued
The process of creating an orchestra is like working a manuscript through a thousand drafts, each adjustment, adding and subtracting, listening and blending, heightening and subduing finally produces a glorious resonance of refinement and depth. It’s simply not possible to … Continued
It’s difficult to love a huge aggregate. But the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is small by orchestra standards: thirty-some versus over a hundred (I’m guessing) for the Minnesota Orchestra. Saturday night’s concert at the Ordway was for me a love … Continued
Getting from Saint Paul to Kalamazoo-ooo-ooo ain’t easy. But “I gotta gal in Kalamazoo,” as the old song goes–my friend Chris who was my new baby coach once upon a time, until life swept us apart. Now it’s bringing us … Continued
This is a testimonial and a cry of pain: I have been an ardent Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra subscriber through two husbands, five or six jobs, and three houses. I’ve watched the orchestra grow in size and expertise, in ensemble … Continued