When you\u2019re talking about Juneau Jazz & Classics it can be hard to know where to start, what with two weeks of music, 14 musical groups and performers, 29 events and 30 years of history.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s start with the last day of the 2016 festival. Let\u2019s start with an Alaskan premiere of a work that\u2019s like nothing Juneau has ever seen or heard before \u2014 and a performance that can never be repeated.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with \u201cInuksuit,\u201d by formerly Alaskan composer John Luther Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge departure from what we normally do,\u201d said Linda Rosenthal, Artistic and Executive Director of Jazz & Classics.<\/p>\n
Described by the New York Times as \u201cthe ultimate environmental piece,\u201d it involves many players (largely percussion) dispersed through an outdoor setting \u2014 in Juneau\u2019s case the campus of University of Alaska Southeast on May 21 at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach performance of Inuksuit is different,\u201d Adams has said of the piece, \u201cdetermined by the size of the ensemble, the specific instruments used, the topology and vegetation of the site, and even by the songs of local birds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each performance is so unique, the musicians won\u2019t even rehearse in their final locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it just is that one time only, this will never be heard in this way again,\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n
And \u201cInuksuit\u201d carries fame with percussionists similar to that of \u201cOde to Joy\u201d among singers and symphonies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a famously thrilling experience for percussionists,\u201d Rosenthal said. \u201cWhen I mention it to professional percussionists, they just light up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s usually done as a standalone event, not as part of a festival, and it\u2019s a monumental piece. We\u2019re so excited about doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And \u201cwe\u201d is the key word here. Unlike most of the other performances, \u201cInuksuit\u201d will be performed by the musicians of Juneau. The piece, involving 99 players in its biggest iteration but sized down for Juneau, will be true community music.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally anybody who can read music is invited to be a part of this, and this is something \u2014 that concept isn\u2019t something that we normally have in the festival,\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n
The Artists-in-Residence for that week, Third Coast Percussion, are taking charge of organizing the performance. They previously produced their own version of \u201cInuksuit\u201d and were \u201cbitten by the bug,\u201d according to Rosenthal. \u201cWhen I asked them it they would stage it here for us, they jumped at (the opportunity.)\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet, she said the logistics are enormous. \u201c(Adams) warned me, he said \u2018Look, don\u2019t get the idea that this is just happening.\u2019 There are specific things that have to happen. There are certain instruments that we have to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, it\u2019s only the Alaskan premiere because a previous attempt failed.<\/p>\n
Rosenthal is mum on why exactly it failed but says just getting together all the instruments needed in a small Alaska town can be challenging. \u201cIt requires glockenspiels,\u201d she said, among other things both obscure and large.<\/p>\n
Tempted? Anyone interested in joining the \u201cInuksuit\u201d performance can find an open letter by Third Coast Percussion here: www.jazzandclassics.org\/inuksuit.html.<\/p>\n
For those of you who prefer just listening to the music, Jazz & Classics has plenty of highlights for you too.<\/p>\n
Rosenthal, a violinist herself, is rendered speechless by internet-sensation Roman Kim.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople know about him all over the world, especially young violinists, and when I heard him with my husband, who also is a violinist, our jaws just \u2026 this can\u2019t be\u2026 how is he doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
They planned a trip to the East Coast last year around a performance of his in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a small church, similar to what we use here,\u201d she said, \u201cand it was just beyond dazzling and it was beautiful beyond words. The beauty from the first note, he had me. \u2026 I would say that he is among the greatest violinists I have ever heard but actually, he is in a category by himself so the word \u2018among\u2019 doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talking of standouts, Reggie Schapps, the administrator and production manager for Jazz & Classics, brings up R&B and gospel icon Mavis Staples.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe got a Grammy for performance this year. For performance<\/em>,\u201d Schapps said. \u201cNot for a record album, her Grammy is for her onstage performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are so excited,\u201d Schapps said. \u201cOur finale is going to be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jazz & Classics staff aren\u2019t the only ones excited.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are just stopping me on the street, \u2018Thank you for bringing Mavis,\u2019\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n But now that we\u2019ve begun this article at the end, there\u2019s no time to end at the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many we\u2019re leaving out right now!\u201d Rosenthal exclaimed. But how could we fit them all in? The festival runs from May 6-21, and Rosenthal and I only talked for an hour. Quartets, jazz, workshops … for the full 2016 lineup, go to jazzandclassics.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact Capital City Weekly design wizard and staff writer Randi Spray at randi.spray@capweek.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you\u2019re talking about Juneau Jazz & Classics it can be hard to know where to start, what with two weeks of music, 14 musical groups and performers, 29 events and 30 years of history. So let\u2019s start with the last day of the 2016 festival. Let\u2019s start with an Alaskan premiere of a work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":7835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7834"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}