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| Photo by BEN RUEHLMANN Conductor of the Virginia Symphony JoAnn Falletta talked to students about her career. |
This season marks Falletta's 10th anniversary with the Virginia Symphony. They have planned a celebration in her honor. As a leading authority on orchestra music, Falletta has received eight consecutive awards from the ASCAP for creative programming. She also has performed nearly 300 works by American composers, including more than 60 world premieres.
"One of the main goals as a conductor is to have people know what its like for me when I get ready to perform in front of a huge audience," Falletta said. The Virginia Symphony has performed in countries including Brazil, Israel and Japan. "Japan was one of the hardest places for me to perform,” she said, “because hardly anyone understood one word that I said.”
Asked what she is trying to accomplish as a conductor, Falletta responded that she provides a framework for the orchestra members and enables them to play their own music. She encourages individuality for her musicians and allows them to express themselves. While performing, she also allows musicians to give input. This is one of the only ways the symphony is in harmony with one another.
Another audience member asked if she had not become a conductor, what other career would she choose? Falletta responded that from an early age, when she started to go to symphonies with her parents, she knew that she was destined to be a conductor; therefore she chose not to find another career. One student said, "After Falletta spoke of her love of classical music and how she became devoted to her career, I am tempted to attend some of her concerts to see how she is in her own environment." Some of Falletta's appearances on radio and television include: CBS Sunday Morning, the Charlie Rose Show, the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour and a special national PBS documentary about music with Penn and Teller.
In addition to her current position with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, Falletta has held the position of Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and the Denver Chamber Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Musical Advisor to the Nassau Symphony Orchestra.
Where is Mongolia? Do the Mongolians even barbeque? These are some questions that might come to mind when you spot Genghis Khan Mongolian Bar-B-Q. For the geography buffs you already knew that Mongolia is located in Northern Asia, between China and Russia. And yes, rest assured, Mongolians do barbeque although it's not like us Americans would think.
The restaurant consists of a buffet style food bar. The bar starts off with low mien noodles and a variety of vegetables like tomato, onion, bean sprout, broccoli, and carrots. After the noodles and vegetables are piled into the bowl the raw meat is next. Mongolian Bar-B-Q has a choice of lamb, beef, pork, and/or chicken. Adding the flavor to the dish is the customer's last step. Some of the sauces include garlic, wine, sugar water, and ginger. There are signs for the "first timers" (in case you don't know what the heck you're doing) to follow in order to make the "perfect" sauce mixture.
In the center of the buffet is a big, round grill. After giving the cook your bowl full of noodles, vegetables, meat, and sauces and the chef cooks the food while you watch. Big wooden sticks are used to move the food around the grill to assure that it doesn't get burned and is cooked evenly. Once back at the table with a steaming bowl of Mongolian barbeque, a bowl of white rice and sesame bread is served. It makes a perfect combination with the main course. The taste is that of stir-fry but with a hint of sugar and hot spices. Salt may need to be added for taste but other than that, it's superb!
After you have stuffed yourself with bowl after bowl of barbeque, rice, and bread; dessert is next. The dessert bar has variety to crave any sweet tooth. The choices range from pudding and gelatin to cookies and cakes.The entrance way is filled with photographs of the former customers who were satisfied with the food and friendly customer service.
The lights are dim and candles adorn every table in the small, quiet restaurant. Hanging from the ceiling are paper lanterns that read "Happy" and "Welcome." The walls are covered with murals of horses and Asian history. The price for a dinner for two ranges from $20-$30 and is very filling. It's a perfect first date atmosphere and price. Mongolian Bar-B-Q is located off of North Military Highway, in front of Military Circle Mall. For more information call (757) 459-2400.
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Photo by JENNIFER KELLY
Amadi Hummings gets ready to dazzle the crowd with his violin. |
Cosi Fan Tutte. No, this is not a lesson in German, it is actually the title of Mozart's Last Comic Opera. It's also is the title of violist Amadi Hummings favorite piece of music. It is the story of two soldiers who are marrying two sisters. They have a friend of philosophical means who tells them that the sisters can never be faithful. So, the soldiers decide to pretend they are called away for war and come back disguised as two rich men who date each other's fiancé. The plan works and the women are unfaithful.
And you assumed that only 20th century films were full of action. Violist Amadi Hummings performed a solo recital Monday in the Hofheimer Theater. While the audience was assembling in the theater, a crowd formed outside. Dr. Em Ford, a TCC Va Beach professor brought her Music Appreciation class.
Janis Rudinger, one of Ford’s students, is taking the class to fulfill her humanities requirements. The students are required to keep a concert attendance sheet and take notes on the meter, tone, and tempo of all the concerts. "I have to know everything about the music," Rudinger said. "These concerts help me learn what music is."
Additional chairs even had to be added to accommodate for the big crowd. The lights dimmed and the sound buffers were masked with a soft pink light with a reflection of a tree. With the piano in the middle of the theater, visible to all eyes, it was a serene atmosphere, perfect for the performance. Hummings was accompanied by our own Artist-in-Residence, Lee Jordan-Anders. The performance included a variety of classical selections from German to English composers and even spirituals "from his childhood" like, “Let Us Break Bread Together.”
Hummings transported the audience through many eras and genres in his musical storytelling. " I just closed my eyes and let it take over," said Becky Channel, a local Ghent resident. "It's very moving and has a transporting ability." Hummings began playing the piano and violin at age four. While attending Interlocken Music Camp around the age of ten, he began to play the viola. "They needed someone to fill in", Hummings said. "I liked it."
Hummings began to play his music full time while still in college. He received a teaching position at Old Dominion University right after obtaining his Master's degree. "After six years, there was more of everything," Hummings said. Teaching and performing that is.
"[There is] so much talent in the school system...the kind that needed to be paid attention to regularly. I was exhausted all the time," Hummings said. Hummings frequently had to teach all day and then board a plane for a performance or fly in to teach a lesson. He even called a student once while backstage at the Metropolitan."I didn't let them know where I was calling from," he said. He decided to pursue performance full time.
Since then he has performed solo recitals throughout the United States including New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington D.C., which included a performance at the U.S. Supreme Court to name a few. He has also performed in Israel, Central America, India and throughout the Caribbean. He still serves on the faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Session, the Brevard Music Center, the Tennessee Governor's School of the Arts, the Sierra Music Festival and the Aria International Summer Academy in London, Ontario. When asked what his favorite performance was, his response was that the question was a "hard one." After a long pause, he said, "playing at Carnegie Hall with the Virginia Symphony." Choosing pieces for his recitals were generally easy. " They are my favorite pieces,” he said. "I love chamber music, [there is] something challenging about a master's solo work, something compelling," Hummings explained.
His storytelling sometimes conveys thoughts as he plays. "In the Sonata, (which he performed Monday), the beginning is like the beginning of time. When the piano is added it's like the beginning of creation...like some wondering soul searching for any living thing," Hummings said. It is hard to believe that he is able to focus on anything besides the music. Because Hummings plays all pieces from memory he keeps his eyes closed as though he is visualizing the music in his head. Hummings' movements seemed as though he was following an internal beat. He swayed from side to side through each section of his pieces. He kept a silent tempo with his foot but an obvious tempo with each breath. "It usually takes about a week," Hummings said in reference to memorizing the music.
And the performance? It was incredible," said Sandra Billy, director of the Wesleyan Familiar Faces Concert Series and the Center of Sacred Music. The concert series "offers an opportunity for the campus and local community to hear live performances by exceptional musicians," according to Wesleyan’s web site. Local resident and violinist herself, Tanya Brooks, said "great, beautiful. It was like the instrument was part of him and he was playing." VWC students also had kind remarks.
"He plays with such a passion, I can't help but get involved in his music," Freshman Erin Banner said. "We have to attend four concerts for our Introduction to Music class," Sophomore Erin Batchelder said, "I chose this one because it seemed interesting." As for the message being conveyed in his performances, Hummings said he tries to "choose music where I think I can speak through." Hummings definitely chose the right music for his performance at Wesleyan.
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