The essential building blocks for any constructive plan are universal: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? I first remember hearing this list of questions from a grade school teacher who told me that I should answer all of these queries and put pen to paper in order to present her with a successful book report based on our most recent reading assignment. The exercise of answering this set of questions is quite a powerful tool, and virtually limitless in its scope for an incredibly wide array of individuals whether you are an actor approaching a new scene, a lawyer learning about your next case, a doctor searching for a remedy for what ails your patient, or a student (preparing your first book report or searching for the topic for your graduate thesis). It comes as no surprise, then, that we instinctively begin planning all original SEFoS programs by using this list as a guide…and generally the sooner, the better. In some instances, we are responsible for creating all the answers from scratch with no help whatsoever, but in planning for our most recent project, “generation m,” some general answers were provided for us. Having so much support from producer Carolyn Bess and her team with Arts & Letters Live at the Dallas Museum of Art at times can almost feel like cheating! For instance:

Q: What? A: An original, entertaining and educational program of music, literature/poetry, and art which honors the recent, unprecedented gift of many millions of dollars-worth of modern art to the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibition of this work, expertly culled from thousands of individual pieces is entitled Fast Forward. Our program should reflect the spirit of this exhibition and pay tribute to the incredible depth and variety of artists represented in this collection. (more on this question in a moment!)

Q: Where? A: Horchow Auditorium, in the Dallas Museum of Art, downtown Dallas, Texas.

Q: When? A: Saturday, March 31st, 2007 at 7:30pm

Q: Why? A: To continue our annual collaboration with the museum, and further develop our audience and recognition in Dallas.

Q: How? A: By maximizing the combined financial, administrative, and artistic forces of A&LL and SEFoS.

You may notice that the only question not assigned a “general” answer by the Dallas Museum of Art is “Who?”. Prior to “generation m” we have been fortunate in our first three presentations in Dallas to have featured three pianists and seven vocalists (not to mention four superb actors) who have each performed brilliantly, embracing this unique performance opportunity, and dazzling some portion of the Arts & Letters Live audience. As a result, we have developed a well-respected trust with our producing partners at the Museum, and the reward is our autonomous control over which artists will be invited to participate on our programs in Dallas. Many contributing factors are evaluated before we are able to clarify final casting decisions: artist availability, repertoire, individual skills which make certain artists more or less appropriate for a given project, fee structure, etc. This year, we were fortunate that after Final Jeopardy, the “Who?” included Courtenay Budd, Jeffrey Picón, and Kathleen Kelly. All of these artists were making their debut with SEFoS in this program and rather fearlessly rewarded our audience last Saturday night with one special moment after another – the administration at Arts & Letters Live, as well as Adriana and I were incredibly grateful to each of them and were collectively moved by their contributions.

Now… allow me to return to the question, “What?”. Arts and Letters Live is primarily a literature series, featuring authors and actors, and a variety of other talented entertainers whose programs delve into the written and spoken word. Our collaboration began four seasons ago when Carolyn asked us if we could devise a musical program which would incorporate not only musical selections, but weave in visual imagery from the Dallas Museum’s permanent collection of art, and excerpts from literature and poetry whenever appropriate. This was a prospect that excited us tremendously. It was also an opportunity to stretch our artistic wings, and create something for which we had no model, and were bound only by our imagination and budget restrictions. Adriana wisely began to use the term ‘resonance’ to describe the pairings of art, literature, and music which would serve as the springboard for these programs, and from that moment on, little by little, the seed took root and grew! Until this past weekend, we had offered three completely unique programs, “ARTsong: a voyage with the muses”, “Secrets of the Sky and Sea”, and “Shakespeare Unplugged.” Our core audience has grown each year, and we have developed a small but loyal following. Of our three previous performances, Adriana took the lead in creating the “ARTsong” program. “Sky and Sea” developed from a recital program that I had offered in Maine the previous summer. Together, Adriana and I collaborated in every sense of the word to produce “Shakespeare Unplugged.” To date, the Shakespeare program was our most ambitious artistic undertaking in any venue. We were now not only responsible for a quintet of musical artists, but for designing a program including four well-respected actors from Shakespeare Dallas under the artistic direction of Raphael Parry. Oh, and not to forget the images (as always) from the Museum’s current collections.

Initial discussions took place last fall regarding the possibility of a musical program inspired by the Fast Forward exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. Immediately, Adriana’s hand shot up from the front row, waving wildly while her eyes pleaded “Pick me! Pick me!” Now, “generation m” was hers…

The normal cycle of program development necessitates revision and refinement. By the time I got a peek at what Adriana had planned for the musical underpinning of “generation m”, most of that work was finished. She had thrown herself into the project headlong, visiting European collections of art while on an audition tour in the fall, and researched artists, techniques, and thematic elements of their work for countless hours on the internet. She rapidly developed an innate sense of which composers and genres of music perfectly resonated with the artists whose work was featured in Fast Forward, and deftly wove the pairings into what would be a beautiful evening of art immersion.

Into the mix, the museum offered the idea of commissioning a new song to commemorate the evening. After reviewing several options, Adriana and I asked noted composer Robert Beaser if he might have time to create something to premiere during the performance. I met with Robert during the holiday season, and he introduced me to the works of Poet Daniel Mark Epstein, some of whose work he had previously set to music. I was quite taken with his words, and knew that if he agreed to let one of his poems to be scored, it would make for a powerful addition to the program. The resulting “Vision at Dawn” that he composed for our vocal quartet and piano is stunning, and was a perfect conclusion the first half of “generation m.”

Frequently, SEFoS has taken to incorporating elements into our programming outside of what is expected by our audiences or producing partners. Adriana keenly realized that some of the repertoire she was planning would be realized more fully with the addition of a few skilled musicians on percussion. Through some strange miracle of good fortune, the museum had a contact at Southern Methodist University, and suggested that we invite the SMU Percussion Ensemble to join us for the event. Just for the sake of tallying, Adriana at this juncture had now committed us to present four singers, a pianist, five percussionists, a new composition (with composer and lyricist in attendance), five poets, and about 100 images of art from Fast Forward. In the great state of Texas, she had essentially planned a classical hoedown. On the daily rehearsal schedule, I tend to give an acronym to just about everything. The Dallas Museum of Art becomes “DMA” on the schedule. The Horchow Auditorium is called “HCH”. The percussion ensemble was given the acronym “SMUP”. One could (and some did) make a case for the group to be called “SMUPE” to incorporate the word “ensemble” at the end of the acronym, but I was too tired to type five letters on the day I devised the master schedule. Nevertheless, SMUP was amazing. Aaron, Ben, Jenny, Michael, and Scott were thoroughly prepared, expertly intuitive, with their talent and personalities adding so much to this program, and the rehearsal process. Our encore piece, entitled “(nothing but) flowers” called for the singers to call out an exhuberant “Hey!” as we rounded third base toward the final refrain. Spontaneously, we found that it was infinitely more appropriate to replace “Hey!” with an ebullient, “SMUP!” At first I’m not sure how SMUP liked their new moniker, but I think when they discovered how we revered their talent they warmed to the idea. To say that the addition of these five percussionists was anything less than “SMUPtastic” or “SMUPrageous” would be inconceivable.

Finally, Adriana was asked to schedule an opportunity for the five newly commissioned poems to be read aloud during the course of our program. The poets were all Texas-based authors, and were asked to write in response to a visit to Fast Forward. Some of the poems came in quite late in the process, but Adriana was easily able to fold them into the extravaganza adding to the concert’s poignancy, honoring each poet’s voice, and without the slightest wrinkle in the momentum of the evening.

Answers to many questions about “generation m” fell into place as the program evolved once all of our artists arrived and began living with this music and art, in this space, and with one another. However, just days before the performance, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News asked the following questions in the newspaper: “Is there such a thing as music that will stand up to the Fast Forward exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art? How can music compete with such visual virtuosos as Jackson Pollock, Joseph Beuys and Kiki Smith?” At this point in the process, I think we all felt uniquely qualified to answer this question, but knew that it was not our place to do so (at least out loud). The performance of “generation m” went splendidly on Saturday night, and there were several moments which affected me deeply. Sunday morning, on a whim, I picked up a copy of the Dallas Morning News and tentatively searched to see if the reporter had been able to respond to his own prior inquiry. I found the review, and was pleased with the first sentence, “Words, music and images had quite a lively conversation Saturday evening at the Dallas Museum of Art.” Even better, he went on to specifically reference Adriana’s gift to the audience on Saturday night by acknowledging her incredible instinct and insight. “Whoever dreamed up the juxtapositions did an amazing job. Paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works had witty, evocative things to say about the songs, and vice versa.”

Asked and Answered.

–RT