I’ll never look at paper dolls the same again.  That’s because I recently befriended the greatest living creator of the art form, 83-year old Tom Tierney. Now I certainly didn’t go looking to chat up a paper doll artist, which made the whole experience all the more special.  Here’s the story… My boyfriend Doug and I were driving from Houston to Austin last Sunday, and stopped in the little town of Smithville, population c. 4,456.  We’d been told it was the best place to browse antique shops while en route.  Junk stores is more what Doug considered them.  But it was a typically...

Fred Hersch isn’t a meditation guru. He’s a composer and jazz pianist.  But he does know something about that elusive goal of living in the moment. “If you think too far ahead you drop the ball. This is why tennis and jazz are very similar,” he says, in the documentary “The Lives of Fred Hersch.”  He continues, “you have to play what is in front of you and what appears, and react to it.” On Friday night he’ll be performing a solo piano concert at Chapin Hall in Williamstown, Mass.  “People should come expecting original music, and definitely some things by Thelonious Monk...

For the past two holiday seasons, fans of Broadway musicals have had special treats under the Christmas tree – the collected lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, issued in matching volumes during the past two autumns.  “Finishing A Hat” (volume 1) and “Look, I Made A Hat” (volume 2) are coffee table-size books that include not just the lyrics for legendary shows like “West Side Story,” “A Little Night Music” and “Sweeney Todd,” but also extensive commentary and reminisces by Sondheim.  (The books’ titles reference a song from “Sunday in the Park With George.”) In one passage,...

“I don’t embarrass easily,” says author Wayne Koestenbaum. “That’s because I’m used to gay culture’s flamboyant embrace of embarrassing positions.” Perhaps it’s that bravery, that hold-your-chin-up attitude, which allows Koestenbaum the courage to delve so deeply into the shame, guilt and suffering of others. “Humiliation” is the latest book by Koestenbaum who will appear on Thursday at the University of Albany in an afternoon seminar and evening reading, sponsored by the New York State Writers’ Institute.  As the title suggests, his new book explores the humiliating moments...

In a departure from recent tradition, the French piano virtuoso Jean-Yves Thibaudet won’t be making an appearance this summer at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. But his local fans will have ample opportunity to catch him at Tanglewood. He’ll be appearing three times in the coming week performing the music of his countryman, Maurice Ravel. Thibaudet will perform all of Ravel’s solo piano works over two nights, Wednesday and Thursday (7/20-21), at Ozawa Hall. Then on Sunday, July 24, he’ll appear in with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at The Koussevitzky Music Shed...

Playwright Tony Kushner is immersed in a dizzying amount of work, including crafting a new screenplay about Lincoln that’s still unfinished but is slated to begin filming in the fall with director Steven Speilberg. He’s also contributing new material to the season-long retrospective of his work at New York’s Signature Theatre. Kushner has a penchant for taking on big projects and important themes, starting with his most famous work, “Angels in America,” a six-hour, two-part play about AIDS that received the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. For further evidence of his ambition,...

Spending a full summer in Cooperstown just didn’t seem possible. The internationally acclaimed operatic star Deborah Voigt was too in demand to make that kind of long-term commitment. It was only last spring when Francesca Zambello, the recently appointed general and artistic director of the Glimmerglass Festival, approached the soprano about being the company’s artist in residence during summer 2011.  The two were friends as well as colleagues but Voigt thought that Zambello was asking a lot. “Then she said, well what if I did a whole musical for you?” recalls Voigt. “That was a whole...

Most pianists who perform with singers don’t like to be thought of as playing second fiddle, so to speak.  That’s why there’s a growing trend to do away with the term “accompanist,” with its tag-along connotations, and instead call the folks at the keyboard “collaborators.” “That just drives me crazy,” says Craig Rutenberg. “It sounds like something you did when you were French and you worked with the Germans during the war.” However you define his profession, Rutenberg is at the top of the field.  He’ll be appearing Saturday night at Tannery Pond with soprano Christine...

Think countertenors aren’t manly? Then meet Jacques Snyman. He’s played rugby and in 2009 was finalist in the Mr. Gay South Africa contest. Most of his time lately, it seems, has been pumping iron and practicing high notes. He’s apparently looking for American gigs to promote and raise funds for the “It Gets Better” campaign against bullying. Could there possibly be anyone in the States willing to put him up for a night or two? There’s a thoughtful interview with Snyman at the blog “Taminophile” (a bel canto bear in a verismo world). share:...

Singers never have it easy.  The volatile human body is their instrument and the change of seasons, allergies and drafty concert halls are not their friends. But some special pity — and praise — must go to the sopranos who slave over the demanding works of living composers. Over the last 10 years, soprano Hila Plitmann has become the go-to diva for composers with their grand visions.  She’ll be performing a piece of John Corigliano with the Albany Symphony on Saturday night at EMPAC, in a program that’s part of the orchestra’s annual American Music Festival. “There’s the...