The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

Last Monday, our class all went out to see Aida at the MoMA. It felt like a very grand experience even before going there. All proper Operagoers wear proper clothing and I felt that it was going to be a classy night out hours before I got there.
Sitting down, we had places very high up; in the last row in fact. All of this we all know however, seeing as we all went to the opera.

My opinion of the Opera was in general a negative one; but like a lot of us I was glad that I went. My first gripe starts with the performance. We we’re indeed seated very high but you could tell that the acting was put plainly pretty bad. Basically all it entailed was the actors moving to certain parts of the stage and singing their lyrics. When I did get to see glimmers of their faces, they seemed expressionless and more involved in the song they were singing rather than the story of Aida. Also the points in the story that involved physicality were executed so poorly. One scene that stuck out to me was the part where the king of Ethiopia condemns Aida for not following his plan to betray Ramades. They two hardly made any real eye contact and the way he pushed her was so fake and so was the way she pathetically fell to the ground. Now I know the Opera isn’t supposed to focus on the acting and many of the best actors of Opera aren’t those who have the best acting but rather those who have the best voices. But as someone who isn’t a fan of the music, it leaves nothing to be appreciated. If I can’t enjoy the music I should at least be able to appreciate the performance on stage; and in this case I didn’t.
This leads me to the next gripe I had, which is just a personal block for me. The music for Opera really isn’t for me. First off, the way the Opera is formatted already presented a problem. In my opinion the recitative is not a good way of portraying the music that the composer wants to create and feels very limited as a listener. The fact that the music is supposed to carry the story and doesn’t include the instrumental accompaniment already places an element of B.S. As an outsider to the genre is seems like an unnecessary filler and seems like a conflict between music and acting., and in my opinion you shouldn’t have both music and acting if it takes away from either art form which to me it did. Also I felt that what Opera really is seems like a contention for who has the deepest and seemingly most impressive voice rather than what sounds most musically beautiful. I listened to some of the instrumental/orchestral parts of the opera and I really enjoyed them. Aida’s theme was very catchy and I liked it. But as soon as I heard the vocals, all I could think is that this is showing off how long you can yodel. It annoyed me because when I listen to trance music I love hearing some operatic vocals hymned over the electronic instrumental. That being said I can’t belittle this form of art too much and I thought about a way to understand why anyone would like this and found that it was very similar to any genres of music where a connoisseur would love certain flares of sound design. So for example I myself love a great bass line in an electronic dance music song or a rock enthusiast would love a singular guitar solo.

What I walked away with was an impression of fakeness throughout the performance. The portrayal of Egypt was strange and I could see how this was a reflection of the pop culture of the time. But like many things in a massed pop culture, it becomes hard to create a timeless piece of work. It appeals to the masses, but masses of a certain age. That age has passed and the appeal of Aida will never reach what it was before. That being said, I’m glad to see what the fuss is all about, and I did make use of dropping knowledge about recitative and aria to my girlfriend, which definitely got a good reaction. I probably not going to see another opera any time soon, but will definitely talk about my experience to others and show off that I went.

‘Aida’, out of all the required performances, was the one I was the most excited about. Since we spent our last week talking about how magnificent and cultured an opera is and especially after Professor Cohen came in and educated us about the differences between an aria and a recitative and how all the major characters have different themes for them, my level of excitement reached its peak. Therefore, last Friday, Susu, Jackie and I organized a shopping trip to buy the perfect dress for this grand performance and by Monday we were all set to experience our first Opera.

The Lincoln center in itself was huge and the hall where ‘Aida’ was supposed to take place was even more impressive and enormous than I had imagined it to be. Although, we were seated way at the back, I still was awestruck by the overall ambience and was pretty excited for Aida to start. However, unfortunately, within five minutes of the first act I sensed that this was going to be a long night. For starters, I could not even see the faces of the performers. Secondly, I did not particularly like the orchestra except for Aida’s and Amneris’s jealousy theme and since Radames’s part of desiring to be the commander of the army was too prolonged for me, I settled on shifting my focus on my surroundings instead. Hence, I spent the entire first act looking around at who was sleeping, fidgeting around my seat or foraging for candy in my bag. Thus, it was no surprise when after the first act ended, I was more than enthusiastic to get out of my seat (partly the reason for my notorious fall) but thankfully I didn’t break anything and finally took the wise decision to pay more attention on the other acts. With new vigor, I took on the task of putting all my concentration on Act II and surprisingly, this was not as boring as the first one. I still did not particularly like the part where Amneris tricked Aida in confessing her love for Radames and personally thought that Aida could have done a much better job in both singing and acting. However, the triumphal procession part was somewhat more engaging and I actually enjoyed it. The set design, the ballerinas and the horses proved to be quite fascinating for me and at that point I felt as if, after all, the opera wasn’t so bad.

As the acts progressed, I felt more comfortable and at ease, and found Amneris’s parts to be the most captivating. Firstly, Amneris did a remarkable job in singing than both Radames and Aida and even though I could not see her facial expressions, I could sense her emotions through her voice. When I was reading the libretto, Amneris came across to me as the typical spoilt rich princess who was the reason behind the incomplete love of the two main protagonists. However, at the opera I realized that I could relate more to Amneris than to Aida, maybe because she acted out her part so well. I was truly captivated by the Act IV of the play, where Amneris tried to coax Radames in pleading innocent in front of the court. Even though, Radames had betrayed her and her country and had explicitly shown his love for Aida, Amneris still was not able to hate him. Her love for him was so strong that she was willing to sacrifice everything for him, willing to accept his treachery and plead for his life even though she knew that he did not love her. Although, Aida was supposed to be a tragedy of Radames and Aida, I found Amneris’s story to be more tragic and touching.

Overall, watching the opera at the Met was a great experience, and although the opera itself might not have been that entertaining, I still enjoyed the overall experience.

Aida fell short of my expectations. 🙁 It really saddens me to say that I did not enjoy “Aida” as much as I had thought I would. After looking forward to it for many weeks, especially after the class we had with Jake, I was rather let down. It might have been because of the seats…but I am sure that wasn’t the main problem.

In case you were wondering, I did not fall asleep; So, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t my lack of attention that took away from the performance. I feel like I didn’t feel the emotions from the actors on stage as much as I did from the actors in the videos we saw online. This is usually not how it’s supposed to be though. Normally, I would think that seeing a live performance would be better than watching a video but the actors in “Aida” at the Met were really lack luster. Since I had binoculars, I could see the facial expressions of the actors at certain times and it felt like they weren’t giving it their best effort. It was either that, or the actors in the videos were just that much better than them. Either way, their performance was just missing the “umph” factor. In the last scene where Aida and Radames were stuck in the tomb, I was most dissapointed. My expectation was that they would be dramatic like I saw in some movies and even in the videos online. What I saw was an extremely anticlimactic ending and although I did applaud the actors at the end, I wasn’t too zealous about it and barely managed to bring my hands together. There just wasn’t enough emotion in that last part to lift me up.

I do think though, that the woman who played Amneris did a great job. I remember watching her in the last act crying in despair of her ruined love. That was definitely the highlight of the night. Even the New York Times agreed! haha. But in all seriousness she did stand out more for me than the two main characters and even the entire rest of the cast! Her performance was enough to get me to really notice her and feel the emotions that she was supposed to be channeling. Even though I didn’t really feel anything through most of the performance, I kind-of teared up when she was listening in on Radames’ death sentencing. Amneris definitely did a great job. I also enjoyed the sets and the movement they had. It was amazing to see an entire background shift upwards into the cieling or down in to the ground. I hadn’t ever seen something like that prior to the night at the opera and it was really cool. The horses in the opera were also really interesting because they were Live and also restless which made them quite funny.

Aside from the actual performance I feel like the Metropolitan Opera was only just okay. Yes, the chandelier was pretty and they had pretty nice water fountains but the rest of the decor was so much less than I had expected. The walls were very bare and the dress displays were so few that I was done viewing them in a heartbeat. It might have been because I was expecting too much but it was kinda sad that the opera was so different from my expectations.

Overall, The opera was nice but not really. I’m not sure if I would go back…maybe if I was really interested in another opera, and i had the money. But, without help from an expert like Professor Jacob Cohen, that isn’t very likely.

~Jackie

I don’t know how many of you get a chance to come out to Long Island, but if you ever do there is truly a gem in the Heckscher Art Museum in Huntington. Heckscher has on display over 2500 traditional pieces of art with a focus on the 19th and 20th century landscape paintings. As American’s moved west and settled their lands, so too did their brushes and paints settle on canvas.

The collection I sought to see was their exhibition on Realism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The pieces use reflection of reality on water, ice, or even mirrors, as a talent of painting and as an interpretation of the time period.

The art lacks the shock value of many modern art pieces we have been viewing this year, but because the semester is ending and I have been inundated with contemporary art, I decided to take myself back to art as I knew it prior to this class.

A piece that stood out to me was the Blue Bulb by Margery Caggiano. It was painted during the 1970’s, which as we know was a time for great cultural revolutions. It stood out to me as being so vividly real in light of a time that was so outwardly idealistic. In addition to that, the sheer talent and time spent on the painting stunned me as it is clearly shown in the grace with which the brush was rubbed.

Upon first glance I had thought it was a photograph. The shadows and reflections were so unnervingly real that I could hardly fathom how much practice and effort went into painting it that way.

The painting struck me as commentary on the banality of everyday things, and how marvelous they can be when meticulously crafted by human hands instead of their machines. A light bulb to us would appear as nothing more than a tool; we use it, we flick it on or off, but we never observe. We never care or take time to appreciate the effort put into creating or working it. Through photo-realism, this particular division of pop art, we are able to see the beauty in the tedium of modern day life. With all our amenities and gadgets we rarely take the time to appreciate them for what they are and the effort that goes into creating them. Case in point, the shadows and reflections expertly painted in this piece.

If you desire a different experience from your traditional art museum, one that you can better understand and appreciate for talent and time spent, the Heckscher museum is host to hundreds of realist and surrealist pieces. It is art as we know it; the classics we see in textbooks but never anywhere else. Being so close to them allows you to appreciate all that you’ve learned and compartmentalized of history, tapping into the culture of the time as opposed to the counter-cultures.

-Stephen Elliott

Like many of us, I was pretty hesitant, at first, about attending the opera. Simply looking at images of Lincoln Center and at commercials for upcoming performances were quite overwhelming because of the great sophistication they exuded – way too ‘classy’ for me. I figured that a bunch of 18-year-old college freshmen at an opera – sung for over 3 hours in Italian – would not be the most ideal trip. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Our seats were obviously not the best for viewing the stage, but it gave me a great view of the orchestra. Before the performers appeared on stage, the orchestra played – what I recall to be – an impactful opening piece. It was absolutely moving to hear such skilled musicians play and to see the conductor fervently lead the orchestra. As a matter of fact, I often glanced between the stage and the English subtitles in front of me to the orchestra just to watch, as a fellow classmate commented, “intense looks on their faces. It was obvious that playing music was their dream, and they definitely put in their 10,000 hours.”

As for “Aida” itself, Acts I and II were the opera’s highlights. They seemed to have just flown right on by. I was captivated by the strength of Radames’ voice. I also found him to be a good actor. Initially, I was not impressed with Aida. I still do not think that her acting skills were on point and her voice did not move me. Although she hit some beautifully high notes and knows how to work the dynamics of her voice. Amneris’ voice was not all too captivating, but she knew how to sing in a way that very easily reflected the words of her song. I believe that she had the best connection between how she sang and what she sang about. One could tell whether she was raging with jealousy, distraught, or in the middle of one of her strategic and manipulative tactics.

Acts I and II were also home to incredible set and costume designing – let us not forget those fidgety horses either!

I was quite disappointed by Acts III and IV. Those acts seemed endless and, quite honestly, were dragged out for much longer than they needed to be. I was very disappointed with Aida’s performance when Amansaro refers to her as Radames’ slave. Aida, a Ethiopian princess, your father has just called you the slave of an Egyptian king and all you have to say to that is ‘ohh!’ This was such a pivotal moment in the opera and Aida’s reaction did not suffice – especially when compared to that of the other Aida in the YouTube video we saw with Professor Cohen. Moreover, the ending acts, in general, were too anti-climactic. Acts I and II were incomparably vibrant and lively even though the turning points were mainly in the last two acts.

The adequate lengths of and appropriate spacing of the intermissions between the “Aida’s” acts provided some relief from the music and singing, but there could have been a longer pause in the third act. Really, there could have been. 🙂

There are many other things I wanted to make mention of, but the opera is kind of a blur for me no.w Overall though, it was a pleasure to see “Aida” and with Professor Jacob Cohen’s help, I was able to understand much more had I only read the libretto.

– Salma

P.S. I put this YouTube link to a popular Egyptian movie that was released years ago, 1999 to be exact, but “Aida” drew me back to it because of Verdi’s triumphant march. There is also an “Aida” reference – which I missed as a young girl – but am now familiar with. It is also pretty funny.

(I’ve linked it to where it should start (1:05:10), so just hit play and enjoy until 1:06:20 … unless of course you want to watch the rest of it … in Arabic.)

Today, on my way home after class, I visited a small museum called Voelker Orth Museum Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden. It is located in Flushing, Queens. The museum’s mission statement is “through the experience of an immigrant family’s 1890s home, preserves and interprets the cultural and horticultural heritage of Flushing, Queens and adjacent communities to engage their ever-changing populations.”

The gardens are well preserved, containing the flora of the Victorian Age, and continues to be managed in a similar fashion as it was about 100 years ago, using natural fertilizers and herbicides. By doing so, it attracted many birds, butterflies, and bees to the garden. Also the house structure is preserved in the way that was very common in Flushing back in Victorian Era.

Even though, the museum was small, I enjoyed seeing little details of everyday lives of people 100 years ago. The museum had a garden, which also was very small in size, but was good to see how people used to naturally grow their plants, using environment friendly fertilizers and herbicides that attracted many birds and butterflies.

(Click on the photo)

I’ve lived in New York City all my life. Every Thanksgiving until I was 11 I would get up early, make my breakfast and proceed to watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Even though the parade was less than a two-hour travel by public transportation I never went to see it in person. It’s probably because I was the only one in my family who was even slightly interested in gigantic balloons flying over the streets of Manhattan.

It was a last minute decision to go tot eh event. I received a call from one of my friends from high school the night before and she asked if I wanted to go to the parade with her. I was hesitant at first because it was pretty sudden. But I figured that it would be a great experience to finally go to the parade. It’s never been something that I had a strong desire to do, but it was an idea I was open to.

It was a pain just getting up so early. We took the train and managed to get a decent spot near Bryant Park at 6^th avenue and 40^th street. We got on the M train in Middle Village, Queens and got off at the 42^nd street stop. However, it was so packed there (probably because it was right next to the train station) that we had to go to 7^th avenue and walk back to 6^th avenue on 40^th street just to get a better spot.

We thought by being there two hours before the parade started (at 7 a.m.) that we would be able to get a great spot. Turns out that we were horribly wrong. People were there from 4 to 5 in the morning. We were clearly delusional for only being there two hours earlier (trying to be sarcastic). What were we thinking?!

Waiting for two hours for the parade to start isn’t a big deal as long as you have a friend to talk to. I hadn’t seen my friend since August so we had a lot to catch up on, making the two hours fly by.

It was very cold in the early hours of the morning, but as the sun came out the weather was warmer and more bearable. The only problem with the weather came from the wind, which was pretty strong at the time.

After the parade started we enjoyed ourselves. The only problem was that we couldn’t see the performers on the street because the people in the front of us were taller—life as a small person really sucks sometimes. My favorite balloons were Spider-man and Sonic the Hedgehog because they were both big parts of my childhood. Seeing those two in the form of a gigantic balloon was a completely exhilarating experience. We were also able to see some of the singers and performers that were on the floats.  I’d recommend anyone who has ever wanted to go to the parade to do it at least once in his or her life. It’s one of those things that you will be glad to cross off the ol’ bucket list. However, I think it’s enjoyable in person only for a few years because it can become repetitive.

A few days ago, I was walking through Madison Square Park and I saw this exhibition called Buckyball, made by this artist Leo Villareal. It’s this 30-foot tall, illuminated sculpture that is made from LED tubes in geometric figures. This structure changes shape and color as time goes on, creating new figures all the time. Apparently, the artist’s intention was for the different shapes and colors to question our interpretation of time and space. Leo Villareal is known for using basic elements to make us question everyday functions. The sculpture is meant to trigger neurological impulses in our brain that look for patterns and make sense of our environment. I thought it was really cool how each separate interpretation of the BuckyBall represents a more general and philosophical idea. Underneath the BuckyBall are reclining couches that are designed to mimic the park benches. They allow you to view the BuckyBall from different angles as it changes its color and shape. The BuckyBall fits into the NY landscape because it represents the changing seasons and lights of Manhattan. The exhibit lasts through fall and winter, so you can see this exhibit in different settings and environments  which adds to the magic of the exhibit. Even though it’s not a major art exhibit, it’s one of those small things that makes you stop and think about the bigger concepts in life. I hope to see more of these small artistic pieces incorporated into my everyday travels in NY.

When I first learned that we were going to the opera in the beginning of the year, I was sort of intrigued. I’ve never been to an opera before so I had no real expectations. I only heard people’s opinions of the opera; some raved about it, and some absolutely despised it. I would say that after my first trip to the opera, I have mixed reviews.

The positive side to my experience at the opera was the ambiance of the theater. Just walking around on the Upper West Side in nice dress clothes was a fun experience in itself because it really allowed us to get a feel for the elite side of New York.  Being at Lincoln Center allowed us to temporarily enter a social class in which we usually do not reside, and it felt cool to sort of be “undercover” throughout the performance. I noticed there were some people there who seemed like the opera was their hot spot, and that it was designed for them to be there. However, since we were in the same venue as these individuals, my classmates and I have every right to show up at another opera (even if we do smell like a chicken burrito from Chipotle) and act like it’s our place, too. Furthermore, another aspect of “Aida” I enjoyed was the intermissions. I felt like the performance was spaced out really well so the audience never got excessively bored or tired. If the intermissions came in longer intervals during the production, I feel like I could have gotten bored and could have possibly dozed off in my seat. However, the length and timing of the intermissions helped me sustain an interest in the production, so I was appreciative of those breaks. Additionally, another point of the opera I liked was the orchestra. I could be totally wrong in my perspective of the orchestra, but to me it seems like opera-goers only focus on the actors and their singing and not the music being played. I frequently glanced down at the band, and they all had such intense looks on their faces. It was obvious that playing music was their dream, and they definitely put in their 10,000 hours. I think all their coordination and synchronized music really enhanced the opera in a way that I never thought a band was capable of doing.

Moreover, there were some parts of the opera I did not find so enjoyable. I thought some of the actors in the opera did not live up to their hype. Like most of my classmates noticed,  the singer who played Aida was a little flat, and Ramades seemed a little uncomfortable. Their acting was also a little shaky. When Aida’s father tells her she is going to be known as the pharaoh’s slave, not his daughter, Aida simply fell over and began to weep. If a parent disowns a child, you would expect the young person to be an emotional wreck, not dismissive. So, the negative components to the experience would have to be the somewhat flat voices of the stars of the play and the lack of expression on their faces.

Overall, attending “Aida” was a great opportunity for me to learn more about New York City at it’s finest, and I am glad I got to experience it with my classmates.