Speaking of the Arts

It's not every day an award-winning international composer agrees to come and chat on Speaking of the Arts, but that all changes on this week's show when Fred Onovwerosuoke - otherwise known as FredO - chats to me about being an immigrant composer and why a George Orwell passage became a chant in his Triptych of American Voices: A Cantata of the People. Also actor Richard Harris joins me to talk about the COMO Griot Society, the legacy of August Wilson's 1996 manifesto 'The Ground on Which I Stand', and about his famous Granny - Opal Lee. Plus a new man in the neighborhood, Mr Mosy aka the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Executive Director, Trent Rash, drops in to talk comfy sweaters, bowties and musical feelings.

Links to FredO's music can be found here: http://fredomusic.com/wrksmpls

Find out more about the COMO Griot Society here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/269408244031474/

And you can find Mr Mosy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UOZpHzVIA

We hover, somewhat precariously, between being back in the real world, and staying safe at home. And the arts are in that same in between space. On this week's Speaking of the Arts we check out some actual IRL arts events and some that we can enjoy from home. Greenhouse Theatre Project's Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and Claire Syler talk about their virtual production of the Lauren Gunderson play 'Natural Shocks', Maplewood Barn theatre's Morgan Dennehy and Christopher Gould chat about their IRL production of Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost, Skylark Bookshop's Alex George recommends three books for Father's Day gifts, Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about how it feels to be back in the real world, and artist Elise Rugolo talks about a real life exhibit that opens at the Boone History and Culture Center's Montminy Gallery this weekend.

There is arts chat and subliminal music on this week's Speaking of the Arts, starting with a new song by Yasmin Williams - as yet untitled, she's looking for suggestions - from her next as-yet unrecorded album. Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about reopening Ragtag; French horn player Amanda Collins talks about a new recording of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' recorded by a group of black orchestral musicians and about the dearth of black musicians in orchestras; Skylark Bookshop's Alex George reviews some required reading books; and Hannah Reeves gives us a whistle stop tour of the Sager Braudis June exhibit. Visit the Speaking of the Arts Facebook page to find links to the music and venues https://www.facebook.com/speakingofthearts/

This week Diana talks to Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks about the importance of lifting up black voices in film; Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammond turns the tables and asks Diana about her 11 years of running Art in the Park; Monica Palmer chats about the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Hot Summer Nights Greatest Hits Season; AND author Jill Orr talks about the latest - and possibly last - novel in her Riley Ellison mystery series, The Full Scoop.

On this week's trip around the arts, host Diana Moxon finds out from director Barbie Banks what Ragtag Cinema is doing to get ready for its reopening next week; Tryps' director Jill Womack talks about the silver lining of reinventing their summer camp program into the virtual realm; the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer introduces Diana to contemporary female composer Nkeiru Okoye; Skylark's Alex George chats about the world of independent bookstores, and a new biography of George Washington; and Stephens College's Jennifer Hemphill and husband John Hemphill, both former Broadway actors, talk about the shuttering of the world's most famous theatre district.

This week as we tour the Columbia arts scene Diana drops into Skylark bookshop to talk food porn aka cookbooks with Alex George, chats with singer songwriter Audra Sergel about 'Sing!' -a cabaret night to benefit Talking Horse Productions, finds out more about the 19th female composer Clara Schumann from the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer, discusses Oscars postponement and a new film about Swedish abstract artist Hilma af Klint with Ragtag's Barbie Banks, before finally calling in to Talking Horse theatre to play the New Choice! improv game with Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson. And, amazingly, it all happens in just 58 minutes.

On this week's episode of Speaking of the Arts Diana gets to improvise her Jakarta nightclub days with Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson from Talking Horse Production and The Stable Boys, and she falls in love with the music of 17th century Venetian composer, Barbara Strozzi thanks to Monica Palmer of the Missouri Symphony Orchestra. Plus, Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks introduces a new French film that looks at being a female escort through a different lens ,'Alice'; Catherine Armbrust talks about 'Chimera' a virtual art show by the next generation of young artists (https://armbrustc.wixsite.com/chimera2020), and Alex George talks about two new books that offer a literary escape - 'Circe' by Madeline Miller and 'In Five Years' by Rebecca Searle.

As we all navigate our way to the new normal, the arts quietly carries on feeding our souls. Nobody ever felt worse after reading a good book, or listening to Mozart, or standing before an artwork that spoke to them. On this week's Speaking of the Arts Diana Moxon checks in with Ragtag Cinema, the Columbia Art League, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, Skylark Bookshop and Talking Horse Productions and finds out along the way about how difficult it is to tell Mick Jagger apart from Mozart, what Talking Horse Productions' Adam Brietzke thinks about murder hornets, upcoming drive-in movies, a new memoir for dog lovers, and the range of famous artists whose influences are on display in the Columbia Art League's Visual Mixtape online exhibit.

It's an exciting week in the Columbia literary world, with the latest novel by Skylark Bookshop owner, Alex George, getting its official launch, and so this week Alex chats to Diana about 'The Paris Hours', about weaving real people into fictional tales, and explains how the ending got its clever twist. Plus Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about the work of directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, and looks at the new documentary 'Capital in the 21st Century'. At Sager Braudis Gallery Hannah Reeves discusses the new May exhibit, and for the last stop on the arts tour Talking Horse Producion's Adam Brietzke and The Stable Boys' Kathleen Johnson teach Diana a short form game called 'Questions Only' and it's clear Diana needs some practice.

This week, with the help of sound effects, Diana cycles around Columbia visiting arts organizations to find out what we can all enjoy from the comfort of our sofas. In the world of Ragtag film, this week they open an Irish paranormal comedy, 'Extra Ordinary' and a documentary 'Pahokee' plus there's another chance to see this year's CoMo shorts and the 1991 movie 'Hook'. Skylark's Alex George talks about this week's Housebound Unbound book events; the Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammonds talks about their new show, which opens on April 27th, called 'Visual Mixtape' and discusses the artistic influences on her own body of work; at Talking Horse theatre, Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson, demonstrate another improv game; and the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer meets Diana at the Missouri Theatre for a chat about the composer Rachmaninov.