Central Ohio is slowly warming up as spring is starting to taking hold.
Like so many spring flowers, the central Ohio arts community is blossoming.
All Sides Weekend and Classical 101 Morning Host Christopher Purdy is talking with some leaders of the local arts community about what's to come during this spring season.
Host:
- Christopher Purdy, Classical 101 Morning Host
Guests:
- Melissa Starker, film critic
- Antoine Clark, founder/conductor/music director, Worthington Chamber Orchestra
- Julia Noulin-Merat, general director/CEO, Opera Columbus
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Christopher Purdy: Good morning and welcome to All Sides Weekend. I'm Christopher Purdy, delighted to have your company. This is our Arts and Culture Roundtable. We do this generally the last Friday of the month and I am delighted to welcome three very, very important people in our cultural life in central Ohio, including a brand new friend. Not really a new friend, I've known this person before, but I think it's your debut with the program, at least with me.
Melissa Starker is here she's a freelance writer and film programmer she editor of the "Screen Addiction" weekly newsletter of local film listings it's available at screen addiction columbus dot com melissa has over a decade covering arts and film and local publications as well as managing PR and creative contact for the Wexner Center uh... Melissa is going to tell us all things film all things uh... In our Welcome, Alyssa Starker.
Starker: Thank you for having me.
Purdy: Antoine Clark is here. Antoine is an executive artistic and music director and the founder of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra. He's a clarinetist, an educator, a conductor. He is working all the time as a conductor, you just came back from where?
Clark: Myrtle Beach, the Long Bay Symphony.
Purdy: Oh my goodness. All right. Well, Antoine is somebody who has been with the community since he was a quite young kid. He's now a young man, but he is busier than ever. I don't know when he sleeps. And speaking of that, Julia Noulin-Merat is here. She is the CEO of Opera Columbus. She has a new production to talk us about, which is a collaboration with the Columbus Symphony. So we have film. We have music, we have the stage, and we have Julia telling us about "La Traviata." What is "La Traviata?"
Noulin-Merat: Well, if you know the story of "Pretty Woman," which is, you know, that's that's the best way I found to describe it. But it's a courtesan falls in love and then, you know, tragedy ensues. But it is very close to the movie. And actually in the movie, they go to San Francisco Opera to see "La Traviata." But it said really what is it?
Purdy: What does it mean, "La Traviata?" That's an Italian word. What does that mean?
Noulin-Merat: Means the court is on so yeah um and uh it's just incredible beautiful songs like "Libiamo" when they're talking about drinking exactly um and so we're we're really excited to present it with the symphony and kappa it's at the Ohio Theater so really grand scale um and the other thing that we love doing as you know is to throw a party before the production so if You show up an hour early. You can make Mardi Gras masks. There's gonna be live music in the lobby and a lot of like activation too.
Purdy: Yeah, one of them you had a whiskey taste in.
Noulin-Merat: Yes any whiskey for this one champagne maybe there's a french 75 for this
Purdy: Now, this has a lot of big ballroom scenes and also some very intimate moments in a garden. There's a lot heartbreak. There's lot of music and yes indeed she dies at the end.
Noulin-Merat: At the end. Plot twist.
Purdy: Yes. So what is the history of your collaboration with the Columbus Symphony? I know they're generally in the pit when you play at the Southern Theater. This is in the Ohio. Are they going to be on stage with you? How's that going to work?
Noulin-Merat: No, they're going to be in the pit as well, and it's Rosson conducting, and we love collaborating with him. And what I love about when we do shows together, it really brings our forces together. So it's 65-piece orchestra, so it's not like a reduction. And everything is grand scale. We're doing brand new costumes, and Kappa is also coming in as a collaborator for the venue and the tech support, which is really remarkable.
Purdy: Is it an Italian?
Noulin-Merat: It is in Italian. I don't know what.
Purdy: I don't know Italian, so I'm going to sit there and not know Italian? How am I going to figure it out?
Noulin-Merat: No. So great question. We have captions, so you get to follow along. So just like when you watch a Netflix movie, you see the captions, it's exactly the same thing. And then the other thing is if you are hard of hearing, we also have vibrating vests.
Purdy: Talk about that, because you put one on me last time we were together, and they were wonderful. What is that?
Noulin-Merat: We are very lucky to get a capital grant from the GCAC. And if you're hard of hearing, you put on these vests that pulse to the music in time. So that's live. And what's really remarkable about that is not only can you follow the action on stage and read the caption, but you also get a sense of the rhythm of the music. And these vests, I mean, it's amazing. They press harder if the music is louder.
It's a really incredible immersive experience. If you're visually impaired, on the Sunday performance, we do a touch tour before the show, so you can go on stage, touch the set, the costumes. There's also audio description. We are really fully accessible. Um, and we've done a lot of efforts to, you know, bring in new audiences to all their productions and things like that, which is actually how this year we got recognized by the Columbus foundation as nonprofit to watch. For all of our.
Purdy: You got a big award which congratulations and that has a that has a lot to do with your energy and your expertise and congratulations to you for all that uh Antoine Clark now we're going to come back to Julia by the way because we have to talk about Stephen King yes the Stephen that's Stephen King we're gonna talk about a little later Antoine Clark now I've I've said this to your face and I've said it publicly before that um I have always been just so impressed I think you were pretty much a kid when I first met you you a very young man.
And you're a clarinetist, you were playing everywhere and all kinds of different, and you were teaching, you're teaching clarinet. And then you became a conductor. Now a conductor has to have an instrument. That instrument would be an orchestra. So if an orchestra doesn't invite you to conduct when you're 25, you're out of luck. Well, you weren't having any time for that. What did you do?
Clark: Well, in 2013, I decided to found and create my own orchestra in Worthington.
Purdy: Now, hang on a minute, let's underline that. Not everybody does that, so. All right, you started your own orchestra in Worthington in 2013, because you wanted to be a conductor. And if you want to be conductor, well, why not start, well, why doesn't everybody do that?
Clark: Well, it's very difficult to do, first of all. Yeah, I had left teaching in Nebraska as a Woodwinds specialist teacher. And I was thinking about, what am I going to do when I get back to Columbus, Ohio? And I had this interest in conducting since I was an undergrad, but never understood how to get there. So along with looking for more clarinet teaching jobs, I was like, no, let's look into the conducting. At the time, I founded a woodwind quintet filled with members that still play in the orchestra. And we played at the McConnell Art Center.
Purdy: I remember that.
Clark: Yes. And a gentleman and his wife, Michael Ball and Bethann Ball came up to me. I think the Mac had been open about two years at this point and they had these Thursday night concerts. Well Mick and Bethanne came up and said, this is the first time we've had classical programming and this is so exciting. And many times I had driven by the McConnell Arts Center because my spouse's family is from Worthington. And I was like, well, I would love to Stay there. And I was like, well, man, wouldn't it be cool for Worthing to have a chamber orchestra?
So anyway, after that concert, I spoke with the then executive director, John Cook, and pitched him the idea for a chamber Orchestra. And fortunately, he supported it. So for nine seasons, we worked under the umbrella of the McConnell Art Center. And for the last four seasons, we've been our own nonprofit transitioning to the Worthington Chamber Orchestra.
Purdy: So are you in residence at the MAC or do you rent the space? What is your relationship with the McConnell Arts Center?
Clark: Sure. So because of this long history with the McConnell Arts Center, they look at us as a partner. Yes, we do pay to use the space, but they're very kind to us and help us out when they can.
Purdy: You have, because I've been there and I know, you have very enthusiastic audiences and you have people who would come to your performances and without even knowing in advance what you're going to play. Right. Which is a very, that used to be 50 and 60 years, long time ago that used to be how it was done, but that changed, but you've really, people just want to hear you conduct and they want to hear your orchestra.
Clark: I think our community has rallied around our brand of programming. Obviously, we'd love to perform the staples, the repertoire that everyone loves. But we really pride ourselves on bringing out composers that people haven't heard of, a lot of local artists we like to pair with. We also want to talk about themes of diversity and inclusion in our programming.
Purdy: Let's keep saying that D-E-I-D-E I don't care I'm saying it anyway yeah yeah we'll talk more about that as the show goes on you have you have a project coming up you want to talk about soon yes we'll cover that as well I want to come back to Melissa Starker and welcome you to the program Melissa is writing about film now but my goodness you're really a polyglot of of an arts advocate and have been for a number of years is that fair to say yeah I'm saying it anyway.
Starker: Well, thank you. I mean, I covered the arts beat in film beat in Columbus for a long time. So I just know a lot of the players and I know the excitement and passion that they bring to their work and what they bring the city.
Purdy: What is the film business in Columbus? Not the film scene, but film business.
Starker: Um, so it's an interesting time for the film business overall. I mean, still coming out of COVID and, um, a lot of pressure from the streamers to, you know, limit theatrical windows. So there's a lot movies coming out, but they're, you know, have very short time in theaters. Um, or that they're in theaters, but you can also see them for $6 online.
Purdy: That's what, because when the Academy Awards were recently given, and I'm going to ask you about that later, I have to tell you, I'm an old man, I hadn't really heard of almost any of the films that won awards and I thought, what's wrong with me? But is it because they just came and went because they went to streaming platforms or?
Starker: Um, so that's, that's a good question because actually, um, one thing I noticed, uh, starting the screen addiction newsletter when I did in January is that a lot of theaters were bringing back these films to give people a second opportunity to see them. So even if you, um. Could see them on a streamer, um you could see a film like "Centers" or "One Battle After Another," two excellent examples of films that were really made to be seen.
Purdy: The big screen in the theater yeah I think I think we lose that I'm you know younger people today probably haven't seen anything on a huge screen before them or you some of us grew up well
Starker: the funny thing actually is that recent surveys have found that younger audiences are going to the theaters more than older audiences. Really? Yeah it's a really encouraging trend. Melissa Starker writes on film, was film your first love in the arts? Was that your port of entry? It was. My dad is a huge film lover and he growing up in Boston like you did which had a great art house film scene. I saw a lot of movies starting at a very young age.
Purdy: Give me the first. Film that really made an impression on you? Gosh. Well, I will say that the very first film that I remember seeing is a 1973 French sci-fi animated film called "Fantastic Planet" when I was five years old. And that is not the kind of thing, five or six, that's not the kind that most people could point to as their first film experience. It definitely made a dent.
Purdy: Well, it could clearly what's your appetite or set up your appetite for what you're doing to this day. I want to come back. We're going to take a break in a moment. But I want come back and ask you because I think you would know to take the temperature of the arts in in Columbus and central Ohio and in a wide range. I'll ask all of you that as we come back, I'm Christopher Purdy. This is All Sides Weekend on 89.7 NPR News. We're gonna take a quick break. Don't go away.
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Purdy: We are back, this is All Sides Weekend. I'm Christopher Purdy. This is our arts and culture discussion that we do at the end of every month. My guests are Antoine Clark, conductor and music director, Clarinetist. Julia Noulin-Merat is the CEO of Opera Columbus and Melissa Starker is a freelance writer and film programmer. Melissa Starker, can you give us the first of your thumbnail film reviews for us? What should we go and say?
Starker: Okay, well, I'll start on the positive, or on the upbeat, I will say. So there's a new film that's out today in a couple of theaters called "A Magnificent Life." And it is the new animated feature by French artist Sylvain Chomet, who people might know from "The Triplets of Belleville" or "The Illusionist." And it's actually a biopic of Marcel Pagnol, who is an icon in French arts. A writer, poet, filmmaker, playwright, inventor.
And it tells the story of his life as he's recounting it in an essay for Elle Magazine at the age of 61. And his younger self comes to him and basically prompts these memories and also appears in the flashbacks to sort of push things in the direction of how his life should be in exploring the arts. And, um... You know, it's not as magical maybe as "The Triplets of Belleville" is in part because it's very, you know, grounded in a real life story. But that said, the whole device of his younger self just popping up, I just found really charming.
Ultimately, it is a story about just exploring your passions and exploring all of the different ways that you can manifest that. And you know being true to yourself is probably the biggest theme of it and I personally thought I really enjoyed it. Is it here has it opened yet? It opened today yeah at I believe Easton Gateway. And repeat the title if you will. "A Magnificent Life."
Purdy: A recommendation from freelance writer, film critic, film programmer, Melissa Starker, Antoine Clark of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra. Where else are you conducting? You just came back from Myrtle Beach, I know you've been in Cincinnati.
Clark: Yeah, currently I'm in an interim position with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra Concert Orchestra. So that's been a wonderful experience this year. We have one more concert this season on May 10th, a program called "Common Ground," and these students can play their hearts out. So it's been joy to work with this organization.
Purdy: What do you have coming up? You have something coming up shortly.
Clark: Yes, we're going into our third masterworks of the season under the "American Crossroads" title. This concert is called "Upon These Shores" and explores the idea that as Americans, we all come from somewhere. And so every piece on this season has been by an American composer. And so this one is really featuring composers who either immigrated to the United States or they're writing about things about. Immigration.
So to lead into that we are doing a community connect event at the Worthington Resource Pantry this Saturday, March 28th at 2 p.m. And these events have been designed to give our audiences a deeper understanding of the music, artists, and themes presented in each masterworks. Oftentimes when you go to see a concert you want to know and connect with the people who perform. But we have two hours to get music out to you. And so these I designed to give people a chance to really rub shoulders with our guest artists and to learn more about our programming.
So that's on the 22nd. And then on April 19th at Worthington United Methodist Church, we will have the concert at 3 PM. And we have a great concert lined up. Yes, we have Jessie Montgomery's "Banner." Jessie Montgomery just finished a tenure as composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony and her work will feature the Carpe Diem string quartet as a solo group.
Purdy: They began here. Yes, they did.
Clark: And then we have a work by composer-in-residence Ben Shirley called "The Great Anticipation," which was also written for a carpe diem string quartet in the Chamber Orchestra. And this work really chronicles Ben Shirley's mother's immigration from Berlin, Germany to the United States. And then I found this wonderful work called "Sinfonietta" by Franz Waxman.
Purdy: Yeah, movie compo-
Clark: who when he decided to go back to Europe, he already immigrated to the United States after World War I, but was going back to do a concert in Europe. And on his ride of the boat from New York to Europe he wrote this wonderful piece for strings and timpani. And I just thought that would encapsulate the idea of the shores. We have a great work called "A Shout, A Whisper and a Trace" by a New York composer, Derek Bermel. And this work is all about Bartok. Bela Bartok and his experience of emigrating to the United States and then we finished a program with Bernstein's "West Side Story."
Purdy: Something for everybody that's all American themed or related music and that's April 19th at the Worthington United Methodist Church and we'll talk about that and remind people as the date approaches. Antoine Clark is the founder, conductor, executive director of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra and we're going to talk about your school in just a moment but we have to talk to you about Stephen King.
Purdy: Now, when you know, when when you have when you say the word opera, the word that the name Stephen King is maybe not the first that comes to mind, but Julia, you're doing something here.
Noulin-Merat: Yes, absolutely. I mean, we have a very ambitious season next year that culminates for last production is we're doing "The Shining." As an opera. As an Opera.
Purdy: Okay, I'm scared now just talking about it. Yes, your book is so scary. That's only Yeah.
Noulin-Merat: Yeah, and it's directly based on the novel. It's absolutely haunting music, no pun intended. But we're really excited to be presenting it. It's gonna be the Ohio premiere of it. It's been selling like crazy all over the country. So we're excited to deep dive into it.
Purdy: Now, you also moved this year for the first time in 20 years or so to the Palace Theater. Yes. Which, I hadn't been inside the Palace Theater since the renovation, and it is glorious. It's absolutely beautiful, what they've done to that theater. So you're moving around town. And where else are you going to be physically?
Noulin-Merat: Yeah. So, um, we're starting to see, so the season is called "American Icons: Unforgettable Stories" and we're starting a season with "Pirates," but it's a new version.
Purdy: What's a pirate? What's the pirate?
Noulin-Merat: So it's a new version. It's called "Pirates," and it's called the "Penzance" musical. So it was on Broadway last year, and we're actually the first company in the country to do it. And the reason why, which is very exciting is they had heard of our "West Side Story" and how it was a city-wide collaboration.
Purdy: Which was wonderful, yeah
Noulin-Merat: Yeah, so that so that's it's a huge coup for us to be presenting "Pirates." And then in February, we're going to be doing "Fanciulla del West" at the Southern Theater.
Purdy: That is "The Girl of the Golden West." That's Italian opera in the gold rush of 1849 in California with Deke and Meany. Tell us about "The Girl Of The Golden West."
Noulin-Merat: Yeah, it's Puccini and it's going to be directed by the incredible Kenny Overton, who just directed "Our Anonymous Lover." So it's a really fun, I would say uplifting story, if you will, compared to "La Traviata."
Purdy: Well, I mean, when he's being hanged, she just rescues him. Oh, I gave it away. Oh, no! Oh, never mind.
Noulin-Merat: Spoiler on YouTube anyway, there's hope. But it's just such a I think it's a it's wonderful, empowering story. And I'm really excited to present it at the Southern Theater. And then we are also bringing back our Messiah sing along. So we're going to be performing in local breweries and your favorite coffee shop. So that's a really fun immersive 45 minutes where the audience is encouraged to sing with us.
Purdy: You know, you say you're doing it in a brewery and I know, I don't know, but I know Handel would have loved that because I'm sure he spent most of his time in a place where there were all kinds of libations and I'm sure he would have love hearing people singing his music in that setting.
Noulin-Merat: Absolutely.
Purdy: So that is Opera Columbus's new season we have "The Girl of the Golden West" we have Messiah we have now if i love "The Pirates of Penzance" will i recognize it in "Pirates?"
Noulin-Merat: Recognize most of it there's actually two songs that you've never heard in the classical "Pirates of Penzance" that are pulled from other Gilbert and Sullivan pieces so that's also very exciting. It's set to a jazz orchestra.
Purdy: No kidding, really.
Noulin-Merat: So it moves a little peppier, but it's really incredible and wonderful. And I've never had so many artists sign in their audition for it. They're very excited. I guess that's a good,
Purdy: It's a good problem to have.
Noulin-Merat: Yes, absolutely.
Purdy: Julia Noulin-Merat is the artistic director CEO of Opera Columbus. She has a lot of wonderful plans for us and then I'm going to put Melissa Starker on the spot again for it. Ask for another film review.
Starker: Okay, well, here's another movie that is opening today. Actually, it opened yesterday in some theaters. And this one's opening a little more wide. I think it's maybe in about eight or 10 theaters. And it is called "The AI Doc, or How I Became an Apocalypse Optimist." And basically, this artist and filmmaker, Daniel Roher, met a woman, also an artist and film maker, and they quickly got married. And he started having an existential crisis around AI and what it could mean for society.
That was further enhanced by the fact that his wife got pregnant. And so thinking ahead to the future generation. And so he got a lot of very impressive people to sit down with him and talk to him about what they see happening. And these are experts in the field, including Sam Altman and other high level people at OpenAI, Anthropic, things like that. He focuses on people that are more pessimistic, more optimistic, and then tries to kind of find a middle ground in the end.
I personally would recommend this to anyone who is concerned about how AI is used in our society because it's also a great primer on how it's used. I will say that it did make me want to lock away all of my devices when I left, but obviously I still have it. But yeah, it's very informative. And I think that going in with your own perceptions and sort of looking at how people are talking about it and who is talking about and what they have to gain from their perspective. And sharing their perspective. It's a very, very interesting and informative film.
Purdy: I'm an old Luddite, so let me ask you a question. I call someplace and I order a pizza. I hang up the phone. As I hang the phone, all of my social media things have the ad for that pizza, immediately. Is that AI or what, or is that creepier?
Starker: Uh, that is, that could be AI. Um, it's funny, he has a hard time getting people to give him a hard definition of what AI is. Um, I think that, you know, you could probably call that more like micro-targeting things like that. There's a lot to it.
Purdy: It's a little scary, but the pizza was very good. I don't mind if it's a dentist or something, but never mind. Anyway, Melissa Starker, the other thing I want to ask you, and I'm going to ask each of you, because all of you have been spending a lot of time living in the community, but I think you're all from someplace else, born and raised. What keeps you here, Melissa?
Starker: Um, in, in Columbus, so, um, there are family connections and my husband's originally from Ohio and, and, you know,
Purdy: I don't care about him what keeps you in
Starker: Ah, sorry. So what keeps me in Columbus is the community. There's a wealth of incredible artists and who are also incredible people. Same for the filmmaking community. And I don't know if I would feel quite as home anywhere else unless I had another 30 years to build my actions.
Purdy: How about you, Antoine?
Clark: I would say the same thing. You know, I moved to Columbus in 2000, oh my gosh, 2005, right, some 20 years. And you know, building a career here through the orchestra and now in the school, I just have fallen in love with all of the wonderful artists that I get to work with. Of course, as a conductor, you know I get to travel and guest conduct and even look at possible jobs too, but I know that even if I took a music director, ship somewhere else. This is going to be my home for the rest of my life. So it's really about the love of art and the dynamic musicians and the community that support us. That's why I like this. I want to stay here.
Purdy: We're very lucky to have the two of you. We're lucky to have you. You're, you're the more recent transplant. You've been several years. Fantastic five years. Yes.
Noulin-Merat: Just celebrate it fine.
Purdy: So what's keeping you here?
Noulin-Merat: So what brought me here was the spirit of collaboration. I just thought that was incredible how all of these institutions wanted to work together. What has kept me here is the community. So it's local businesses who step up and wanna help us. It's the corporations who wanna see this city thrive and it's also the dream of seeing the growth, the exponential growth here is absolutely thrilling.
Purdy: What I find is there's a great level of passion for everybody who's involved. I'm somebody who has no talent whatsoever. I'm the one who took piano lessons and the teacher gave my parents back their money and said, this boy, no. But I mean, I am a commentator on the arts and a consumer of the arts. And the passion for it and for artists in this town is not Typical I mean you don't get it You travel around particularly in the bigger cities, there's always kind of a little bit of cynicism, which you don't get here. I haven't experienced that here. You just, it's a good place to just work and experience and enjoy what other people are doing.
Noulin-Merat: Is this belief that we can all thrive together, which I love. I mean, like, for example, I, you know, pick up the phone, ask Dr. Frederick, can we do "Don Giovanni" at COSI? And he's like, yes, when? You know what I mean? Like, and that's what happened during the pandemic. And I think that's incredible. So many other cities, I feel like we're all siloed. And here, I think everyone wants to thrive together. And it's very important.
Purdy: Not here anymore. Antoine Clark, you also, in your spare time, you have a school. Tell me about your school.
Clark: Yeah, in 2024, I had just wrapped up being associate conductor with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. And this was a moment of transition thinking about, well, do I have any gigs next year as a conductor? And, you know, I may look young, but I'm going to be 49 this year. And that's so cute.
Speaker 7: I barely remember 49.
Clark: I really started to think about it's time to kind of feel planted and grounded and you know the Worthington community and central Ohio in general has just given so much to me in my life. So you know I'm walking around downtown Worthington and I see this building for sale and immediately I thought, I wonder if I could turn this into a music school. Because being a conductor is great, but education is one of my biggest passions. I surveyed the building, bought the building renovated in six months and hired 18 instructors. Now we've been open since April 3rd of last year and we're up to 105 students. I teach a great many of them, but yeah, it's been a joy. It's been something that I know a lot of our band directors and orchestra directors so very happy to have something even closer and accessible in their community to support their students.
Purdy: That's the other thing that I've noticed here too, this outstanding public school music. So, you know, Columbus and environs. I've, I've notice that as well. So, basically any instrument a kid wants to take up, doesn't have to be a kid either, does it? No.
Clark: No, we have adult students, it's band, orchestra, voice, we have a couple voice teachers as well, piano, ukulele, we have all of the instruments you could think of, so.
Purdy: What's the name of the school?
Clark: Music Academy of Worthington.
Purdy: Where is it reference?
Clark: On High Street, right near downtown Worthington. Okay.
Purdy: Just Google, Antoine Clark Schooled, it'll come up and get yourself there and take some lessons. We're going to take one more break and come on back and Melissa Starker maybe she'll give us another film review. We'll be right back. This is All Sides Weekend. Don't go away. We are back. This is our final segment on this edition of All Sides Weekend. This is the Arts and Culture Show.
I'm Christopher Purdy. I want to reintroduce my guests. Antoine Clark is the Executive Artistic Founder and Music Director of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra. Julia Noulin-Merat is the CEO, Artistic Director, does everything for Opera Columbus. And Melissa Starker is a freelance writer and film programmer with quite a wide reach of the arts. She also edits the "Screen Addiction" weekly newsletter of local film listings. You'll want to read this It's available at screen addiction Columbus dot-com. What else should I go see at the movies?
Starker: Oh boy. So I'm gonna turn this around and I could talk about "Project Hail Mary," which is a very big movie right now. I did like it. I thought it was too long. But I think that I'm going to take this opportunity to preview a couple of films that I was able to see this fall at the Toronto Film Festival that are coming out in the next couple of months. Starting with "The Christophers," which is the new film by Steven Soderbergh who we know is extremely talented filmmaker and has been doing this great work in the space of like mid-budget dramas for adults. "Black Bag" would be the most recent example.
So "The Christophers" stars Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel and it's about a woman who's hired by the two children of an older artist played by McKellen, to basically counterfeit. Some works that he never finished, but if they ever came on the market would be worth millions. It chronicles the relationship that develops between Michaela Coel, who's the artist who's hired and Ian McKellen, and also the kids to a certain extent.
It's just a fascinating movie, especially if you're interested in art and contemporary art because it also talks about inspiration and about process. And again, Steven Soderbergh is just a very solid filmmaker. So that's coming up, I believe, April 17th, locally. And then towards the end of May, beginning of June, we'll get a movie called "Tuner." And it is sort of a thriller. It stars Leo Woodall, who's sort of an up and coming actor, and Dustin Hoffman. They are piano tuners. Leo Woodall's character has a disease that basically makes him allergic to loud noise. So it makes him great for fine-tuning audio work like tuning pianos. It turns out it also makes him good at cracking safes. And some people who want to crack safes find out about that. Leo Woodall gets involved with them for the money to help Dustin Hoffman and things go from there. And it's just a really, really solid. Just absorbing keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Purdy: Story. We haven't seen Dustin Hoffman for a while have we? I don't think so. How old is he now?
Starker: Guessing early 80s?
Purdy: Well, good for him, keep, you know, just hope for him. There's hope for me. I mean,
Starker: That's great. That's a good one.
Purdy: That's called "The Christophers" and now it's opening in...
Starker: So yeah, "The Christophers" is Steven Soderbergh, I believe April 17th and late May, early June. This one's called "Tuner."
Purdy: Is a recommendation from Melissa Starker. And Julia Noulin-Merat, you have a competition coming up too, don't you?
Noulin-Merat: Yes, our incredible emcee named Christopher Purdy. So if you like "The Voice," this is kind of the equivalent. So we have five finalists. We receive a pool of about 370 applications from all over the world. And we've now. These are your finalists?
Purdy: These are young singers competing for prize money.
Noulin-Merat: Absolutely, but incredible singers that you may have heard of that did the competitions is for example, Denyce Graves, Reggie Smith. So we're really fortunate to have kind of launched a lot of careers through this competition. It is May 17th at the Southern Theater. And it's just a really wonderful afternoon. It's at three o'clock.
Purdy: It's always a lot of fun to be in the audience, because the audience gets to vote as well. Yes, I love that. And reading those ballots and comparing with the judges can sometimes be a hoot, but yeah, that's a good time. Antoine Clark, let's review what's going on with you, with your concerts and your future plans and...
Clark: All that. Sure. So we spoke about the Masterworks program coming up, but we also have some education programming coming up. I devised a series called "Worthingtons," which is wonderful programming for young students that are like first grade all the way down. And we are partnering with old Worthington Library in Worthington. So the students get to come, the young ones get to sit on the carpet, listen to music that is usually paired with book. This one that we're doing is called "Paddington Bear's First Concert," my apologies. So that's on April 11th, 11 a.m., I believe, at the Old Worthington Library.
Then we also are having our first annual gala. As an organization, obviously fundraising is big, especially in these times where we have some cuts and funding. So we're gonna be doing a gala called "American Rhapsody: A Musical Road Trip." and it's sort of going to be a movable feast type of gala where you can go to four different rooms that will be all themed like "California Dreaming," "Viva Las Vegas," "New York, New York" and you'll get to enjoy chamber music in those rooms, popular music not classical music.
The food would be catered around those themes and then after our presentation in the at the McConnell Arts Center, we'll have... Carolyn Hong playing "Rhapsody in Blue" with us. So it's gonna be a dynamic evening, beautiful food, beautiful music, and we hope that anyone in the community will look us up and support us.
Purdy: If I want to participate in that, how do I do that?
Clark: You can go to our website at WorthingtonChamberOrchestra.com, click on Gala, and you'll see all the information about sponsorships and kind donations tickets.
Purdy: And what's the date of the gala?
Clark: May 22nd, 5 o'clock registration starts at 5 30 p.m.
Purdy: That's from the Worthington Chamber Orchestra and its founder, director, and conductor, Antoine Clark. Melissa, tell me about the newsletter.
Starker: Sure. So back in the day, when there were a lot more print media options, you could find listings for all of the theaters in town. Now, if you go to something like Fandango, the website there, you can find all the multiplexes, but you can't find the Wexner Center. If you go ColumbusMakesArt.com, it's a great resource, but obviously that's not going cover the multiplexes.
So with the screen addiction newsletter... It collects everything, everything that I can find about what's playing on local screens in a coming week. And so it's the multiplexes, it's the Drexel, it the wax, it also the McConnell Art Center, Columbus Museum of Art, I cover pop-up screenings. And I also cover video installations. Because I personally am not really about those barriers. I think that if you are interested in one kind of moving image work, maybe you're interested in a lot of different kinds of moving image work. So might as well have all of that information in one place. And also I'll usually throw in a little bit of information about the films that are coming up, things that seem interesting to me.
Purdy: I know you have a connection with the Wexner Center, you worked there for many, when I first met you, you were working there. You worked there many years. Their film program is out of this world. It's exceptional. They, they, they just, they define what it is to have eclectic films available over there. We just sat through "Queen Kelly," the glorious, the lost glorious Swanson film that Joseph P. Kennedy ruined f- But it was enthralling to see that. And they always bring in guest speakers and there's always a lot of context offered. Do you yourself go out and speak about film? If you don't, you should. You should hire this woman to go out and speak about film.
Starker: Well, it just so happens this Sunday at 1 p.m. I am very excited. So Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite working filmmaker. And the degrees of separation between him and me are about to shrink considerably because 1 p m Sunday at Gateway Film Center. They're doing a screening of "One Battle After Another." Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar winner for Best Picture and several other Oscars. And one of my two favorite films of the year.
After that, I'm gonna be doing a Q&A with James Raderman, who plays Colonel Danvers, the interrogator in the film. And he is actually a non-actor. He's got a law enforcement experience and was tapped because of a documentary he was in by Paul Thomas Anderson, and he's based in Plain City. So yeah, he's local, and he seems like a very interesting guy, and I'm really looking forward. To talking to him about his experience. He was actually on stage when the film won Best Picture.
Purdy: Tell me about the picture because I haven't seen it. I'm gonna go on Sunday when you're there I'm going to try to give it tell me about to picture itself
Starker: Oh, so it's a landscape portrait of activism and race in America that covers two different timelines in, you know, 18 years ago and now, or 16 years ago, and now. And it's about how activism is passed from generation to generation, but also about the forces. That are working both in front of the scenes and behind the scenes to maintain control for the powerful rich elite. That's a very basic way of describing it, but it is also one of the most beautifully shot films of the year.
It's got an amazing cast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, who I think maybe If I wish they could have given out two Oscars for best supporting actor. So yeah, I I cannot recommend it enough Especially on a big screen. What about "Sinners?" Did you so "Sinners" was my I I did a tie for best picture in my my personal top ten this year and "Sinners" was was With "One Battle After Another" because for me They're kind of two sides of the same coin in terms of how they look at race in America And so "Sinners" is an amazing achievement of storytelling, of world building, but it's also an incredible achievement of genre filmmaking because it's a vampire movie and it's an effective vampire movie.
And another one, talk about the incredible cast. The one Oscar that I was like so upset about, the one upset was Wunmi Mosaku. Who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in that film. I personally thought she should have won. But both films, seriously, they're easy to find now online, can't recommend them enough, but both also, if you can see them big, do it.
Purdy: And Melissa's newsletter is ScreenAddictionColumbus.com. I think it's gonna, that sounds like a fantastic resource for anybody who loves film, who works in central Ohio, lives in Central Iowa, or really anywhere. Antoine Clark, give me a bucket list. Sounds like you're doing it. You know, I'm- School, orchestra, conducting, teaching.
Clark: I'm very, I think as an artist, we have to always kind of fight that almost validation need like, oh, I won this job or I got to conduct at this theater with this orchestra. And as I've grown, I've learned to be much happier and accepting of the impact that I'm making on the community that I live in. And, you know, there was one year I got to... Really experienced that feeling of guest conducting all around the country, like being in a different city, in a hotel, you know, 15 flights in one month. And I'm like, well, this is great. I'm getting to meet all these wonderful artists.
But once you finish that downbeat and you go home, you lose connection with that community. And so one thing I value is being able to really make a huge impact. You know, I go back 20 years of teaching students who now are now. Uh... Band directors in their community because i i had some influence on them kids who were introduced to the arts because they got to see our "Peter and the Wolf" you know so that that just means a lot so bucket list is that i keep to keep doing this the rest of my life and and keep growing in this community
Purdy: That's what I'd say to anybody and certainly the three of you, you never know who's sitting out there and who's listening or who's reading or who is watching, that their lives are going to be changed. What you do know is that each of you and anybody who works in any of these disciplines has the potential for doing that, whether it's a five-year-old or a 50-year old, doesn't matter. You are sort of agents of positive change, and that's why... I think the community here recognizes that and I think it's so important that you continue doing what you're doing. Julia, I'm going to ask you for Opera Columbus to review what is "La Traviata," the courtesan, when and where and why and then give us again a recap of the new season coming up.
Noulin-Merat: Yes, absolutely. So we are gonna be at the Ohio Theater with the Columbus Symphony and Kappa, April 25th and 26th. So it's a Saturday and Sunday. I know typically you're expecting us to be there on the Friday. So it is Saturday, Sunday. It is the most grand production you could possibly imagine. So have fun dressing up. It is absolutely beautiful, haunting music as well. I keep saying haunting, because I think opera, that's how it feels for me. Followed by the Cooper-Bing competition of the Southern Theater on May 17th, and then we have a very exciting new season next year. So American Icons with "Pirates" at the Palace, "The Girl of the Golden West" at the Southern, and "The Shining" back at the palace.
Purdy: "The Shining," based on the novel of Stephen King. Who's the composer? It's Moravec. Moravec, okay. And I'm going to put in a shameless plug, if I may. I want everybody to know about Immerse. Immerse is a program, it's a presentation of Classical 101, which is my day job down the hall, and WOSU Public Media. It is a program that offers music to children on the autism spectrum, 6 through 12.
We collaborate with the Nisonger Center at Ohio State and the School of Music at the Ohio State University and We do concerts for this wonderful Constituency and Immerse is going to be here at the WOSU stations on Saturday April 25th You can still go to the opera that night because this is at 1 and 3 p.m. So if you know a child on the spectrum you think would enjoy this If you're a parent that's interested, this is I think our eighth time doing it. It's something dear to my heart WOSU.org slash immerse everything is there. It is free But we do ask that you register. These are about 45 minute concerts So with a little narration geared to young children on the autism spectrum WOSU.org slash immerse.
That's the end of my shameless plug Melissa Starker, thank you very much. Melissa Starker is, well, you can read more about her at ScreenAddictionColumbus.com. Is that you? You're it. You do all the work of that. So you see all the films you took. My God, I mean, do you travel around to see films? Are they sent to you? Were they made available to you before? Everybody else, how does that work? Yes.
Starker: So some of them I get early, some of the might just go and see in theaters and I'm actually doing at least three film festival trips this year.
Purdy: Melissa Starker, I thank you for joining us. I want to have you back and thank you for being here today. Antoine Clark, you know what you mean to me. You know what you mean the community. Thank you. I'm so proud of everything you've done because I've known you since you were a very young man. You are now conducting everywhere. You're running a music school and the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, which is your baby, is thriving. The gala is when?
Clark: May 22nd.
Purdy: More information at what website? WorthingtonChamberOrchestra.com And Julia Noulin-Merat teaches an old dog like me new tricks about the opera all the time, which is wonderful. It's wonderful to me. I will see you at "La Traviata" after Immerse on April 25th. I'll be there that evening. OperaColumbus.org for more information. And this is All Sides Weekend. This is the arts and culture roundtable. I thank my guest I thank Chris Johnson for making radio and doing all the work I thank you for our producer Erin Rabinowitz and thank you all for listening. I'm Christopher Purdy. This Is 89.7 NPR News.