I thought this was going to be a slower arts week in Duluth for me. I was wrong. Even a slow week in Duluth has more opportunities than a cat has lives.

Chamber Music happening at the Duluth Art Institute
 
As music director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Dirk Meyer has chosen to team up with the Duluth Art Institute at the Depot and offer six chamber-style musical programs this season. The first program featured six musicians playing the music of of three dead male composers. Violinist Colin McGuire jump-started the tango music from Astor Piazzolla, which opened and closed the program. This delightful edginess made the George Morrison Gallery shimmer.

Larry Zimmerman brought along his smaller, alto trombone, and shared a sparkling moment from the 18th century world of J. Georg Albrechtsberger. Erin Aldridge, Laurie Bastian, Kevin Hoeschen, and Lucia Magney shared the effervescent “Lark” quartet by F. J. Haydn.

Simultaneously, the overflowing audience could glance over the Spirit exhibition of oil miniatures by Karen Savage Blue. In the outer gallery, the Life of Beauty exhibit by Karen Lynne Burmeister burst gloriously from the walls. This sort of blend of visual and audial art will next take place on November 10.

An Amazing Array of Personalities in Donegal, August, 1936

The Wise Fool Shakespeare company staged Dancing at Lughnasa, a powerful memory play by Brian Friel, directed by Anika Thompson. Each of these eight characters was distinctive, communicating their real, impoverished concerns intimately with the audience in the venue at Teatro Zuccone. Kjell Hinkel, as the narrator Michael, looks directly at every individual in the house as he tells the story of his youth in County Donegal. His mother Chris, (Shayna Schafter), is cute and ambiguous in her relationship to Michael’s father, (Cade Kowalczak), an untrustworthy, pleasing man who dances happily through the lives of several women. The elder sister Kate, (Emily Parr), is stern and mostly in control, even as the older brother, priest Jack, (Paul McGlynn), has come completely unglued spiritually. The play is filled with touching moments throughout.

From poignancy to the absolutely ridiculous

At the Duluth Playhouse, The Foreigner was the comedy of the moment, keeping the full house laughing from beginning to end. Charlie Baker, (Cory Anderson),  is not really a foreigner, but his need for reflection suggests the reason for his charade. Meanwhile, racism and bigotry are defeated by simple truths. At first the funny lines seemed older than this 1983 play, but by the end, I realized that I was watching an unanticipated farce about the disarray in the GOP during the summer and fall of 2015.

Both of these plays are on stage through September 27, so go make some of your own observations.

Stimulating opportunities for your delight

I want to call your attention to the ‘Last Queen of Hawaii,’ a musical program staged by The Rose Ensemble at UMD’s Weber Music Hall, 7 pm on Sunday, September 27. A new collection of singers keeps The Rose tradition fresh, and the music is as lovely and nostalgic as the Hawaiian Islands themselves.

Finally, the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists will be offering a varied recital by six local organists on the 1898 Felgemaker organ at the Sacred Heart Music Center on Sunday, October 4, beginning at 3 pm. This unique and historical pipe organ is a beautiful instrument, and needs to be heard over and over, so that more will want to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of this gem. Jump into supporting the amazing arts world of Duluth, Minnesota.