STATEWIDE – This edition of State of the Arts takes a look at legendary artists and musicians with careers that span generations. Gray Eminence tells the story of four eminent artists, none of whom are resting on their laurels. This encore presentation airs on Wednesday, June 6 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts marks twenty-five years on NJN this season. The series has earned 26 Regional Emmy Awards, including New York Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2005, and a 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy.
• Milton Babbitt
Milton Babbitt played jazz and wrote Broadway show music before dedicating himself to composing with the mid-twentieth century serial technique. Babbitt took the form to new heights, applying serialism to rhythm, timbre, dynamics and pitch. He is a founder and member of the Committee of Direction for the Electronic Music Center of Columbia-Princeton Universities and has taught at both Princeton University and the Juilliard School of Music. Now in his early nineties, Babbitt reflects back on his career. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz also interviews pianist Robert Taub, who plays a Babbitt composition. According to Taub, Babbitt is receiving more commissions now than ever before.
• Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist (Hello Dolly, Mame, Mack and Mabel, La Cage Aux Folles), first fell in love with the musical theater as a boy growing up in Jersey City — and the love affair continues. State of the Arts previews scenes from an upcoming national PBS documentary about Herman, produced and directed by Amber Edwards: Words and Music by Jerry Herman. Now in his mid-seventies, Herman’s enthusiasm is undiminished, and very much evident as he coaches young singers in a rehearsal studio. Additional commentary from longtime friends and colleagues Carol Channing, Charles Nelson Reilly, director Arthur Laurents, lyricist Fred Ebb and composer Charles Strouse helps reveal the craftsmanship behind Herman’s seemingly simple, ebullient songs.
• Peter Stroud
In the 1930s in New York City, Peter Stroud helped establish the American Abstract Artists (AAA), a group formed to counter the popular view that abstract painting and sculpture were only happening in Europe. Discouraged by the lack of representation of American artists in a survey of Cubism and abstraction at the Museum of Modern Art, the AAA organized their first show with 39 artists in April 1937. Their pamphlets, lectures, forums and annual exhibitions increased the appreciation and popularity of American abstract art. The group dissolved as the United States was drawn into World War II, but began to reorganize around 1950. Its members continue to act as stewards of abstract art in America. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa talks to Stroud, a resident of Princeton, about his art and the importance of the AAA in his career. The segment also features an interview with Don Voisine, the current AAA president.
• Tom Malloy
Tom Malloy, a Trenton-based artist, began his career at an age when most people think of retiring. After working in the Roebling Mills and as a lay preacher, he turned to art — painting scenes of Trenton and the surrounding farmland, familiar to him since his childhood. The uniqueness of his watercolors, depicting landscapes and city scenes, attracts a loyal audience of collectors. State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits Malloy in his studio, finding out just how the artist incorporates his memories into his work.
State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.
