STATEWIDE – State of the Arts takes a look at Magnificent Obsession in the arts in this encore presentation. The program received a 2005 New York Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts Program. Stories include profiles on the career of a legendary choral conductor, extravagant jewelry, and the world of accordion aficionados. Magnificent Obsession airs on Wednesday, May 30 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts marks twenty-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.
• Conductor of the Year
Joseph Flummerfelt served as music director at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, for more than thirty years until his recent retirement. He was selected by Musical America as “Conductor of the Year,” an honor usually reserved for orchestra conductors. At Westminster, he prepared choruses for most of America’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, as well as for most of the great conductors of our time, including Ricardo Muti, Pierre Boulez, and Leonard Bernstein. When asked how he would like to celebrate his career at Westminster, Flummerfelt said he wanted the chance to conduct a performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz reviews the career of one America’s most legendary choral conductors and follows him as he prepares and conducts Beethoven’s monumental choral masterpiece at the War Memorial in Trenton.
• Bling Bling
Whether it's a crown of gems and quivering beads worn by a Korean bride on her wedding day, a massive gold necklace made for the sultan of Zanzibar, or the diamond-studded gold tooth in a rap star's smile, human beings of all cultures like to adorn themselves with jewelry. As Ulysses Grant Dietz, The Newark Museum's Curator of Decorative Arts, says, “Jewelry is meant for show; it's human plumage, designed to attract attention and impress the viewer.”
The Newark Museum’s exhibition, Baubles, Bangles, and Bling Bling: A World of Jewelry, featured more than 300 spectacular objects, from ancient Egyptian beaded necklaces to the aggressive "bling bling" worn by today's hip hop celebrities. State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards looks at how jewelry relates to life's rites of passage, position and power, and even spirituality and belief. Elaborating further on the meaning of jewelry is John Mincarelli, a professor of costume at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology and consultant to some of today's best-known fashion designers.
• The Accordion Files
State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards visits a convention of accordion players and discovers that this often maligned instrument is not just for polkas. There is, for example, a subculture of classical accordionists—among them, New Jersey's own Stanley and Joanne Darrow. The Darrows, who are both professors of accordion at Rowan State College in Glassboro, lead the Westmont Philharmonia Accordion Orchestra—the official hosts of the three-day annual convention. While the Westmont ensemble may prefer to play Bach and Handel in formal concert attire, they enthusiastically embrace the wide range of music and musicians the accordion attracts, including zydeco, tango, Klezmer, Slavic folk tunes, jazz, and yes, polkas. The Accordion Files offers a window into a fascinating subculture of accomplished, passionate music lovers.
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.
