A Conversation with Kerry Henderson
Series: Art Works Podcast
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Length: 00:25:10
Phoenicia, NY is a small town nestled into the Catskill Mountains --- breathtakingly beautiful, economically hurting and the proud home of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice,.The festival was begun three years ago by three of the towns' residents, who just happen to be internationally acclaimed opera singers: Kerry Henderson, Louis Otey and Maria Todaro, whom we heard singing an aria from Don Giovanni at the top of the show. But while the three founders come from the world of opera, they were determined to celebrate the whole spectrum of the human voice as an instrument of artistic expression, healing and peace. And so the Phoenicia International Festival of the voice was born; a four-day festival presenting world class performances of opera, song, baroque and choral music, and the vocal arts of traditional cultures. How the festival came to be sounds a little like an old Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movie, with Judy and Mickey exclaiming in answer to some financial problem, "Hey! Let's put on a show! We know how to sing! We can use grandpa's barn!" Here's co-founder Kerry Henderson to explain.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Phoenicia, NY is a small town nestled into the Catskill Mountains --- breathtakingly beautiful, economically hurting and the proud home of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice,.The festival was begun three years ago by three of the towns' residents, who just happen to be internationally acclaimed opera singers: Kerry Henderson, Louis Otey and Maria Todaro, whom we heard singing an aria from Don Giovanni at the top of the show. But while the three founders come from the world of opera, they were determined to celebrate the whole spectrum of the human voice as an instrument of artistic expression, healing and peace. And so the Phoenicia International Festival of the voice was born; a four-day festival presenting world class performances of opera, song, baroque and choral music, and the vocal arts of traditional cultures. How the festival came to be sounds a little like an old Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movie, with Judy and Mickey exclaiming in answer to some financial problem, "Hey! Let's put on a show! We know how to sing! We can use grandpa's barn!" Here's co-founder Kerry Henderson to explain.
Transcript
Transcript of conversation with Kerry Henderson
Kerry Henderson: I think that with performance, you're always entering into the unknown. With a festival like this, it's the great unknown. We're out in the open. We have a wonderful shell that will cover the orchestra, so the musicians and their instruments don't get wet, but that's it. We don't know. We pray for fair skies. But thunder could happen and it might happen just at that right moment, just as the Commandatore comes,
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| excerpts from Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice | Various | 00:00 |
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