WMUK Culture

A new composition that lasts as long as the drive to Lake Michigan from Kalamazoo. A nature walk with musicians along the trail.  16 new music pieces inspired by art works to be exhibited at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. An installation of sculptures that activate sounds, at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. These are some of the creative ways the Connecting Chords Music Festival is moving forward in an era of COVID-19 cancellations. Cara Lieurance spoke with executive director Elizabeth Start about the events.

Q: How do you honor a 100-year-old beloved institution during a global pandemic? A: With creative planning, and lots of it. Executive director Jessica Mallow Gulley, musical director Julian Kuerti, and the staff of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra have been working non-stop to navigate the possibilities and the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hear how the season will begin, and how it may transform into live concerts, in our interview with Gulley and Kuerti. 

Cullen O'Neil has come a long way from her days as a cellist in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony. An outstanding talent at that time, she continued her studies at the University of Michigan, then in Finland, then at the Juillard School in New York City, where she formed a string quartet with Majka Demcak, Aniela Eddy, and Natalie Kress. Committed to historic performance practice, they traded their metal strings for gut and named themselves Quartet Salonnières, a reference to the historic women of society who brought great musicians to their salon gatherings.

In a near-miraculous resurrection, a production of Steven Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George will be staged from Sep 18 - Oct 4, with three of the four leads maintaining their roles. 

Western Michigan University Theatre Department students Marcus Jackson and Aaron Czarnecki, double-cast in the title role of George, and Miranda Vandenberg as Dot, were closing in on opening night last April when the show was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This month, as seniors, they're able to pick up where they left off. Ally Taylor, who had another role originally, is newly double-cast as Dot. Jackson, Czarnecki, Vandenberg and Taylor, joined by director Jay Berkow, professor of music theatre performance, join Cara Lieurance to talk about their second chance to perform a classic work.

Today would have been Dacia Bridges' 47th birthday. The performer, who died of a brain aneurysm in 2019, was re-building a music career from Kalamazoo, after garnering considerable international success on the music scene in Germany. Bridges was working on an album with the Dacia Bridges Project, an all-female lineup of Michigan-based musicians. She was also raising her daughter, Billie Sky, as a single parent, and filming a documentary about an untold piece of Kalamazoo history, the Kalamazoo Boxing Academy, among other things.

In a conversation that frequently references Dacia's spirit and personality, bandmates Carolyn Koebel and Cori Somers, and La Luna Studios' Ian Gorman, talked to Cara Lieurance about finishing seven songs (including "Unpredictable Child" and "Road Back To You") for release on Bandcamp (available locally at Green Light Music).  Proceeds will go toward a fund benefitting Bridges' daughter.