2008 (0)
Profile
With his rich onnagata (male actor who plays female roles) charms, profound understanding of drama and massive stage presence, Sakata Tojuro is the foremost Kabuki actor of the modern age. His repertoire is broad, ranging from nimaime (lovers) to tateoyama (leading onnagata) in the Kamigata (Osaka-Kyoto) wagoto (gentle) style. Tojuro has performed overseas on numerous occasions, bringing to global audiences the drama and unique beauty of Kabuki. Tojuro made his debut in 1941 under the name Nakamura Senjaku II. In 2005, he adopted the stage name of Sakata Tojuro in memory of Sakata Tojuro I, founder of the Kamigata wagoto style in the 18th century. By doing so, he became a symbol of Kamigata Kabuki in both name and substance. "Just as the first Tojuro created the art of wagoto, I want to create my own style of performance," says Tojuro. The heroine Ohatsu in "Sonezaki Shinju(Double Suicide in Sonezaki)" is a lifelong tour de force that Tojuro has performed more than 1,200 times in all. Tojuro founded the "Chikamatsu-za" touring troupe to perform plays by the 18th century author of that work, Chikamatsu Monzaemon. As he reaches his 77th birthday, he aims for yet greater heights of performing art.Read more
With his rich onnagata (male actor who plays female roles) charms, profound understanding of drama and massive stage presence, Sakata Tojuro is the foremost Kabuki actor of the modern age. In 2005, he adopted the stage name of Sakata Tojuro in memory of Sakata Tojuro I, who is said to have founded the wagoto (gentle) acting style in the 18th century. By doing so, he became a symbol of Kamigata (Osaka-Kyoto region) Kabuki in both name and substance.In contrast to Edo (Tokyo) Kabuki, characterized by the bombastic aragoto (rough) style that makes exaggerated expressions of heroism and gallantry, Kamigata Kabuki has its core in wagoto dramas that depict the inner workings of human emotions. "Just as the first Tojuro created the art of wagoto, I want to create my own style of performance, " he says, burning with desire to create his own style of Kabuki while also preserving tradition.
His grandfather was Nakamura Ganjiro I, a major star of Kamigata Kabuki, while his father was another famous actor, Nakamura Ganjiro II. Tojuro made his debut in 1941 under the name Nakamura Senjaku II. In 1953, he played a role that would change his life. It was Ohatsu, heroine of dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s masterpiece "Sonezaki Shinju (Double Suicide in Sonezaki) ." In his portrayal of the role, he shattered the existing perception of onnagata. The Kabuki world was stunned by the freshness of his Ohatsu (heroine) as she leads Tokubei (hero) by the hand onto the hanamichi (side stage walkway). Ohatsu is now a tour de force that Tojuro has performed for more than half a century.
That early encounter with Chikamatsu led Tojuro to invest his own money in founding the "Chikamatsu-za " touring troupe. In fact, he says his inspiration for this came when he met Laurence Olivier in London. Olivier then encouraged him to "create a theatre company that only performs plays by Chikamatsu, the Shakespeare of the Orient. " The company also has some aspects of a new theatre movement, for example performing Chikamatsu’s "Shinju Ten no Amijima (Double Suicide in Amijima) " according to the originally scripted work.
Since an American tour in 1984, Tojuro has performed in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Britain, South Korea, China and elsewhere , bringing to global audiences the drama, profundity and unique beauty of Kabuki.
As the fruit of these efforts, Kabuki was recognized as an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2005. "The love stories of Kabuki are universal themes. Through Kabuki, I want people to understand Japan and the Japanese," he says. Over the last year, he has performed "Kyoganoko Musume Dojoji, " the very pinnacle of onnagata dance drama, in theatres throughout Japan to commemorate his 77th birthday. "I want to see Kabuki as a whole, beyond the differences between Edo and Kamigata," he says, showing that his appetite for a challenge remains as strong as ever.
Profile
Zubin Mehta is blessed with a rich musicality backed by knowledge and experience, a broad repertoire, and a personality that is loved by all. Indeed, he is seen by some as the greatest conductor of his day. While his forte lies in the large-scale symphonic works of Wagner, Mahler, Richard Strauss and others, he also displays an excellent interpretation of opera. He speaks positively about contemporary music and its contribution to the development of music. He has conducted many orchestras in a career spanning half a century, but his relationship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), which he serves as Music Director for Life, is particularly strong. His humanitarian efforts have won him high praise, notably his concerts with IPO where Arabs and Jews are brought together in a prayer for peace in the Middle East.Read more
On the podium, Zubin Mehta exudes authority as he leads his orchestras with a profound inner passion. But once removed from that milieu, he reveals a good-humored, playful side to his nature.Mehta was born to a Parsee family in Bombay, India. His first musical inspiration came from his father Mehli Mehta, who was a violinist and conductor. He studied under Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music, where he was a contemporary of Claudio Abbado.
Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition at the age of 22, making his full debut in the following year. He then rose to a series of posts as Music Director in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Opera. Since 1985 he has been Chief Conductor and since 2006 Honorary Conductor for Life of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. He has maintained a strong relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting the New Year Concert on four occasions.
He has a broad repertoire. While his forte lies in the large-scale symphonic works of Wagner, Mahler, Richard Strauss and others, he also has a passion for opera and is equally positive about performances of contemporary music.
He says the quality needed by a conductor is knowledge. "Style changes every 50 years. Haydn, Beethoven, Wagner, Schönberg...We must be at home in all these different styles. We must have knowledge of the composer, how to interpret what the composer has written on paper, and must be able to impart it to the orchestra."
He has proved most successful in communicating these ideas with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), which he now serves as Music Director for Life after enjoying close ties for more than three decades. As the conductor of an orchestra, he has always sought activity that has not only musical affinity but also political significance for him as a human being.
"Musicians cannot change boundaries of people who are in conflict. But we can play music to people to bring them together. And this is what I do in Israel. We give concerts where Arabs and Jews sit together. Now they don’t agree politically but they both love Beethoven. I dream with the Israel Philharmonic to play in Egypt, I dream also to play in Syria."
In October, he will conduct the IPO in Bombay to mark the 100th anniversary of his father’s birth. He says his good friends Plácido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim will also be taking part.
Profile
Zumthor earnestly examines the location and purpose of a building, and spares no effort in selecting the most suitable materials for it. He insists on "custom-made architecture." After working on the restoration of historical buildings in southeastern Switzerland, he became independent as an architect. He still has his studio in the small village of Haldenstein. His works can mainly be found in Switzerland but also elsewhere in Europe. Whether religious buildings, art museums, thermal bath facilities or housing projects, they consistently give a strong sense of spirituality. Kolumba, Art Museum of the Archbishopric Cologne, which opened in Cologne last year, expresses the continuity of history from Roman times by making use of a ruined area. The use of light and shade would be equally at home in Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki’s "In Praise of Shadows."Read more
Zumthor is lauded as a "true architect,"one who earnestly examines the location and purpose of a building, and spares no effort in selecting the most suitable materials for it. He is the demanding type, one who insists on the craftsman’s skill and attention to detail.More than anything, however, he is true to himself. "I love architecture. So, when asked to do a job, I have to see that I get a good possibility to do something beautiful." In an age when speed and efficiency are sought above all else, his refusal to submit to easy commercialism is sometimes dubbed "aloof." But his answer to this is simple: "I am a passionate architect."
He was born the son of a cabinet-maker in Basel, Switzerland. After studying in Basel and New York, he worked on historic building restoration projects in Kanton Graubünden, southeastern Switzerland. He became independent as an architect in 1979, but still has his studio in the small village of Haldenstein in the same Kanton. His work can be found mainly in Switzerland but also elsewhere in Europe, many in rural or mountainous areas far removed from the city.
His particular forte lies in designing places for prayer. The Saint Benedict Chapel (1989) in the alpine village of Sumvitg was built to replace a mediaeval church destroyed in an avalanche. Its wooden interior, designed to resemble a boat, is a picture of orderliness. Again, his Bruder Klaus Field Chapel (2007) rises up from crop fields on the outskirts of Cologne, Germany. This structure nobly embodies the deeply religious nature of the local people in their coexistence with nature.
Besides these, Kolumba, Art Museum of the Archbishopric Cologne, which opened to much acclaim in Cologne last autumn, expresses the continuity of history from Roman times by making use of a ruined area. His use of natural light in this building conveys a certain spiritual strength.
Zumthor has also designed the Gugalun House (Switzerland), bringing new life to a farmhouse passed down through generations of an alpine family, the Therme Vals (Switzerland), thermal baths made from local stone and the Art Museum Bregenz (Austria) covered with frosted glass, among others. All of these present a symbiosis of practicality and aesthetics. Their impressive use of light and shade would be equally at home in Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki’s "In Praise of Shadows."
Zumthor says that architecture should never be merely functional but also beautiful to use, and insists on buildings that "become unique works for the place, like custom-made." This is the philosophy of a true craftsman.
Profile
The Kabakovs are internationally active as creators of "total installations", using pictures, objects, text, sound and other elements. Both were born in the Ukraine when it was still part of the former Soviet Union. During the socialist era, Ilya started his career as a book illustrator, "the only field in which I could make use of what I had studied." He established a reputation for the intricacy of his drawing, but was also a figurehead for "unofficial artistic activity" to evade censorship by the authorities. In the 1980s, his works started to be exhibited in the west, and installations such as The Communal Kitchen started to attract interest as a uniquely satirical critique of life in the former Soviet Union. The themes he pursues with his wife Emilia are always "people who try to live an ordinary life under abnormal conditions." Their attitude of being "linked to the emotions and reactions of ordinary people" are sure to find support across eras and national boundaries.Read more
The Kabakovs are known as creators of "total installations" that reproduce aspects of everyday life in the former Soviet Union with their own unique brand of humour. These "total installations," consisting of elements as disparate as text, space, images, sound and even the reaction of the viewer, are a mode of expression that has attracted particular attention in the art world of today.
Both were born in the Ukraine (formerly part of the Soviet Union). Ilya studied at the V.I. Surikov State Art Institute in Moscow and started his career as a children’s book illustrator, receiving considerable acclaim both at home and abroad. He shrugs this off, saying that it was merely "a means of making a living." All artistic activity was subject to censorship at the time, and children’s picture books were no exception. "It was not me but the censoring editor who drew the pictures in those books," he claims.
At the same time, Ilya was also the figurehead of "underground art activity" that took place in the homes and studios of artists based in Moscow. "Not in order to survive, but a lifestyle adopted for ourselves," he says, suggesting that it was precisely these "unofficial artists" who were the "true professionals" in the Soviet era. It could be seen as an irony of history, or a counteroffensive of art, that the mental processes born of oppression thus provided a basis for creative activity.
This in itself gives particular weight to Emilia’s statement that "art has the responsibility to upgrade life." After studying music and literature in Moscow, Emilia emigrated from USSR to Israel in1973. Since 1975 she has lived and worked as a curator and art dealer in New York.
In the 1980s, Ilya’s works started to be exhibited increasingly overseas. In 1988, he created waves with his Ten Characters, an installation depicting the lives of ten characters who live in apartments of the former Soviet Union with shared use of bathroom, kitchen and toilet. From 1989 onwards, he shifted the base of his activity to New York, where he started full-scale collaborations with his wife Emilia. Until recently, they have produced forty projects a year in various parts of the world, major projects that incorporate the customs and history of each area.
The themes pursued by the Kabakovs are always, in their own words, "ordinary people, or sometimes people who try to live an ordinary life under completely abnormal conditions. Every person, before he becomes successful, a hero and a star, was this little miserable person. For after all, in our essence we are all little people."
The Kabakovs are renowned Japanophiles, praising Japan as "both contemporary and traditional at the same time, an ideal model or illustration of how art is a part of culture."
Their large-scale retrospective, something they see as a "huge challenge," is open at the "Melnikov Garage" and other venues in Moscow from September to October, under the sponsorship of the Russian Ministry of Culture, the National Pushkin Museum, Iris Foundation and billionaire Roman Abramovich, among others.
Profile
Born in London in 1922. Made his debut as an artist after attending several art schools. In 1956, he produced the collage Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? to launch the pop art era ahead of the American pop artists. Since then, he has remained creative in numerous genres such as woodblock prints, collage and design. Inspired by French-born artist Marcel Duchamp, champion of iconoclastic "anti-art" Hamilton’s work sometimes contains political messages; recently, he criticized British involvement in Iraq with Shock and Awe, showing former Prime Minister Tony Blair in a cowboy-style gunman pose. Hamilton’s studio in Oxfordshire is kitted out with a large printer and several computers, and even at the age of 86, his enthusiasm for creativity shows no sign of waning.Read more
In 1950s Britain, Richard Hamilton was already producing collages that are considered to be the first works of pop art, well ahead of American pop artists Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. Over a half century since then, Hamilton has continued to work in a variety of genres, including woodblock prints, collage and design.Richard Hamilton was born in London and attended a number of art schools before making his debut as an artist. He played an important role in the "Independent Group", a gathering of artists, architects, designers and critics in 1950s London. With his collage Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? , (1956), produced for the Group’s "This Is Tomorrow" exhibition, he established himself overnight as the "founding father"of pop art. The collage, originally designed as a poster, depicts a living room filled with household electrical appliances, advertisements and other symbols of mass consumerism, dominated by a posing bodybuilder.
At the time, Hamilton defined pop art as "popular, transient, expendable, low-cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, big business". He still stands by that statement today, saying "I think that evaluation was very accurate...the interesting thing is that has become accepted by so many artists".
Hamilton’s works deal predominantly with mass media culture and consumer society. Are they meant to glorify contemporary culture and art, or to satirize it? Hamilton replies that they are neither, preferring to remain neutral. His works are often commented as an "affirmation of reality".
Among his inspirations, Hamilton names French-born artist Marcel Duchamp, the iconoclastic champion of "anti-art" He even attempted to "reconstruct" some of Duchamp’s glass objects. Some of his other works, depicting consumer items like automobiles and stars like Marilyn Monroe or Mick Jagger, also reveal iconoclastic traits reminiscent of Duchamp.
Hamilton sometimes uses his works to make political comments. This summer, he exhibited Shock and Awe , a work showing former Prime Minister Tony Blair as a cowboy ready to fire from the hip with both hands, at a small gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. This is a clear comment on Blair’s decision to join the Bush-led invasion of Iraq.
Though he has described himself recently as a "hermit", he has been increasing his output using computers. His home-based studio, converted from a large farm in Oxfordshire, is kitted out with a large printer and several computers. Even at the age of 86, his enthusiasm for creativity shows no sign of waning.
He passed away on September 13, 2011, England