Will Call

About Will Call

This weekly exploration into the Berkshires arts world offers behind-the-scenes insights with news, exclusive interviews, and analysis of the ever-fluid state of our cultural organizations.

Publisher

The Greylock Glass

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Mar 2016

Latest episode

17 Sept 2023

Latest episodes

50 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Sept 2023

   Will Call #76: Norma Dream

   Norma Dream is the songwriting project of Norma Jean Haynes: folksinger, banjo player, and wandering musician. Based in western Massachusetts, Norma Jean has followed a love of traditional song to Corsica, Bosnia, England, South Africa, and Appalachia, and her original songs are inflected by these experiences. Her debut album, Mothers & Daughters, embarks on an exploration of nature and relationship as she strives to define a tradition of her own. Norma Dream’s forthcoming album, entitled Mercy Drops: une catalogue des brûlages, seeks to capture the experience of a summer spent in Corsican with songs in English and French. At once timeless and timely, Norma Dream’s original material uses traditional idioms to explore contemporary life. With a feather-light voice and a backbone of New England grit, Norma Dream is where Emily Dickinson meets Pete Seeger, where Robert Frost meets Anne Briggs, and where Edith Piaf meets the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. Accompanied by her father Christopher Haynes—celebrated local pianist and accordionist whose credits include Claudia Schmidt and the Young at Heart Chorus— along with fiddler Ben Wetherbee, Norma Dream promises to win your heart with her originality, simplicity, and sense of wonder. Norma Dream’s Upcoming Dates .stk-i43twky{background-color:#e49f3e !important}.stk-i43twky:before{background-color:#e49f3e !important} .stk-isk3qvl{border-radius:50px !important;overflow:hidden !important;padding-top:8px !important;padding-right:8px !important;padding-bottom:8px !important;padding-left:8px !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-left:auto !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tab-labels__text{color:#999999 !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab{color:#999999 !important;padding-top:8px !important;padding-right:24px !important;padding-bottom:8px !important;padding-left:24px !important;border-radius:50px !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab.stk-block-tabs__tab--active .stk-block-tab-labels__text{color:#ffffff !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab:not(.stk-block-tabs__tab--active):hover{background:#dddddd !important;opacity:1 !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child,.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child :is(g,path,rect,polygon,ellipse){fill:#777777 !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab:not(.stk-block-tabs__tab--active):hover .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child,.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab:not(.stk-block-tabs__tab--active):hover .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child :is(g,path,rect,polygon,ellipse){fill:#000000 !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab.stk-block-tabs__tab--active{background:#000000 !important}.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab.stk-block-tabs__tab--active .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child,.stk-isk3qvl .stk-block-tabs__tab.stk-block-tabs__tab--active .stk--inner-svg svg:last-child :is(g,path,rect,polygon,ellipse){fill:#ffffff !important}September 23October 8November 11 7:30 p.m. Norma Dream (https://www.greylockglass.com/event/norma-dream/) The Foundry2 Harris Street, West Stockbridge, Mass. 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Ashfield Fall Festival (https://www.greylockglass.com/event/ashfield-fall-festival/) Ashfield Town CommonMain Street, Ashfield, Mass. 7:00 p.m. Bridget St John with Norma Dream (https://www.greylockglass.com/event/bridget-st-john-with-norma-dream-the-institute-for-the-musical-arts-goshen-ma/) The Institute for the Musical Arts165 Cape Street, Goshen, Mass.

2. 

   2 Jul 2023

   Will Call #75 — NTRVW: Mátti Kovler of Floating Tower

   From the streets of Boston to the rolling hills of the Berkshires, we’re taking a deep dive into the remarkable journey of Floating Tower, a unique musical collective. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Mátti Kovler, the founding artistic director of Floating Tower, who took his first steps on this path even before being named composer in residence at the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University. Born out of the multiethnic influences of Boston’s academic and artistic scene, Floating Tower thrives on blending diverse musical traditions into a singular soundscape. Kovler and his fellow musicians—immigrants and refugees alike—have crafted a musical theater that reflects their shared and disparate experiences. GET TICKETS (https://www.adamstheater.org/upcoming) for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors A decade on, and after a residency in New York’s Blue building, Floating Tower has found a new rhythm in the Northern Berkshires. As we’ll hear, Kovler has made this tranquil setting an opportunity for a cultural and artistic exchange, hosting large-scale productions that draw from local and international talents alike. Today, we’ll explore the journey of Floating Tower, the power of music in uniting cultures, the story behind its evocative name, and the upcoming musical spectacular in support of Ukraine hitting Adams Theatre July first and second. Tune in for an enriching discussion on the fusion of music, culture, and community. NTRVW: Mátti Kovler (rough transcript) Will Call: And with me on the line is Matti Kovler of Floating Tower. Welcome to the show. Mátti Kovler: Hi, Jay. Nice to meet you. Will Call: Well, it’s great to have you here and I’m very excited to talk about this project that has been going on for some time but has a new a new life here in the Berkshires. First of all, tell us a little bit just give us the background of of Floating Tower and what its original goal and purpose is. Mátti Kovler: Well, I started Floating Tower when I was still living in Boston about ten years ago. I was back then at BU, I was composer in Residence with the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University. And I, um, I started doing programing with some of the students and some of my fellow musician friends that brings together all kinds of multiethnic influences, if you wish. Some of the people that I was connected with at the time back in Boston were from New England Conservatory, from Berklee College of Music, and many of them were immigrants such as myself and also refugees from Iran, from Syria, from Turkey. So it kind of evolved into a group that most of the musical participants in it are actually either immigrant or refugees, even though this was not this was not by design initially. And the kind of work I was doing was music. I would call it music theater work. So we we had a number of productions that combined these different influences into into one musical soundscape. So, for instance, you know, one of the first productions we did while I was at residence at Boston University was called Quill of the Soul. It started from Hasidic nigun melodies, sacred melodies by Jewish Orthodox Jews. But then some of these melodies were performed by Iranian musicians with in Persian ornament, ornamental singing style, Indian, South Indian classical musicians. And then it you know, and then I realized that it’s it’s very gratifying for me personally, musically speaking, to have, you know, Iranian musicians thinking something in Yiddish and vice versa. So I started experimenting with this, bringing together different vocal traditions, different musical traditions in one production.

3. 

   12 Jan 2023

   Will Call #75 — NTRVW: Cirque du Soleil’s Frederic Umali

   Above: Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo comes to Worcester’s DCU Center January 12 – 15, 2023; photo by Maja Prgomet. And this is Episode Number 75 of Will Call here on the Greylock Glass. I’m your host Jay Velazquez, and I’m so pleased to have you with us for this show, which first aired Thursday, January 12, 2023. I’m excited, because we’re going to be talking about an extremely exciting show from the internationally beloved Cirque du Soleil. Tickets (https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/corteo) Opening at the DCU Center in Worcester Massachusetts January 12 and running through the 15th the magical performance, Corteo, is sure to bring gasps of amazement in disbelief from audience members young and old. And, we are very grateful to have, as our guest, Frederick Umali, California native and internationally respected gymnast before he joined the original cast of Corteo at its inception in 2005. Mr. Umali performs in the gravity defying act Tournik, in which a group of artists cross paths in an act which marries horizontal bar techniques with circus arts. The artists perform at a central cube shaped structure with two additional bars on each side of the cube. The complexity of the fright pattern and the defiance of gravity will keep you on the edge of your seat. Among other acts are the “Artist Marionette,” “Acrobatic Ladder,” “Chandeliers,” ” “Cyr Wheel,” and many more, some familiar, some so unique they challenge the imagination. OUR REVIEW I don’t know that I should, or even care to, give away any more details than are in my interview with Mr. Umali. Besides, the trailer I’ve embedded shows you all you should need to know about what you’ll see. I can only say that 2022 was the hardest year of my 54 year old life, and it carried over into the first couple weeks of 2023. I had the opportunity to take in Corteo, and was sure I wasn’t really in the mood for clowns and acrobats and balloons on the drive halfway across the state to the Worcester DCU center. By the end of the performance, however, I felt that I’d been scrubbed raw with the stiff-bristled brush of optimism. Until I saw this show, nothing had drenched me with the childlike wonder and awe of a 10-year-old since I was, well, 10 years old. Nothing you stream to your TV, no matter how big it might be, 10 nights combined, can match the spectacle that is Cirque du Soleil. No amount of special FX, CGI, or green screen stunts can compare to the soaring, spinning, flying through the air (almost always with NO FREAKING NET) explosions of color and flash and sparkle, all accompanied by sensuous live music. Nothing will draw out innocent, healing laughter and perpetual smiles quite the way this circus will. I BEG of you, if at all possible, start 2023 off by seeing “Corteo,” a performance that will make you believe in…every magical, wonderful thing you thought was impossible again. The full frontal assault of beauty, gracefulness, and elegance brought tears to my eyes on and off for an hour and a half. In traditional Cirque du Soleil fashion, the entire extravaganza is an explosion of color and light as well with elaborate stage features, mind blowing set creations, and lush costumes and make up.

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