ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: out & about
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS
Rudolfo, the poet, shares his tiny flat in Paris' Latin Quarter with three fellow starving artists: Marcel (the painter), Colline (the philosopher) and Schaunard (the musician).
A carefree quartet, the artists enjoy the boisterous fun of life in Paris - the gaiety, the color, the romance.
But life for Rudolfo changes on Christmas Eve when the beautiful Mimi knocks on his attic door. The young girl, who supports herself by doing needlework, is seeking a light for her candle.
Rudolfo finds the light of his life in Mimi. Tragically, it's an ephemeral light.
So goes Giacomo Puccini's famous opera "La Boheme," or "The Bohemian." Based on Henri Murger's novel, "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme" ("Scenes from Bohemian Life"), Puccini wrote the sentimental work in 1896. It has since become one of the most beloved titles of all grand opera.
Favorite melodies from the opera include the tenor aria "Che gelida manina" ("Your tiny hand is frozen") and the soprano aria "Mi chiamano Mimi" ("My Name is Mimi").
The New York City Opera National Company will bring its touring production of "La Boheme" to Radford University Wednesday. It starts at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium. This is the traveling company's 16th production since it formed in 1979. "La Boheme" features a 75-member ensemble that includes a 30-piece orchestra, 30 singers and a staff of 15.
The performers will sing the opera in its original Italian with English supertitles (translations projected onto a screen above the stage). Beverly Sills initiated the use of supertitles at the New York City Opera in 1983 after seeing them at a performance of the Peking Opera. The innovation opened opera to a whole new audience.
Tickets for Wednesday's performance are $16 for adults, $8 for children and free for Radford University students and staff. Call 831-5420 for reservations.
BRRRRR! If you're tired of the cold weather, Linwood White has a suggestion.
He says you can heat up the night at the Montgomery County Parks and Recreation building Saturday.
White is an organizer of the Poor Mountain Jamborees, weekly get-togethers for folks who love old-time music and dancing. The jamborees are held each Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. at the park on County Drive across from Corning Inc.
Local groups performing this week include Bits & Pieces, First Time Around and the Poor Mountain Clan. They'll keep the beat while you hot-foot it with those fancy dance steps.
Admission to the jamborees is free but they'll be passing the hat to help pay the rent.
For more information, call White at 552-4173.
ANTICIPATION: Each year, local music lovers look forward to the Rebecca Orr Memorial Concert, a benefit that brings together some of the area's finest musicians.
Good news! The wait is over.
The concert starts at 8 tonight in Virginia Tech's Squires Recital Salon. Performers from the universities, as well as the community, will join forces as they play a program of classical works. Expect to hear music by Beethoven, Casella, de Falla, Liszt, Prokofiev, Ravel and Schudel.
The concert raises money for music scholarships to help young talents in the New River Valley. It began as a way to honor the memory of Rebecca Orr, a Blacksburg High School graduate and a gifted pianist who was killed by a drunken driver in her freshman year at Ohio's Oberlin College. This year marks the 14th year of the concert.
Tickets, available at the door tonight, are $5 for adults or $3 for students. Family tickets will be sold for $10.
PAINTINGS ON PAPER AND SCRAPS: Purvis Young has been called a "visionary." He's also been dubbed a "street" artist.
Young, a native of Miami, has spent many years picking up the debris he finds on the streets of Overtown, his neighborhood in Miami's inner city. Old books and ledgers, paper scraps, cardboard, wood, even smashed doors and windows - these are the materials Young uses for his abstract artwork.
Describing himself as "self-taught," Young did receive art lessons in the '60s, but he rejected the training because he felt the need to paint from his gut instinct. Critics call his work "some of the most honest and powerful of the last decade."
He was born in 1943 and found himself caught up in the civil rights movement in his young adulthood. His work reflects his awareness of black America and ghetto life.
Purvis Young's work is in the spotlight at Virginia Tech's Armory Art Gallery, 201 Draper Road, through Feb. 7. The exhibit coincides with the Black History Month celebration at the university.
Hours at the gallery are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free.
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