THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412170046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARK MOBLEY
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
LOOKING for summer fun close to home? Some Hampton Roads administrators are hoping to mount a major arts festival as soon as 1996.
A Spoleto-style arts festival has been talked about in local boardrooms and over beers for as long as anyone can remember. Charleston, S.C., is smaller than Hampton Roads but regularly eats our lunch in the arts department. So artists, administrators and city councilmen have looked longingly to the south and spun fantasies of big-ticket events drawing an international clientele.
Earlier this month, a race seemed to be shaping up. The Virginia Beach Center for the Arts is planning to expand its Boardwalk Arts Show into a 10-day festival next year. Concert promoter Cellar Door is also talking about developing a major festival in Virginia Beach.
But these initiatives could be coordinated with a plan being developed by the Virginia Waterfront Committee, the group that brought the world the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Williamsburg ads. An events committee led by Festevents executive director Karen Scherberger has designs on a late spring/early summer arts festival and a fall seafood festival. The arts festival subcommittee is chaired by Virginia Symphony general manager Robert W. Cross.
Scherberger and Cross say the groups envision something bigger than Spoleto, along the lines of Scotland's Edinburgh Festival and employing major international artists in venues throughout Hampton Roads. In January, Cross, Scherberger and other committee members will meet with representatives of local arts groups to discuss their ideas. NEW ARTS LIAISON
The city of Norfolk's newest arts administrator is a familiar face. Mark Watson, director of the Tidewater Performing Arts Society since 1993, has been appointed to the position of city arts coordinator. Watson, 34, will serve as liaison between arts groups and the city arts commission and assist the commission in its grants disbursement and dealings with the city.
But city development director Robert Smithwick, who hired Watson, sees him playing a larger role than did his predecessor, Danny Adams.
``Danny spent his time dealing with the commission,'' Smithwick said. ``What we want Mark to do is spend his time dealing with the big picture.''
Watson is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and is a former development associate at Virginia Opera. He worked for four years as marketing director of the Hampton Arts Commission, the area's most active and successful city arts panel. But he said he did not envision the Norfolk commission's embarking on Hampton-style concert promotion. `` `Impresario' didn't pass their lips,'' he says.
Instead, Watson will be an integral part of the city's efforts to attract and retain businesses. His goals also include improving relations and fostering collaborations between arts groups.
``If you think of it another way,'' Watson said, ``all of these things are the components that will lead to the large festival that everyone talks about.'' MUSICAL GUIDEBOOKS
Recordings make great gifts, but selecting them can be a tricky business. In attempting to surprise and delight your friends and family, you run the risk of seeing the forced smile that says, ``Oh, great.''
Safer than guessing what someone will like is giving them tools to find music themselves. And there's an impressive new crop of guide-books.
The folks who publish the Rough Guides travel series have recently issued ``The Rough Guide to Classical Music on CD'' and ``The Rough Guide to World Music.'' These volumes are vastly informative and adventurous, with helpful notes and buying recommendations.
At 700 pages, the world music volume is the more substantial achievement. It is highly recommended. The pages are sprinkled with artists' biographies, helpful definitions of foreign terms, information on radio in foreign countries and even the occasional bit of literature.
The classical music book is somewhat less ambitious but similarly broad - one section includes, among others, Palestrina, Parry, Part, Penderecki, Pergolesi, Perotin, Pfitzner and Poulenc. A few recording suggestions are idiosyncratic.
Fred Plotkin's ``Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera'' (Hyperion) is a non-threatening, common-sense introduction to this complicated art form. His discussion of ``Rigoletto'' includes notes on how to read a CD booklet. It's like hiring a critic as your personal trainer.
Ted Libbey's ``The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection'' points listeners to solid performances of basic repertoire (his only P-composers are Prokofiev and Puccini). Libbey also provides entertaining musical trivia. DATEBOOK
Virginia Symphony Holiday Pops, 3 p.m. today at the Virginia Beach Pavilion and 7:30 p.m. today at the Hampton Roads Academy, Newport News. For ticket information, call 623-2310 or 671-8100.
I. Sherman Greene Chorale, 7 p.m. today at Grace Episcopal Church, Norfolk. 467-8971. MEMO: Send your notices to Roy A. Bahls, The Virginian-Pilot and The
Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. Fax 446-2963.
Include description of event, admission charge, time, date, location and
phone. Deadline is 10 days before publication. Call Mark Mobley at
446-2783, write to the above address or mobley(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Mark Watson, former director of the Tidewater Performing Arts
Society, has been appointed arts coordinator for the city of
Norfolk.
by CNB