Timely opera about student protest has US premiere (AP)

By MIKE SILVERMAN, For The Associated Press Mike Silverman, For The Associated Press – Thu Nov 17, 1:24 pm ET

NEW YORK – Just two nights after police broke up the Occupy Wall Street encampment in lower Manhattan, a new opera about student protest movements around the world had its U.S. premiere uptown at Lincoln Center.

And as if to underscore the connection, the performance at the Juilliard School on Wednesday drew a small group of demonstrators who stood behind police barricades holding signs and chanting "Off the stage, into the streets!"

The opera is "Kommilitonen!" with music by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies and libretto by David Pountney, who also directed. In a program note, Pountney said they took student activism as their subject because, when they set to work back in 2008, it seemed the phenomenon had vanished.

Well, the world has certainly changed — even since the opera was first performed last March by the Royal Academy of Music in London, which co-commissioned it.

Headlines aside, "Kommilitonen!" is an earnest and engaging creation, an agitprop pageant that proves surprisingly entertaining. Moreover, the Juilliard Opera singers and orchestra, led by conductor Anne Manson, performed it with an enthusiasm and polish that had the 77-year-old composer beaming when he came out for his curtain call.

Pountney has woven together three separate stories, beginning with the White Rose movement, in which a small group of German students risked their lives to distribute propaganda protesting Nazi atrocities. The opera's name comes from a term they used in their final leaflet (shortly before they were captured and guillotined), which roughly translates as "Fellow students!"

The second story tells of James Meredith's crusade to become the first black student to register at the University of Mississippi in 1962 — an individual act of courage that helped galvanize years of civil rights struggle.

The third story, a counterpoint to show the excesses of youthful zeal, is set during China's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and depicts the children of a local official who denounce their parents as politically impure.

The narratives unfold in alternating fashion throughout the first act in brief, brisk scenes. The second half begins on a somber, philosophical note with a resulting drop in energy, until the stories merge and the whole ensemble joins in a stirring anthem to end on an optimistic note.

Davies' lifetime of experience writing large-scale compositions shows in his expert use of the orchestra. The rhythmically varied, basically tonal score is filled with snatches of melody that hint at Chinese marches, American spirituals and German lieder — tunes that often melt into one another. In a compelling moment during the interrogation of the Chinese parents, a relentlessly upbeat chorus for the Red Guard plays against a string lament for the hapless victims.

Among the standouts in the young cast, baritone Will Liverman showed terrific presence and a solid voice as James Meredith, the most fully developed character; soprano Deanna Breiwick sang sweetly as Sophie Scholl, leader of the White Rose; and mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta made the plight of the Chinese son painfully sympathetic.

There are two more performances this Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

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Freelancer heard on NPR stations fired for protest (AP)

WASHINGTON – A freelance radio host was fired from a documentary program that airs on NPR affiliates because she helped organize a Washington protest, the host said Thursday, while the producers of another show defended her work and said she hasn't violated their policies.

Lisa Simeone said she was fired Wednesday evening from "Soundprint," a documentary show that isn't produced by NPR but airs on about 35 affiliate stations across the country. The head of Soundprint Media Center Inc. cited NPR's code of ethics before she was fired.

"In my mind, it's fine if you want to be a leader of an organized protest movement, but you can't also be in a journalistic role," Moira Rankin, president of Soundprint, told The Associated Press a day after she fired Simeone. "You can't be the host of a journalism program and plead that you are different than the reporter who is going to come on a minute after you introduce the program."

Rankin said she was alerted to Simeone serving as a protest spokeswoman by a radio programming director who airs the show. She said her Laurel, Md.-based production company had adopted NPR's ethics code as its own in part because listeners don't know the difference between NPR and independent producers across the country.

NPR also questioned Simeone's involvement in the protest near the White House, which began as an anti-war protest but also adopted what participants call an anti-corporate greed message. But NPR said Simeone doesn't work for the radio network, and it hadn't pressured Soundprint to fire her.

Simeone also hosts "World of Opera," a show produced by North Carolina-based music and arts station WDAV. That program is distributed by NPR to 43 stations. Simeone said that station is supporting her.

"I don't cover news. In none of the shows that I do, do I cover the news," she told the AP. "What is NPR afraid I'll do? Insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of `Madame Butterfly?'"

Simeone, who lives in Baltimore, said she has been serving with about 50 people on a steering committee for an occupation protest on Pennsylvania Avenue that's known as the October 2011 Movement. She said it is not connected to the Occupy Wall Street movement, but that they share similar philosophies.

WDAV, a classical music station based in Davidson, N.C., defended Simeone's work Thursday and said she remains the host of "World of Opera." The NPR affiliate said it was working to find a solution for the show with NPR.

"Ms. Simeone's activities outside of this job are not in violation of any of WDAV's employee codes and have had no effect on her job performance," WDAV spokeswoman Lisa Gray said in an emailed statement.

On Thursday, NPR spokeswoman Anna Christopher said the network's code of ethics applies to cultural programs it distributes, such as "World of Opera," as well as to news shows it produces, acquires or distributes.

"We are not her employer, but she is a host for a show that we distribute," Christopher said. "She's a public person who represents NPR and public radio."

Though "Soundprint" airs on NPR stations, it's not distributed by the network itself.

NPR's ethics code states that "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies" involving issues NPR covers. The code notes that some provisions may not apply to outside contributors. It uses a freelancer who primarily contributes arts coverage as an example.

Simeone said she is not an "NPR journalist." For the "Soundprint" show, her role involved writing introductions to the show's featured documentaries, and she was expected to give her point of view. In the past when she worked for NPR, she said she also wrote op-eds for The Baltimore Sun with no problem.

"I have never brought any of my political activities into my work for `Soundprint,' `NPR World of Opera,' or the Chicago Symphony Orchestra series," she said, adding that she doesn't cover politics or the news.

The firing came as many NPR stations are in a fall pledge drive to raise money from their listeners. Rankin said that had no bearing on her decision to fire Simeone after 15 years on the show.

Congress provides about 15 percent of public broadcast funding, primarily for individual stations.

Ongoing debate over the nation's deficit and spending, as well as "disdain" among many Republicans over any cultural funding has made public broadcasters more sensitive, said American University Professor Patricia Aufderheide, an expert on documentaries and public media.

"I'm a little baffled about why somebody who was not a news reporter would not be able to take a stand on a topical issue that wasn't in their sphere of professional activity," she said.

Still, Nikki Usher, an assistant professor at George Washington University who has studied NPR, said any news organization would have done the same thing.

"All press organizations should face this level of scrutiny," she said. "Unfortunately, the situation surrounding public broadcast funding means NPR must hold itself to additional scrutiny."

Lines have been blurred, though, in an age where opinion journalism is pervasive. On Saturday, the Rev. Al Sharpton who hosts an MSNBC show, led a jobs protest in Washington. The same network had once suspended Keith Olbermann for making political contributions.

In the past year, NPR has come under scrutiny for its firing of news analyst Juan Williams after he said on Fox News that he was uncomfortable being on a plane with someone wearing clothing that identifies them as Muslim. At the time, NPR said Williams's comments violated its code of ethics by participating in media "that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis."

The network has been sensitive to accusations that it carries a liberal bias. An NPR chief executive was forced to resign after a conservative activist posted a video online of NPR's chief fundraiser complaining about the tea party's influence on the Republican Party.

Earlier this month, NPR announced Gary Knell, the longtime president and CEO of "Sesame Street" producer Sesame Workshop, would become its next chief executive on Dec. 1. Knell told the AP he wanted to "depoliticize" NPR by emphasizing its commitment to journalism.

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Associated Press writer Karen Mahabir contributed to this report.

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Brett Zongker can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/DCArtBeat

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Pete Seeger and pals attend NYC protest action (AP)

NEW YORK – Folk music legend Pete Seeger joined in the Occupy Wall Street protest Friday night, replacing his banjo with two canes as he marched with throngs of people in New York City's tony Upper West Side past banks and shiny department stores.

The 92-year-old Seeger, accompanied by musician-grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger, composer David Amram, and bluesman Guy Davis, shouted out a verse as the crowd of about 1,000 people sang and chanted.

They marched peacefully over more than 30 blocks from Symphony Space, where the Seegers and other musicians performed, to Columbus Circle. Police watched from the sidelines.

At the circle, Seeger and friends walked to the chant of "We are the 99 percent" and "We are unstoppable, another world is possible." Seeger stopped to bang a metal statue of an elephant with his cane — to cheers from the crowd.

At the center of the circle, Seeger and Amram were joined by `60s folk singer Arlo Guthrie in a round of "We Shall Overcome," a protest anthem made popular by Seeger.

After more singing, Seeger asked for a mic check to tell the crowd: "The words are simple: I could be happy spending my days on the river that flows both way-ay-ays."

During the march, the younger Seeger, in troubadour fashion like his grandfather, walked among the protesters playing songs. Amra took up a flute and others enlivened the night protest with the sounds of the accordion, banjos, and guitars.

At the front of the throng, marchers held American flags and a large blue flag that said: "Revolution Generation ... Debt is Slavery." Along the way, the crowd sang protest songs made popular or written by Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and others of the protest era.

Occupy Wall Street began a month ago in lower Manhattan among a few young people, and has grown to thousands around the country and the world. An Associated Press-GfK poll says more than one-third of the country supports the Wall Street protesters, and even more — 58 percent — say they are furious about America's politics.

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Dohnanyi cancels Hungary appearances in protest (AP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary's State Opera says German conductor Cristoph von Dohnanyi has canceled a pair of appearances to protest the appointment of a theater director linked to far-right groups.

Dohnanyi said in a letter released Friday by the Hungarian State Opera that he does not want to "appear in a city whose mayor entrusted the direction of a theater to two known, extreme right-wing anti-Semites."

Mayor Istvan Tarlos' recent appointment of Gyorgy Dorner was widely criticized by Jewish organizations, as well as a large group of directors of other Budapest theaters.

Dorner has named Istvan Csurka, a playwright and former lawmaker known for anti-Semitic speeches and articles, as his deputy.

The Opera said it was considering suing Dohnanyi for compensation.

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U2 faces 'tax dodge' protest at Glastonbury fest (AP)

LONDON – U2 and its frontman Bono are known for their global poverty-fighting efforts but activists plan to protest their performance Friday at England's Glastonbury festival, accusing the Irish band of dodging taxes.

The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut said it would unfurl banners and placards in front of TV cameras filming the U2 gig on the festival's main Pyramid Stage.

Member Charlie Dewar said Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world but has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money.

Ireland, which has already accepted an international bailout, is suffering through deep spending cuts, tax hikes and rising unemployment as it tries to pull the debt-burdened economy back from brink of bankruptcy.

"Tax(es) nestling in the band's bank account should be helping to keep open the hospitals, schools and libraries that are closing all over Ireland," Dewar said.

U2, the country's most successful band, was heavily criticized in 2006 for moving its corporate base from Ireland to the Netherlands, where royalties on music incur virtually no tax.

Bono, guitarist The Edge and U2's other members — bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — are among the country's wealthiest residents. Forbes magazine has estimated the band earned $195 million last year, mostly through its hugely profitable "360 Degrees" world tour.

It's not known how much personal income tax the band members pay in Ireland.

During the years when Ireland was a booming "Celtic Tiger" economy, the members of U2 invested in a wide range of Dublin properties, including a luxury riverside hotel and a planned Norman Foster-designed skyscraper on the River Liffey. Plans for the "U2 Tower" were shelved when property prices collapsed in 2008.

U2 is headlining the first night of the three-day Glastonbury festival, its first appearance at Britain's most prestigious summer music event. The band was due to perform last year but had to pull out after Bono injured his back.

Fans were keenly anticipating Friday's show — and said they would give protesters a hostile reception.

"I don't think the protest will go down well," said 42-year-old fan Sarah Craig. "I for one will be giving them a headache if they plan any protest in front of me."

Some 170,000 people have descended on a farm in southwest England for the extravaganza, which includes sets by Morrissey, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, Beyonce and scores of other acts.

Rubber boots are the fashion item of choice after heavy rain turned the 900-acre (364-hectare) site into a mudbath. More rain is forecast for later Friday.

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