[Fmpro] I saw that one too

Sat Mar 1 21:45:09 GMT 2008

Do a google on Betty Freeman. She was and possibly still is the most  
influential supporter of new music and new programming in the United  
States. She rescued many composers from disaster and help support  
John Cage until his death. She has done the same thing with others.  
She promoted disks, performances, programming, paid for artists to  
travel and brought many composers from around the world to her  
Beverly Hills Mansion. She has been extoled on British TV, where I  
was featured which led to some commissions from England and Europe.  
But she was a tireless promoter of new music and new art. She was  
instrumental in the Wilson/Glass collaboration and was especially  
fond of Wilson's eccentric works. She had all his stage drawings for  
Einstein on the Beach.

I started a group called eXindigo! which was a combination chorus/ 
chamber ensemble. We staged over 25 concerts around LA and even  
traveled internationally. But regardless of how good the music was,  
the expense was never met. With the film/TV scene and rates for  
musicians, it was hard to keep players and was impossible to keep  
them on the road without large stipends from donors. When I moved to  
Central Cal, I brought the concept up here and we left the LA group  
to another person. They proved incapable of managing such an effort  
and it folded. I brought a lot of people up here and even had Phil  
Glass promise a fundraiser but I couldn't get a venue. The only  
concert hall wanted a $10K guarantee. I brought the Ear Unit up here  
and they gave concerts at the local school. We had less than 50  
people in the audience. When I brought Vinny Golia here, we had an  
audience of ten. I brought some of the best musicians and groups from  
around the world and got mediocre response. It was like trying to get  
a hog to tell time.

So I quit performing locally. Now I go to parties and people want to  
know when the next performance will be. I ask them if they knew what  
kind of stuff we did and even the musicians said they hated it. So I  
asked why I should perform for people who had no interest in anything  
experimental other than what they were fed on the radio.

In LA, we had typical audiences of 100-300 but this was rare for new  
music. Even new rock artists seldom generate more than 50 people.

I went to Argentina and was blown away that people not only knew who  
I was but knew some of my music. I thought I and my works would be  
completely unknown outside of a few festivals but I was staggered  
with the warm reception. It was the same in Brazil and Chile. Did you  
know that in Buenos Aires they have year-around opera? Some of the  
best performers in the world go there to perform when Europe and the  
major companies are not in season. Even when Argentina was engaged in  
war with England, the opera was running. Now, that's culture!

Mexico has a vibrant new music and art world as do a lot of SA  
countries. But there is no "artistic" utopia anywhere. New music and  
art exist in a rarefied atmosphere of intellectual experimentation.  
These usually come and go in societies. Right now, we are in a  
retrenchment from the intellectual excesses of the '50s through '70s  
where everything went including anti-music. I fear that given the  
state of the world now, we will not see another such intellectual  
spurge for quite a while. The other sad fact is that they usually  
precede collapse of one kind or another.

What is missing for most of us is an intellectual support group who  
understands what many composers are trying to do. While a composer  
must work in isolation to create, he/she needs a group of like-minded  
people to keep the intellectual fires burning. Too much isolation is  
creative death. People often point to the fact that as Mozart became  
more successful, he did things like move into an artist's hostel. He  
didn't move in because he was broke but because he wanted to be  
around fellow artists and stage actors with whom he felt comfortable.  
Such "guilds" had existed before and he felt quite comfortable in the  
world of theater and they type of people who inhabit the same. I  
worked on a play (composed and performed the music) with oscar winner  
Sally Kirkland. She lived in Busby Berkeley's house and wanted me to  
come and live there. I visited a few times and it was really vibrant;  
everyone was striving to get jobs and all were working actors in some  
way. It was very exciting but not for me.

So the next time you fell out of touch, hit the local hangout where a  
lot of people think being an artist is living hand to mouth and doing  
art for the sake of doing art. It isn't practical but is uplifting.

Ted Peterson

On Feb 29, 2008, at 10:47 PM, <bipcress at comcast.net> wrote:

> Great story, Ted. Wish I could have been your "date" on those  
> auspicious
> occasions. Could you tell me a bit more about Miss Freeman (a new  
> name to
> me)? - JohnB
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ted Peterson" <ted.peterson at tcsn.net>
> To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 11:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] I saw that one too
>
>
>> Ah. Penderecki. I've seen both and also got a center mid section
>> orchestra LA Phil ticket for the "St. Luke Passion." I ended up
>> sitting next to critic Alan Rich and new music maven Betty Freeman.
>> She invited me to perform at her house and I presented with Rzewski.
>> She kept inviting me back for the third Sunday suares until Franco,
>> her husband and incredible artist, died. All in all it was about
>> three years. She never had people to her house again. I met some
>> incredible people there and actually got two commissions from LA Phil
>> people there.
>>
>> Ted Peterson
>>
>> On Feb 29, 2008, at 6:40 PM, <bipcress at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Ted, never been able to get bit by the opera bug. To be sure my
>>> fault, and
>>> not the format. Too much hamburger and not enough caviar in my
>>> lunch box I
>>> suppose. However, for some reason I have loved Herrmann's portion
>>> of opera
>>> for CITIZEN KANE, and also Astley's sections of opera for Hammer's
>>> PHANTOM
>>> OF THE OPERA. I know these are both "film score bastard" off-
>>> springs of true
>>> opera, but much appreciated by me nonetheless. As for "real" opera,
>>> I do
>>> much enjoy Penderecki's PASSIO ET MORS DOMINI NOSTRI JESU CHRISTI
>>> SECUNDUM
>>> LUCAM, THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN, and especially the always stunning
>>> UTRENJA.
>>
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>
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