Triad Arts Weekend: April 26, 2013

This week on Triad Arts Weekend, Bethany Chafin has a conversation with renowned Peruvian-born Chilean-raised author Isabel Allende. Her newest novel "Maya's Notebook" was released this past Tuesday. It tells the story of Maya Vidal, a teenager who becomes trapped in a world of drugs, sex, and violence in Las Vegas after the devastating death of her beloved grandfather. Isabel will be discussing her new book in Winston-Salem on May 2nd thanks to Bookmarks and Salem College. She'll be speaking at 7:00pm in the Hanes Auditorium at the Robert E. Elberson Fine Arts Center on the campus of Salem College.  Tickets are $18.  Isabel spoke with Associate Producer Bethany Chafin recently from her office in Sausalito, California. Isabel and Bethany began by discussing the importance of both the storyteller and the listener.

Next up we're Live in Studio A with The Jia String Quartet. They're competing in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. These four young Triad musicians from the University of NC School of the Arts are bound for the quarter finals of the Fischoff, but after months of careful preparation and practice, The Jia Quartet needs a helping hand from the community to get them to their competition destination in South Bend Indiana. On Sunday, April 28 at 7:00 pm in Parkway United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, violinists Dustin Wilkes-Kim and Maura Shawn Scanlin, violist Amber Wang and cellist Sarah Huesman will perform a fundraising concert so that they can compete. We get a preview of that concert today Live in Studio A. 

We wrap things up today with University of NC School of the Arts Chancellor John Mauceri. On June 30, 2013 this world-renowned conductor and  educator will step down as chancellor, but he's certainly going out with a bang. On Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 pm in the Stevens Center he'll conduct the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra in the concert “Symphonic Dances” celebrating the enduring legacy of Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballet Russe with Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Jeux—his final masterpiece which premiered 100 years ago in Paris. Also music by Borodin, Ravel and a world concert premiere by UNCSA music alumnus Leo Hurley, his impressionistic score to the 2012 UNCSA dance film Molly Under the Moon, conducted by Michael Dwinell. John spoke with David about the groundbreaking music, visionary composers and choreographers of the early 1900s, and their continuing impact on today's artists.