Though famed for its immaculately restored antebellum homes, the town of Madison is the county seat of Morgan County, where the agrarian lifestyle not only survives but prospers.
“Farm,” an exhibition giving eight artists’ takes on farm living in Morgan County, opens Friday at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center with a 6-8 p.m. public reception.
The regional artists — Keith Bennett, Angelina Bellebuono, Shannon, Candler, Chris Cook, Elisabeth Guibert, Mary Leslie Hartman, Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier and Thomas Prochnow — each were paired with a Morgan County farm, interpreting the connection to the land of the people that worked there in two and three-dimensional works.
The participating farms were Charleston Allen Farm, Crystal Organic Farm, Full Circle Farm, Johnston Family Farm, Lambert Farms, Oak Haven Farm, Oak Meadow Farm and Serenata Farm.
Through Jan. 4. 434 S. Main St., Madison. 1-877-233-0598, www.mmcc-arts.org.
MUSIC
Atlanta Music Festival CD released
The first CD from the Atlanta Music Festival, “Guide My Feet: Songs of Aspiration, Hope & Progress,” has just been released.
Intending to unite communities and bridge traditions, the Rev. Dwight Andrews of First Congregational Church and Steven Darsey of the Atlanta music-worship group Meridian Herald launched the annual music festival in 2001. It was something of a homage to the Atlanta Colored Music Festival Association’s debut concert in 1910 that drew 2,000 blacks and whites to Atlanta’s Auditorium and Armory for a concert performed by African-American artists. One of the missions of that event was to encourage social healing after the Atlanta race riot of 1906.
Recorded in 2011 at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, the festival’s premiere CD covers a musical range from a dramatic re-creation of the freedom anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to T.J. Anderson’s avant-garde “Call and Response.” “Lift Every Voice,” James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s 1899 composition often referred to as “The Negro National Anthem,” is the CD’s centerpiece. The festival recruited and prepared 577 choral students from 16 Atlanta public and private schools for the separate Symphony Hall recording.
The CD features soprano Indra Thomas, tenor Timothy Miller, the Morehouse College Glee Club, the Meridian Chorale and the First Congregational Church Choir, with narration by Andrew Young and commentary by Andrews.
“Guide My Feet” is available via iTunes, Amazon.com, Google Play and CDBaby.com.
This year's festival concert will be held at 7:30 p.m Oct. 10 at First Congregational Church, 105 Courtland St. N.E., Atlanta. www.atlantamusicfestival.org.
25-plus free chamber concerts at Emory
The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta has announced its 22nd season, constituting more than 25 free noontime, family and evening concerts for audiences of various ages.
Highlights of the 2014-15 season include “Bach Under the Stars” (Sept. 21) at the Emory Planetarium; “Emory’s Kings of Keyboards” (Oct. 11), featuring organist Timothy Albrecht, jazz pianist Gary Motley and classical pianist William Ransom together on stage; “Babar the Elephant” (Oct. 26), with pianist Elena Cholakova performing Poulenc’s music and Lois Reitzes narrating; world premieres by Richard Prior (Oct. 18) and Paul Salerni (Nov. 22); and several performances by the Vega String Quartet, the first and only Atlanta-based professional string quartet.
Full schedule: arts.emory.edu/outreach/community/ecmsa.html .
ARTS
More than 100 artists to ‘Elevate’
“Social City” is the theme for Elevate 2014, just announced by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and taking place at various downtown sites from Oct. 17 to 23.
More than 100 artists will seek to engage the public with living sculptures, interactive gadgetry, portable art and dance performances, artist panels and more.
Among the highlights:
- The Goat Farm Arts Center, working with more 20 artists and designers, will transform 10 Dumpsters into galleries, installations and sculptures.
- French artist Joanie Le Mercier's light-based projection art will create optical illusions as it "geometricizes" areas of Atlanta's urban landscape.
Details: www.elevateatlantaart.com.
THEATER
Alliance promotes education leader
Christopher Moses, the Alliance’s director of educational programs since 2011, has been promoted to associate artistic director.
Even with the new title, Moses will remain focused on education. The Alliance said in an announcement that the transition reflects the Alliance’s ongoing commitment to artistic integration in education.
Under Moses’ leadership, the Alliance Education Department has doubled the number of young people participating in its educational programs to approximately 11,000 students this year and launched undertakings including Theatre for the Very Young, an Artist to Artist master class series, ArtsVibe programming for teens and Alliance@Work professional development courses.
