Atlanta's Cathedral of St. Philip Choir has had a moving — in more ways than one — end to summer.
The singers are lifting their voices in 15 choral services over two weeks in England: 44 performed Aug. 5-11 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London; and then 35 are doing the honors Aug. 12-18 at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. Somewhere in there, it managed two days off to exercise legs (as tourists) and rest vocal chords.
Atlantans can catch up with the group on the St. Philip website, where it has been posting blog reports (and some photos) from its "pilgrimage": http://bit.ly/17nf8td.
Early in the trip, Canon for Music Dale Adelmann noted that it was “unusual and sobering” to find at least 500 people listen in on the choir’s daily rehearsal in the St. Paul’s Quire, then to have many of them decide to stay for Evensong.
“These visitors, each of them pilgrims in their own ways, literally come from all over the world, and it is our privilege and thrill not merely to share our singing with them, but to realize that many, indeed, probably most of them, come from countries where there are no choirs that sing and worship as we do,” Adelmann wrote on the trip’s third day.
Later in the first week, decani alto Marion Hopkins posted, “Someone asked me this week if I was nervous about singing in this iconic landmark. I feel too well prepared for that, but the experience has been an emotional one. The music has given me goosebumps; some prayers have made me cry; the art and architecture have filled me with wonder, the memorials, with gratitude and admiration; and the fellowship with my fellow choir members and supporters is heart-warming. All of it good for the soul.”
FILM
Comedy classics series coming soon
School’s just starting so no need for things to get intense, like, immediately, right?
In that vein, Emory Cinematheque’s screening series starts on a light note, with a series of 13 free evening screenings of “American Comedy Classics” (three of them double features) beginning Aug. 28.
“Like the Western, the gangster film and the musical, film comedy constitutes one of America’s most distinctive contributions to worldwide cinema,” said Matthew Bernstein, Cinematheque curator this season and an Emory Film and Media Studies professor and chairman.
Twelve of the 16 films Bernstein selected are included on the American Film Institute’s list of America’s 100 Funniest Movies, with the series’ opener, “Some Like it Hot,” topping the list.
The screenings of 35mm prints take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays (plus one on Sunday, same time) in White Hall 205. Each will be introduced by Bernstein and include a brief, post-screening discussion.
The schedule:
Aug 28: "Some Like It Hot" (1959)
Sept. 11: "Duck Soup" (1933) and "I'm No Angel (1933)
Sept. 18: "The Gold Rush" (1925) and "The Immigrant" (1918)
Sept. 29: "The General" (1927) and "Coney Island" (1917)
Oct 2: "Trouble in Paradise" (1932)
Oct 9: "It Happened One Night" (1934)
Oct 16: "The Awful Truth" (1937)
Oct 23: "His Girl Friday" (1940)
Oct. 30: "The Lady Eve" (1941)
Nov. 6: "The Producers" (1968)
Nov. 13: "Annie Hall" (1977)
Nov. 20: "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978)
Dec. 4: "There's Something About Mary" (1998)
White Hall is at 301 Dowman Drive, Atlanta. More details: www.tinyurl.com/kwzckmc
VISUAL ART
Exhibit evokes Gothic South
Get This Gallery will debut in its Midtown space Aug. 24 with Brooklyn artist Drew Conrad’s exhibit “Backwater Blues” (public reception 7-10 p.m.).
Conrad creates sculptural ruins of familiar domestic interiors and exteriors, once-vital spaces corroded by time. The artist, who did undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia before pursuing his master’s at the Parsons School of Design, distresses by hand new and found materials such as laths, shingles, damask wallpaper, lights and household oddities.
The gallery's new home, across from Piedmont Park, is the former location of Solomon Projects at 1037 Monroe Drive N.E. Hours: noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. Through Oct. 5. Free. 678-596-4451, www.getthisgallery.com.
Posters from Hollywood to Jonesboro
“Reflections of Hollywood’s Golden Era: Movies Connecting the Past & Future,” hand-painted posters from 1927 into the 1940s at the old Loew’s Grand Theater in downtown Atlanta, are on view at the Arts Clayton Gallery in Jonesboro.
The posters are from the collection of Herb Bridges, who will give a gallery talk at 1 p.m. Sept. 7. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays. Through Sept. 28. Free. 136 S. Main St., Jonesboro. 770-473-5457, www.artsclayton.org/gallery.
ARTS
Have funds, seeking innovation
Idea Capital, an Atlanta grassroots arts funding group that seeks to “encourage experimental and investigative art projects” in the metro area, is seeking applicants for its 2013 grants program.
It offers support ranging from $500 to $2,000. It also awards one travel grant, investing up to $2,000 for an artist’s travel within the U.S. or internationally to further develop his or her artistic practice.
Over five years, Idea Capital has made 33 grants totaling more than $31,000 to artists working in diverse disciplines.
The application deadline is Sept. 16, with grants to be announced in December. For information or to apply: www.ideacapitalatlanta.org.
New Woodruff Arts Center hire
Lisa Robinson is the Woodruff Arts Center’s new director of development and communications, responsible for leading its annual campaign and other fund-raising that supports the center’s arts and arts education initiatives. The prior experience of the long-time Atlantan includes working as vice president of advancement for Visiting Nurse Health System and in a similar role for Marist School.
