Music
Must Have 2007: The Transformers
A Week of Sharing Musical Passions by Artists and Activists Transforming the New York City Landscape
Airs Monday, December 10 - Friday, December 14 at 7PM and Sunday, December 16 at 8PM on 93.9 FM
Author and commentator Katherine Lanpher hosts the 2007 "Must Have Festival," WNYC's year-end, weeklong series designed to help you build the music library of your dreams. This year, we feature conversations with six New Yorkers who are transforming the city and our culture, asking them for the music that has transformed them in turn.
Majora Carter (Sustainable South Bronx), Alex Ross (music critic for The New Yorker), dancer and choreographer John Jasperse, Gerard Mortier (New York City Opera), performance artist Stew, and Lisa Phillips (New Museum of Contemporary Art) all dig through their CD collections and plug in their iPods to share the music that they just can't live without.
Majora Carter
Evening Music
December 10, 2007
Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx
This environmental activist, who helped open the first waterfront park in South Bronx in sixty years, has been honored with a MacArthur "genius" Grant for her "Green the ghetto" campaign to alleviate poverty and advocate for environmental justice. Carter can currently be seen co-hosting Robert Redford's "The Green" program on the Sundance Channel.
Alex Ross
Evening Music
December 11, 2007
Music critic of The New Yorker since 1996, this writer's work has also appeared in The New Republic, The London Review of Books, Lingua Franca, and The Guardian. From 1992 to 1996 he was a critic at The New York Times. His first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, a cultural history of music since 1900, was published in October 2007 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
John Jasperse
Evening Music
December 12, 2007
Artistic Director/Choreographer, John Jasperse Company
This visionary choreographer is about to inaugurate CPR (Center for Performance Research) at Greenbelt, a L.E.E.D. certified performance center in East Williamsburg. A terrifically imaginative and transformative choreographer and dancer, Jasperse is not only changing contemporary dance but also about to have a huge impact on East Williamsburg's burgeoning arts community.
Gerard Mortier
Evening Music
December 13, 2007
Incoming General Manager and Artistic Director, New York City Opera
The famed opera producer/impresario is currently finishing his tenure as director of the Paris National Opera. Mortier's first season at the City Opera, 2009-2010, will eschew Mozart and Puccini for 20th century works, including Philip Glass's "Einstein on the Beach."
Stew
Evening Music
December 14, 2007
Performance Artist, Creator of "Passing Strange"
The "mesmerizing stage presence of [this] chubby, bald, moon-faced, middle-aged performer named Stew" — as described by the New York Times — will soon be on display on Broadway when his autobiographical musical, "Passing Strange," opens at the Belasco Theater on February 28th. Also known as an underground "Afro-baroque" musician, his 2000 release "Guest Host" was named Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly.
Lisa Phillips
Evening Music
December 16, 2007
Director, New Museum of Contemporary Art
The Bowery is officially a part of the 21st century, now that the NMCA has moved into its eye-catching, SANAA-designed new home there. Phillips, who spearheaded the New Museum's move, spent 23 years as a curator at the Whitney Museum before joining the New Museum as Director in 1999. She has overseen solo exhibitions by artists such as William Kentridge, Paul McCarthy, Carroll Dunham, and Andrea Zittel.
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