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Letters from Iraq

VIDEO: Making music in Iraq - Performance

By Marc Thayer, special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 October 2008 )
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra staffer Marc C. Thayer is a man with a mission -- to help young Iraqi musicians progress in their musical education and their careers. He went to northern Iraq this summer to work with American Voices and its Unity Academy in Erbil, Kurdistan. See excerpts from a concert the musicians performed.

VIDEO: Making music in Iraq - Friendship

By Marc Thayer, special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 October 2008 )
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra staffer Marc C. Thayer is a man with a mission -- to help young Iraqi musicians progress in their musical education and their careers. He went to northern Iraq this summer to work with American Voices and its Unity Academy in Erbil, Kurdistan. See what the musicians did when they had time away from practicing and performing.

VIDEO: Making music in Iraq - Preparation

By Marc Thayer, special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 October 2008 )
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra staffer Marc C. Thayer is a man with a mission -- to help young Iraqi musicians progress in their musical education and their careers. He went to northern Iraq this summer to work with American Voices and its Unity Academy in Erbil, Kurdistan. See how they prepared for concerts and listen to music with a local sound.

Letters from Iraq: Home's terrific, and a great place to plan for next year

By Marc Thayer, Special to the Beacon

Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra outreach chief Marc C. Thayer is back at home following a three-week cultural adventure in the cities of Erbil and Suleimanya in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. In this last dispatch, Thayer takes a look back at the experiences in classrooms, in homes and in the countryside, while thinking ahead to a year from now when the experiences will be replayed in this fascinating, volatile land.

Letters from Iraq: A fugue of ritual, feasting and farewells

By Marc Thayer, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra community outreach officer Marc Thayer has spent the last few weeks in northern Iraq, where he coached music students in an institute sponsored by American Voices. This organization sets up temporary teaching institutes in areas of conflict. In this letter, he writes from the ancient city of Erbil.

Letters from Iraq: Finale at Suleimanya; the beginning at Erbil

By Marc Thayer, Special to the Beacon

Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )

Tuesday night, the musical academy at Suleimanya gave a gala concert, jam-packed with music and people. The temporary academy was sponsored by American Voices, which brings the arts to troubled areas. Wednesday, academy personnel moved south to the ancient city of Erbil. Here is Marc Thayer’s fifth letter written for the Beacon from northern Iraq.

Letters from Iraq: Lessons in quartertones and the setting sun

By Marc Thayer, special to the Beacon

Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )

In his fourth letter to Beacon readers from Kurdistan in northern Iraq, St. Louis Symphony outreach director Marc Thayer reports on progress toward a concert by the students. He also takes us up into the mountains to watch a sunset and up the down staircases in a government bureaucracy, demonstrating that the more things are culturally different, the more they are, across the world, pretty much the same.

Letters from Iraq: Baklava and Bartok

By Marc Thayer, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )
In this his third letter from Iraq, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra executive Marc Thayer tells of the revival of neighborhoods (some very pricey), of new restaurants and night spots and of a lavish luncheon in the home of one of the young Iraqi musicians with whom he is working in Suleimanya, a city in the Kurdish Autonomous Region near the border of Iran and Iraq.

Letters from Iraq: Views from the mountainside and from the music stand

By Marc Thayer, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra executive Marc Thayer viewed his host city in Kurdistan from a lofty distance, but most of his time is spent in classes and conversations with the enthusiastic young Iraqi musicians who've come to him and his colleagues for lessons and coaching. This is the second in a series of dispatches from Kurdish Autonomous Region of northern Iraq.

Letters from Iraq: Celebrating independence and music

By Marc Thayer, special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 July 2008 )
Marc Thayer, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra vice president for education and community partnerships, left St. Louis on July 1, and after stops in Chicago and Vienna, arrived in Erbil, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of northern Iraq. Thayer and other American musicians and dancers will spend the next three or four weeks working with young Iraqi musicians. Following is Thayer's first in a series of reports on his work. This account presents details of his journey from St. Louis to Kurdistan and conversations on theme called freedom conducted along the way.

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Editors' Picks

Books
- The demise of the book is greatly exaggerated. The phone book, dictionaries and encyclopedia are over. But life will go on for beautiful printing that provides words that transform. | James Gleick, New York Times
- "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the selection for the upcoming St. Louis Big Read, which is organized by Washington University. Dozens of events, including a staging of the play at the Edison Theater, will take place throughout January and February 2009.
- Author Michael Crichton dies at age 66: The creator of "Jurassic Park" and "Andromeda Strain" had been battling cancer, his family said. | New York Times
- Roger Ebert: To Studs: With Love and Memories. | The Huffington Post
Theater/Dance
- Ballet Eclectica’s “The Little Dancer Goes Around the World!” will be presented by the COCA Family Theatre Series for four shows at 7 p.m. Dec. 12, 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Dec. 13, and 1:30 Dec. 14 AT COCA, 524 Trinity Avenue. Tickets are $14 and $18 and are available through MetroTix and COCA Box Office (314-725-1834 x124).
- Come to the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Avenue, from noon to 1 p.m. Dec. 10 as students from nine St. Louis Public Schools perform international dances. The program is sponsored by Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis.
- The New Jewish Theater presents "The Last Seder" Dec. 3-21. Four daughters, each with a respective partner, have gathered to say goodbye to a loved who is already gone - patriarch Marvin who suffers from Alzheimer’s.
- "9 Parts of Desire" opens Nov. 7 at the St. Louis Actors' Studio. The play runs through Nov. 23 (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m.) at The Gaslight Theater 358 N. Boyle Ave. For tickets, Ticketmaster.com or 314-421-4400.
Music
- Come to the Touhill Center at UMSL from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 3 for the third “Warren Bellis Clarinet and Saxophone Festival,” a series of clinics and performances. For info: 314-516-2263.
- Jason Braun's project - Jason and the Beast - mixes hip hop with retelling classics from Homer to Shakespeare. Check out the work in an all-ages show at 8 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Focal Point in Mapelwood. $5 at the door.
- The UMSL Community Chorus, University Singers, University Orchestra and Vocal Point will put on a holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. For information about the free concert call 314-516-5980 or go to www.umsl.edu/~umslmusic/ The concert will include "Christmas Oratorio," "Carol of the Bells," traditional carols, Trumpet Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn and "O Magnum Mysterium."
- UMSL will present "Soul of the Season with Brian Owens and faculty and students from the Department of Music at UMSL at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $5. For information, call 314-516-4949. Proceeds will benefit the Office of Multicultural Relations at UMSL.

Neighborhoods
- "Gorillas in Her Midst" is the topic of a lecture by Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, African conservationist, at the St. Louis Zoo on Dec. 9. Doors will open at the Living World building at 6:30 p.m., with the lecture starting at 7 p.m. Reservations are encouraged 314-646-4771.
- Alice S. Handelman, president of The Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis,has been honored as a 25 year member of National Federation of Press Women.The recognition was presented in Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the annual nationalcommunications conference of NFPW. Handelman was community relations director at Jewish Center for Aged for 18 years.
- Come to the Missouri Botanical Garden from 9 am. to 5 p,m. the Best of Missouri Market where you can find more than 120 artisans from throughout the state.
- Come to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House from 5:30-7 P.m. on Oct. 3 and 10 for OctoberOwl Outings. Reservations, which are required, can be made online or at 636-733-2339. The "owls" are owl butterflies, which get their name from the underside of their wings, which resemble a bright yellow owl eye surrounded by rich, chocolate-colored feathers. These creatures are also most active in the evening.
Visual Arts
- Come to COCA, 524 Trinity Ave., from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 5 for the opening reception for Jill Evans Petzall: In-Different Light. The free exhibit continues through Jan. 18, 2009. For information, 314-725-6555.
- Mark Douglas, Bob Reuter and Antje Umstaetter have their photography on view at the Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission until Dec. 21. For info, visit www.art-stl.com
- Get Out the Vote - an installation of 22 posters - is on view now through 2008 in the Arthur and Helen Baer Visual Arts Galleries in the Centene Center for Arts and Education, 3547 Olive Street in Grand Center. The galleries are open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Too often elitism is linked with being snobbish and condescending when in fact for many people it is a commitment to quality in various, if not all parts, of our lives. The Atlantic reports on the affecting elitism of Phillippe de Montebello , soon to retire as director of one of the world's greatest museums, the Metropolitan in New York City.
Movies/TV
- Project Runway: Bravo won't accept Heidi's "auf wiedersehen." The Weinstein Co. sold the rights to the series to Lifetime, but NBC Universal sued, saying it had a right of first refusal (Bravo is owned by NBC.) A judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing Lifetime from promoting or broadcasting "Runway." | The New York Times
- "City of Lost Children" La Cité des enfants perdus plays at 8 p.m. Dec. 3 at Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood, as part of the Webster Film Series. $4.
- Eating St. Louis, hour-long program based on the book of the same title by Patricia Corrigan, will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 on KETC/Channel 9 . The show explores five aspects of food culture in the area, from farming to how St. Louisans like pizza prepared.
- Co-writer of movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" dies at age 94: Irving Brecher was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the 1944 Judy Garland film. | Los Angeles Times

Firecracker Press

To read the story about the upcoming Community Cinema showing of "Helvetica," which will include a demonstration by Eric Woods and Matty Kleinberg of the Firecracker Press, click here .

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