August 2, 2011

The film features the real horse whisperer, Monty Roberts and his work with Gulf War vets struggling with PTSD. Directed by Lisa Wolfinger and produced by Lone Wolf Documentary Group for Military Channel.

Lisa and her crew captured the personal journeys of four very different veterans, beginning with profiling their difficulty adjusting to home life after their service in the war.   These stories are contrasted with that of Monty Roberts, whose complete departure from violence of any kind at a young age led him to bring horses into the lives of those in need.  The arrival of the vets at Monty's farm begins the main drama of the program as they learn to treat horses with patience, calm, and gentleness.

The score I created for this needed to capture both the dusty, outdoor spaces of Monty Roberts "Flags Up Farm" as well as the inner healing journey of the four veterans as they learned Roberts' nonviolent methods for training wild, and often abused, horses.  We worked with acoustic guitars, solo violin, and other small forces to support Lisa's desire to create an close-up and personal viewing experience.  "This shouldn't feel like a big screen story," Lisa said in an edit session with Jed Rauscher.  "It needs to feel very intimate."

More from the Lone Wolf Documentary Group Site

June 8, 2011

We got some nice words directed at us by Boston Globe correspondent David Perkins for last week's Family Concert at the Hyde Park Library.  I'm really glad that he focused his kudos on Chameleon Arts Ensemble's artistic director Deborah Boldin, who year after year, holds steadfastly to her belief that children's concerts can be as sophisticated as her regular season performances. 

Indeed, Debbie puts countless hours of research, thought and passionate hand-wringing into planning Chameleon's concert season.  She takes her art of putting together concerts very, very seriously, examining all aspects of each piece and how it would fit in the overall flow.   The individual concert and even the season as a whole become a work of meta-art: While composers create individual pieces, she composes not only a concert's worth of well connected pieces, but she masterminds an entire through-composed season.

While I was in and out of Boston over the past couple of weeks, she was finishing putting together the 2011-2012 season.  She has an elaborate system for matching potential repertoire selections with interesting theme ideas, which she then cross references against desired and practical instrumentation combinations.  "This sounds like the kind of task a computer database could handle easily," I told her. 

"I have to touch it and see it spread out," she told me. 

That's passion: Talk about a labor of love!

Her zeal for the music itself and her commitment to putting together compelling programs seems to keep her going despite the many financial and practical obstacles she faces in a time when concert attendance is down and orchestras continue to fold.  Nonetheless, the Chameleons continue to pack the Goethe-Institute in Back Bay concert after concert.

June 7, 2011

Chameleon Arts Ensemble's recent concert at the Hyde Park Library got these kind words from Globe Correspondent David Perkins…

"We don’t need neurologist Oliver Sacks to convince us that classical music is one of the deepest human experiences. All you have to do is look at children. When they are exposed to it — serious, complex, soul-stirring music, I mean — their bodies shake, and they become alert and focused, taking it in. Ask them to volunteer to try instruments they have never played before, hands shoot up."

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