INFEMNITY™ Arts and Culture News

  Polish Ambassador Marek Magierowski The other night I was watching Amanpour and Company , and happened to see the Polish ambassador to the United States being interviewed. Behind him were the Polish and European Union flags prominently placed, and the keyboard of a Steinway grand piano. It reminded me that one of Poland's greatest heroes was pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin. Frédéric  Chopin in 1849 During the interview, Christiane Amanpour repeatedly asked the ambassador what he thought about the United States' refusal to assist the Ukrainians by replacing Polish war planes sent to Ukraine with American planes, and flying them from NATO air space. The ambassador was as diplomatic as he could be, without directly accusing the United States of contributing to the death toll in Ukraine. Looking at history, Poland had rebelled against Russia in the November Uprising of 1830-31. Chopin was out of the country when the rebellion began, and wrote in his lett...

I finally got the chance to sit down and watch the Oscar-winning film Green Book , on the life of African American concert pianist Don Shirley . As I had written in an earlier blog ( "Ebony and Ivory: A Dissonant Truth" ), I had visited with Dr. Shirley in his apartment above Carnegie Hall when my parents were in New York with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The film gave a very accurate depiction of his home and the extravagant, ostentatious décor. The Real Don Shirley in his home Don Shirley was praised early in his life as a genius, a wunderkind whose forte was the traditional classical repertoire. Composer Igor Stravinsky said of him: "His virtuosity is worthy of Gods." But his record label forced him to play jazz, and sent him on tour with a jazz trio. In an interview, Shirley said that his record label wanted him to appear in overalls with a red bandana around his neck on the album cover. He refused. In my own book I have written about facing racism as an African Am...

International opera star Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial. While chatting with soprano Lowri Marie on set at the MNN studios, she told the story of being recommended by her white high school voice teacher to audition for the Arkansas All-State Choir. Granted the choir was all-white at the time, but Lowri’s teacher felt that her voice was exceptional enough to overcome the race barrier. So she followed her teacher’s advice and went to the audition. Following the auditions, concerts were presented by both the All-State Choir and the Alternate Choir, which was made up of singers who did not make the All-State Choir at the auditions. Lowri sang in the Alternate Choir concert. When she returned, her teacher enthusiastically congratulated her for making it into the All-State Choir, and asked how the concert went. Lowri then told her that she sang in the Alternate Choir. The teacher was confused. “No!” she exclaimed. “I was informed you made it into the All-State Choir!”...