Tuesday, April 29, 2014

REIKO YAMADA - KSO Pianist to Solo with Tokyo Symphony...

May 31, 2014
Reprises "Ritmica Ostinata for Piano and Orchestra" by Akira Ifukube
Gave North American première with the Kalamazoo Symphony in 2008

                 Reiko Yamada in performance with the Kalamazoo Symphony, March 28, 2008
                                                                           -photo by John Lacko, used with permission
                 _______________________________________________________________________

Alice's Archives is pleased to announce that 
REIKO YAMADA
Kalamazoo Symphony's Principal Keyboard 
will be a soloist with the
Tokyo Symphony
Conducted by Eiji Oue
on
Saturday, May 31, 2014
at 3 p.m.
Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall
in
"Ritmica Ostinata for Piano and Orchestra", 
by Akira Ifukube
(1914-2006) 
as part of the 
Tokyo Symphony Japan Contemporary Works Series
(No. 16)
100th Anniversary Concert of Akira Ifukube's Birth
-Performed on his 100th birthday, May 31, 2014-

____________________________________________

Please go to the newly published article here on
Alice's Archives
entitled
REIKO YAMADA:  Samurai Pianist
(click on Title Tab above)

Also:
Visit Alice's Archives 2 
for another article on Reiko

______________________________

Reiko Yamada, 2008 -photo by John Lacko
_______________________________________

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Remembering Sallie Kittredge (1929-2014)

                               
                                  PHOTO:  Party Girls ~ Sallie and Alice at a reception, 2004

Sallie Kittredge will live on in all who knew her.  Her presence will be with us backstage,
onstage, in the audience, along a bike path, on the beach, or over the garden fence.

She will be with us whenever cocktails are served, dinner has been ordered, the orchestra
is tuned, the curtain goes up-- in laughter, tears, applause and ovations, she will be there.

Sallie was as sunny and youthful as her name suggests.  Hers was the brightest smile, the
heartiest laugh, the funniest story, the hottest gossip, the greatest jewelry.  In later years,
the cane she sported seemed like just a prop that was added to her character.  It made her
diminutive presence among us all the more magnetic.  When you were out with Sallie, you
realized just how many people she knew, be it in a crowded lobby, a packed reception, or
at a busy restaurant.

Her mentoring of young people was legendary.  How she loved the WMU Theatre 
Department and its steady stable of young talent.  Sallie knew that many of these student
actors and actresses were far from home.  She was there for them as their biggest fan, (and
an occasional shoulder to cry on).
                                                                   

Sallie Kittredge was a Kalamazoo Symphony supporter of long standing, and a great friend
of Alice's.   In recent years, Sallie opened up her home to young musicians from Chicago,
who needed a place to stay when in town for KSO rehearsals and concerts.  Her grand piano
awaited them in her garden level guest suite.

"Rest in Peace" seems somehow incomplete.  For Sallie, let us imagine she is shaking things
up inside those pearly gates!  Party hearty old friend... and give my regards to Shakespeare!

                                                                                                       
                                                                                                               -Alice's Archivist

______________________________________________________________________________

Monday, January 27, 2014



                                   -From the newsletter "in the KEY OF G", Fall 2012
                                     Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival
                                                        www.thegilmore.org

                                                                      ~

Until Irving Gilmore's death in 1986, Alice had had a long association with Irving through their involvement with the Kalamazoo Symphony.  Alice, Principal Keyboard, also served on the symphony board with Irving, who was one of the KSO's most generous benefactors and friends.

Read more about the life and times of Irving Gilmore in this blog.  Please click on the header bar
above to find GILMORE AND THE GRUEN PLAN.  Then stay on that page and scroll down
to read about Irving and his great friend Al Connable II in an article called BOULEVARDIERS & BENEFACTORS.


                                                                                                     

Sunday, August 12, 2012

ALICE & YOSHI

    Alice with KSO Maestro Yoshimi Takeda - March 1, 1991

                  To read more about Yoshimi, click on the Title Tab at the top of this page:
                                     REMEMBERING YOSHIMI TAKEDA (1933-2000)

           ______________________________________________________________________


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

WELCOME TO ALICE'S ARCHIVES!


                 ALICE'S ARCHIVES:
                        50 Years of
        Kalamazoo Symphony Memorabilia

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Alice Mullen (1918-2006), Principal Keyboard of the
Kalamazoo Symphony for nearly 40 years.

After she died, a large box was discovered filled with memorabilia from her years as a pianist and
soloist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.




Alice's career with the KSO began in the mid-1950s.  She began collecting articles, reviews and photos
at that time, and continued collecting long after her retirement in 1991, hence this archive!

The collection chronicles the development of the Kalamazoo Symphony under four conductors:
Herman Felber Jr., Gregory Millar, Pierre Hétu, and Yoshimi Takeda.

The above photograph shows Alice with guest conductor Luis Herrera de la Fuente when she
performed Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Symphonic Impressions for Piano and Orchestra, with the Kalamazoo Symphony, January 14, 1964.


                                                    *                *              *                *

All items are from Alice's Archives.  KALAMAZOO GAZETTE articles and photographs are used
with their permission.  Thank you.

Alice's Archivist would like to thank the KALAMAZOO PUBLIC LIBRARY for linking this blog to
their Local History website article:  KSO:  A Pre-History of the Kalamazoo Symphony (1891-1922).  

                           www.kpl.gov/local-history/music/symphony-prehistory.aspx

This excellent article describes the vibrant musical life in Kalamazoo before and after the turn of the
century, before Leta Snow arrived on the scene and re-kindled the idea of a symphony orchestra.

For a comprehensive history of the Kalamazoo Symphony, click on the link below to the KSO website.
Once there, click on the Behind The Music tab, located at the top of the page.  When you get to that page, scroll down and click on the tab, History, on the left-hand side.

                                                www.kalamazoosymphony.com

Author Zaide Pixley has granted permission to quote from her 1997 book,  GREAT ENSEMBLE:
The Story of the Kalamazoo Symphony. Thank you Zaide!

Mr. Rick Briscoe of ENCORE Magazine has granted permission to quote from various back issues.
Thank you Rick!
__________________________________________________________________________________

PREVIEWS!... Upcoming on Alice's Archives

The postcard shows the stage of the Kalamazoo
Symphony's Starlight Pops concerts, on the
upper deck of Gilmore's Auto Park, at the
corner of South Street and Farmers Alley in
downtown Kalamazoo, (Julys from 1963-1972).

Louis Armstrong and Beverly Sills were among
the greats who performed with the KSO.


UPCOMING ARTICLES...

     -KSO STARLIGHT POPS CONCERTS:  Bright Idea!  ~ 2 ARTICLES NOW PUBLISHED!


                                          Kalamazoo Symphony's 75th Anniversary!  1996-97


                                                                               
-SEE ALSO TITLE TAB:  PREVIEWS... Take a Look!
__________________________________________________________________________________

ALICE'S ARCHIVES presents a new feature at the TOP of this HOME PAGE!

A short article or series of photos will appear as soon as you enter the Alice's Archives blog site.

The subject matter of these postings will be expanded later on another page.

 Watch the TITLE TABS to find the new page.
Check back often for new entries!


Welcome NEWCOMERS & OLD FRIENDS!
=================================

Keep SCROLLING DOWN this page for existing articles:
"FROM K.U. TO KALAMAZOO"
"ABOUT THIS BLOG"
"ABOUT ALICE... AND C.H."
                                                                                                                               -Alice's Archivist


                                                                                  

Friday, February 25, 2011

FROM K.U. TO KALAMAZOO

   Graduation Day, June 12, 1939, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas    

           SHE:  A prim and proper engineering professor's daughter and promising piano student.
           HE:    A self-made B.M.O.C. with a bright future in law.

        She was a sorority girl and "townie", living at home while attending the University of Kansas.
        He was a boy from a tiny Kansas town, who proctored at the men's residence he called home
        while a student at K.U.

                              Alice and C.H. at the Tennessee Club, University of Kansas, c. 1935.    

          He was blond and blue-eyed, she was a slim brunette.  Alice was prim and proper, until she
          discovered cigarettes... and C.H.

                                        Postcard Postmarked 1939    (click on image to enlarge)
                          
              They met in Freshman Rhetoric, and were engaged by the time they graduated in 1939.

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)
          
            The WWII years saw them in Washington, D.C., where C.H. served in the United States
            Army Signal Corps.  The newlyweds lived in an apartment in "Buckingham" in Arlington,
            Virginia.  Alice tended a "Victory Garden" nearby.

            He finished his law degree under the G.I. Bill at the University of Michigan.  Alice and C.H.
            wanted to stay in the Midwest to raise a family, and chose Kalamazoo.

                                                           (click on image to enlarge)
                                   Postcard Folio by Curt Teich & Co., Inc., Chicago, U.S.A.
                                                                 MCMLV (1955)              

                         They never looked back.  It became their town... and they left their mark.

    Alice resumed her piano playing once her daughters were in school.  Her piano studies at K.U.
    under Bach specialist Jan Chiapusso inspired her to pursue piano performance.  She started to
    get playing jobs with the Kalamazoo Symphony, and by 1955, became Principal Keyboard.
    She played all the piano, celeste, and harpsichord parts, and was concerto soloist six times
    before her retirement in 1991.

   Sunday in the Park with George (Gershwin), Rhapsody in Blue with the Kalamazoo Symphony, 1961.

    Alice and C. H. got to know the community by joining service clubs and becoming members of the
    First Presbyterian Church.  
  
    C.H. joined Joe Crum and Glenn Allen's law firm, and became involved in city affairs.  He acted in
    plays at the Civic Theater, joined the Kiwanis Club, and ran for City Commission.  He was Vice-
    Mayor of Kalamazoo in the early 1960s.  A career change took him into trust work for twenty years.
    He returned to the law in 1977 when he was appointed judge of Ninth Judicial Circuit, and then ran
    successfully in the next election.  C.H. served on the bench for ten years, before retiring in 1987.

                                C.H. and Alice's Christmas Card, 1947  (designed by Alice) 
                                                         (click on image to enlarge)

Judge Mullen now has a tribute blog:
Remembering Judge Mullen
From Kansas to Kalamazoo
A Tribute to C.H. Mullen
(1917-1999)

          

__________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to ALICE'S ARCHIVES:  50 YEARS OF KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY MEMORABILIA

This blog is dedicated to the memory of ALICE MULLEN, Principal Keyboard of the  
KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA for nearly forty years.

SCROLL DOWN to read ABOUT THIS BLOG
and more about
ALICE AND C.H. 
and
KALAMAZOO

CLICK on the TABS above to access ARTICLES, ANNOUNCEMENTS & PREVIEWS.
___________________________________________________________________________

VISIT ALICE'S ARCHIVES 2, companion blog to ALICE'S ARCHIVES


Eclectic postings right out of the "Miscellaneous" Files-- fun!
___________________________________________________
Click on all photographs, images and articles to enlarge.

-Alice's Archivist

__________________________________________________________________________

Monday, November 8, 2010

ABOUT THIS BLOG

        

          ALICE'S ARCHIVES is a blog dedicated to the memory of ALICE MULLEN (1918-2006).
          She was Principal Keyboard with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra for nearly forty years.

          When she died in 2006, Alice left behind 50 years of KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY
          MEMORABILIA, dating from the 1950s to the year 2000.

          The ALICE'S ARCHIVES BLOG is organized by DECADES/CONDUCTORS.  Click on
          the decade you want, and find PHOTOS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, PROGRAMS AND ADS.
          Check back often for new postings and updates.

          All KALAMAZOO GAZETTE reviews, articles and photos are used with their permission.
          Thank you.  Thanks also to the KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY for their interest in this project,
          and to author Zaide Pixley for permitting me to quote from her 1997 book, GREAT ENSEMBLE,
          The Story of the Kalamazoo Symphony.
          ____________________________________________________________________________


           Alice believed in the power of great symphonic music to uplift the human condition.
           She was a musician among musicians, and relished the camaraderie of her orchestra
           colleagues.  She encouraged the uninitiated to discover the masterpieces of orchestral
           literature.  She instilled in her children a love of all the arts.
                                                                                                              -Alice's Archivist