TO THE EDITOR:
I understand that art is difficult. I understand that art can be hard.
But calling for a Carolina Performing Arts season of “well-known works that people actually want to see,” as the editorial board did on Friday, is near-sighted at best and mostly misses the point of the Carolina Performing Arts program and artistic work in general.
The CPA, under the innovative and adventurous leadership of Emil Kang, has developed a world-class reputation in a relatively limited amount of time.
Yes, it is nice to present “big names” like Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma as a way to increase ticket sales and expand audiences.
But the only reason why UNC is home to a yearlong celebration of the centenary of Igor Stravinksy’s landmark work “The Rite of Spring” is because Kang and his team have created an artistic environment that challenges tradition and invites debate on the very nature of performance.
By pushing the proverbial envelope each season with risky and sometimes unpopular works, CPA has become a major player on the American artistic scene.
It is perhaps worth noting that the current “Rite” festival might not even exist if Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysees had taken the editorial board’s advice and stuck to “well-known” works instead of performances that “people have never heard of.”
By taking a chance on something new and unknown, Stravinksy, Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes forever changed dance, music and the world.
