In this issue:

•  Celebration Barn Workshop & Shows: Aug. 24-29
•  Photos & Reviews: Utah Symphony Show
•  "Invention & Alchemy" Nomination
•  "Up at the Barn"
•  In Memorium: David Omar White

Dear Friends,

This  month I'll be "Up at the Barn." There's still time to participate in the workshops and come to the shows -- and you can listen to "Up at the Barn" song while you read.

• Aug. 24-29: 5-Day Intensive Workshop
• Fri. Aug. 28: "Meet the Artists" - 8pm
• Sat. Aug. 29 : Solo Performance - 8pm

Click here for info on the workshop.

Click here for info on the shows.

Click here to listen to the song.

Read on to hear what this third annual teaching/performing pilgrimage means to me.

Up at the Barn ....
Teaching & Performing in S. Paris, Maine

If I close my eyes right now, I can see Tony.

If you were in my mind, you might think I was looking at a short Italian guy in an orange jumpsuit. But I'm seeing a stadium of improbable beings, huge and tiny. When I imagine Tony Montanaro I see everything his mind invented, and his body described. He was the most physically creative person I've ever known, and he could transform in a split second from a giant to dancing flea.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah ... so the guy's a mime," you say. "The silent type with the white-face." But Tony spoke a lot and he didn't paint his face. Sure - he could mime - he and Marcel Marceau studied with the same teacher. But he went beyond mime to a form he called "Physical Eloquence" - the art of physical story-telling, with voice, body - and everything.

Tony moved to Maine in the early 70's and took an old barn in South Paris Maine and turned it into a theater he called the "Celebration Barn."  He taught and performed there. He became known as the "Guru of Street Performers." Sooner or later every non-traditional performer on the Eastern Seaboard made their way up to Tony's barn to study with him. You know the host of "America's Funniest Video's" - Tom Bergeron? He studied with Tony. You know the "Mentos Guys" from the TV commercial? They came to the Barn, too. And, along with actors, jesters, jugglers, puppeteers, storytellers and dancers, I also found my way to the Barn. 

Not like it was easy! It took me 3 years to get up the courage to actually call and ask if he'd take me for a student. I was afraid he wouldn't accept me, afraid I wouldn't fit in, because his workshops were for — well, for other people. People who could do things I couldn't do. People more able than me, solo performers (which I wasn't yet), people with exotic skills and street-smart courage. He was "the guy" and I was some weird little harp player for godsake!  When I finally got the courage to call, he welcomed me immediately and that began a relationship that changed my life.

As I watched Tony use his body like an instrument -- I learned how to make my own awkward instrument into a part of my body. And when I whined about the prejudices and stereotypes people have about the harp, Tony just looked at me and said, "The harp is the instrument of the storyteller. Tell your stories."   And to this day, the shows I do after a week at the Barn, are like creative cosmic gushers — whether I'm the teacher or the student -- this work liberates me in ways that change my performances for the next 12 months — but at that splendid, raw moment after a week at the Barn, I am the freest I will be all year. I do things in that show, completely spontaneously, that I'll struggle to reconnect with for the next year.

So why am I telling you this?  Well, it's certainly on my mind -- I'm about to head to the Barn again, my yearly pilgrimage to perform and teach a new generation of students alongside Tony's partner, Karen Montanaro (you can get more info at my tour page, or  in an article I wrote or on my workshop page)   But I know that many of you who get this newsletter live thousands of miles from the Celebration Barn.  You couldn't make it to the workshop or the concerts, even if you started driving right now. 

So why do I want you do know about it?  Well, my theory is that knowing about things is a step towards experiencing them.  I want you to know about Tony.  Even if you never get to the Barn, I want you to know that one little Italian guy with a vision and a passion could create a PLACE. A place where his vision continues, even after his death. I want you to know you don't have to be Steven Spielberg creating "Skywalker Ranch" or Robert Redford, creating "Sundance" to create a place that can change people's lives, even after you're gone.

And I want you to know that you don't have to have the resume of a genius to be invited into that place, to belong there.  You can just call and ask to come.

And if you can get to the Barn next week, to join the workshop or come to the concerts, I hope you'll stand for a moment in the middle of the floor, and see if it changes your life, too.

• Fri. Aug. 28: "Meet the Artist"
with Deborah Henson-Conant & Karen Montanaro
Tix: $8 - 207-743-8452 or visit DHC Tour Page
The Barn's new "Meet the Artist" series offers audiences a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and see inside the work of visiting professional performing artists. These performers and teaching artists will share insights on how they create new work, where their inspiration meets their craft, and what drives them in their exploration of live theater. These fun and insightful presentations will include performances by the artists and demonstrations by current Celebration Barn students.

• Sat. Aug. 29:  Solo Show - Deborah Henson-Conant
Tix: $20 / $16 (Snr/Std) - 207-743-8452 or visit DHC Tour Page
All workshops & concerts at: Celebration Barn - 190 Stock Farm Rd - S. Paris, Maine

PHOTO GALLERY & CONCERT REVIEW 
DHC & The Utah Symphony

Earlier this month I was on tour, playing with symphonies in Missouri and Utah, including a unique double bill: "1812 Overture meets Hip Harp" with the Utah Symphony and, "Strings of Passion" interactive lecture at the Utah Opera Production Studios.  Here's a quote from the review and photos below.

"Henson-Conant's foot-stomping, witty and mesmerizing music, and her rich voice, put a quick stop to the impatient squirming and had the audience clamoring for more ... The artist also explained how she fell in love with her harp but the classical composers not so much.  And then she proceeded to smash every stereotype one can imagine of that prim, angelic instrument... By the end of her turn on stage, Henson-Conant had Deer Valley's moonstruck audience under her spell.." Nan Chalat Noaker, Editor - Park City Record (Utah)  

Above: With David Lockington & orchestra in rehearsal	Above, On stage with Maestro Lockington & the Utah Symphony, singing at 8,000 feet elevation.
Above: To go over the music as soon as possible, David and I snag the first rehearsal studio we can find - a hotel room!	Above, Maestro Lockington, as he looks to the orchestra
Above: at the Utah Opera Production Studios presenting the interactive "Strings of Passion" educational "lecture from the harp."	Above: Even the trash is musical at the Deer Valley Music Festival -- note this rubber band my husband Jonathan discovered on the ground curled up like a treble clef!
All Photos above by my own, beloved Jonathan Wyner.

IN MEMORIUM - Artist David Omar White

This last month, artist David Omar White died.  I first saw Omar's cartoons when I was in college at U.C. Berkley.  He drew a poster for a friend's concert. I loved the drawing so much I kept it with me for years, brought it with me to Boston and promised myself that someday I'd do a project together with him. About 10 years ago, when I wrote "The Frog Princess" (a narrated children's story with orchestra), I decided it was time to find him.

I searched the net, found his name, followed it up and discovered ...he lived less than a mile from me, in Somerville, Massachusetts!  We'd both moved East about the same time and been living in the same town for years! So I biked over to his house and showed him the story. Omar drew a series of illustrations for me, my intention being to eventually create an illustrated companion book for the CD.  You can see some of his wonderful illustrations  in this online preview of "The Frog Princess" (p.s. If you've heard that Disney is working on an animated movie about a Frog Princess, alas it's a different story)