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Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Gary Karr, virtuoso who elevated the double-bass, dies at 83
Mr. Karr's idea for it was different. He made the cumbersome bass soar, sing, and leap as if it were a violin, becoming one of few bassists in history to successfully pursue a career outside an orchestra. He played transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach's cello suites in such a way that they sounded as if Bach had the double bass in mind all along. He performed Niccolò Paganini with virtuosic agility and a lyrical tone worthy of the 19th-century violin virtuoso himself. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up His tone was clear and well-defined, full of vibrato in late romantic works, and eschewed the muddy murkiness typically associated with the bass. Advertisement Mr. Karr was 'the virtuoso who has almost single-handedly given the double bass widespread credibility as a solo instrument,' music critic and broadcaster Robert Sherman wrote in The New York Times in 1981; Mr. Karr's bass 'sings with all the richness of the cello, the warmth of the viola and the agility of the viola,' Time magazine wrote in a 1968 profile. Major composers including Gunther Schuller and Hans Werner Henze wrote double-bass concertos for him; he performed as a soloist with some of the world's leading orchestras -- the Chicago Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, among others; he made some 93 recordings; and he influenced generations of bass players at the New England Conservatory of Music, Juilliard, and other institutions. Advertisement All of it was most unusual, a fact that Mr. Karr took in stride with modest pride and undying devotion to his unwieldy bass. 'People expect so little when I come out to play the instrument that, when I do show something, even if they are only a little bit impressed, the contrast between what they had otherwise expected and that which they witness is marked enough, they think they are being enthusiastic,' he said in an episode of 'Camera Three,' an anthology series about the arts, that aired on CBS in 1969. That was only seven years after Mr. Karr's breakthrough at a televised performance of Leonard Bernstein's 'Young People's Concerts,' in which he played Ernest Bloch and 'The Swan,' usually a staple of the cello repertoire, from Camille Saint-Saens' 'The Carnival of the Animals.' 'Gary is already at the age of 20 a master of this instrument,' Bernstein said when introducing him at the concert in April 1962. 'His instrument is a madly difficult and an unusual one for solo playing.' Mr. Karr's groundbreaking approach opened up possibilities previously undreamed of, inspiring dozens of bass players, including Larry Wolfe, the assistant principal double bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a former student of Mr. Karr's at the New England Conservatory. Wolfe had seen that concert with Bernstein. 'All of a sudden I said, 'that's what the bass can do.' It was crucial to me,' Wolfe said in an interview, adding that the instrument 'could play with musicianship, personality, control. Make a statement.' Advertisement Mr. Karr's mastery of a difficult instrument -- 'the strings are very, very thick in comparison to the others,' Mr. Karr told CBS, and 'the pressure we have to exert is enormous' -- was often noted by critics. He attributed his physical capacity to athletic abilities inherited from his father, a former semiprofessional baseball player. Mr. Karr 'manages the instrument's technical problems better than most anyone around, yet, more important, he wants us to take the bass seriously as a musical tool,' Bernard Holland wrote in the Times in March 1986, reviewing a recital of Edvard Grieg and Robert Schumann transcriptions by Mr. Karr. 'In both, one felt the range of these transcriptions -- in emotion, dynamics and tessitura -- and felt them with little sense of compromise,' Holland wrote. 'Mr. Karr makes mistakes in intonation, but they emerge as justifiable chances taken in the name of expressivity.' A singing tone was essential to Mr. Karr. 'The bass, to me, is an opera singer,' he said in a 1993 interview with music journalist Bruce Duffie. 'The bass, to me, is the voice that I wish I were. I am a frustrated singer.' Gary Michael Kornbleit was born on Nov. 20, 1941, in Los Angeles to Joe Kornbleit, who worked in a shoe store and also played the bass in dance bands, and Miriam (Nadel) Kornbleit, who played the oboe and English horn in the California Junior Symphony and in movie studio orchestras. His mother's family had emigrated from Russia around the time of World War I, and her father was an important early teacher for Gary. In 1944, the family changed its last name to Karr. Advertisement Gary Karr told the BBC in the 1981 documentary 'Amazing Bass' that he had come from 'seven generations of double bassists.' He studied double bass at the University of Southern California with Herman Reinshagen while playing as a soloist with area orchestras in the early 1960s, and he attended Juilliard under the tutelage of famed bassist Stuart Sankey. His instrument -- once thought to be a rare Amati -- was given to him by the widow of the great double bass virtuoso and conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Mr. Karr became a Canadian citizen in 1997 and retired to Victoria, where he taught at the conservatory and resided with his lifelong partner and accompanist, pianist and organist Harmon Lewis. He was diagnosed with inoperable cancer earlier this year and gave his final public performance in March at the opening of the Gary Karr Library in Toronto, where he played Pablo Casals' 'El Cant dels Ocells.' Mr. Karr leaves no immediate survivors. He often engaged in restrained self-mocking at the lowly status of the bass, even as he rebelled against that stigma. 'We've been around a long time,' he told Duffie in 1993. 'It's about time we had a little bit of attention.' This article originally appeared in
Newsweek
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
US and Russia Are Competing for Influence in Africa
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russia and the United States are vying for influence in West Africa, where Moscow has strengthened its partnerships and is looking to expand, according to a think tank report. Analysis by the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) outlined how Russia is filling a vacuum left by former colonizers, France and capitalizing on recent conflicts and autocratic regimes that mirror Moscow's. Russia has strengthened partnerships with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, and is now looking to the coastal country of Togo for Atlantic port access to aid its logistics network from its landlocked allies, the CTP said. But this greater Russian influence in Togo threatens the U.S. partnership with the country, which, along with its neighbors, is looking to do deals with both Moscow and Washington. "Russia is a very opportunistic actor and it will supplant Western presence and influence in any way that it can," Liam Karr, Africa team lead for the Critical Threats Project, told Newsweek. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek "we are concerned that Russia's reckless and extractive actions in the Sahel have harmed civilians and exacerbated local grievances which drive terrorist recruitment. "We urge all countries to avoid transactions with Russia's defense sector," the statement added. Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Associated Press/Canva Russia's Africa Corps Moscow's footprint in Africa had been stamped by the private military company the Wagner Group and reconfigured since the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in 2023 through Russia's Africa Corps. The CTP said Russian defense officials are likely to try expanding Moscow's presence in Niger, where Moscow has done deals on nuclear cooperation and mining of uranium and lithium. Mineral resource deals between Moscow and Mali have also been agreed. The Africa Corps has around 2,000 personnel in Mali and around 200 in Burkina Faso, but has had problems with recruitment since it was established, partly due to Russia's bandwidth being stretched in Ukraine, Karr said. However, the end of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which the Trump administration is committed to, could result in Moscow sending troops from Ukraine to West Africa, consolidating its presence there. This is because the Kremlin will have to figure out what to do with hundreds of thousands of troops whose return to Russia may pose domestic problems. "If there were to be peace in Ukraine tomorrow, Russia is going to have hundreds of thousands of troops to demobilize," Karr said, "bringing them home is probably not the most straightforward solution for the Kremlin." Incidents of violence and crime among returned Russian soldiers have spiked, and frontline accounts from the war in Ukraine, which are unvarnished by Kremlin propaganda, could also raise the risk of unrest. "An easy pivot option for them would be to deploy more of these forces to Africa," said Karr. "It would more, on the open, more capacity for Russia to focus on Africa." From Guinea to Togo Russia had relied on port access via Conakry, Guinea, for large military equipment shipments to the Sahel. It now has a deal with Togo, with which Russia ratified a military cooperation agreement on July 22, and this will facilitate joint military exercises, training and weapons and equipment exchange. Moscow likely wants Togo to join the AES to counter Western influence in the region and might want to use the West African country to project naval power in the Atlantic Ocean, threatening the U.S. and NATO's flank, the OTP report said. Moscow also threatens the U.S. partnership with Togo, which American military officials have described as "essential" given their joint military operations related to counterterrorism and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. The feeling is reciprocated with Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey last month calling for greater defense and security cooperation with Washington. Benin's army chief of staff also expressed a similar sentiment in April. This year, the U.S. has tried to reengage the AES with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Will Stevens meeting regional officials. In May, the U.S. ambassador to Niger, Kathleen FitzGibbon, presented her credentials to junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani for the first time since he took power in 2023. The U.S. handed over bases in the cities of Agadez and near Niamey in September 2024. "In the short term, Russia is trying to fill the void left by the U.S.," Olayinka Ajala, an expert on West Africa and associate professor in politics and international relations at Leeds Beckett University, told Newsweek. But West Africa and the continent as a whole "is a medium to long-term plan for Russia," he said. Having ramped up military industrial capacity to its highest level due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is preparing for life after war. "When the war ends, they will need places to send these weapons to ad countries to sell weapons to, and they are laying the foundations for that now," Ajala said. Russia has an advantage over the U.S. in the region, given American laws that restrict defense aid to Sahel states with poor democratic and human rights records. A demonstrator holds a Russian flag in Bangui, Central African Republic, on March 22, 2023. A demonstrator holds a Russian flag in Bangui, Central African Republic, on March 22, U.S. State Department said that Washington was engaging with Sahelian and littoral West African countries with "a pragmatic approach that focuses on advancing our foreign policy priorities." This included strategic counterterrorism priorities to mitigate threats to U.S. personnel and interests. "The United States will continue to strategically engage with governments in the region on counterterrorism efforts that advance American interests," the statement to Newsweek added. As the U.S. tries to exert influence in the region, Moscow is likely to undermine these efforts through information campaigns and rallying pro-Russian civil society members such as it did recently in the Central African Republic (CAR). "A lot of these countries, rightfully so, believe that they can have partnerships with both Russia and the U.S.," said Karr. "The U.S. can go toe-to-toe [with Russia] and has a lot more to offer." In Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the Russian presence is more entrenched than the U.S. presence, while in coastal West Africa, the U.S. has been partners with these countries for much longer, said Karr. "These countries will be looking to balance between the two sides and get the best deals," he said.
CNN
16-07-2025
- General
- CNN
‘Wine shuts down': Nobody wants that at a party
There's enough culinary stress as it is hosting a dinner party. Getting worked up about wine is unnecessary, some sommeliers say, but there's no denying that a perfect wine pairing can accentuate the taste and tone of your soirée. A misstep or two, and the night's notes could turn sour. But these easy steps will help ease wine anxiety and make the evening's tasting experience more enjoyable. Bobby Stuckey, a master sommelier and co-founder of Colorado's Frasca Hospitality Group, says the biggest mistake hosts make when serving wine is they don't taste it before pouring it for guests. 'You're hosting, you're busy making sure everyone's comfortable, and you just open a bottle of wine and pour it,' explains Stuckey. 'It doesn't matter if it's $1,000 bottle or a $20 bottle, there is a chance it has this cork taint. You just want to smell and taste the wine.' A wine with cork taint, commonly referred to as being 'corked,' often has a wet-cardboard or moldy aroma and could taste bitter or stale. The taint is caused when a chemical compound, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA), interacts with bacteria or fungi in the wine bottle's cork. Carlin Karr, director of wine and beverage at Stuckey's restaurants — including Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder — believes roughly 1 in 10 wine bottles are off in taste, or corked. 'Taste each bottle before your guests arrive,' says Karr. 'Make sure every bottle tastes perfect for your guests and that the wine is at the perfect temperature for your guests when they arrive.' Karr and Stuckey both agree that wines aren't being served at their optimal temperatures at dinner parties. They say white wines are being served too cold, while more full-bodied reds are being poured too warm. 'You want that white to be expressive,' says Stuckey. 'If it's too cold, if it's almost freezing, like, it's going to really tighten up. The wine shuts down. Let that come closer to the red wine temperature.' Conversely, they say, red wines should be served at a temperature closer to the temperature they're stored in a wine cellar. Karr says 60 degrees Fahrenheit is roughly the ideal temperature to drink most wines. Karr also describes red wine as having an 'arc of enjoyment.' When a bottle of red wine is opened, it begins its climb to peak taste as it's exposed to more oxygen. 'Wine is alive. You have to think of it like a living, breathing thing,' explains Karr. But, she says, it will reach its summit, and then quickly reach a downslope if it gets too warm and begins oxidizing from sitting out too long. 'One of the biggest errors that people make with wine at home is they over-decant red wine, or they decant wine way too early, especially with older red wines,' she says, referring to the moment when wine is poured from one container into another — typically from the bottle into a carafe. 'What ends up happening is that older red wine, or even like maybe a 10-year-old red wine, is sitting in this big decanter for hours. 'It actually gets too much air and so it kind of dies in the decanter, and by the time it goes into the glass when you're enjoying it with guests, it's kind of gone.' She says the ideal time to open a bottle of red wine is just as food is being plated in the kitchen. 'You want to have it right before you're putting the food on the table,' she says. 'If I'm cooking all the food, I task my husband with decanting the wine. And so while I'm serving up the food, he's doing that.' And, she adds, if hosts have larger-bowled Burgundy wine glasses, those work exactly like a decanter. The best way to make your wine-hosting duties easier, according to Stuckey and Karr, is to give your guests one glass for all the various wines you're serving. 'Don't overthink it,' says Stuckey. 'Give everyone one glass. If they're going white, red, back to white … just have one glass. 'Once there's wine in that glass, it's ready to be used to drink. We say that it's 'been prepared.' Don't make your life too complex by trying to have an extra glass for each wine.' Karr agrees. 'Let everyone just drink out of one glass. They'll be fine, and you don't need to rinse with water in between. Wine is the perfect rinse.' And her last hosting suggestion: drink more Champagne. 'Welcome everyone with Champagne,' she says. 'Give them a glass of bubbles. It is the perfect thing to excite the palate.'
CNN
16-07-2025
- General
- CNN
‘Wine shuts down': Nobody wants that at a party
There's enough culinary stress as it is hosting a dinner party. Getting worked up about wine is unnecessary, some sommeliers say, but there's no denying that a perfect wine pairing can accentuate the taste and tone of your soirée. A misstep or two, and the night's notes could turn sour. But these easy steps will help ease wine anxiety and make the evening's tasting experience more enjoyable. Bobby Stuckey, a master sommelier and co-founder of Colorado's Frasca Hospitality Group, says the biggest mistake hosts make when serving wine is they don't taste it before pouring it for guests. 'You're hosting, you're busy making sure everyone's comfortable, and you just open a bottle of wine and pour it,' explains Stuckey. 'It doesn't matter if it's $1,000 bottle or a $20 bottle, there is a chance it has this cork taint. You just want to smell and taste the wine.' A wine with cork taint, commonly referred to as being 'corked,' often has a wet-cardboard or moldy aroma and could taste bitter or stale. The taint is caused when a chemical compound, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA), interacts with bacteria or fungi in the wine bottle's cork. Carlin Karr, director of wine and beverage at Stuckey's restaurants — including Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder — believes roughly 1 in 10 wine bottles are off in taste, or corked. 'Taste each bottle before your guests arrive,' says Karr. 'Make sure every bottle tastes perfect for your guests and that the wine is at the perfect temperature for your guests when they arrive.' Karr and Stuckey both agree that wines aren't being served at their optimal temperatures at dinner parties. They say white wines are being served too cold, while more full-bodied reds are being poured too warm. 'You want that white to be expressive,' says Stuckey. 'If it's too cold, if it's almost freezing, like, it's going to really tighten up. The wine shuts down. Let that come closer to the red wine temperature.' Conversely, they say, red wines should be served at a temperature closer to the temperature they're stored in a wine cellar. Karr says 60 degrees Fahrenheit is roughly the ideal temperature to drink most wines. Karr also describes red wine as having an 'arc of enjoyment.' When a bottle of red wine is opened, it begins its climb to peak taste as it's exposed to more oxygen. 'Wine is alive. You have to think of it like a living, breathing thing,' explains Karr. But, she says, it will reach its summit, and then quickly reach a downslope if it gets too warm and begins oxidizing from sitting out too long. 'One of the biggest errors that people make with wine at home is they over-decant red wine, or they decant wine way too early, especially with older red wines,' she says, referring to the moment when wine is poured from one container into another — typically from the bottle into a carafe. 'What ends up happening is that older red wine, or even like maybe a 10-year-old red wine, is sitting in this big decanter for hours. 'It actually gets too much air and so it kind of dies in the decanter, and by the time it goes into the glass when you're enjoying it with guests, it's kind of gone.' She says the ideal time to open a bottle of red wine is just as food is being plated in the kitchen. 'You want to have it right before you're putting the food on the table,' she says. 'If I'm cooking all the food, I task my husband with decanting the wine. And so while I'm serving up the food, he's doing that.' And, she adds, if hosts have larger-bowled Burgundy wine glasses, those work exactly like a decanter. The best way to make your wine-hosting duties easier, according to Stuckey and Karr, is to give your guests one glass for all the various wines you're serving. 'Don't overthink it,' says Stuckey. 'Give everyone one glass. If they're going white, red, back to white … just have one glass. 'Once there's wine in that glass, it's ready to be used to drink. We say that it's 'been prepared.' Don't make your life too complex by trying to have an extra glass for each wine.' Karr agrees. 'Let everyone just drink out of one glass. They'll be fine, and you don't need to rinse with water in between. Wine is the perfect rinse.' And her last hosting suggestion: drink more Champagne. 'Welcome everyone with Champagne,' she says. 'Give them a glass of bubbles. It is the perfect thing to excite the palate.'
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside KELOLAND: Task force members highlight $600 million prison cap
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — After meeting for more than eight hours in Pierre this past week, members of South Dakota's Project Prison Reset task force have narrowed the focus of where a new men's prison should be built and how big it should be. Huron company added to prison discussion On Tuesday, task force members unanimously supported building a facility, or multiple, at existing Department of Corrections spots or at proposed sites in the Worthing or Mitchell areas. The state has previously spent more than $50 million in land purchase and design costs for a new men's prison in rural Lincoln County at a site that has now been officially rejected by the task force. The goal is to build new prison facilities to house 1,500 to 1,700 inmates with a maximum cost of $600 million. JE Dunn Construction has been tasked with bringing proposals in front of the task force at its July meeting. On this week's Inside KELOLAND, Republican Sen. Chris Karr and Democratic Sen. Jamie Smith shared what they took away from the task force's latest decisions. Karr said state lawmakers have challenged contractors and the state engineer to provide options that meet the 1,500 beds and no more than $600 million price tag. 'I look forward to hearing back at our next meeting about what they come up for us for options,' Karr said. Karr said the previous price tag for a men's prison in Lincoln County at the cost of $825 million was too high to get the necessary two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate to be approved. 'We need to do something,' Karr said, who added the Department of Corrections' design choices of a campus style prison that is built to last 100 years dicated some of the higher costs. Smith said the longer the state continues to delay taking action, the more expensive future prison needs will become. 'If we only spend the $600 million, we've got to make sure that this is the right thing to build,' Smith said. 'If we build under way too much, we're going to be having this conversation right away again.' Smith said he believes the Department of Corrections needs more space and staff to help incorporate more rehabilitation, treatment options and vocation with inmates. 'Then it's the re-entry too,' Smith said. 'We need to get all those put together to be able to help people be successful in the future.' Karr said in 2024, 63% of the men released from a state prison served less than one year. Karr said DOC is having more success with rehabilitation in Springfield and not Sioux Falls because of a lack of space. 'We're too overcrowded in Sioux Falls,' Karr said. Smith said lawmakers should consider what policies and investments the state could make to keep people out of prison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
