Transcripts For WHYY Tavis Smiley 20140610

And, by contributions to your pbs stations by viewers like you. Thank you. Tavis the twotime grammy award winner is the director of the l. A. Opera and is the champion of composers whose work is not wellknown. By thers were silenced not see regime nazi regime. Combines the story of moses with negro spirituals. His achievements were hijacked by racism. Conlonke a look at directing the orchestra. Tavis that is good to have you on the program. Talk about the state of opera. This is fascinating. I have been following this and our fans have for the last two years. The opera, it is in trouble, it seems. I wrote this down because i wanted put some context into our conversation as we began. The world of opera is in peril. San diegos opera is folding. These are the closures. Baltimore, the opera in boston in 2011, the opera of san antonio in 2012. You believe in it. You are still doing it. What is happening with opera . I am optimistic. Nothing is happening to opera. It is institutions. These are economic issues. An expensive art form and what has happened in our country is that, in the last 30 had partsools have taken out of them. I amwe have young adult old enough to remember being in a band and having music appreciation. We had that. When that stopped in the 1980s and started to diminish, we lost the basic beginning for all of our population. There is nothing elite about opera or special. It is for everybody. I am a good example of that. I am a normal guy who fell in love with opera when he was young. In newateful to grow up york because we had opportunity. Building the audience and that is what is happening. There are individuals it is very sad about san diego. It does not mean that this is what is going to happen to every Opera Company in the country. Still, personally, i hope that the situation will turn around. If it is happening in major and major markets where there is cosmopolitanism if it is happening in these markets , where does the hope come from to sustain what you do . The that metropolitan opera was right across the street from city plaza and that was a big factor. I do not know the particulars in san diego. There has been an economic crisis. The arts were sponsored since the time of the renaissance. So, there has always been a need for support and that is still true in our country. It is important that we do it and continue to. I will never stop fighting. I believe in the beauty of this art form and that it is for everybody. Not just for a socalled elite. It is for everybody. Children, you did not say, you are going to hate this. You bring them. They need to be exposed. We need to expose everybody. Tavis talk about the peace you are about to premiere. Publicke to provide the an opportunity to hear pieces they do not know. Somebody said to me that an old book read for the first time is a new book. If it has something for substance, something appealing, it is important. Composer with enormous substance and i have never been at a concert where there is a piece of his. He was one of the first african who wasnamericans educated in the united states. He wrote this in 1932 and it took him until my team 37 to get it produced. It was from your in cincinnati and was given a National Broadcast for the opening. That was quite an event. There hangs the tale. That was interrupted three quarters of the way through for that are obscure. Thecan hear this and announcer comes on and says, due to previous programming, we will discontinue the performance at the cincinnati sensible festival. This was the act of persons who were racist. For whatever reason, they were resentful of the fact that an had his musican being performed on radio. Although the piece was successful and the triumph and the halt was attested to by the reviews that we have in the hall was attested to by the reviews that we have, it did not get restaged until the 1950s. This is a thing for us to be bringing to new york city in Carnegie Hall. I want to bring an american program. A contemporary work of john adams. He is a composer in america today. That is a good way of expressing it. I want to show what the festival accomplished over its long history. It is one of the oldest festivals. This is a very important contribution. Waiting for you to finish and i am glad that you turned that corner. There is nothing obscure about that performance. It was racist. There must be plenty of other pieces that we have never heard from all kinds of composers of color that have been pushed to the corners and are collecting dust on the shelves somewhere because they were not given the respect they deserved and there has not been a james conlon to bring it to the rest of us so that we can be exposed to us. Is that your sense . So many types of music coming from all sources that i could fill the rest of my life. My day job is beethoven, brahms, and mozart. I love all of that. We have an opportunity to bring music to the audience and the public and we should do that. Tavis one of the greats, no doubt about that. I wonder what your take is on the status the presence or lack there of of people in opera today. The opera world is open because we are all desperate. There are so many great voices of African Americans. Fortunately, that broke down a lot of the limits. Less so for men. Myself iermit adore her. It is one of the great experiences of my life to work with her. She, of course, led the way and she has opened the door to many others. It is slower for African American males and i do not know if that is changing as rapidly as it ought to. There are so many great voices out there. Fewer. Osers, there are you are member when scott joplin suddenly became a household word 30 years ago. Nathaniel, there is enough music to fill several causal halls concert halls. Tavis what do you hope that the rest of us will take away from your fighting so hard to expose us to this . Same as thes the composers who were suppressed by the nazis. We tend to be lazy when we listen to the same things that we know. My hope is that we will keep open years and that people listen to music in a way without preconceptions. I should like this, i should appreciate this. Movie ands to a things, do you appreciate this . I believe that this is for everybody. Tavis we have had all kinds of great conductors on the show. I am always struck by this. People who enjoy Classical Music want to hear the same stuff over and over. It does not get any better than beethoven and i understand why you want to hear him regularly. The list goes on. I understand that. I wonder why those of us who are classical lovers we are so closed off to new stuff. It doesnt have to be and it should not be. Part of the nature of Classical Music is that music its better and more meaningful every time we hear it. We go back over and over and that is not a bad thing. That is a good thing. We have to keep ourselves open to what is new. My colleague believes that people half to be listening to music and i agree with him as well. It is the nature that Classical Music grows on you with every repeated hearing. People sit back and say, ok, i want to hear what i know. Get tothey could Carnegie Hall and hear that music. I look forward to hearing it. Great to have you on. Eight time grammy nominee, ledisi has just released her new album. Well find out what she means by that and a moment. Lets hear a track from the new album. It is called i blame you. I blame you. On yourouve got a hit hands. It sounds good. It sounds good. Let me jump to what i said that i wanted to get to. The truth. You called the cd the truth and you know you set yourself up. It is called the truth. Ok. What are we telling the truth about . , it is the honest truth about my relationships and the latest one that i had. It was hard. Tavis did you just roll your eyes . Did i see you roll your eyes . Why you got a roll your eyes . Why you got to roll your eyes . We talked on the radio. This. Just repricse for the dude, it works the other way. He gets blasted on the cd. What about his side . There are three sides of the story. Tavis you get to do a record. Like, doesnte is it sound great . He said it is a good album. We are still cool. Tavis what is the process you have to go through to decide that you want to be open . It was scary because it was so open. I had great people around me saying that what happened to me could heal someone. And hidei take my gift it and not share with someone else who is out there and hurting . I have always been like that, from my independent recordings and being with the label. I dont know. It is work. This one was even more scary. Here am i unveiling part of myself that i never unveil. I hide myself and try to relate. This is personal. Tavis what has happened to give you the freedom it seems that there is a freedom that comes along with being that transparent . I am older and not competing. I am not begging for someone to love me. I feel like i am loved and i deserve to be where i am. I have had great people come into my life, not just men, but women. That has lifted me. I am a woman. I am ok. I thought i knew what that was. Part of that is dissecting where all the pain comes from. I did a little bit of that. Now, i am ok. This is what it is. Once you are aware of what is going on, it is freeing. Tavis i said a prayer for you a while ago because i saw you make a move from independent to a label. I dont want to demonize labels. Putve seen so many artists their best stuff out when they dont have to a label. Labels can be the death of an artist. There are examples of what i am talking about. How are you finding life with a label . Here you are with a label. These are good songs and does not sound like they are boxing human. You in. Bei said, if i cannot myself, i do not want to do this. I would rather be independent, hustle up, and make it work. My mindset is still that of an independent artists. They know they are taking risks with me. What is she going to do this time . They were surprised to see me be so open and share my learning with taking care of my outside and inside. They were just as shocked as the world was. Likeant to take a picture this . I was like, yes, i do. I want to celebrate my courage. I want them to see my transformation. They are with me and guide me. They help me as much as they can. Labels are not doing well right now because of you stream ustream and things like that. As anl think of myself artist and i want to get every generation that i can. Tavis i want to come back to your courage. We never lose sight of your curves. I will get to that. I think i know what you mean when you say that, even with a label, you have the mindset of an independent artist. I think i get that. It means that i am in touch with my audience and i am on the street. I was at walmart and saying, did you get my album . I bought some for some fans. They were like, wow, that is you. I post on facebook. I think like an independent artist that has to sell this on social media all the time. That is what independent artist do. The grind never ends. It never ends. Tavis to your curves, you look great, by the way. People can see the transformation. What brought that on . After letting go of the relationship tavis it always goes like that. They break up with you i knew i would regret that. How can i get that back . They break up with you and they get finer. That is what i was trying to say. These legs are not going anywhere. After that relationship, i decided to do a bucket list. Things i had never done. I felt like the relationship was closed and we had to keep private. I am not that. I like to be vibrant, energetic, and go on hikes, do things that i have never done. I have never been anywhere other than work related things. That year, i decide to do a class and i like wearing stilettos. Tavis nice shoes. I wanted to do a class that i had been avoiding called hiphop in heels. The pounds went off and the women were curvy. I said, i want to learn. They taught me and empowered me. Every week, we are in there, making it work, looking at ourselves in the mirror. I got a nuitionist. I learned about the importance of food. Why i eat emotionally. What i like when i am having those moments stop i started to endure it all out. Suddenly, the transformation came. I remember they called the class, hiphop in neils heel. Those boots are seven inch heels. I didnt. Did it. It gives me strength. Tavis you have slimmed down. I thought about my friend, cedric, who used to tell this joke about with the vandross luther vandross. Ask whether or not the transformation has, in any way, to your year, change your sound, flow, or style . Small, itller, not so is still there. Dancing andused on reversals stop people reminded me to saying. That is what people expect. They think that you are not going to saying. Sing. The point to make sure that the inside is the same person. The outside may have changed. Tavis she knows it and better than most. I say this with all due respect, to my mind, you are on the list of underappreciated, undervalued, unheralded artists of our time. I am honored to have you on your program our program. This to yourdd collection. It is called the truth. You will not be disappointed. It is good to see you again. Tavis that is our show for tonight and, as always, keep the faith more information, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Join me next time for a conversation about how to deal with immigration. That is next time. And, by contributions to your pbs stations. Thank you. The more. Pbs. Er rose welcome to the program. Hillary clintons new book is called hard choices, and we talk about it this evening with joe klein, maggie haberman, john dickerson. Hillary clinton in this book as you read it, i think from the lay reader will look at this and think boy she did a lot. She was on the plane for 87 days i think it was. And she was kind of always plugging away. And if shes running for president and people are thinking about who can we put a complicated world, in whose camp can we put that. A person who recognizes all the complexity, you get that from this book and nothing more. Rose we conclude this evening with a talented young woman named sarah louise who wrote a book called the rise creativity the gift of failure and the search for mastery. Its how incredible iconic work happen, right. And i started to notice when i was curating at moma or artist studios there would be these back turn paintings that artists didnt want to show me