Les RokaLes Roka

I am a native of Toledo, Ohio, having received my Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism in 2002. In addition to teaching at Utah State University and the University of Utah, I have worked extensively in public relations for a variety of organizations including a major metropolitan university, college of osteopathic medicine, and community college. When it comes to intellectual curiosity, I venture into as many areas as possible, whether it’s about music criticism, the history of journalism, the practice of public relations in a Web 2.0 world and the soon-to-arrive Web 3.0 landscape, or how public debates are formed about many issues especially in the political arena. As a Salt Lake City resident, I currently write and edit a blog called The Selective Echo that provides an entertaining, informative, and provocative look at Salt Lake City and its cosmopolitan best. I also have been the U.S. editorial advisor for an online publication Art Design Publicity based in The Netherlands. And, I use social media tools such as Twitter for blogging, networking with journalists and experts, and staying current on the latest trends in culture and news. I also have been a regular monthly contributor to a Utah business magazine, and I have recently conducted a variety of editing projects involving authors and researchers throughout the country and the world, including Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Lebanon, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. I’m also a classically trained musician who spent more than 15 years in a string quartet, being involved in more than 400 performances.

Pianist Cahill Smith’s mission to bring Nikolai Medtner’s music to new audiences highlights latest NOVA Chamber Music Series’ recorded spring concert

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Pianist Cahill Smith fits nicely into the NOVA Chamber Music Series’ family, as well as the Utah State University music school in Logan. Take the following example. In two Carnegie Hall recitals, respectively in 2013 and 2015, he dedicated his performances to works by Russian composer Nikolai Medtner, a far less known contemporary of Sergei … Read more

From primal to sparkling: Utah Symphony concert highlights music by Jolivet, Beethoven

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In 1944, the 22-year-old Jean-Pierre Rampal won the Conservatoire test by performing a virtuosic threnody piece for flute by André Jolivet. Throughout his career, Rampal would include in his legendary repertoire the 16 works for the flute, written by Jolivet, one of the elite French composers of the 20th century. Again, the unique circumstances of … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s video production of Audrey Cefaly’s Alabaster receives outstanding rolling world/Utah premiere

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Peculiar yet approachable, alternating between effulgent and piercing, complex and elucidating, Audrey Cefaly’s play Alabaster on paper, at first glance, might not be the ideal candidate for a filmed theatrical production, especially as part of the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere program. Alabaster’s intricately woven elaborate character textures make for ideal stage pyrotechnics … Read more

Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation’s on-demand concert series closes with pianist Steven Mayer, violinist Igor Pikayzen with Franck violin sonata, transcriptions of Gottschalk, Bizet’s Carmen

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Pick a short program of music to celebrate the effusive spirit of spring in May and it would be hard to top the combination of a rousing mix of Latin tropical dance rhythms, the pyrotechnics of an adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen and a violin sonata composed as a wedding gift. The Gina Bachauer International Piano … Read more

Ballet West’s documentary series In The Balance: Ballet for a Lost Year set for May 7 premiere on social media

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In The Dance of The Building, the ingeniously crafted sixth episode of the In The Balance: Ballet for a Lost Year documentary series, one of the crew leaders for setting the stage of Ballet West’s performances in the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City, explains that the real legacy of civilizations in history comprises … Read more

Utah Symphony concert of Bach, Carter, Marsalis, Wagner another example of eclectic, innovative programming

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The most recent Utah Symphony concert once again evidenced an eclectic, compact, innovative approach to programming which, in this instance, delivered the orchestra’s first performances of two works from 1998 and 2011, respectively.  The smart staging logistics made for a quick transition from Elliott Carter’s Double Trio, which the composer wrote just ahead of his … Read more

Spring theatrical news: Salt Lake Acting Company’s The Amberlee Fund campaign, SONDERimmersive’s The Lost Generation, Pygmalion Productions’ If This Wall Could Talk

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Spring 2021 news from three independent theatrical companies in Salt Lake City include a $1 million capital campaign, a fine update on the dinner theater genre and a video piece highlighting the multifaceted legacy of Utah women. SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY: THE AMBERLEE FUND: ACCESSIBILITY ELEVATED   Capital campaigns can be a formidable undertaking for small … Read more

Two memorable season closing films: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Homage, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Cadence

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Two of Salt Lake City’s historically significant dance institutions — Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company — are concluding this unusual season with new concert films. Both films end on an encouraging note, signaling a hopeful return next fall to their regular performing venue in the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts. Both … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s premiere of Matthew Ivan Bennett’s Art & Class sets new height of excellence, maximizing impact of audio production format

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One of many richly textured epiphanies in Matthew Ivan Bennett’s Art & Class, the audio-only production receiving its Plan-B Theatre world premiere, occurs shortly after Lucía confronts Mindy, the parent of a student in her art class, at a Christmas tree lot in Hyrum. Mindy is pushing for Lucía to be fired from the school … Read more

New version of SONDERimmersive’s Through Yonder Window crisp, clear, absorbing, astute contemporary interpretation of Romeo and Juliet characters

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Last year, approximately 1,000 people saw SONDERimmersive’s remarkably inventive interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Through Yonder Window, in a parking garage at The Gateway complex in downtown Salt Lake City. With pandemic restrictions in place, the company meshed elements of immersive performance and theater-in-the-round in a production that effectively accommodated the difficult logistics of … Read more