Music

Utah Arts Festival at 50: Elevating the art of the tribute band, The Discographers set to pay multimedia tribute to David Bowie’s lifetime catalog of songs

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For preview coverage of the 50th Utah Arts Festival, which runs June 18-21, The Utah Review is presenting individual or group profiles of artists, performers, entertainers and some newcomers to the event. The curtain raiser highlights the history of the Festival which is marking its golden anniversary. BANDALOOP, among the most prominent pioneers … Read more

The Bachauer at 50: Part of the Great Flourishing in the Utah arts scene

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part I of a retrospective on the 50th anniversary of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. Part I highlights the origins and formative years while Part II (go to this link) summarizes The Bachauer’s multifaceted legacies on and off the concert stage. The Utah Review is grateful for the assistance of … Read more

The Bachauer at 50: Legacies of competition laureates, concert series, piano festivals, educational outreach, formative leaders

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part II of a retrospective on the 50th anniversary of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. Part I (go to this link) highlights the origins and formative years while Part II summarizes The Bachauer’s multifaceted legacies on and off the concert stage. The Utah Review is grateful for the assistance of … Read more

Spring Dance Roundup: Ballet West’s Choreographic Fest VII: Spotlight Utah, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Anthology, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Vantage Point, RDT Link Series’ Of Each OtHER, Nitya Nritya Foundation

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This spring produced an overflowing bounty of great programs in dance, which enjoys imperial status among the performing arts in Utah. The following five exemplify this distinction. Ballet West: Choregraphic Fest VII: Spotlight Utah  Donald Byrd’s Processional world premiere capped a distinguished choreographic valedictory in the history-making closing production of Ballet West’s 2025-26 season. The … Read more

Putting the spotlight on the Utah dance ecosystem, Ballet West’s Choreographic Fest VII set for Donald Byrd world premiere, works by guests Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, SALT Contemporary Dance

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In Utah, dance wears the empress crown in the performing arts. Choreographers and guest dance artists from around the world know well just how broad and deep the dance ecosystem in Utah is, as evidenced by the numerous commissions that have been set on local companies in ballet and contemporary dance over many decades. For … Read more

With bustling, brilliant musicianship, Pioneer Theatre Company’s Utah premiere of Come From Away sparkles in hospitality

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Back in its heyday before jets capable of making the transoceanic long haul became common, Canada’s Gander airport was “basically a pump-and-go station,” as journalist Andrea Sachs described in a 2019 Washington Post feature. “Locals would hitchhike up to the airport to buy ice cream and search for famous faces waiting to reboard, such as … Read more

Two excellent dance productions: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Link Series, Thayer Jonutz, Out of the Ashes; Samba Fogo’s Chama Do Coração (The Burning Call Of The Heart) 

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The first part of spring has brought numerous dance productions of note. The Utah Review features two recent examples. REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE’S LINK SERIES: THAYER JONUTZ, OUT OF THE ASHES It always is an audacious enterprise for modern dance artists to perform truly as their authentic selves in works choreographed by others, but that sense … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s regional premiere of Murder Ballad delivers the musical goods with provocative, feisty flair; the right lurid touches

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One does not go to Murder Ballad, the wonderful musical by Juliana Nash and Julia Jordan, looking for meaty inventive and intelligent plot elements of a whodunit story. Man and Woman end their relationship, Woman meets New Man but still has feelings for first Man, cheats, and yada yada yada, the situation escalates, ending in … Read more

A ravishing evening filled with heart-bursting emotion and endless adrenaline in West Side Story: Broadway and Beyond, Ballet West’s quadruple bill of Utah premieres

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For the ravishing opening night of Ballet West’s quadruple bill connecting the Broadway stage to classical ballet, one could not have launched this unforgettable evening of Utah premieres better than with Alison Olsen playing the last ten bars of Debussy’s Syrinx for solo flute as the prelude for Jerome Robbins’ Antique Epigraphs.  Intimate, delicate and … Read more

Set to close Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company Season, Vantage Point will feature world premiere by Leslie Kraus, along with outstanding repertoire works by Keerati Jinakunwhiphat, Tzveta Kassabova

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Vantage Point, the forthcoming season closer for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, will feature works by three women choreographers, including a world premiere by Leslie Kraus, the company’s artistic director, which will feature live sound design by Harrison Lind, a local musician-actor, and an avant-garde floral sculpture and costuming by Galore Floral artist Meagan Bertelsen. Vantage Point … Read more