“Music is essential. It is universal,” Carolyn Tanner Irish, Chair of the Board at O.C. Tanner Company, writes. “It brings goodness, light and beauty into our lives.” For the seventeenth time, the Utah Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir joined together for the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music series on February 19 and 20, 2016. The … Read more
There is much to celebrate in the frenetic vitality and in-your-face relevance of the punk ethos in Foster Body. The Salt Lake City band’s current lineup comprises Robin Banks and Korey Daniel Martin, both dynamic visual artists who also happen to be musicians, and Dyana Durfee and Jeremy Devine, well-respected musicians who are refreshingly comfortable … Read more
There was a lot to celebrate in 2015 with the Utah Enlightenment, a creative movement where courage defines some of the state’s most interesting and independent artists. Indeed, the Enlightenment disturbs and disrupts the peculiar Utah penchant to be civil and docile or to be content with platitudes and pleasantries. Artists are reclaiming Utah’s unique … Read more
Three world premieres – all embracing celebration in various forms of dance movement and music – will mark Revel, one of the concerts marking the Repertory Dance Theatre’s 50th anniversary. The program includes a new work by Bill Evans, a nationally known dance artist and choreographer who was one of the earliest dancers in RDT’s … Read more
For its 2015-2016 season, NOVA Chamber Music Series once again is carving out several new ambitious paths in programming. Each of this year’s six subscription concerts is ingenious in approach and repertoire, with works from the existing chamber music literature that are paired specifically with new compositions and Utah premieres of music by local and … Read more
At one point in The Kreutzer Sonata, the obsessively mad Pozdnyshev breaches the taboo of chamber music etiquette by invading the space of the violinist and pianist who are in the midst of communicating a rare serene moment in this famous Beethoven work. His stance is almost menacing and he walks away resuming his blistering … Read more
NOTE: This is the second part of the preview of Plan-B Theatre’s 25th season. See Part I here. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:28). His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man … Read more
Two outstanding documentaries – an award-winning film from Norway about three teen boys who aspire to become ballet dancers and an unusual musical road trip which gives several American roots musicians the opportunity to make one-of-a-kind recordings on a 1930s direct-to-disc recorder – are part of the Utah Film Center’s September screenings which are free … Read more
The Utah Arts Festival will close out its slate of musical headliners just as it opened – sampling from the broadest spectrum of music, this time 21st century classical, the Garifuba tradition emanating from Honduras, and the solid party band style of Chicago blues and shuffle. Rachel Lee Priday, 5 p.m., Festival Stage Still in … Read more
In music, rare is the instinct in collaboration between two groups, especially when both sets of musicians live in different cities and do not meet perhaps as often they might like. However, when they do meet, the instincts immediately mesh and the mass of sound created is exhilarating and, yes, glorious. It has been two … Read more