Monumental, urgent lesson for today’s environmental movement in rediscovering ‘The Story of My Heart’

It is inexplicable how some of the most gifted, passionate and prescient pioneers of form, expression, and ideals in the arts and letters world languish in obscurity before someone rediscovers and revives their work, which often is more relevant now than during the period in which it was created. The words of a nearly forgotten … Read more

Audience gives rousing approval to Spy Hop’s PitchNic films now ready to hit national indie film festival circuit

There is no doubt the quartet of new short films from Spy Hop Production’s 12th annual PitchNic premiere – two fiction and two documentaries – which were screened last week before a sold-out Jeanne Wagner Theatre audience will find plenty of life on the independent film festival circuit in Utah and around the country. All four … Read more

Ballet West’s haunting rendition of Giselle

Ballet West's Giselle curtain call

Often billed as ballet’s original ghost story, Giselle is the haunting love story of a young peasant girl and a noble who deceives her. The performance kicks off the 2014-15 Ballet West season and runs through November 16, 2014. Newly conceived by Ballet West’s Artistic Director Adam Sklute, this classic and well-loved drama includes more … Read more

Spy Hop’s 12th annual PitchNic premiere of four films promises powerful voice of youth

As memorable as the premieres of the PitchNic films are for the Spy Hop Productions students each year, what becomes the most satisfying bonus for their creative efforts is the opportunity to see their new short films screen at film festivals across the country. More than 90 percent of the PitchNic films produced in the … Read more

Two Utah Film Center documentaries about creative genius transcending technology, modernism

The Utah Film Center (UFC) will present two documentary films – one about a San Antonio inventor of digital imaging technology who sets out to painstakingly recreate a 17th century masterpiece by painter Johannes Vermeer and the other about the Sagrada Familias temple in Barcelona – that underscore just how creative genius transcends technology and … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ opening concert to set joyful, lyrical mood in music from Leipzig to Provo

nova bach hicks mendelssohn

The 5,300 miles which separates Leipzig from Provo will evaporate immediately when the NOVA Chamber Music Series opens its season Oct. 26 with a program featuring works by two of Leipzig’s greatest music figures, Bach and Mendelssohn, and two pieces by composer Michael Hicks who is on the music faculty at Brigham Young University. A … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s Radio Hour adaptation of Grimm tales is exquisitely creepy

If anyone needed to get in the mood for Plan-B Theatre’s exquisitely creepy rendition of three Grimm Brothers tales prior to the live broadcast on KUER-FM’s RadioWest show, the news lead-in at the top of the hour did the trick. In less than four minutes, audience members in the downtown Jeanne Wagner Theatre heard news … Read more

Pop-culture artist Robin Banks’ timeless interpretations

In Salt Lake City, there are many venues for finding Robin Banks’ fresh, bright and playful pop art and culture illustrations that have a timeless imprint upon retro and classic interpretations of cartoon and comic figures. In just six years, Banks (who prefers the singular generic pronoun “they”) has compiled a diverse professional portfolio including … Read more

Utah Opera’s Madame Butterfly

Yunah Lee and Eric Fennell at rehearsal for Utah Opera's Madame Butterfly.

It is a colorful tale of cultures clashing, of love and sacrifice, and most of all, of stunningly beautiful music. Madame Butterfly is one of the most-performed operas of all time, touching audiences for more than a century with the semi-true story of Butterfly, the young Japanese geisha who marries an American naval officer only … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s newest Radio Hour production will spin ‘ze right version’ of three Grimm fairy tales

“If the Brothers Grimm were not trying to tell charming bedtime stories, what were they trying to do? Why are the original versions of their stories so often violent and disturbing? The first answer to these questions is that the Brothers Grimm were simply being true to the stories as they existed in the early … Read more