Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: 46th Utah Arts Festival set to return at full strength, fresh with innovative examples of creative expression

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review begins its preview coverage today of the 46th Utah Arts Festival, which will be held June 23-26 (noon to 11 p.m. on June 23-25 and noon to 9 p.m. on June 26) on the Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. As this is the state’s largest multidisciplinary arts and … Read more

Riveting, excellent adult drama: Utah film The Whole Lot, by Overcranked Pictures, set to premiere at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

The hard realities of the family drama circling the inheritance of a loved one’s estate rarely require a boost from a fictional license. It is more common than many families might care to admit just how sharp the drama and confrontation are when the time arrives for the executor of a parent’s last will and … Read more

A mixed Filipina filmmaker adrift about her identity in American society: Melissa Leilani Larson’s Mestiza, or Mixed, set for Plan-B Theatre premiere June 9-19

In Melissa Leilani Larson’s newest play Mestiza, Or Mixed, thirty-something Lark Timon is a struggling filmmaker hoping to make a big break with one of her six screenplays. Lark, who identifies as a mixed Filipino female, believes her script set in the American West is a sure bet. Lark describes her female protagonist as Reyna, … Read more

It’s all about connections: NOVA Chamber Music Series announces 2022-23 season

The word “connections” would be an ideal one-word summary for the 2022-23 season of the NOVA Chamber Music Series. As music directors, in programming the six Libby Gardner Hall concerts and the two Gallery Series concerts, the Fry Street Quartet has assembled an impressive lineup. The season includes world and Utah premieres and with the … Read more

Two Salt Lake City plein air artists among 22 invited to 14th Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art at Grand Canyon National Park

Two Salt Lake City artists will be among 22 selected for the 14th Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art at Grand Canyon National Park, which begins in September and continues through January 2023. Michelle Condrat and Paula Swain will be among those invited to paint en plein air (outside on location) for a week at … Read more

Mitsu Salmon’s Somatic Tracing outstanding performance art exhibition at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA)’s Artist-in-Residence program (A-I-R) has recently produced a fascinating string of exhibitions by artists who are pushing out of the conventional boundaries of discipline, medium and display forms. Mitsu Salmon is continuing this emerging trend as the program’s first performance artist with Somatic Tracing, which will continue through June … Read more

With some new features, more than 90 cultural groups, 17 food vendors, Living Traditions Festival set for May 20-22 in downtown Salt Lake City

There is no doubt that Utah’s population, especially within the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, is becoming more diverse and cosmopolitan. In the 2020 census, one out of every three individuals in Salt Lake County identified their ethnicity as other than white. And, a large majority of the state’s current population of more than 60,000 … Read more

Smart direction, strong cast carry excellent Pygmalion Theatre Company production of Annie Baker’s Body Awareness

Many of us overlook the fact that we do not live in a politically correct world. But, there also are numerous reasons why trying to be politically correct or censoring the words we believe might be too sensitive to discuss the topics that should be discussed ends up being nearly as bad. So we fall … Read more

Three live performances set to be available for streaming video on demand options: Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Lo and Behold, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Six Songs from Ellis, Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation’s The Ivory Menagerie

World premieres of works by two of Salt Lake City’s preeminent dance institutions (Repertory Dance Theatre and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company), along with a splendid, innovative solo piano concert by Hsiang Tu, as presented by the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, continue an impressive spring of performances in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Incidentally, all … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series set to close momentous season of songs with Songs of Migration

It has been a momentous season of exquisite songs for NOVA Chamber Music Series, and the closing concert will cap it properly. Songs of Migration (May 1, 3 p.m.,Libby Gardner Hall) offers a sample of familiar works and pieces that deserve widespread attention – all of the selections signifying cross-cultural fertilization in music.  No NOVA … Read more