Ahead of Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Darryl Stamp’s Dumbed Down, which will open this week, audiences should be mindful to see the story not arising primarily from the familiar (and lazy) trope of the school-to-prison pipeline, but to see it on a broader sobering scale of a messy education system with impacts that are … Read more
Percussionist and composer Brian Blume said in a 2017 concert talk, “I think that, by nature, percussionists are tinkerers. We are explorers.” In the Cambridge Companion to Percussion, Adam Sliwinski wrote that percussionists are “curators of sound.” In the world of classical chamber music ensembles, string quartets have many encyclopedias of masterworks to consider. Meanwhile, … Read more
Editor’s Note: In extending its tradition, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher and ELL coordinator at City Academy, asked two students to review Ballet West’s production of Willam Christensen’s The Nutcracker. For a preview ahead of this year’s production, see this link to The Utah Review feature. Before turning … Read more
Editor’s Note: In extending its tradition, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher and ELL coordinator at City Academy, asked two students to review Salt Lake Acting Company’s production of Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience, with script and lyrics by Mo Willems and music by Deborah Wicks … Read more
For Ballet West dancers, the company’s historic production of The Nutcracker is more than an annual holiday tradition. For many, it is a proving ground. It is sort of a report card for dancers who are ready to expand into more prominent performing roles not just in The Nutcracker but also in the company’s internationally … Read more
The juxtapositions of music by Bach and Grammy-nominated composer Shawn Okpebholo, in the upcoming concert Sacred Spaces, as part of NOVA Chamber Music Series current season, are wisely chosen. Distance for cello and marimba (2016) and Two Black Churches (2020 by Okpebholo will receive their Utah premieres, running parallel to two Bach cantatas, Liebster Jesu, … Read more
Continuing its lead up to celebrate its 50th anniversary next spring, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation will feature the 1978 gold medalist from its International Artists Piano Competition in a Nov. 14 solo concert featuring music by Bach, Liszt, Beethoven and Chopin. The concert will take place at 7:30p.m. in the Jeanné Wagner Theatre … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the sixth in an ongoing series of features highlighting authors and new books published by Torrey House Press in Utah. In an earlier Torrey House Press book, The Delightful Horror of Family Birding: Sharing Nature with The Next Generation, Eli J. Knapp, with a unique blend of humility and humor, described … Read more
PitchNic, one of Spy Hop Productions’ most exciting programs, returns for its 23rd edition this year and this year’s class of young Utah filmmakers is looking to build on a legacy where more than 95% of films that have been produced in the program have gone on to be screened at and win awards at … Read more
The historical significance of Ballet West’s 62nd season opener, Romeo & Juliet, for the company cannot be overstated. As early as the late 18th century in Italy, ballet versions of Shakespeare’s famous play were being staged and in the first decades of the 1800s, versions cropped up in Denmark and Russia. But it was Sergei … Read more