For Earth Day, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibitions about Great Salt Lake, public lands policy making, biocrust are outstanding examples of cross-disciplinary collaboration

With Earth Day approaching (April 22), an excellent representation of what is at stake in the Intermountain West’s natural surroundings is found in several exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA). The standout feature of these exhibitions is the extensive evidence of excellent cross-disciplinary approaches uniting science and the humanities. Among the areas … Read more

Ahead of Earth Day, NOVA Chamber Music Series to feature two new commissioned works from Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music’s Composing Earth project

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ final Libby Gardner series concert of the 2023-24 season is nicely timed for this month’s celebrations of Earth Day and the ever-intensifying focus on changes in the climate and environmental impacts. The concert will feature two new commissioned works, courtesy of Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music’s Composing Earth cohort. … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Gamut to feature world premiere commission by Yusha-Marie Sorzano, along with works by Ihsan Rustem, Lar Lubovitch

For Gamut, its spring show, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) will present Solfège, a new commission from choreographer Yusha-Marie Sorzano, who is making her first appearance with the company, along with two outstanding audience-pleasers from the repertoire: Ihsan Rustem’s Hallelujah Junction and Lar Lubovitch’s Marimba. Performances are scheduled daily at 7:30 p.m. April 11-13, in the … Read more

Enemy fiction: Melissa Leilani Larson’s Bitter Lemon set for Plan-B Theatre’s (sort of) world premiere this week

In February, Plan-B Theatre mounted a world premiere production of Balthazar, Debora Threedy’s fresh reimagining of The Merchant of Venice’s Portia. As The Utah Review noted at the time, Threedy’s play is a well-crafted piece of fan fiction. In her two-hander script, she successfully sustained the broader integrity of Shakespeare’s literary world while reconfiguring characters … Read more

Setting the bar of theatrical excellence in a history-making moment for Utah theater: Pioneer Theatre Company christens Meldrum Theatre with The Lehman Trilogy, powered by virtuosic acting

When the history of 21st century theater in Utah is written, it will be noted that actor Jeff Talbott, in the role of Henry Lehman, spoke the first words in performance on the thrust stage of the new Meldrum Theatre at The University of Utah. It also will be noted that Talbott, along with actors … Read more

Alam Khan, master of the sarod, set for SLC events sponsored by Mundi Project, India Cultural Center of Utah; Westminster Concert Series

Alam Khan was seven years old when he started learning to play the sarod, a 25-string instrument with no frets which comprises strings for performing melodies as well as sympathetic strings to create resonating drone-like sounds. The head of the instrument, which resembles a lute, is made from sheepskin and the neck is metal plated. … Read more

Pioneer Theatre Company set to christen new Meldrum Theatre with Utah premiere of The Lehman Trilogy

A new chapter for both the The University of Utah’s 85-year-old Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse and Pioneer Theatre Company opens this week with the Meldrum Theatre, Salt Lake City’s newest venue for chamber theater, being christened by the Utah premiere of the Tony Award winning The Lehman Trilogy. The run opens March 29. “It is the … Read more

The vibrant gifts of Inheritance in Andrew Alba’s works at Material art gallery

Andrew Alba remembers the prints of paintings such as Emiliano Zapata, the leading figure of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century, and works by Mexican artist Diego Rivera that occupied a place of honor in his grandparents’ home. The grandson of Mexican migrant workers who came to the U.S., Alba says, in an … Read more

Utah-based In The Now Productions releases astute, sensitive, heartfelt film featuring The Gaza Monologues

Childhood is sacred, as one of the young Palestinian contributors to The Gaza Monologues stated. But, the evidence of how that humanitarian principle has been and continues to be denied to the children of Gaza is reiterated and reinforced continuously in the dozens of short monologues that were created by Ashtar Theatre in 2010, after … Read more

From Tucson, experimental quartet Compersion sets Utah Museum of Contemporary Art for March 19 stop on western U.S. tour

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) will be one of the stops for the western U.S. tour of Compersion, a Tuscon-based experimental quartet which incorporates strings, wind instruments and percussion into instrumental electro-acoustic topographies. Abstract in its aesthetic conception. Compersion highlights improvisation and organic rhythmic expressions to emphasize the value of deep and immersive … Read more