Preview

Utah Symphony’s percussionists and concertmaster Madeline Adkins among featured musicians for NOVA Chamber Music Series’ American Gamelan concert on May 4

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Percussionists have become a staple in recent NOVA Chamber Music Series seasons and the forthcoming American Gamelan season closer will illuminate the fact that while percussion orchestras might not be commonly found in Western music it is the quintessential practice in many world music cultures.  Two works will drive home the point. One is Lou … Read more

Two world premieres set to make Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Re-Act a landmark event in the company’s history

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With two world premieres, Re-Act, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s closing production for its 61st season, will be a landmark event. It marks the final show for Daniel Charon as artistic director, who is stepping down after 12 seasons. Also, there is the world premiere of A Mischief Sublime by Annalee Traylor, the company’s inaugural Choreographic Canvas … Read more

Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation to close out 2024-25 season with Pasquale Iannone in Moments Musicaux program

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The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation will close its 2024-25 concert season with Pasquale Iannone, from Italy and who is well known as a Bachauer laureate and juror along with being the teacher of the student who won the 2012 young artists’ competition here. The April 11 program (7:30 p.m., Jeanné Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner … Read more

A must-see Stravinsky triple bill: Ballet West set for The Rite of Spring production opening April 4

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The facts about the revolutionary character of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring are well known. Capitalizing upon the triumphs of The Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911), Sergei Diaghilev commissioned The Rite for The Ballets Russes. A dream team had been assembled for its premiere and rehearsals had proceeded without incident: Vaslav Nijinsky developed the … Read more

Ballet West’s Family Classic Series revives Aladdin this weekend in three performances

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For this weekend’s Ballet West revival of Aladdin as part of the company’s Family Classics Series, audiences will have an excellent opportunity to see some of the rising stars of ballet’s newest generation. For example, in 2018, when Aladdin was last presented, it featured many current Ballet West artists in early roles, including Principal Artist … Read more

Plan-B Theatre set for world premiere of Janine Sobeck Knighton’s The Beatrix Potter Defense Society

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In her posthumously published The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson, the marine biologist whose writings on environmentalism and conservation are as relevant as ever, wrote, “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia: So You Think You Can Choreograph, its largest annual fundraiser, set for March 15

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After last year’s success with its newest version of Regalia — So You Think You Can Choreograph — Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) is re-upping it this year. Making their debut as choreographers will include the mother of one of RDT’s current artistic leaders and one of the event’s hosts and whose profession is as a … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ biggest concert of the year: Grammy-Award-winning composer Jessie Montgomery set to perform, with music by her, Bartók and Okpebholo

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NOVA Chamber Music Series has scored a major coup in securing Grammy-Award-winning composer Jessie Montgomery, not only for her music but also her performance as a violinist on the March 9 concert (3 p.m.) in Libby Gardner Hall.  In 2024.she won the Grammy for best contemporary classical composition, with Rounds, a 15-minute work for piano … Read more

Pianist Stephen Beus’ imaginative take on Nocturnes and Nightmares set for Feb. 28 Bachauer concert

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As a theme for programming recitals, the subject of dreams will always be a winner for performers and audiences. The universe of available music for this theme is vast enough for an equally wide scope of permutations. For Nocturnes and Nightmares, the theme of his upcoming solo concert, pianist Stephen Beus has taken a unique, … Read more

PYGmalion Theatre Company set to premiere Morag Shepherd’s The Big Quiet, about two LDS sister missionaries

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While there have been plenty of stories about male missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rendered in film, television and theater, there has been a dearth in stories about Mormon sister missionaries. However, last year’s release of Heretic, a horror film about a pair of sister Mormon missionaries who hope to … Read more