Three local music headliners will give the Utah Arts Festival’s Saturday night party edge that much more oomph in a variety of musical styles and influences. Bassmint Pros (The Round, 9:45 p.m.) In the midst of the Utah Enlightenment, many local creative producers in every artistic medium, conventional or hybrid, are making their mark. Cast … Read more
Day 2 Headliners for the Utah Arts Festival, once again, will cover music interests for all ages and types. The Amphitheater Stage becomes the destination for world-class electronic music, first with the enigmatic Slow Magic (8:30 p.m.), who is wholly focused and invested in creating and presenting music that is truly boundless and attuned to … Read more
Opening night Utah Arts Festival headliners cover the gamut of musical influence — from acoustic folk punk rock to the versatile virtuosity of the Chapman Stick to the original arrangements of classic Frank Sinatra songs and a savvy electronic music duo. And, of course, The Young Dubliners (9:45 p.m., Amphitheater Stage), one of the best … Read more
Two musical works inspired by autobiographical transitions – one the news of an impending birth of a child and the other relocating from the Midwest to Salt Lake City – and a new dance composition about conformity and the age of social media mark this year’s newest Utah Arts Festival commissions for music and dance. … Read more
One of the festival’s most anticipated offerings, Cimarrón, a Grammy-nominated ensemble from Colombia, will perform Joropo and Llanera music (June 26, 8:15 p.m., Festival Stage) as well as Zapateado (Stomp Llanero dance), accompanied by percussive strings and maracas, dynamic vocals and bracing pace. The group also will offer music and dance workshops, including basic techniques … Read more
As a Ball State University student in Muncie, Matt Hart, then the frontman for a punk band, decided to take a poetry workshop, as he describes it, “on a lark.” The experience changed his life. “Up until then, my only experience with poetry was negative. I always had thought of poetry with its gaudy, flowery … Read more
This year’s Literary Arts venue at the 40th annual Utah Arts Festival brings numerous literary figures from the country in a series of performances slated for The Big Mouth Stage. The Utah Review had the gracious honor of interviewing several who will be appearing as part of the largest program offering ever at the festival’s … Read more
The art of poetry slams has enjoyed a solid base of popularity at the Utah Arts Festival and its strength has followed the growth of the literary art form. Many of the individuals who will be competing in the qualifying individual rounds (June 23) and then in the finals (June 26) epitomize the growth of … Read more
The conclusion of Autumn Testament, Pablo Neruda (as translated by Alastair Reid) from Extravagaria (1957-58): From having been born so often I have salty experience like creatures of the sea with a passion for stars and an earthly destination. And so I move without knowing to which world I’ll be returning or if I’ll go … Read more
For the 14th annual Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, curator Topher Horman has crafted seven sequences of presentations in the most intriguing interpretations of the various sources and origins of transitions that drive the making of and response to each film. Each program is described below. PERSONAL TRANSITIONS (June 23, 2 … Read more