Next month’s 17th Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City unquestionably will be the most cosmopolitan representation of gifted pianists in the Foundation’s 42-year history. Forty pianists, ranging in age from 19 to 32, will represent 17 countries, as they compete in the quarterfinals that will lead ultimately to finalists who will … Read more
Debuting last year, Ballet West’s National Choreographic Festival introduces audiences to new works from around the country by inviting guest companies from around the nation to join Ballet West dancers. Spread over two weekends, the performances are divided into two individual programs allowing audiences to view a full six works if desired. Included in this … Read more
Look at any display ad touting a city’s downtown district. The images focus less on a venue such as a restaurant, shop or bar than on the people’s faces. It is about the convivial, romantic experience of city life. The spaces of downtown are empty until they are filled with the stories of the people … Read more
Some of Utah’s most accomplished musicians will gather May 6 to close out NOVA Chamber Music Series’ extraordinary 40th anniversary season with a concert highlighting familiar as well as not widely known works by Schubert and two giants of 20th century music – Olivier Messiaen and Witold Lutosławski. This spring concert highlights works by composers … Read more
NOTE: On Thursday, April 26 at 9 a.m., The Utah Review will live blog the only live performance of Radio Hour Episode 12: Stand, produced by Plan-B Theatre and KUER-FM’s RadioWest program. Tune into KUER-FM 90.1 and follow The Utah Review during the broadcast. Utah playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett is impeccably an artist of Renaissance … Read more
The guitarist Andre Feriante wrote that we “live in silence.” In finding his natural pulse as a composer, he believes “music that is aware of the gates of silence can cause you to see more of where you really live.” Music that inspires contemplation and heightened senses can take many forms – introspective and quiet … Read more
Many of the best literary works of science fiction, when they touch on entropy in complex systems, technologies and problems of existential significance, excel in how they render the human community of characters in genuine emotional and spiritual attributes. In the starkest environment, there is an overwhelming hunger, as portrayed literally and metaphorically. This was … Read more
Today, it seems unbelievable to think that in the decades following J.S. Bach’s death in 1750, his music was relegated for the most part to obscurity. Concert life in the 18th century was vastly different from today’s programming objectives, as William Weber, a frequently cited social historian of music, has researched. In 18th century Leipzig, … Read more
Dance’s creative laboratory is much like its scientific counterpart. The drive to experiment is informed and directed by the history of revolution and breakthroughs in methodology, technique and process. Those who participate in the laboratory – as mentor or choreographer, as new scientist or dancer – eventually move on, further consolidating the legacy of their … Read more
Nearly nine years ago, Shirley Dygert, then in her mid-50s, went on her first tandem jump at the Skydive Houston drop zone in Texas. Her husband, who had plenty of thrilling experiences of his own as a cliff diver, stayed on the ground to photograph his wife’s first jump. As a 2014 Sports Illustrated feature … Read more