It’s not the average string orchestra that requires a background check of audience members before its holiday concert. Then again, the average string orchestra is not composed of prison inmates. Alaska’s Hiland Mountain Correctional Center Women’s String Orchestra is holding their annual public concert on Saturday, December 3 at 1:30 pm. ...more...
Archives for November 2011
Arts America Blog
Emily Amy Gallery Gets a Fresh Coat of Polish
November 30, 2011 by
If you’ve been searching Atlanta for your favorite shade of OPI nail polish, we just might know where it’s gone off to. In just over a week’s time, works by acclaimed Atlanta-based artist Scott Ingram are set to grace the perfectly manicured walls of Emily Amy Gallery. The gallery’s first-ever exhibition of said artist, entitled Cusp, features drip drawings painted in nail polish in shiny, lacquered shades of metallic, neon …more…
GroundWorks and Inlet Dance prove dance is alive and well in Cleveland
November 30, 2011 by
When, eleven years ago, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, due to poor artistic and financial management, snuck out of town to become the San Jose Ballet, the doomsayers predicted that that was the end of dance as a Cleveland area art form. Nothing was further from the truth. ...more...
Pliés and Popcorn: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Movies
November 30, 2011 by
Even if you don’t live in New York City, you and your family can experience one of the city’s quintessential holiday traditions this year. On December 13 at 6 pm ET, George Balanchine’s renowned ballet The Nutcracker–as performed live by the New York City Ballet–will be presented in movie theaters throughout the country. The cast for this special performance includes Principal Dancers Megan Fairchild as Sugarplum, Tiler Peck as Marzipan, Joaquin de Luz as Cavalier, Ashley Bouder as Dewdrop, Teresa Reichlen as Coffee, and Daniel Ulbricht as Candy Cane. ...more...
The Trouble with the Familiar
November 30, 2011 by
As we move into the thick of the Holiday Season, I’m prompted to comment about one of my pet peeves – for the next month, musical groups throughout the Seattle area will be playing concerts that feature what may be the most familiar music possible. This time of year we stick closer to the familiar than ever, and though this is comforting, personally I find it a tad tedious. Science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon was credited with coining “Sturgeon’s Law” which declares that “90% of everything is crap”. This is probably true, but we are also not very good about how we filter out the 10% that isn’t. Given a choice, we tend to opt for what we already know, and tend to think that because we know it so well, it represents “the best”. ...more...
Darren Goodman’s Trial by Fire blowing minds at the Cincinnati Art Museum
November 30, 2011 by
Trial by Fire, a brilliant blown glass exhibition on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum, is yet another stunning explosion of powerful colors to enjoy during the season of lights this year. The incredibly talented artist, Darren Goodman, is CAM’s most recent winner of its prestigious 4th Floor Award for regional contemporary artists, and it literally blowing up Cincinnati!
Ever since Goodman was born in Cincinnati in 1981, he has been incorporating his …more…
ODC Dance Presents The Velveteen Rabbit at Yerba Buena in San Francisco
November 30, 2011 by
ODC Dance Company performs The Velveteen Rabbit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
In a holiday performance landscape populated by an endless procession of Nutcrackers, Nutcracker spinoffs and Nutcracker knockoffs, San Francisco’s compassionate ODC Dance Company proffers a refreshing alternative. The Velveteen Rabbit, in its 25th anniversary season, is a lively and engaging retelling of Margery Williams’ classic children’s story. The piece, which features a bevy of talented …more…
Dancer Muriel Maffre Brings The Soldier’s Tale to Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre
November 30, 2011 by
Muriel Maffre as the Daughter of the King in The Soldier's Tale
During her 17 years as Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, French-born Muriel Maffre gained a reputation for technical, as well as dramatic, brilliance. In such roles as the raging Carabosse and the gentle Lilac Fairy, both of Sleeping Beauty, she captivated audiences and critics alike with the specificity, immediacy and sheer intensity of her characterizations. I always said …more…
Holiday Theatre with a Twist in Portland
November 29, 2011 by
Seasonal theatre is notoriously nostalgic. All jingle bells and hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. Be honest, how many productions of the Nutcracker have you seen? But damnit if that Tchaikovsky doesn’t get you weepy-eyed and grinning every time anyway.
If you have a taste for something sugarplum sweet with a spin, Portland’s got it. In true “keep it weird” tradition, several Portland theaters are producing holiday classics with a twist to …more…
Art, Ahoy! Free Art Treasure Hunt Comes to Atlanta
November 29, 2011 by
Atlanta art lovers now have even more reason to be enamored with the city’s creative scene. AtlantaPlanIt and Georgia Perimeter College’s Department of Fine Arts have teamed up to give away one free piece of art a day until December 13. But it’s not that easy. Interested parties are going to have to dig around a bit and embark on a veritable art treasure hunt to find these pieces. ...more...
Wordless Caroling: Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, Nationwide
November 29, 2011 by
There are, of course, numerous classical music works that have become iconic holiday traditions in and of themselves–Handel’s Messiah, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker,Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carolsamong them. ...more...
The week ahead in Cincinnati
November 29, 2011 by
With the Thanksgiving holiday passed, winter festivities are in full swing and Cincinnati is bursting with entertainment this week! With major shows opening throughout, there are many choices no matter which genre of fine arts you appreciate.
Wednesday begins this week’s events with an incredible opening night performance of Snow White at the Ensemble Theatre. David Kisor and Joseph McDonough bring this classic fairytale to life in a production that runs …more…
Unblurred Gallery Crawl Starts the Month Off Right
November 29, 2011 by
Art enthusiasts might want to brave the cold this season for Unblurred, an art crawl that takes place between the 4800 and 5500 blocks of the Penn Avenue Arts District. On the first Friday of every month, galleries within walking distance of each other open their doors to the public at 6 p.m., with some events going on until 2 a.m. Most exhibitions and presentations are free and come with …more…
The Incomparable Ted Greene
November 28, 2011 by
Here in my home town of Los Angeles, the term “genius” is generally conferred upon anybody who makes $25 million a year. But there is unwavering consensus among top-level guitarists, including Lee Ritenour, Steve Vai and Larry Carlton, that Ted Greene (1946 – 2005) was a genius of the highest order.
Ted was an unparalleled master of solo guitar, often playing the melody, chordal accompaniment and bass lines simultaneously in a …more…
Seattle Men’s Chorus
November 28, 2011 by
If you have never seen Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), see them this holiday season. If you’ve seen them before, see them again. I attend annually, and last night’s Seattle show at Key Arena was by far the best they have been. It was 2 1/2 hours of Wow. Actually, I used other interjections that I won’t enumerate now. See this gang for its powerful musicianship, expert vocals, impressive pyrotechnics and brilliant …more…
Beating Cancer With Oil Paint and Linen
November 25, 2011 by
Show Arabella Proffer images of punk-rock tattoos, and the prolific Cleveland artist will create Elizabethan-esque portraits of the European aristocrats with whom she’s had a lifelong fascination. And rightfully so, since tattoos and Mohawk hair styles in 16th-century Europe were considered de rigueur of the times. “They would have been considered status symbols for the very rich in centuries past,” Proffer says. “Thus, they’d want to flaunt them in their …more…
Guide to Dance Classes for Adults in Pittsburgh
November 25, 2011 by
While Pittsburgh has many available resources when it comes to dance, they are not always easy to find! Maybe you are new to the area, or maybe, like me, you are returning to Pittsburgh and find the dance scene much different than it was before. Either way, it can be difficult to know where to look.
It has recently come to my attention that it can be difficult …more…
A Broadway Thanksgiving
November 25, 2011 by
GODSPELL on Broadway
Here’s my own personal list of 10 theatrical things to be thankful for at this festive time of the year:
1. Nina Arianda: How often does anyone or anything truly live up to tremendous hype? This is one of those rare cases. Last season, the virtually unknown Arianda garnered rave reviews and award nominations for her electrifying Off-Broadway turn in Venus in Fur, in which she shone as …more…
Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum Finally Opens Its Doors
November 24, 2011 by
One of the leaders of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Clyfford Still was born in 1904 in North Dakota. During his lifetime, the artist sold only about 150 paintings, which are now housed in various museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. For the past 30 years, visiting the galleries of these museums was the only way to catch a glimpse of Still’s impressive body of work. ...more...
Wild Bunch in Wild Punch in Kensington
November 23, 2011 by
California transplant John Rosenberg opened the Papermill Theater in an old (you guessed it) paper mill in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia in 2010. Since then, it’s been host a number of entertaining productions by his own company, Hella Fresh Theatre, including a recent collaboration with nearby Walking Fish Theatre on a short play festival. ...more...
Michael Cooper: A Sculptural Odyssey at Fuller Craft Museum
November 23, 2011 by
The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts is currently presenting Michael Cooper: A Sculptural Odyssey, 1968 – 2011. On display through May 13, 2012 the show focuses on a career spanning more than 40 years where Cooper has explored the frailties of human nature through increasingly complex wood and mixed media sculptures. With equal parts wit and technical adroitness this exhibition presents some of his most provocative works, often exploring the dark side of our fascination with violence, power, and greed. ...more...
Anticipating Ecstatic: NYC Festival Announces Second Season
November 23, 2011 by
Just yesterday, it seems, New York was gearing up for October’s SONiC Festival, a celebration of 21st century music by composers under 40 years of age. Now, with November days dwindling and winter closing in, the city’s Ecstatic Music Festival has recently announced its second season of programming. ...more...
Gourmet Theater: Nighthawk Cinema
November 23, 2011 by
Located in the heart of the trendy and artistic neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Nighthawk Cinema offers up a tasty new theatrical experience for movie lovers. While cocktails and gourmet concessions are nothing new, serving up table side service during an actual film is. ...more...
California Dreaming: Pacific Standard Time in L.A.
November 23, 2011 by
Pacific Standard Time at MOCA: Under the Big Black Sun, California Art 1974-1981
Of the many changes of landscape after the Second World War, one of the most culturally notable was the shift from Paris to New York as the leading center of artistic innovation. It is a textbook event that dominates art history of the period, eclipsing developments in other regions just as at one time the Florentine artists of …more…
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
November 23, 2011 by
Rock Theater originators, Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), will be performing their larger-than-life Christmas show in Seattle at Key Arena in two performances this Saturday. The annual holiday show highlights the theater troupe’s unique combination of story-telling, expert musicianship and outstanding production. TSO will rock 120 US markets this holiday season with its two troupes, performing the timeless classic Christmas Eve and Other Stories in its entirety, followed by excerpts from the …more…
