PREVIEW: Improvising and Connecting – Cyrille Aimée at The Dakota Arts Music by Brian Bix - February 24, 2024 The award-winning French jazz singer Cyrille Aimée, who performs at The Dakota on March 19. Photo by Viktor Hlavatovic. Cyrille Aimée often talks about her childhood, growing up in a little village on the outskirts of Paris (Samois sur Seine), near where jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt used to live. Her
NEWS: Old Log Theatre to Close March 2 Arts Lifestyle Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 20, 2024 Edvard Munch's 1893 painting The Scream. The Old Log Theatre, one of Minnesota's oldest theatrical establishments, will close permanently on March 2. The Cast & Cru Restaurant that shares the theatre lobby will also close The news was communicated today by the Old Log Theatre in an electronic communication THE OLD LOG THEATRE
REVIEW: A Jazz Journey – Joshua Redman Group at The Dakota Arts Music by Brian Bix - February 11, 2024February 11, 2024 Saxophonist Joshua Redman. The story is often recounted how the leading saxophonist Joshua Redman, son of free-jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff, seemed once to have been on quite a different life path. Redman won a full scholarship to Harvard, graduated there with highest honors, and was accepted to
REVIEW: “All Dressed Up in Blue” – Keb’ Mo’ at The Dakota Arts Music by Brian Bix - January 24, 2024 Blues musician Keb' Mo'. Photo by Jeremy Cowart. Keb’ Mo’ (full name: Kevin Roosevelt Moore) effortlessly crosses genres (blues, country, folk, Americana/roots) and has gained many honors along the way. Adding to his five Grammy awards (and a total of 13 nominations), the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi recently gave him the Crossroads
DC REVIEW: Anything but Business as Normal in the American Opera Initiative (Washington National Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 Jonathan Pierce Rhodes (Ari) and Justin Burgess (Gale) in the world premiere of the short opera Hairpiece at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on Friday, January 19. Photo by Bronwen Sharp. One of the great criticisms of the American opera industry is its obsession with things now more than a
NYC REVIEW: Spectacular Fulfillment in The Promise (PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL) Arts Music by Basil Considine - January 14, 2024January 14, 2024 The Dutch singer and multi-instrumentalist Wende (center) stars in The Promise, which plays through Sunday, January 14 at HERE Mainstage in New York City. Photo by Raymond van Olphen. Rarely have I seen a show to recommend so strongly as The Promise. What starts as an intimate concert experience unfolds into
NYC REVIEW: Adoration, Myths, and Reality (PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 13, 2024January 14, 2024 Tenor Omar Najmi stars in the opera Adoration at the PROTOTYPE Festival in New York City. Photo by Maria Baranova. Prejudice, love, collective judgment, and the uncertainty of truth. These are some of the major threads woven into Adoration, a new opera by Mary Kouyoumdjian and Royce Vavrek that premiered at
THE CURMUDGEON: Vol. 6 – For Musicians (and Other Artists) Trying to Get Covered in the Press Arts Music The Curmudgeon by Basil Considine - January 9, 2024 A close-up of Albrecht Dürer's Melancolia (1514). Perhaps you know me as a composer and opera director; in this case, I am writing because I'm also a classical music critic. Are you an early-career artist trying to get me (or someone like me) to see your recital? My first recommendation is
PREVIEW: Stages of Equity 2024 Festival (Jan-April 2024) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 23, 2023December 24, 2023 North Hennepin Community College will host the Stages of Equity 2024 festival from January-April 2024. This visual & performing arts festival is marketed as raising up the powerful work of BIPOC visual and performing artists. All festival activities, including exhibits, live performances – notably including the acclaimed ensemble Ten Thousand
PREVIEW: JazzMN Orchestra Swings in the Season (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres) Arts Music by Brian Bix - November 20, 2023 The JazzMN Orchestra in concert. The JazzMN Orchestra is a 17-piece jazz ensemble that performs regularly at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Back in early October, it gave a fabulous show at the Chanhassen, featuring superstar trumpeter, Randy Brecker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj09mvRn2KM The Orchestra’s next performance at the Chanhassen is a holiday event on Monday, December