NEWS: Crystal Manich to Take Reins at Mill City Summer Opera Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 Today, Mill City Summer Opera announced the appointment of Crystal Manich as its new artistic director. Manich, a lauded stage director, will take the artistic reins for the company's 2019 season and direct its production of Mozart's Così fan Tutte. Read an interview with Crystal Manich on directing. Manich takes over
NEWS: The 2018 MN Theater Award Honorees Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - September 25, 2018September 25, 2018 The 2018 Minnesota Theater Awards took place on Monday, September 24 at ARIA in Minneapolis. Last night, the 2018 Minnesota Theater Awards party unfolded at Aria. Unusually, there were no award recipients announced – only honorees who had been nominated. In a typically Minnesotan development, the organizers announced last week that they
Fringe File 2018 #23 – Wish List for Next Year’s Festivals Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - August 11, 2018August 11, 2018 In no particular order, here are some of our wish list items for next year's installments of the Minnesota Fringe Festival and Family Fringe: General A return of the Family Fringe. Returning to a child-friendly venue like the Celtic Arts Junction for the Family Fringe. A Fringe Central with contracted arrangements for
NEWS: Fallout from Classical Music’s Sexual Misconduct Disclosures Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 The Covent Garden Theatre in London burns in 1856. The day after the Arts Reader ran its feature on sexual misconduct in opera, the Star Tribune ran its own feature on lapses in sexual assault and rape investigations in the State of Minnesota. Four days later, the Washington Post published the
Fringe File 2018 #17 – Hanne Appelbaum’s Top 10 Must-Sees Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Hanne Appelbaum - July 28, 2018July 28, 2018 A photo from last year's Fringe production of MEDUSA by Vox Medusa and Infiammati FireCircus. Photo by Max Haynes. If in doubt, set it on fire. That's my mantra for this year's Fringe festival: if you're not at all sure where to start, hit up Vox Medusa with Infiammati FireCircus's MEDUSA. This
FEATURE: Opera, Sexual Misconduct, and Daylight Arts Comedy Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - July 21, 2018August 1, 2018 This story includes a graphic discussion of sexual assault. One night in July, wigmaster Jolie O’Dell turned out the lights and went to bed. She awoke, she says, to find herself being groped by her house guest, a bass-baritone opera singer named Matthew Stump. Stump masturbated as he fondled her; amidst
REVIEW: It’s the Journey and the Candy in Fellow Travelers (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - June 19, 2018June 24, 2018 The cast of Minnesota Opera’s Fellow Travelers. Photo by Dan Norman. Fellow Travelers, a fantastic new opera that opened at the Cowles Center on Saturday, is one of Minnesota Opera's best newer works of recent years. The music is beautiful and interesting, the story fraught with passion and the lure of
NEWS: Jerome Foundation Announces Inaugural Organization Grant Recipients Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - June 15, 2018June 15, 2018 A photo collage of artists and art funded by the Jerome Foundation. The Jerome Foundation today announced $4,159,500 in grants to 84 arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City. These grants to nonprofit arts organizations comprise inaugural offering of the foundation's new Organization Grants Program. The two-stage application process attracted 254
REVIEW: Excess and Glitter in Thaïs (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Amy Donahue - May 27, 2018June 24, 2018 Gerard Schneider as Nicias, Kelly Kaduce as Thaïs, and Lucas Meachem as Athanaël with the cast of Thaïs. Photo by Cory Weaver. Sometimes, going to the theatre means checking your attitudes at the door. There's a certain market for pieces that have been edited to be politically correct and/or align with
FEATURE: On the Sweet, Seductive Decadence in Minnesota Opera’s Thaïs Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - May 11, 2018June 24, 2018 A scene from Jules Massenet and Anatole France's classic opera Thaïs, opening tomorrow at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN. Photo by Cory Weaver. Thaïs opens tomorrow at Minnesota Opera. The opera features some of the most beautiful music ever written, notably the famous Meditation (see below)