FEATURE: From Northfield to Cultural Ambassador: Victoria Erickson, Soprano and DAAD Scholar Arts Music Opera Theatre by John Anderson - July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 Minnesota singer and Opera Athena Creative Director Victoria Erickson in the 2024 premiere of the opera The Miller's Daughter, for which she wrote the libretto. The city of Northfield, Minnesota has long had an outsize influence on the larger world. In its early role as an agricultural hub, it exported flours
PREVIEW: Behind the Story – Before Out of the Box Opera’s Suor Angelica Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - June 24, 2024June 24, 2024 The interior of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, MN, which will host Out of the Box Opera's production of Puccini's opera Suor Angelica. In the spring of 1904, the composer Giacomo Puccini was at an impasse. To the public eye, his life and career were flying high: he had
NEWS: First Look at Purple Rain Musical on Saturday, June 22 Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - June 21, 2024 The stage musical adaptation of Prince's legendary film and album Purple Rain is taking shape. The musical, scheduled to run April 10-May 11, 2025 at the historic State Theatre in Minneapolis, is filling out its creative team with new members, and will receive a "first look" preview and discussion tomorrow. This stage
REVIEW: Musically Stellar MJ (HTT/Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 25, 2024May 25, 2024 Brandon Lee Harris as 'Michael' Josh A. Dawson as 'Quincy Jones' Roman Banks as 'MJ' and the cast of the MJ First National Tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy/MurphyMade. The touring Broadway musical MJ is more than a show about Michael Jackson’s life, it is the Michael Jackson experience with an enthused
PREVIEW: Bringing Back that Detroit Sound (Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble at The Dakota) Arts Music by Brian Bix - May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. Photo by Gemma Corfield. The legendary musician Don Was will be bringing his new Pan-Detroit Ensemble, as well as his many lifetimes of musical experience, to The Dakota for two shows (6:30 pm and 8:30 pm) on May 21. Most of us came across Was for
PREVIEW: The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s 2024-2025 Season Arts Music by John Anderson - April 20, 2024April 20, 2024 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert. Photo by Chelsea Tischler. Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. A composer residency with Valerie Coleman. An oboe d'amore concerto. These are a few of the highlights of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's new season. For its 66th season, the SPCO – one of
PREVIEW: Mixed Precipitation’s Pickup Truck Opera Returns Arts Music Opera Theatre by Amy Donahue - April 15, 2024 Singers Kara Morgan, Corissa Bussian, and Mark Billy in Mixed Precipitation's 2023 operatic production of Romeo and Juliet. In the not-so-distant future, scientist and entrepreneur Dr. Johann Faust faces a planet in crisis but no motivation to spare humanity its fate. He yearns to find a life of meaning and love.
NEWS: Jerome Foundation Announces $5.5 Million in Grants Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Amy Donahue - April 11, 2024 Minnesota-based Ananya Dance Theatre (2023's We Are The Procession by Michhil Amra pictured) is one of 79 organizations to receive support from the Jerome Foundation in the coming cycle. ADT's award will underwrite its NextGen Choreolab program for early career, Minnesota-based choreographers. Photo by Canaan Mattson Photography. The Jerome Foundation –
NEWS: The Minnesota Musical Coalition’s Final Bow Arts Music by John Anderson - April 5, 2024April 15, 2024 Cassandra Cole, Jillian Rae, and Mayda will perform at the Minnesota Music Coalition’s final event on Thursday, April 11 at the Hook and Ladder in Minneapolis, MN. The organization will disband after the concert. The Minnesota Music Coalition (MMC), a 13-year-old service organization that has linked independent musicians across the state with
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