NEWS: The Return of Northern Spark Arts Visual Arts by Amy Donahue - June 6, 2022June 6, 2022 Then Northern Spark art festival – an all-night, in-person, summer event in the Twin Cities – returns on Saturday, June 11. This year's festival explores the theme “What the World Needs Now”. This incarnation of Northern Spark will take place along University Avenue and downtown in St. Paul, MN on Saturday, June 11,
REVIEW: Power and Privilege in A Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Dan Reiva - May 22, 2022May 26, 2022 What would you if someone offered you money to abandon your dreams – and was racist? In A Raisin in the Sun, now playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Karl Lindner (Terry Hempleman) offers to buy out the Younger family (James T. Alfred as Walter Lee Younger, Nubia Monks as Beneatha Younger,
REVIEW: Falling in Love at the Moulin Rouge (Orpheum/HTT) Arts Music Theatre by Boo Segersin - May 21, 2022May 21, 2022 The cast of the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Photo by Matthew Murphy. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge! The Musical, that is – now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. This award-winning production is jam-packed with amazing talent, beautiful music, and stunning choreography. From glittering costumes
INTERVIEW: Back to the B Minor Mass: The Bach Society of Minnesota’s Centerpiece Arts Music by Basil Considine - May 11, 2022May 11, 2022 The Bach Society of Minnesota's Artistic Director Matthias Maute conducts a performance of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in 2021. Rock musicians have a notoriously short average lifespan (43.6 years). The average non-profit performing arts organization's lifespan is even shorter. Most are lucky to
INTERVIEW: Amy Quanbeck and Being a Minnesotan in the Moulin Rouge Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - May 11, 2022May 11, 2022 Conor Ryan (as Christian) and Courtney Reed (as Satine) star in the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which opens at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis next week. Photo by Matthew Murphy. On May 18, 2001, a film called Moulin Rouge opened at the North American box office. Directed and
FEATURE: Strumming a Richer Tune at DalekoArts in Once Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - May 7, 2022May 14, 2022 Singer-actor-dancer-instrumentalists Leslie Vincent (left) and Chris Paulson (right) star in DalekoArts' production of Once, now playing in New Prague, MN. Photo courtesy of DalekoArts. "Write what you know." It's one of the most common pieces of advice given to poets, novelists, songwriters, and other wielders of writing. To that, one might
PREVIEW: Black Violin’s Coming Back Arts Music by Basil Considine - May 3, 2022May 3, 2022 Black Violin will return to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN on Friday, June 17. In retrospect, "Impossible" was perhaps not the wisest name for Black Violin's 2022 tour. The celebrated musical duo of violist Wil B and violinist Kev Marcus regularly smashes through genre boundaries,
PHOTOS: Open Window Theatre’s Leaving Iowa Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - May 2, 2022May 2, 2022 The cast of Open Window Theatre's production of Leaving Iowa, which opened April 29 in Inver Grove Heights, MN. Photo by Kayla Ninnemann. There is a great population reshuffling going on in the United States. In 2020 and 2021, numerous households fled the big cities for larger in-door spaces and outdoor
PREVIEW: Shostakovich, Britten, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Arts Music by Basil Considine - April 30, 2022April 30, 2022 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2015. Photo by Ash & James Photography. How long does it take to learn a cello concerto? If you were Mstislav Rostropovich, the Soviet cellist for whom Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Cello Concerto No. 1, the answer is "4 days, memorization included". Even at just
NEWS: CAORC Announces 2022 Multi-Country Research Fellows Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 26, 2022 The Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) announced today the 2022 award recipients for its Multi-Country Research Fellowship and the Mary Ellen Lane Multi-Country Travel Award. Now in its 29th year, the Multi-Country Research Fellowship supports advanced regional and trans-regional research in the humanities, social sciences, and allied natural