Join together: Adam Granduciel is known for doing things on his own. Typically a loner in the studio, the frontman for American rock band War on Drugs assembles most of the group’s records by overdubbing pre-recorded tracks. It worked well for years, but in 2018 Granduciel was ready for something new—community. The band’s fifth studio […]
Silence your phone: So, you think you can dance? Even if you can’t, all you need is a phone to participate in Fralin After Five’s Social Dance, “a site-specific immersive performance.” The dance, a combined interaction between public space and social media, features 11 performers and 11 audience members who must move together by communicating […]
By Matt Dhillon There might be notes of butterscotch and baked goods, a bite of sour green apple, even a touch of goat cheese, or something earthier with floral aromas and a chocolaty finish. There is the terroir to consider, the climate, the living yeast, sugar content, temperature, phenolic compounds, tannins, malic acid, lactic acid, […]
By Maryann Xue and Brielle Entzminger In the wake of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Marcus-David Peters Act. Named in honor of a 24-year-old Black high school biology teacher killed by a Richmond police officer during a severe mental health crisis in 2018, the 2020 law required localities to […]
By Eshaan Sarup Ten years ago, a raging debate over the future of online courses led to the resignation—and reinstatement—of former University of Virginia president Teresa Sullivan. Now, after two years of pandemic-prompted virtual classes at UVA and schools across the country, online learning seems to be here to stay. However, the question of how […]
A farce for the force: Italian playwright Dario Fo’s political satire Accidental Death of an Anarchist pokes fun at the Italian police force by imagining a fictionalized aftermath of 1969’s real-life Piazza Fontana bombing. Giuseppe Pinelli, an anarchist wrongly accused of the bombing, plummets to his death from a fourth-floor window while in a police […]
Preservation haul: New Orleans jazz ensemble Tuba Skinny fulfilled a lifelong dream this year with the release of Magnolia Stroll, its first album of original music. The group formed in 2009 as a loose collection of street musicians that combines cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, tenor banjo, guitar, frottoir, and vocals. Influenced by a wide range […]
Sad, mad love: A grumbling Cupid, lovesick Venus, and dishy Adonis star in Venus & Adonis, a modern operatic take on the classical Greek myth, produced by the Early Access Music Project, a rotating group of musicians that brings early music to the community through accessible programming. Originally composed by John Blow in the 1680s, […]
Refuge for refugees Twelve years after moving from Charlottesville to Prague, Kim Bianchini had built a real estate business with her husband when war in Ukraine broke out and refugees began flowing through Poland and into the Czech Republic. “The families that were arriving were having a very hard time signing leases and finding places […]
Questions linger in Montpelier controversy With less than a week before the May 16 meeting of the Montpelier Foundation board, initial interviews with 20 candidates put forth by the Montpelier Descendants Committee are underway. But MDC attorney Greg Werkheiser says there are still concerns that the dispute between the two organizations isn’t fully resolved. “They […]