ARTS Pick: The Harry Potter Concert

Muggles music: Music director Benjamin Rous leads the Charlottesville Symphony through compositions by John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Nicholas Hooper, and Patrick Doyle in a showcase of magical moments from world’s most idolized boy wizard in Pops at The Paramount—The Harry Potter Concert. While the performance does not feature film clips, the audience is invited to […]

ARTS Picks: Jade Jackson

Fierce forward: A hiking accident at the age of 20 shattered Jade Jackson’s body as well as the aspiring singer-songwriter’s career dreams. The long recovery pushed her into depression and dependency on prescription painkillers, and she says she didn’t believe in music anymore. Miraculously, Jackson quit the meds cold turkey and made her way back […]

ARTS Pick: Winstons

Turning the tables: What you see is what you get with the Winstons, a Brooklyn-based garage blues duo that is indie without pretense and relies on performances to get its point across. The former Charlottesville residents recently celebrated six years of live gigs and “turning down just about nothing” with a debut LP—giving a nod […]

ARTS Pick: Two Giovannis

There are few details surrounding the conflict between Italian composer and violinist Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi and murdered castrato Giovanni Marquett, but historians suspect Pandolfi in this 17th-century whodunit. Intrigued by the story, David McCormick of the Early Music Access Project, and Matthew Davies, associate professor of Shakespeare and performance at Mary Baldwin University, combine forces […]

ARTS Pick: Hubby Jenkins

It was through busking that Brooklyn native Hubby Jenkins developed his own style, workshopping country blues, ragtime, fiddle and banjo, and traditional jazz in public places throughout New York City. Jenkins took to the road, making a life as a street musician, and in 2010 he was invited to join the Carolina Chocolate Drops, taking […]

ARTS Pick: Shagwüf

Sally Rose leads her trio Shagwüf in Sweet Freakshow, an anniversary performance to celebrate five years of stirring up crowds with the group’s psychedelic, retro swagger. “The most punk thing you can do in divisive times is to write music and try and bring bodies together, to sweat and celebrate being alive and compassionate,” says […]

In on the action: Keanu Reeves keeps kicking ass in John Wick 3

Since the first installment pummeled audiences in 2014, the John Wick movies have been raising the stakes on what an American action franchise can be. CGI monsters can be cool, explosions are neat, but the thrill of watching the beloved Keanu Reeves transform himself into an unstoppable force of nature, a one-man army who does […]

Hemings as heroine: Experimental opera explores the life of Jefferson’s mistress

The word “opera” sometimes comes with some preconceived notions attached. It might bring to mind complex stories fraught with drama and murder, created by long-dead composers. Unless you’re intimately familiar with the art form, it may also seem less than relevant to modern society, a type of entertainment that belongs to previous generations. Such an […]