Growing up with musician parents made songwriting a natural part of life for Sean McConnell, who penned his first song at age 10. That one didn’t make it to the recording studio, but others he’s written have been put out by Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Meat Loaf, Jake Owen, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Miller, […]
Growing up with musician parents made songwriting a natural part of life for Sean McConnell, who penned his first song at age 10. That one didn’t make it to the recording studio, but others he’s written have been put out by Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Meat Loaf, Jake Owen, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Miller, […]
Charlottesville Ballet’s Cinderella finds the fairy tale’s cast of characters lacing up their slippers for a production accompanied by Prokofiev’s famous score. Thirty professional artists from Charlottesville and around the world come together to dance through the classic romance filled with humor, hope, and love. Saturday, March 9. $20-75, 2 and 7pm. The Paramount Theater, […]
Rule of three: How many trios are in a Neave Trio concert? If you count the musical works—Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio; Amy Beach’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 150; and Louise Farrenc’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 33—you can count up to four for this one. Since forming in 2010, the chamber ensemble, […]
New trails: Tracy Howe’s social gospel soul album Things That Grow honors marginalized communities while celebrating beauty and resilience. Tracks like “Frack Me” and “Our Strength” are rallying cries against misogyny and predatory capitalism, and “Bury Me,” a protest song about white supremacy, has gained traction around the country. Howe is co-headlining with Rev. Sekou […]
Amped up: With his acoustic duo Parker & Gray, Staunton-based vocalist and guitarist Daniel Parker took home a first-place award for Best Solo/Duo in the River City Blues Society of Richmond’s Blues Challenge in 2017, and made the semifinals at the 2016 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. When Parker wants to plug in, he uses […]
The first unit Francesca Grazioli’s American studies class tackled was one on the history of Confederate statues “and how they affect surrounding communities,” says the St. Anne’s-Belfield junior. Impressed by how her classmates engaged in these difficult conversations, “especially in the context of August 11 and 12 [2017]…I thought that their voices, along with all […]
Cross examination: In Lydia R. Diamond’s Stick Fly, tension builds over the course of a weekend family getaway to Martha’s Vineyard, where debates about race and privilege cause destructive secrets to be revealed. Director Jennifer L. Nelson says she appreciates the play’s focus on a segment of African American society not frequently seen onstage. “You […]
When playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov arrived on the Russian literary scene in the late 1800s, he changed the course of modern drama. According to Boomie Pedersen, artistic director of the Hamner Theater in Nelson County, Chekhov’s work meant that “theater went from being larger-than-life declamatory screaming to the back rows, to much […]
Photojournalist Jodi Cobb is one of those rare people who walks toward danger. And when she meets it, she usually introduces herself. “I’ve never disguised myself or misrepresented what I was doing,” says Cobb. “I even introduced myself as a National Geographic photographer to the most notorious human trafficker in Bosnia.” Cobb has spent the […]
Deborah Willis has never been far from a camera. Her father was a photographer, and he documented many things, including frequent visits the family made from their home in Philadelphia to Virginia. Willis’ father grew up in Orange County, and they made trips to Charlottesville, Louisa, Fredericksburg, and Luray Caverns—many of them documented on film, […]