Pick: Oceanography

Sound waves: California-based musician Brian Kelly’s solo project Oceanography is more than music. In addition to songwriting, singing, and composing, the freelance designer-by-day also creates album artwork, show posters, and music videos—and he does it all from his bedroom. Kelly/Oceanography’s latest album, Thirteen Songs About Driving Nowhere in Alphabetical Order, matches the artist’s lyrical talent […]

Pick: Soundflight 2

Echo chamber: Opera becomes experiential during Soundflight 2, a series of immersive, outdoor concerts from Victory Hall Opera. Soprano Miriam Gordon-Stewart and baritone Jorell Williams, alongside an accordion, oboe, and percussion, take advantage of nature’s acoustics as they perform at various locations around the beautiful Quarry Gardens. Enjoy a program of works by Puccini, Bach, […]

Pick: The Charlottesville Band

Crowning achievement: The Charlottesville Band kicks off its centennial celebration with a summer concert series. Originally formed by a group of enthusiastic amateur musicians, the ensemble (formerly The Municipal Band of Charlottesville) has spent the last 100 years sharing free music with the community. From classical and jazz to Broadway tunes and rap, the band’s […]

Sound choices

By Greg Walker Kate Bollinger Look at it in the Light, Ghostly International Look at it in the Light, Kate Bollinger’s debut release on Ghostly International, is a soul-searching expedition. “Pleases me to know I might be wrong / if only I had known it all along,” the Charlottesville, Virginia, native sings on “I Found […]

June Galleries

June Shows Baker Gallery Woodberry Forest School, 898 Woodberry Forest Rd. “Into the Light” features works by 12 members of BozART Fine Arts Collective in celebration of the group’s 27th year. Through June 5.  Botanical Fare 421 E. Main St. Downtown Mall. “My Water Garden,” photographs enhanced with acrylic paint on canvas by Betty Brubach. […]

We can artwork it out

IX Art Park attracted about 356,000 visitors in 2021. But only 16,000 of them bought tickets to an event or The Looking Glass, the park’s immersive art experience. Now, with free events stacked nearly back-to-back throughout the summer, IX will host its biggest ticketed happening of the year. The first Charlottesville Arts Festival, which administrators […]

Pick: The Shine Guide

Shining example: Friends of UVA Children’s Hospital, local businesses, and nonprofits are supporting children and teens during Mental Health Awareness Month with The Shine Guide, a curated collection of events in nature, art, music, yoga, and more. This week, youngsters can tour McCormick Observatory, take a yoga class for relaxation and stress reduction, pick up […]

Pick: War on Drugs

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 […]

Pick: Social Dance

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 […]

Pick: Accidental Death of an Anarchist

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 […]