At 7:30 sharp on a recent Monday evening, Michael Slon, conductor of The Oratorio Society of Virginia, took his place before the chorus. “Deep breath in, blow it out,” Slon said, and the Municipal Arts Center on Fifth Street filled with the sound of 83 sopranos, altos, tenors, baritones, and basses, warming up for their weekly […]
At 7:30 sharp on a recent Monday evening, Michael Slon, conductor of The Oratorio Society of Virginia, took his place before the chorus. “Deep breath in, blow it out,” Slon said, and the Municipal Arts Center on Fifth Street filled with the sound of 83 sopranos, altos, tenors, baritones, and basses, warming up for their weekly […]
Even before founding his own group Inner Rhythm in 1990, Robert Jospé never couched himself in one particular style. Marrying different ethno-musical elements such as Latin percussion, Caribbean dance, and traditional bebop and swing, his singular percussive voice snatches aspects from the ordered chaos of Brazilian polyrhythm, ’40s big band, and the feverish heat of […]
Sarah White and Sian Richards are the All-New Acorn Sisters, and bedecked in glittery angel wings and party dresses, full of holiday cheer and biting wit, they bring you the 10th annual Sarah White Country Christmas. Jim Waive & the Young Divorcees perform a variety of down-home country tunes, and the Acorn Sisters frequently join […]
While most of us are keeping pace with the holiday bustle, country music superstar Wynonna is taking herself out of the madness this year. “I’m not doin’ it,” she said. “I’m just not. Not after what I’ve been through this past year.” In addition to the rigors of touring, recording, and reality TV appearances, she’s […]
Lively choreography and four-part harmonies add Broadway brilliance to the holiday season as the original cast of Jersey Boys reunites onstage as The Midtown Men. Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and J. Robert Spencer have kept their musical brotherhood alive since 2007 with hundreds of headlining performances, and now they add holiday hits and […]
There’s a scene in Animal House where John Belushi’s character Bluto walks by a folk singer strumming a tune in the Delta Tau Chi fraternity house. He listens to the lyrics for a moment—“I gave my love a chicken that had no bones” —before smashing the guitar against the wall and handing it back to […]
At 11 years old, Kate Tamarkin sat in a dark Laguna Beach, California theater, her mouth gaping, flabbergasted at the boisterous sounds produced by the singers in a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors. “I had not ever heard opera before,” said Tamarkin, who 40 years later is now the director of the Charlottesville & […]
Throughout last year, I kept hearing the name Guardian Alien. At first I wasn’t at all curious. The band name led me to the assumption that it was “some sort of dubstep or chillwave thing,” and its record sleeve—a watercolor drawing of an alien with dreadlocks, holding a repeating version of the record itself—was easily […]
Don’t fret if you missed Joseph Arthur’s well-hyped recent album Boogie Christ, because the highly regarded musical talent has just released a follow-up entitled The Ballad of Boogie Christ Act 2. Arthur is a poet, artist, and musician from the Midwest who got his first record deal after sending Peter Gabriel a demo. Add on […]
For Nashville-based singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale there was never any doubt that a career in music was in her future. “My family owns a music shop in Pittsburgh,” she said. “I started taking lessons and as soon as I knew enough chords, I started writing songs.” Annibale has four self-releases to her name including 2013’s Words […]