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Rothko Chapel - Brian Siskind: "Beat Hollow" We chat with ambient-music composer-performer, Brian Siskind, about Beat Hollow, a meditative sonic environment that he's created for The Rothko Chapel's 40th Anniversary! |
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Aurora Picture Show & CAMH - Video Jam with Michael Brims Video artist Michael Brims screens his latest creations as part of the Aurora Picture Show's July Video Jam at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. He chats about “Laugh and Listen,” a recent body of work consisting of filmed body parts! |
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A.D. Players - Jane Austen's Emma, adapted by Jon Jory Jane Austen's famous matchmater-heroine, Emma, becomes a "victim" of her own good intentions. Jon Jory, the former Artistic Director of the Actors Theater of Louisville, talks about his stage adaptation of Austen's novel, Emma, which is currently being presented by Houston's A.D. Players! |
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MFAH Artful Thursday - Michael Lasser presents "Cole Porter: Famous & Forgotten" What made the tunes of Cole Porter so clever, catchy, and memorable? Michael Lasser, host of the public radio program, Fascinatin' Rhythm, answers that question, as he chats about the great American songwriter, previewing his “Artful Thursday” lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. |
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Chorus Angelorum presents David Trendell's Choral Workshop Conductor David Trendell [pictured], his Vocal Quartet from London, along with organist Simon Nieminski, join us live in the Geary Performance Studio! They are in town to lead the 6th Biennial Choral Workshop hosted by Houston's Chorus Angelorum at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church. |
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Pacific Heights by Paul Harper New York Times-bestselling author, David Lindsey, returns to his native Texas under the pen name, Paul Harper, to talk about his new thriller, Pacific Heights. He reads excerpts from the novel at Murder By The Book. |
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TUTS - Urban Cowboy: The Musical Cast-member Susan Shofner performs two of the top country hits included in Urban Cowboy: The Musical, and we chat with the show's book-writer, Aaron Latham, previewing Theatre Under The Stars' new production! |
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Conductor George Daugherty tells us about Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, the Houston Symphony's “Summer in the City” concert, which combines live music with classic Looney Tunes shorts, including What's Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville, all projected on a big screen above the orchestra! |
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston - Marc Swanson Brooklyn-based visual artist, Marc Swanson, shows us his sculptural pieces, assembled out of bits and pieces gleaned from his personal experiences and relationships. The works are now on view in the exhibition, Perspectives 175: Marc Swanson: The Second Story, at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. |
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Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston - The Mikado We're off to the town of Titipu, where everyone is in love with the wrong person and the Lord High Executioner is itching to behead someone! Director and guest-star, Alistair Donkin, and lead players from the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston perform excerpts from their summer production of The Mikado. |
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The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block In his latest novel, Stefan Merrill Block re-imagines the story of his grandparents' real-life struggles in the cracks between language and sanity, memory and history, and life in the “normal” world versus that in a psychiatric hospital. The author chats about The Storm at the Door before his appearance at Houston's Blue Willow Bookshop. |
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Texas Repertory Theatre - Smokey Joe's Cafe Actors from the Texas Repertory Theatre Company -- led by Musical Director, Luke Kirkwood, and stage-director, Dan O'Brien -- perform songs from their production of Smokey Joe's Café, the musical revue featuring hits by the legendary song-writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who penned such chart-toppers as Jailhouse Rock, Love Potion No. 9, Yakety Yak and Stand By Me! |
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Alley Theatre - And Then There Were None One of the house-guests gathered for a weekend on a remote island … is a murderer! Alley Theatre Artistic Director, Gregory Boyd, talks about Agatha Christie's classic "whodunit," And Then There Were None, this year’s “Summer Chills” production. |
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The Grand - "A Ride with Bob" starring Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel Ray Benson -- the man, who is almost single-handedly carrying on the grand musical tradition of Western Swing -- and three members of his band, Asleep at the Wheel, perform for us! They treat us to tunes from A Ride With Bob: The Bob Wills Musical, being presented by The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. |
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Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting We talk with Michael Clarke, Director of the National Gallery of Scotland, about the traveling exhibition of paintings and drawings by Titian and other masters of the Venetian Renaissance, currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. |
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International Festival-Institute at Round Top - Conductor Ransom Wilson The Orchestra at Round Top pays tribute to the legendary Ballets Russes! Renowned flutist and conductor, Ransom Wilson, talks about the program of early 20th-century ballet scores he’ll conduct with the Texas Festival Orchestra on Festival Hill. |
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We pay our respects to American visual artist, Cy Twombly, who died yesterday in Rome at the age of 83. The icon had a close working relationship with The Menil Collection in Houston, whose Cy Twombly Gallery is devoted exclusively to the artist's works. |
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Lawndale Art Center - The Big Show We visit The Big Show at the Lawndale Art Center, the gallery's annual open-call, juried exhibition of work by emerging and under-represented visual artists who live in Southeast Texas! |
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American Festival for the Arts Composer Michael Remson [pictured], who is Executive & Artistic Director of the American Festival for the Arts, chats about this year’s AFA Summer Music Conservatory for middle-and high-school-aged musicians. Conductor-in-Residence, Barbara Scowcroft, previews the season-opening Orchestral concert of works by Mendelssohn, Dvorák and Tchaikovsky. Plus, Faculty Artists, Kathleen Staten (oboe) and Sean Heller (piano) play Mozart for us! |
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We have a pre-Independence Day performance by the Luxury Trio, a Houston-based jazz group whose drummer, Mike Henry, is co-owner of The Percussion Center. His musical partner, guitarist Lee Martin, is a Shepherd School of Music-trained composer who writes many of the jingles you hear in radio and TV commercials for local businesses! |
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It's an all-American musical salute in observance of the upcoming July 4th! The Paragon Brass Ensemble treats us to a Sousa march, a beloved patriotic melody and standards from the Great American Songbook, previewing the festivities taking place at the Bayou Bend Independence Day Celebration. |
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The Ensemble Theatre - Blues in the Night Three members of Houston’s Ensemble Theatre acting company perform soulful tunes from the 1930’s from the score for the musical revue, Blues in the Night. That production is making these hot summer nights even hotter at The Ensemble through the end of July. |
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Conductor Carlos Spierer talks about, and cellist Brinton Averil Smith plays excerpts from, the farewell concert that the 2011 Texas Music Festival Orchestra will present Saturday night in the UH Moores Opera House. |
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Houston Public Library's Public Poetry Reading Series We sample the goods as Bayou City poets, Loueva Smith and Radames Ortíz, share a couple of the verses that they’ll read Saturday afternoon at the Kendall Branch of the Houston Public Library on this month’s installment of the Library’s Public Poetry Reading Series. |
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International Festival-Institute at Round Top Conductor JoAnn Falletta talks about the symphonic program that she’ll lead this Saturday at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top with this year’s group of young musicians. |
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Murder by the Book - James Rollins book signing We talk with best-selling fiction writer, James Rollins, about his new novel, The Devil Colony. In this action-adventure, the heroes of Sigma Force must penetrate the heart of a clandestine faction that has been manipulating US history since the founding of the original fourteen colonies. James Rollins autographs copies of his newest page-turner, Wednesday evening at Murder by the Book. |
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Texas Music Festival Faculty-Artists Faculty artists from this year’s Texas Music Festival perform movements from the Piano Quintet by American composer, Arthur Foote, one of the pieces included on their final Perspectives chamber-music recital at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music Tuesday evening. |
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Museum of Fine Arts Houston exhibition: Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork At the Museum of Fine Arts Houston , we look at articles of clothing , hats, household accessories, containers and vessels, and room arrangements hand-crafted in such exquisite detail by New York artist Charles LeDray that they look real. They just happen to be small enough to fit inside of a dollhouse. |
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Ovations Night Club - Woody Witt CD release party Saxophonist Woody Witt -- assisted by guitarist, Chris Cortez , pianist Gary Norian, and a rhythm section of Houston’s finest -- gives us live readings of some of the tunes that appear on Woody’s brand-new album, Pots and Kettles, which he launched with a CD release concert and party at Ovations. |
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Houston Arts Alliance/Rothko Chapel - Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites Indian traditional singers, Jamuna Murali and Rajeshwary Bhat, lead their ensembles in performances of raga-based selections from the northern Hindustani and the southern Carnatic styles of Indian classical music. They preview the last of this year’s Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites programs, to be presented by the Houston Arts Alliance, Sunday afternoon at the Rothko Chapel. |
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Bayou City Concert Musicals - The History of the American Musical Theater Artistic Director Paul Hope of Bayou City Concert Musicals takes us back to the Seventies when Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber were emerging artists in the world of the Broadway musical. Mister Hope offers a taste of his summer lecture series, The History of the American Musical Theater, which takes place at Angie’s Little Rotary House. |
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Moores Opera House - Lachezar Kostov and the Texas Music Festival Orchestra Lachezar Kostov, and conductor Carl Saint Clair join us for a look ahead at their performance with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Saturday night at the University of Houston's Moores Opera House. |
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Houston Symphony - "Summer Symphony Nights" at Miller Outdoor Theatre Young American conductor, Joshua Weilerstein, and pianist, Benjamin Hochman preview tomorrow night's Houston Symphony Summer Symphony Nights concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre, which features Dvorak's Symphony Number 8 and Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 23. |
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston - Stan VanDerBeek We visit the exhibition, The Culture Intercom, featuring the works of media-art pioneer, Stan VanDerBeek, who explored the links between art, technology and communication. A survey of the late artist's experimental films, collages, multi-media and computer-generated pieces is currently on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. |
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Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival - Simply Grimm Singers from the Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival perform excerpts from Simply Grimm, their Fifth Annual showcase for new chamber operas, celebrating the darker side of fairy tales. Three of those creative musicians -- Michael Remson, Kurt Erickson and Omari Tau -- join us in the studio to chat about their works, which offer twisted re-tellings of the stories of Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. |
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International Festival-Institute - Christoph Campestrini Today, conductor Christoph Campestrini talks about Gustav Mahler's Ninth and last completed Symphony, which Maestro Campestrini conducts Saturday afternoon at the International Festival-Institute in Round Top, Texas. |
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Society for the Performing Arts - Chicago TV actor John O'Hurley, from Seinfeld and Dancing with the Stars, talks about his lead role as the dashing but conniving lawyer, Billy Flynn in the Broadway musical, Chicago. Society for the Performing Arts brings the national tour of Chicago to the Wortham Center for a week's run, beginning tonight. |
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Texas Music Festival Faculty-Artists Texas Music Festival Faculty-Artists perform live for us. Soprano Melanie Sonnenberg, violinist Zuo Jun, and pianist Timothy Hester offer excerpts from Sensuous Perfume, a program of romantic and early-twentieth-century chamber works, plus a World Premier by David Ashley White, Director of the University of Houston's Moores School of Music. That concert is the next installment in the TMF Perspectives Series, this evening at the U of H Moores Opera House. |
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Main Street Theater - Blithe Spirit Director Claire Hart-Palumbo and actor Joel Sandel talk about Main Street Theater's production of Blithe Spirit, Noel Coward's comedy about a successful writer who decides to delve into the occult for his next novel only to conjure up the ghost of his late first wife. This leads to unfortunate but hilarious consequences for his current marriage! |
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The Ensemble Theatre - Trouble in Mind African-American theater companies around the country are presenting staged readings of Trouble in Mind by the pioneering Black playwright, Alice Childress. Houston's Ensemble Theatre is participating in that initiative, and we talk with director, Wayne DeHart [pictured], and cast member, Ron Jones, about The Ensemble's reading of that ground-breaking comedy-drama. |
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Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver We enter the brave new world of Bond … James Bond. Best-selling author, Jeffery Deaver, puts his own contemporary spin on Ian Fleming's classic spy character in his new “James Bond” thriller, Carte Blanche. We chat with Mr. Deaver, who tells us what 007 is up to in 2011! |
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Classical Minds Guitar Institute - Martha Masters & Ernesto Tamayo Guitarists Ernesto Tamayo and Martha Masters [pictured] of the “Classical Minds” Guitar Institute at the Texas Music Festival perform live for us! They treat us to selections from their faculty concert at the University of Houston's Dudley Recital Hall. |
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International Festival-Institute at Round Top - Pascal Verrot French conductor Pascal Verrot talks about the next Texas Festival Orchestra Concert at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top. It’s a program of Ravel, Roussel and Rachmaninoff, with Georgian pianist, Eteri Andjaparidze, serving as soloist in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4! |
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We talk with Sara Draper of Dancepatheatre [pictured] and Alex Soares and Lindsey Thompson of Suchu Dance. All three have choreographed new pieces that will be featured on the final weekend of the 9th Annual Big Range Dance Festival at the Barnevelder Theatre. |
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Classical Minds Guitar Institute Guitarists Randall Avers [pictured] and the Presti Trio, who are serving as faculty at this week’s “Classical Minds” Guitar Institute at the Moores School of Music, perform for us! They preview the recital they’ll give tomorrow evening at the University of Houston. |
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Texas Music Festival - Conductor Mei-Ann Chen Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, talks about the all-American program of works by Jennifer Higdon and Aaron Copland that she’ll conduct with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands and at the University of Houston’s Moores Opera House. |
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Stages Repertory Theatre - The Great American Trailer Park Musical We hear songs from The Great American Trailer Park Musical, the longest-running show in the history of Stages Repertory Theatre, brought back by popular demand in a brand-new production! The cast, along with Musical Director Steven Jones, bring to life the show's goofy tunes about its trailer-park divas … their bad perms … and their no-good men! |
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Titian's Mythological Paintings - A Lecture by Dr. Louis Markos The paintings of the great Renaissance artist, Titian, that were inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses are powerful, erotic and ultimately tragic. Louis Markos, Professor of English at Houston Baptist University, explores the meanings behind those mythological paintings, currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the focus of this month’s “Artful Thursday” lecture. |
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Exploring the Mind through Music Shepherd School of Music composer, Anthony Brandt [pictured], and his Rice University faculty colleague, Suzanne Lemmer, an expert on linguistics and cognitive sciences, talk about Exploring the Mind through Music, a cross-disciplinary conference taking place in Houston this week, offering new understandings of music’s role in human cognition. |
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Texas Music Festival - Webster Trio Flutist Leone Buyse, clarinetist Michael Webster and pianist Robert Moeling of the Webster Trio play live for us! They perform selections from New World Visions, a program of works generated from Czech composer Antonín Dvorák’s time in America. The concert is part of the Texas Music Festival’s Perspectives faculty-artist chamber recital series. |
