As the last note was held, the auditorium became quieter and quieter. All that was left was your heart beating in your chest. You could hear a pin drop. Scissors would struggle to cut the tension. As the conductor lowered his hands, the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation.
On Nov. 17, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra took the stage at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. The event took place on Hadley Stage, a vast concert hall with high, looming ceilings hung with abstract light fixtures.
Under conductor Stéphane Denève, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presented an exploration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music “from London to Vienna.” From his first symphonic work composed at age eight to his symphony brought about by the death of his mother, the performance covered it all.
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The Gazette - Thursday, November 14, 2024
Improvisation isn’t the usual part of classical chamber music training, but stepping into the unusual has been freeing for members of PUBLIQuartet.
The New York-based string quartet is making its first trip to Iowa City for a Hancher performance Nov. 21, along with student workshops.
“We believe everybody can improvise. We’re improvising right now as we speak, and interacting spontaneously,” violinist Jannina Norpoth said during a recent Zoom interview with The Gazette and violist Nick Revel.
“We’ve done improvisation workshops for all ages, all levels. We’ve even done them for non-musicians,” Norpoth added. “It’s really fun to challenge people’s creativity and watch them go to a place that might be uncomfortable for them, and rise to overcome that challenge.”
Little Village - Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Brian Quijada is an Emmy-nominated playwright, actor and composer. He also happens to be a University of Iowa Theatre Arts alumnus, getting his start as an undergrad that ended up double majoring in English and Theatre.
Quijada has returned to Iowa City for a visit culminating in a performance with collaborator Nygel D. Robinson on Hancher Auditorium’s Club Hancher Stage. LV theater columnist Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers talked with Quijada about his roots at UI, his success since undergrad and how telling his specific immigrant story has become a mission statement.
For Rudy Francisco, one of the most widely known spoken word artists in modern poetry, it started with a feeling. When he first saw a spoke word poem performed, he knew exactly what the poet was feeling.
Decades later, it’s a tactility he delivers to audiences around the world.
The San Diego native, 42, uses personal narratives that discuss the politics of social classes — race, class, gender and religion — while reinforcing the interconnected nature of humans. After 25 years touring, his poems have, in ways, acted as a skill set that connects wordsmiths and casual listeners alike.
The Gazette - Thursday, October 24, 2024
Complexions Contemporary Ballet has brought its message of unity to stages in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. Next up, the company’s Hancher debut in Iowa City on Nov. 1. Then it’s back to New York and on to Detroit before the holidays, followed by stops in Chicago and the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., among other major sites in the new year.
So how does Iowa City fit in with the big cities?
“Complexions is that company that really wants to go everywhere, wants to bring our brand, our message, who we are,” cofounder, co-artistic director and principal choreographer Dwight Rhoden, 61, told The Gazette by phone from his Los Angeles home. He divides his time between the West Coast and New York City, where the company has been based since he established it with fellow dancer Desmond Richardson in 1994.
Los Angeles Times - Wednesday, October 9, 2024
The old-fashioned song (or Lieder) recital — a singer in formal attire stoically standing next to a grand piano delivering art songs in foreign languages, unamplified in a concert hall far too large for intimacy — has obviously long needed refreshing. Indeed, it has all but disappeared from American stages.
But enter Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines. Each came through town recently with a highly personal and revealing recital program of intense intimacy and theatrical originality, boldly proclaiming a new generation’s profound rebirth of the medium.
The sky overhead City Park in Iowa City was clear, a dome of deep blue. Under that sky, more than 100 musicians arranged in concentric circles around conductor Steven Schick, their legs folded in lotus positions. Schick stood up and brought a sea shell to his mouth. The sound was almost imperceptible, only the friction of the air he blew as it entered the shell. Schick filled his lungs, tipped his head back and blew again.
My Impression Now - Sunday, September 29, 2024
On Friday afternoon, Patti Smith stood on stage at the Englert Theatre and shuffled through papers and books like an absent-minded creative writing teacher in a lecture hall, looking for the right poem to read as she took her glasses off and put them back on, apologizing for being a bit disorganized. She was an endearing presence, like a favorite aunt who always manages to bring the right gift even if it is wrapped haphazardly in yesterday's comics section.
On Saturday night, Smith was a commanding stage presence — fierce in one moment, disarmingly charming the next — as she led her powerful band through a career's worth of musical highlights.
The Gazette - Thursday, September 19, 2024
Unique entertainment is difficult to uncover in this age in which the masses seemed to have seen it all. And then comes along a show featuring pianist/composer Conrad Tao and dancer/choreographer Caleb Teicher.
The tandem’s “Counterpoint” event, aptly part of Hancher’s “Infinite Dream” festival, is slated for Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. Tao and Teicher will explore harmonic, rhythmic and theatrical counterpoints through a blend of sound and movement
“It is a unique show,” Teicher said. “I think audiences who usually go to music concerts are really engaged by the dancing. I think dance audiences are thrilled by the live music and the very different performative style of the show.”
My Impression Now - Monday, September 16, 2024
Leaving the second of two sets by the Julian Lage Trio on Sunday night, I was followed out by what I assumed were students in the University of Iowa jazz program. All were marveling at what they had just heard, one saying, "I need a drink, because I'll probably never play like that."
With all due respect, I'm going to suggest upgrading that qualifier right now. Practice all you want, son, but you are definitely not ever going to play like that. I have a Telecaster just like Lage, but even if I practiced from now until the end of my days and somehow was able to stand on that same stage with the exact same setup, it wouldn't happen.