A good musician’s relationship with the past is tricky. You want to move forward without entirely forsaking what you’ve already done. You don’t want it defining you when so much future defining lies ahead. It’s a dilemma Meshell Ndegeocello was thinking through at her dining room table in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, on a recent afternoon.
Ndegeocello happens to be much more than merely a good musician. She’s been playing professionally since the early 1990s and, at 55, is about to release her 14th album, a collection of songs that excites her. The past — the repertoire, the old stuff, the hits — can start to feel like “karaoke of myself,” she said, even if that’s never what it’s been like for us folks in the audience. Take her performances earlier this year at the Blue Note, the essential Greenwich Village jazz club.
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The New York Times - Thursday, August 1, 2024
Hancher and University of Iowa performing arts academic units announce 2024-2025 events
The Gazette - Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Hancher’s 52nd season brings a mix of Broadway and world-class stars shining on various stages, including soprano Renee Fleming on Oct. 24, pianist extraordinaire Emmanuel Ax on Feb. 8 and Riverdance from May 9 to 11, all on the Hancher Auditorium stage. Other season highlights: a free outdoor Fall Welcome Concert featuring Cory Wong, Dawes and Reyna Tropical on Aug. 29 on the Hancher Green; Chaka Kahn in concert Sept. 13 at Hancher; a new collaboration by Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham on Sept. 27 at the Englert Theatre; Patti Smith as the keynote performer at the second Infinite Dream festival Sept. 28 at Hancher.
Pollstar - Tuesday, June 4, 2024
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) unfurled the indie flag in the Big Easy this week during NIVA ’24, the third annual gathering of the independent live concert, comedy, promoter and festival industry held Monday through Wednesday in New Orleans.
KCRG - Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Iowa Radio Reading Information Service, or IRIS, is a free radio reading service that reads local print newspapers aloud to thousands of print-disabled listeners in the state. It’s run largely by volunteers, and also offers a unique service that aims to provide equal access to the arts.
On Thursday, IRIS Executive Director Maryfrances Evans provided live Audio Description to several blind audience members at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.
The Gazette - Thursday, April 25, 2024
The razzle-dazzle of Riverdance on Iowa City’s former Hancher stage tapped into Paul Amrani’s heart and soul at age 3. Now he’s 24, and returning home to share the razzle-dazzle of “Chicago” on the new Hancher stage, during four performances May 3-5.
He definitely remembers seeing Riverdance at that young age, although he’s not sure if his memories of the dance numbers are from seeing it live or from watching the VHS tape his folks bought that night.
University of Iowa Department of Dance - Thursday, April 25, 2024
As a kid growing up in artsy Iowa City with musician parents, Paul Amrani was steeped in the music and performing arts scene in Iowa City from a very young age. In fact, it was a performance of Riverdance at (pre-flood) Hancher Auditorium that convinced 3-year-old Paul that he wanted to be a professional dancer.
His parents worried that he might fidget or get bored, that he might not make it through the whole show. “But I was on the edge of my little seat the entire show,” Paul remembers.
“On the way home I asked my parents to help me become a dancer.”
His parents agreed, signing him up for dance classes in the UI Youth Ballet Program, and later through Nolte Academy. He went on to study at summer intensives with the Kansas City Ballet and Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL, and spent two years in the professional program at the Houston Ballet Academy.
University of Iowa School of Music - Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Brie Bevans will take to the Hancher stage as Morgan, one of the four principal characters (also referred to as “muses”) in Fierce. Her character takes her name from the Celtic goddess known for her ability to shape-shift―a powerful young woman who should not be trifled with.
Bevans is a fifth-year undergraduate in the UI School of Music studying vocal performance and music education. She has been involved in many shows including H.M.S. Pinafore (the UI’s spring opera production in 2022), Beauty and the Beast, and Freaky Friday. Brie also sings in the UI’s Black Pop Music Ensemble and performs lead vocals for her band, Joint Custody, which performs locally at venues in Iowa City.
The Daily Iowan - Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Nearly two years after debuting at the Cincinnati Opera, “Fierce” is coming to Iowa City’s Hancher Auditorium.
The 21st-century opera follows the trials and triumphs of four teenage girls as they discover their identities and purposes in the world. “Fierce” is running from April 26-27 at Hancher Auditorium.
Commissioned composer William Menefield and librettist Sheila Williams originated the opera at the Cincinnati Opera in 2022. The piece was created to mimic young women’s experiences coming of age in contemporary society.
Vesta―named after the Roman goddess of the Earth―is one of the four principal characters in Fierce, a new opera that follows four young girls (also referred to as “muses”) as they prepare for the next chapter of their lives. The opera—making its Iowa premiere—reflects the collaborative spirit of Performing Arts At Iowa and will be co-produced by the School of Music, the Performing Arts Production Unit, and Hancher Auditorium. Vesta, played by Madeline Yankell, is the youngest of the muses. She is naive, bubbly, and sometimes she takes refuge from life in a fantasy world full of otters.
Yankell is a graduate student in music education who recently defended her MA thesis on movement and choral singing. She has previously performed in La Traviata and Dialogues des Carmelites.