Author: Mark Arnest
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Summer arts extravaganza
The Colorado College Summer Music Festival will enter new territory Sunday and Monday when soprano Measha Brueggergosman, a quartet of vocal soloists, the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble and the festival’s student orchestra conducted by Scott Yoo christen the Cornerstone Arts Theater with performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.” …
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‘Nixon’ doesn’t feel like opera but succeeds in unique course
DENVER – In Colorado, one usually looks to Central City for once-in-a-lifetime operatic experiences. But this season’s unique surprise comes from Opera Colorado in Denver, where the company stakes out new ground with the John Adams’ massive “Nixon in China.” It’s not an opera for everyone, or even every opera lover. Nobody falls in love, dies…
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3-day festival fuses fine art, crafts, music
This weeked’s Pikes Peak Arts Fest will be packed with activities, including the most ambitious musical program in the fine art and craft festival’s four-year history.What there won’t be is quite as much art as in previous years, a situation that organizer Marica Hefti ascribes to the economy.It wasn’t that Heffti didn’t receive plenty of…
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Local artist makes it big
Local sculptor Sean O’Meallie is poised to hit the big time.And in this case, “big” means 20 feet tall and over 3 tons – the size of “Cowboy Pajamas,” which will be installed this month in downtown Denver.”To work on this scale, and to be asked to do it – not have to go through…
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Springs Philharmonic picks youthful energy for leadership
In its search for a new executive director, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic has chosen youthful energy over decades of experience, hiring 34-year-old Nathan Newbrough to lead the Pikes Peak region’s only professional orchestra.Newbrough will start in August, replacing Susan Greene, who helped create the orchestra out of the ashes of the bankrupt Colorado Springs Symphony…
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Retrospective spans genres without losing spontaneity
At first glance, the Ellen O’Brien retrospective that opens today at Cucuru Gallery and Cafe is almost bewildering: The work ranges from realism, to several flavors of modernism, to pure abstraction. “Ellen went through every art scene, but also kept herself in her work,” said artist Ceil Horowitz, who organized the show. For O’Brien’s…
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Musical closes Thursday recital series season
An era will end with “Desperate Musical Housewives,” the Thursday Night Recital Series’ season finale. It will be the series’ last concert at the Louisa Performing Arts Center, the Colorado Springs School venue that’s housed the series since 2001. The reason for the series’ move is simply rising prices, said producer David Sckolnik. “It’s…
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First peek
The art show will take a back seat to the venue when “Phylum” opens today at Colorado College’s Cornerstone Arts Center. “Phylum” will be interesting enough. The video installation by artists Lane Hall and Lisa Moline integrates music with images taken through an electron microscope – though it may be more meaningful if you’re familiar…
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That’s the ticket!
Season ticket packages are an easy way to save money on the performing arts – though it costs money to save money.Several performing arts groups have already announced their 2008-09 seasons, and the rest will come shortly.In some cases, season tickets confer more perks than cash. You get first dibs on seating. Other perks include…
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Self-aware characters fuel interactive play
In some respects, Neil and Feck – the title characters in Theatre ‘d Art’s season finale – are relatively typical college students. “They’re younger guys,” said playwright Brian Mann. “They’re kind of philosophical, kind of lazy, and they drink a lot.” Sounds normal enough. But the pair differ from their fellow characters in Mann’s…