An intimate set at The Pinhook last Monday found the group playing music by Laurie Anderson, Aphex Twin, and more.
Todd Morman
Posted inArt
Raleigh’s Sandy Jarrell illustrates an unusually nuanced alien invasion in Meteor Men
METEOR MEN METEOR MEN By Jeff Parker and Sandy Jarrell Oni Press; 128 pgs. Why are most of the pop-culture aliens of the last few years so boring? Even in generally fun moviesThe Avengers, Pacific Rim, Attack the Blockthe aliens are almost completely defined by one characteristic: They attack. Extraterrestrials with complexity, who challenge our […]
Posted inMusic
Live: NC Opera presents a stripped-down excerpt of Tristan and Isolde
Is there a contest for most ambitious arts organization in the Triangle? Because I’d like to nominate the North Carolina Opera. Last Sunday, at Meymandi Concert Hall, the organization performed the Prelude and Act Two of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, an opera with extremely difficult music and two of the most demanding singing roles […]
Posted inMusic
New Yorker critic Alex Ross talks interpreting Wagner
One thing is certain about anyone who attends New Yorker music critic Alex Ross‘ talk this afternoon at 4:15 p.m. in UNC’s Gerrard Hall: that person will learn something fascinating about Richard Wagner and his effect on American culture in the late 1800s. Alex Ross is one of the most consistently engaging, erudite and readable […]
Posted inMusic
Live: NC Opera’s Rusalka thrills at Meymandi Concert Hall
NC Opera’s Rusalka Meymandi Concert Hall Sunday, March 30 Before last Sunday, I would never have recommended a “semi-staged” opera performance—that is, one which sacrifices some sets, costumes and stage movement to save costs while still allowing an audience to hear the music—as a show gripping enough for a new opera fan. But the North […]
Posted inCulture
Arts review: A Raleigh-ite does Durham’s Third Friday
Before you judge me for never having made the drive from Raleigh to Durham’s Third Friday gallery hop until last week, or for having had only the vaguest guess before last weekend about what the Scrap Exchange actually looked like, I have a good excuse. RTP. Seriously. While Research Triangle Park arguably had a point […]
Posted inCulture
An impressive show of video art at Flanders Gallery
It must be something about March, but many of my standard Raleigh gallery stops didn’t have new openings this past First Friday. Luckily, that gave me a chance to revisit frames per second, a consistently fascinating, richly meditative video art show at Flanders Gallery. If you’re in Chapel Hill or Durham and routinely stick to […]
Posted inMusic
The N.C. Symphony opens an adventurous season in September
When I asked the new general manager and the artistic administrator of the North Carolina Symphony what they might do to reach a younger generation of music fans, they replied, at first, with an awkward pause. Flyers at rock clubs like Kings, maybe? Publicizing $10 student tickets more? Commercials on college radio stations? Anything? In […]
Posted inMusic
Live: NC Opera presents La Bohème in Raleigh’s big room
North Carolina Opera presents La Boheme Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh Sunday, Jan. 26 There are two questions I always find myself asking after watching a performance by the North Carolina Opera: Was this a creditable presentation for a second- or third-tier U.S. opera company, and was it something I would recommend to non-opera fans? After seeing […]
Posted inMusic
At Duke, Imani Winds beautifully blurs the boundaries of chamber music
Imani Winds Baldwin Auditorium, Duke Performances It’s tough being a woodwinds fan in the Triangle. For every small wind group that passes through the area, you can choose from at least a dozen string quartet and piano concerts—really, I counted. Throw in a preference for unusual and/or modern repertoire in the face of programmers’ heavy […]