It’s the annual, summer workshop-international-academy piano festival. That one. With all ears on the Van Cliburn Amateur Competition this week, you haven’t noticed that the 30th anniversary of PianoTexas is sneaking up on us. And it’s going to go mad-crazy with Beethoven. Just wall-to-wall Ludwig.
All of the participants in the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, underway in Fort Worth, must play the same piano. KERA’s Bill Zeeble, a classical music fan, finds that this year’s instrument provokes some strong reactions.
In Fort Worth Opera’s production of Handel’s ‘Julius Caesar,’ there are three roles originally written for castrati — including Caesar himself. When Handel’s Italian operas became popular again in the 20th century, that presented an awkward problem. Welcome back – the countertenor.
If they’re smart, they evacuate the theater. But at the Fort Worth Opera’s opening night of ‘Hydrogen Jukebox,’ they had to do it twice.
Today in the roundup: Follow the Cliburn amateur competition from your desk, plus the DMA sets up a show and hands out some cash.
If you’ve seen Fort Worth Opera’s updated staging of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, then you know that the Segway plays a roll in moving some of the characters around the stage. And as you can imagine, singing on a Segway takes practice.
North Texas arts organizations received 10 grants from the National Endowment for the Arts — for a total of $275,000. The projects supported include tours to small towns in Texas, better online access, stilt dancing and a Genghis Khan exhibition.
Il Trovatore opens Saturday night and one Big Deal winner will be there with a pair of orchestra seats.
Andres Franco, the Fort Worth Symphony’s associate conductor, is one of 10 finalists in an event next week that hopes to become the Van Cliburn of conducting competitions.
I know, I know, I know – you’re watching the Mavs game tonight. You’ve only been waiting for it for more than a week now, and it’s finally here. But remember – tipoff’s not until 8, and you need something to watch beforehand. Might I recommend They Came to Play, which airs at 7 on KERA and serves as a civilized apéritif for the knock down, drag out action at the AAC up next.
