2006 October

Mandolinist Chris Thile (Th as in thin; rhymes with freely) faces a dilemma that he shares with other creative figures at his rare ability level: having outstripped other players technically by the time he was about sixteen, he...

Donald Walden may not want to be reminded that he has been playing the saxophone for almost half a century, but there is no other way that one can attain the musical depth he demonstrates every time he takes the stage. Some...

Some would argue — heck, I would argue — that Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio may be his best chamber work. Deeper than his magisterial Piano Quintet, more objective than his magnificent string quartets, and perhaps more...

Eek! It moves! The fifteen-foot-tall white paper snake in the front window descends into a pancake-stack of tidy origami folds as its companion snake, connected to the right by rope and pulleys, ascends to the ceiling, startling...

"Buddy and Julie Miller, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Steve Earle, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, and lots more!" reads the favorites list of vocalist Rachel Lynn of the Hummingbirds, sent to me in an e-mail. Lynn and...

Having heard Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra play the First, Second, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Symphonies of Dmitry Shostakovich last season and lived to tell the tale, the only question I have left is this: How many more...

In the popular culture that dominates our times, accordionists have to fight for their dignity, countering dull stereotypes. And perhaps because they get no respect, a small number of them have been making an unusually striking...

Martha Graham is synonymous with American modern dance, her shadow on the field as strong and deep as the signature contractions her dancers execute. Known for her expressive and angular technique, female protagonists, and...

The time: a warm evening this past July. The setting: a Gallo-Roman amphitheater in France during the Nice Jazz Festival. My buddy and I were fortunate to be backstage, but we soon realized it was not the best vantage point from...

Even if you know nothing about theater, you might guess that the Royal Shakespeare Company, based in London and Stratford-upon-Avon, is to Shakespeare what the Vatican is to the Catholic Church. When it comes to town October...

Abigail Washburn is one of the G'Earls — a member of the all-girl string band Uncle Earl (which has its roots here in Ann Arbor but now tours the country and wins all manner of tasty awards). One of the strengths of...

The intersection of language and landscape has always been central to the work of Barry Lopez. How do we — particularly we non-Native North Americans — imagine the landscape we have come to inhabit, and where do we...