Laura Durham is the Director of Programming and Engagement for PBS Utah. She curates projects and plans events that utilize local and national media to provide entertainment and meaningful dialogue beyond broadcast. Prior to PBS Utah, Laura worked at the Division of Arts & Museums for 15 years, served as Vice President of the Salt Lake Gallery Association, Program Director for the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, and was a board member for the Utah Cultural Alliance.
The Utah Symphony has brilliantly branded what they do as “classically charged.” They want you to see what they do as energetic, exciting, and new. But sometimes symphonic music is charged with being either boring (when it comes to the old, fuddy duddy stuff), or inaccessible (when it […]
Jesse Quebbeman-Turley is a drummer — when he enrolled in college and began his jazz studies major, his stated goal was “to play drums professionally.” What he didn’t expect was to become a composer. “Drummers don’t write songs” he laughs. “Composers are serious people, and I’m a drummer.” […]
Last year NOVA Chamber Music Series expanded their programming by adding a Gallery Series. This Sunday, NOVA presents the second season of the Gallery Series at Finch Lane with the final installment of Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano, paired with newer works by Wolfgang Rihm, performed […]
Thomas Schulte Tacoral 1982 Copper and aluminum On June 30, 1980, a storm in Salt Lake City blew copper off the Utah State Capitol dome. In an attempt to salvage the copper and preserve a significant piece of Utah history (the copper was installed in 1916), Governor Scott […]
In Utah’s 15: The State’s Most Influential Artists, the publication to accompany our current exhibit at the Rio Gallery, Laura Durham tells the story of how Ririe-Woodbury Dance was born. It began with job sharing. Joan Woodbury, one of the honorees in this our new program, says she and Shirley […]
When Eric Morley was asked to identify a market gap for his “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” class at Westminster College, his thoughts led him to the emerging artist. His partner Marcus Gibby is an artist who had unsuccessfully exhibited at local coffee shops and salons. “I thought if he was having […]
Jason Hardink spent this past summer exploring the music of 20th Century Greek composer Iannis Xenakis — the Artistic Director of NOVA Chamber Music Series tells us he was planning to program their season opener with three Xenakis works: a solo piano piece and two solo percussion pieces. But, […]
As summer begins to simmer, so does outdoor concert season. We’ve had our fun in the sun, but performers are moving back indoors as are audiences. The temps may be cooling down, but the regular concert season is just warming up. Here are some big concerts sneaking up […]
A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image. Joan Didion, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live. Standing at the mouth of Emigration […]
If you missed our awards reception at Finch Lane Friday night you were not privy to the winners of our new program “Utah’s 15 Most Influential Artists”. These past couple months we asked our readership to nominate the artists they felt have changed the cultural landscape of our […]
Lend Me A Tenor The Musical, written by SUU’s own Peter Sham & Brad Carroll, made its world premiere at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City in 2007. Earlier this month, it made its German debut at Oper Leipzig. Based on the award-winning West End and Broadway […]
You may not have realized it, but this has been a season of Mendelssohn for the Utah Symphony. Music Director Thierry Fischer programmed Felix Mendelssohn’s five symphonies for the 2012-2013 season and this weekend the Symphony will conclude the performance cycle with a concert featuring the first and […]
“Writing music has to do with your version of what you think music is — and it’s hard to have it taken at just that,” explains Salt Lake City composer Morris Rosenzweig. “People often think you’re trying to make some kind of point, but I don’t think that’s […]
This Friday and Saturday Westminster will showcase its first fully-staged opera. Written by Henry Purcell in 17th Century England, the opera is 400 years old, but you wouldn’t know it watching this particular production. Those familiar with the story know Dido as the queen of Carthage in ancient […]
‘Tis the Season for Singing Have you decked your halls? Do you have frosted windowpanes? Is it cold outside, Baby? Well then. In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas. As tempting as it is to stay inside, roasting chestnuts on an open fire with your cocoa and […]
A profile of violinist Frances Darger, who has been performing with the Utah Symphony for 68 years.
Laura Durham sits down with Nancy Boskoff as she retires from the Salt Lake Arts Council.
“Tenors are seen as being a little neurotic,” explains singer (and tenor) Brian Stucki, “and I think it’s because it’s a high wire act. The demands on the tenor are greater than the demands on just about any other part. The big notes are a big deal and […]
