The Review Is In

Goose bumps from blastoff to Orbit: Houston Symphony space show somehow exceeds the buzz

By Joel Luks

02.20.12 | 10:34 am

Standing motionless and transfixed, maestro Giancarlo Guerrero let the sound of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring dissipate into the abyss that is Jones Hall before anyone in the audience ...

Pick Five (Plus)

Your weekly guide to Houston: Mardi Gras balls, a French valentine, Dream Out Loud fundraiser and a dance orgy

By Joel Luks

02.16.12 | 12:30 pm

Buyse rhymes with spicy. That's how Shepherd School of Music flute professor Leone Buyse first introduced herself to me years before I would become her pupil. That same vivacious spirit ca ...

CultureMap Video

Out of this world: An exclusive sneak preview of Orbit, Houston Symphony's new space wonder

By Joel Luks

12.16.11 | 6:02 am

When a venture has great results, there's only one logical thing to do: Repeat it. The Houston Symphony knew it was onto something good with The Planets - An HD Odyssey, a collaboratio ...

Is opera political?

Houston Grand Opera tackles politics, love & devotion in Beethoven's operatic masterpiece, Fidelio

By Joseph Campana

10.27.11 | 7:05 pm

Illegal detention, political prisoners and the unpunished crimes of the powerful: Sound familiar? I’m not talking about contemporary politics, but rather Beethoven’s operatic master ...

Rare Birds

Speaking to tragedy: 9/11 in music and memory

By Chris Becker

09.09.11 | 3:48 pm

CultureMap recently asked a group of Houston arts community leaders to explain "why the arts are important." Their answers, all concise and heartfelt, were beautifully condensed in the fo ...

20/21 Contemporary Ensemble

10.17.10

The 20/21 Contemporary Ensemble, a student-run company at the Shepherd School of Music, features works by John Adams, Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki, and György Ligeti. "Fevers and

Keep it down kids

Hans' Bier Haus is free to party on: Rice Village bar keeps its liquor license, dodging closure in condo feud

By Chris Baldwin

07.02.10 | 8:19 pm

Fans of Hans' Bier Haus have another reason to raise a glass in celebration this Fourth of July weekend. Forget John Adams and that whole independence-from-the-British thing. Hans is s ...

trendysomething in somo

#OverIt: The Fourth of July is so last year

By Steven Thomson

07.02.10 | 3:52 pm

Nothing says "not cool" like earnestness. For the current generation of young people, to be eager about anything, whether it be paying art school student loans, protesting a decade-old wa ...

Popp Culture

Happy 2nd of July! John Adams gave me premium cable, the least we can do is celebrate the proper day

By Steve Popp

07.02.10 | 2:26 pm

Every Fourth of July, I give thanks to John Adams for helping to facilitate our difficult separation from Great Britain. Recently, I've been thanking him for prompting me to subscribe to H ...

1776 screening at MFAH

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

07.04.10

Get in the spirit of Independence Day with a showing of the revolutionary musical, 1776. Follow John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson through the events leading up to the signing of th