CultureMap Video

Mad Max, Poltergeist and Shakespeare merge: Opera in the Heights embraces the supernatural

By Joel Luks

01.31.13 | 1:36 pm

It's quite possible that Giuseppe Verdi didn't understand one word of William Shakespeare's Macbeth when he saw it for the first time. Scholars say that the Italian Romantic c ...

CultureMap Video Interview

Cathy Rigby's secret of youth: Stage kids keep 60-year-old Peter Pan star flying high

By Joel Luks

12.19.12 | 1:10 pm

Can you really claim to be the same person you were two decades ago? People change, people grow up, people mature — so we hope.  Cathy Rigby, the Olympic gymnast turned Broadway ...

Musical Feat

Step inside Frank Huang's practice room: Taking Tchaikovsky's masterpiece in two days' notice

By Joel Luks

11.03.12 | 9:00 am

Two days' notice … As Houston Symphony concertmaster Frank Huang followed the development of superstorm Sandy, he casually proposed that in the unfortunate case that violinist August ...

CultureMap Art & About Video

Did Richard Strauss get it right? Texas Music Festival ponders what happens after death with epic Superman opus

By Joel Luks

06.22.12 | 10:37 am

It's often said that good composers borrow, great composers steal. Immortal composers are those from whom great composers steal. Though some may not be able to hum the melodies of Richard S ...

CultureMap Art & About Video

Behind the scenes at Texas Music Festival: A look at how students prepare for a joyful Opening

By Joel Luks

06.08.12 | 5:27 pm

For the 23rd Annual Immanuel & Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival, maestro Franz Anton Krager is pushing his talented orchestra fellowship students to their tuneful limits. His rational ...

Center for Performing Arts Medicine Open Rehearsal: Houston Chamber Choir

05.14.12

An open rehearsal of Leonard Bernstein's sacred music and music for the theater, this event includes Chichester Psalms, "Almighty Father" and "Simple Song" from Mass, &

When Annie met Sandy

With a hometown Annie and a stray pup, life at TUTS clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow

By Joel Luks

03.12.12 | 11:50 am

"Tomorrow" is everyone's favorite Annie ballad. (Think: What's Annie without "Tomorrow"? Nothing. That's why there's a reprise.) During that refrain, the re ...

Practice Peek

Behind closed doors: Ballet and Bubbles gives young professionals a rare inside look at Houston Ballet

By Joel Luks

10.05.11 | 1:15 pm

A slim extension of a dancer's port de bras refashions the movement's narrative quality distinctly. A slight hesitation leading up to a fouetté en tournant affixes a touch of yearnin ...

Open Rehearsal: Suchu Dance's Make Eyes at Me

09.20.11

Curious how contemporary dance comes together? Attend one of Suchu Dance's open rehearsals and see how the contemporary company is working through Make Eyes at Me, scheduled for Oct.