Weis Center for the Performing Arts Blog

Posts Tagged ‘performance review’

Sunday, February 4th, 2024

Unique Staging of “Song of the North” delights the Weis Center

“You are all VIPs tonight!” Hamid Rahmanian told the packed Weis Center auditorium during the introduction to Tuesday night’s show. And we certainly were. Rahmanian’s Song of the North would be a treat for the senses under any circumstance, but the Weis Center was treated to a very special “behind the scenes” experience. The large scale shadow puppet theatre, which includes over 500 puppets and a team of 9 actors, is usually set up with the giant screen facing the audience and the projectors, actors, and puppets backstage. But because of the size of the Weis Center’s stage, the whole […]

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Posted by on February 4, 2024

Tuesday, April 17th, 2018

Diversity at Home with the Silkroad Ensemble

Our 30th Anniversary Season is nearing its close and Saturday, April 14 marked the final in-house performance with Grammy Award-winning musical collective the Silkroad Ensemble. Silkroad redefines classical music through the presentation and celebration of artists from different nationalities and musical traditions. The group is comprised of  over three dozen musicians representing countries like Korea, Kazakhstan, China, and the United States. On Saturday we were introduced to ten ensemble members who performed with instruments unique to their cultures including the Spanish bagpipe, the pipa, the violin, the piano, and the gong. Listing all of these instruments as a part of one […]

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Posted by on April 17, 2018

Monday, March 26th, 2018

Classical Music with a Taste of Cuba

Classical music is a Weis Center specialty. Our architecturally striking and acoustically excellent performance hall suits the intricacies of the genre very well and the Weis Center was able to showcase this the evening of March 22 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. The performance featured Yekwon Sunwoo, renown South Korean pianist and gold medalist of the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Sunwoo also graduated from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and, interestingly enough, performed in the Atrium Lobby of the Weis Center back in 2014. The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba is one of the oldest and […]

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Posted by on March 26, 2018

Monday, March 5th, 2018

Lorelei Ensemble Dazzles Weis Center

The Weis Center is no stranger to hosting talented vocal performance groups. Artists representing diverse cultures and vocal styles have graced our stage over the years and while Thursday’s March 1 Lorelei Ensemble performance may fall in the “vocal group” category, the transcendent vocal magic created by the ladies of Lorelei belongs in a category of its own. Lorelei consists of nine all-professional female vocalists whose individual talents and experiences help to define the groups’ sound. Established in 2007 in Boston, Lorelei performs under the direction of artistic director and founder Beth Willer and has commissioned and premiered an impressive […]

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Posted by on March 5, 2018

Wednesday, December 6th, 2017

Sweet Honey in the Rock: A Night of Holyday Joy

What a way to welcome the holiday season! Grammy-winning, all-women, African American a capella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock returned to the Weis Center (they performed in 1992) for a December 1 performance that had everyone “Celebrating the Holydays.” Founded in 1973, and with a few member changes over its forty years, Sweet Honey in the Rock has a mission to educate, entertain, and empower through powerful a capella vocal dynamics and American Sign Language. The current lineup consists of vocalists Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil and Shirley Childress, an American Sign Language Interpreter who has […]

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Posted by on December 6, 2017

Friday, November 10th, 2017

A Far Cry brings “The Blue Hour” to life

It is very rare to witness a multitude of moving artistic parts come together so ingeniously in the name of creating one body of work. This is just what occurred at the Weis Center on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 9 with an exquisite performance of a piece entitled the “The Blue Hour” by A Far Cry string orchestra and vocals from Brazilian jazz singer Luciana Souza. The piece was a creative collaboration that came to fruition from the works of five notable female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw and Sarah Kirkland Snider – and featured […]

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Posted by on November 10, 2017

Tuesday, October 17th, 2017

Alonzo King LINES Ballet show the Weis Center a new form of dance

We welcomed the first dance performance of our 30th anniversary season Thursday, October 12 with a dazzling production by the Alonzo King LINES Ballet company. The San Francisco contemporary ballet company boasts dancers that move with such fluidity across the stage that one number seamlessly blends into the next. The show consisted of two acts that each contained one extended piece choreographed solely by King. The first piece, entitled Biophony, was an exceptional and unique collaboration between King, soundscape artist Bernie Krause, and composer Richard Blackford. The audio played during the piece was from Krause’s recording of various ecosystems and creatures from […]

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Posted by on October 17, 2017

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