Arts & Performance

The fifteenth annual Asheville Fringe Arts Festival takes place January 26th thru 29th in and around Asheville, with multiple performance sites including theatres, galleries, clubs, and even the purple LaZoom bus.

Jim Julien is co-chair of the 2017 Festival, and he spoke with Dick Kowal about what's coming.

NC Stage Co. presents Jeeves In Bloom, from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse, adapted by Margaret Raether, opening Wednesday, January 25th. The production features favorites Charlie Flynn-McIver, Michael McCauley, and Scott Treadway. Charlie and Michael talked with Dick Kowal about the show.

The eighth annual Django Reinhardt birthday festival takes place Saturday, January 21st at Asheville's Grey Eagle. Who was Django Reinhardt, and why are people playing his music more than a hundred years after his birth? Jon Corbin, guitarist and organizer of the festival, talked with Dick Kowal about the legacy of the great jazz guitarist and the musicians gathering to celebrate his birthday.

The Swannanoa Solstice returns Sunday to the Diana Wortham Theatre in Asheville for the 14th year. Host Doug Orr and multi-instrumentalist Al Petteway brought poetry and music, joining Dick Kowal to talk about the nature of this holiday tradition.

Fire has been on the minds of many in western North Carolina over the past several weeks as wildfires swept across the region.  In her commentary this week, WCQS gardening expert Alison Arnold has some tips on how to protect the home against fires.  

Jeremy Loeb: Although the rain in recent days may ease the risk of wildfire potential across the western part of the state we aren’t out of the clear yet. It seems like a good time though to become more “fire aware”  - not only about prevention and protection but also the benefits of fire.

Asheville Ballet brings everyone's favorite holiday tradition to the Diana Wortham Theatre this weekend with shows Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon.  Director Ann Dunn talked with Dick Kowal about this family friendly classic.

The Blue Ridge Orchestra performs two concerts this weekend, 3pm Saturday at Lipinsky Auditorium on the UNC-A campus, and 3pm Sunday at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Both concerts feature violinist/celtic fiddler Jamie Laval.  Jamie and Milton Crotts, director of the Blue Ridge Orchestra spoke with Dick Kowal about the concerts.

Asheville's NC Stage Company  will stage All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, opening Wednesday, December 7th and running through December 23rd. Director Charlie Flynn-McIver, cast member Michael MacCauley, and chorus member David Berkey spoke with Dick Kowal about the play.

The Asheville Symphony Chorus will host a "Sing-Along Messiah" Thursday, December 8th at First Presbyterian Church on Church Street in Asheville. Singers should arrive at 6:30; listeners at 7:30.

Director Michael Lancaster spoke with Dick Kowal about the event.

An event Monday at ISIS Restaurant and Music Hall in Asheville aims to bring together people with talent and people seeking that talent.  Talent Jam gives participants a chance to make 60 second pitches to either speak for their talent or for the talent they're seeking.  It's like a job fair, but not, explains Daniel Kairoff, creative director for the event.  Kairoff says it's a way to get people connected in a challenging job market.  He stopped by WCQS to talk about the event.  

Click the audio to hear the full interview with Kairoff.  

Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre presents The Nutcracker & the Mouse King, a contemporary dance theatre ballet based on the original story by E.T.A. Hoffman, this weekend at the Diana Wortham Theatre. Jiles Collard talked with Dick Kowal about this year's presentation.

Asheville Community Theatre presents the world premier of Tom Godleski's Snowbound, a "new mountain play with mountain music." The play includes Godleski's band, Buncombe Turnpike, and members of another popular bluegrass/old-time band, Sons of Ralph, onstage with the other 35 actors. 

Tom Godleski and director Mark Jones spoke with Dick Kowal about the play and its music.

The Asheville Choral Society, under the direction of Melodie Galloway, performs its second annual Yuletide Candlelight concert at Asheville's Trinity Episcopal Church December 2nd at 7:30 and December 3rd at 4:30.  The Choral Society will be joined by string and brass players, and the Celebration Singers, a chorus for young people.

Melodie joined Dick Kowal to talk about the program and other ACS activities in the months ahead.

UNC-Asheville is accepting applications until December 1st for the first Ramsey Library Community Author Award. Wiley Cash, writer-in-residence at UNC-A and author of A Land More Kind Than Home and This Dark Road to Mercy, talked with Dick Kowal about the award and its significance. 

The Asheville Symphony performs the program "Rhapsody in Blue" Saturday evening at 8 in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. The concert will feature George Gershwin's best known work with piano soloist Conrad Tao, as well as works by American composers Aaron Copland and David Diamond.

Dick Kowal talked with ASO music director Daniel Meyer and pianist Conrad Tao about the composers and their music.

The Asheville Art Museum presents its next Pianoforte concert on Sunday afternoon at 3. The featured artist will be pianist Grace Lee. Grace will play music by Chopin, Debussy, Brahms and Lowell Lieberman in a program "exploring the beauty of artistic virtuosity."

The concert will take place at Biltmore United Methodist Church, 376 Hendersonville Rd in Asheville.

Dick Kowal talked with Grace, and Harry Rowney, board member of the Asheville Art Museum, about the concert.

The River Arts District Artists present their annual fall Studio Stroll this Saturday and Sunday, 10-5 both days. Ceramic artist MaryJane Findley and painter William Henry Price joined Dick Kowal to talk about the stroll and about working in "the hive," the River Arts District.

Pan Harmonia presents two concerts in our area this weekend, featuring the Opal String Quartet. Alternate Currents can be heard Friday night at 7:30 at St. James Episcopal Church in Black Mountain, and Sunday afternoon at 3 at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Asheville. The concerts feature a work by Amy Beach, America's first successful woman composer, as well as quartets by local composers Michael Hosford and Dosia McKay.

Dosia and Kate Steinbeck, director of Pan Harmonia,  spoke with Dick Kowal.

TheatreUNCA will stage two student-directed plays on Saturday evening, November 19th at 7:30 in Carol Belk Theatre. The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang and WASP by Steve Martin will be performed together by drama majors at UNC-A. Directors Caroline Deschell and Justin Day talked with Dick Kowal about their work and experience.

The Aspen String Trio performs in the next concert presented by the Asheville Chamber Music Series Friday evening at 8 at Asheville's Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The trio will play J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, a monumental work for solo keyboard, in an arrangement for string trio by violinist and conductor Dmitri Sitkovetsky. They will also perform Richard Strauss' Variations on a Bavarian Folksong, and Beethoven's String Trio in G, op.9#1.

The Asheville Symphony Chorus will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a concert titled "From Bach to Bernstein," Saturday evening, November 12th at Arden Presbyterian Church. Chorus director Michael Lancaster talks with Dick Kowal about the program and the difficulties of choosing the best from 25 years of concerts.

The Asheville Symphony performs its Masterworks 2 concert Saturday night, a Halloween-themed program "In The Key of eeeeeee!" Saint-Saens' Dance Macabre, Florent Schmitt's Tragedy of Salome and Johannes Brahms' "Double Concerto" are featured. Dick Kowal spoke with conductor Daniel Meyer, and soloists Jason Posnock, violin, and Alistair MacRae, cello.

UNC Asheville and the Wake Forest University School of Divinity will jointly convene Faith in Literature: A Festival of Contemporary Writers of the Spirit on Oct. 21-22, on UNC Asheville's campus. Dr. Richard Chess, one of the organizers of the event, spoke with Dick Kowal.