Arts & Performance

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.

Marat/Sade, the Tony award-winning play by Peter Weiss, will be presented by Theatre UNC-A in the Belk Theatre on the UNC-A campus October 20-23. Members of the cast and director Rob Bowen talked with Dick Kowal about the play and its messages for our times.

Asheville Community Theatre opens its 71st season on Friday with a blockbuster: Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The play's director, Jerry Crouch, music director Lenora Thom, and co-stars Christy Montesdeoca and Steve Parkin talked with Dick Kowal about this masterpiece of musical theater. 

Immediate Theatre Project presents "Live From WVL Radio Theatre: The Headless Hessian of Sleepy Hollow... and Other American Horror Stories"  opening October 12, following their production of "Grounded" at NC Stage Company.

Director Willie Repoley and actors Blythe Coons (also acting in "Grounded") and Patrick Brant spoke with Dick Kowal about this adaptation in the style of the immensely successful "Direct from WVL Radio Theatre: It's a Wonderful Life."

The young pianist Ji is the featured artist in the Haywood County Arts Council's annual Young Artist concert tonight at 7:30 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre. Ji spoke with Dick Kowal about his art and about the program he'll play tonight.

For more information and to see Ji's Android commercial, click here.

In her gardening segment this week, Alison Arnold talks about evaluating trees for their health and risk as we get into fall.  

Jeremy Loeb: It’s the end of the growing season and some trees already show fall color while others have that end of the summer “wear and tear” look…... is this a good time to evaluate trees for overall health and maybe even risk?

  The Asheville Symphony opens it new season Saturday evening in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. The program is called Tchasing Tchaikovsky, an all-Tchaikovsky concert featuring a performance of his violin concerto by Jennifer Koh.

Ms Koh and Daniel Meyer, music director and conductor, joined Josh Jourdan to talk about opening night.

http://www.ashevillesymphony.org

Jeremy Loeb: By the look of the trees and plants it’s obvious that summer is coming to an end and we are quickly moving into Fall color season.. what is it about this time of year? I cant put my finger on it..but it seems like such a bittersweet time…

Alison Arnold: I totally agree.. it’s hard for me to leave summer behind and yet I and I bet a few gardeners would also welcome a little cool weather. But yes it’s not really summer and not yet fall.. a definite time of transition.

  Immediate Theatre Project presents The Lower Frequencies, written and performed by Bryce Monroe. Inspired by the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Lower Frequencies depicts the particular experience of a nameless narrator and his confrontation with the American Dream. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30 at NC Stage Co. in downtown Asheville

Bryce Monroe and ITP's Willie Repoley talked with Dick Kowal about the upcoming production.

  Singer, composer, author David Lamotte releases his first new CD in ten years and celebrates his 25th anniversary in music with a concert Friday evening at 8 in Asheville's Diana Wortham Theatre. David joined Dick Kowal in the studio to talk about the recording and concert. 

The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival sponsors a Fringe night performance at Asheville's Crow & Quill on Lexington Avenue Wednesday evening at 8. The show will feature the wild improv dance group, The Accidentals.  Jim Julien of Asheville Fringe Arts Festival and Raj Bowers-Racine of The Accidentals were in the studio with Dick Kowal to talk about the performance and this January's 15th annual Festival.

  The Brevard Community Band, under the direction of Jamie Hafner, performs Sunday afternoon at 3 at the Porter Center for Performing Arts at Brevard College.  The concert is titled "Music for a Festival," and features saxophone soloist Joel Helfand  in addition to guest artists Timothy Shepherd, organ, and brass players from the Blue Ridge Symphonic Brass.

Jamie Hafner visited our studios to speak about the concert with Dick Kowal.

  Asheville Community Theatre will present the Pulitzer prize winning play Crimes of the Heart, opening Friday, August 12th. Cast members Sarah Billings and Julianne Arnall were in the WCQS studios to talk with Dick Kowal about the play.

In her commentary this week, Alison Arnold talks about some more ways to deal with drought conditions.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is in Asheville as part of a statewide listening tour.  The Winston-Salem based foundation has invested in statewide, regional and community-based organizations since 1936.  The foundation's new Executive Director, Maurice "Mo" Green sat down for a conversation with WCQS's Helen Chickering.   

In her commentary this week, WCQS gardening expert Alison Arnold tells us what the impact of drought is on gardens and plant life.    

  Asheville Lyric Opera performs Man of La Mancha at the Diana Wortham Theatre July 15th through the 17th.  Dick Kowal spoke with ALO Director David Craig Starkey, conductor Keith Chambers, and David Malis, who plays Don Quixote.