Category: Culture Crawl

Culture Crawl 831 “Yes and…”

Trumpeter John Daversa and pianist Tal Cohen are back in Eastern Iowa as faculty for the annual Cedar Rapids Chamber Music Festival, June 26-30 on the Kirkwood campus. They’ll bookend their week here with two “Art of Duo” shows, June 25 at CSPS Hall, and July 1 at the Sound Conservatory in Rock Island. Five …

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Culture Crawl 830 “Watch Him If You Don’t Want to Watch Me”

Steve Shanley, after being out of the country for the first two weeks of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band season, picks up his baton this week for a program that features his friend and mentor David Lang on euphonium. Also, music from Disney’s “Brave,” a Phantom of the Opera medley, and a song with the …

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Culture Crawl 829 “Goofy & Upbeat…Except For That Guy Dying”

Cedar Rapids Opera brings two comedies to the Brucemore outdoor stage June 22-24, “American Gothical,” a delightful take on the creation of Grant Wood’s masterpiece, from the pen of Cedar Rapids native and award-winning composer Robert Lindsay Nassif, and Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” in which a family must enlist the help of a scoundrel to help …

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Culture Crawl 827 “One of the Twin Ones”

Riverside Theatre’s Free Outdoor Shakespeare series returns this summer with “Twelfth Night,” one of The Bard’s best-known comedies, spinning a tale of mistaken identity, romance, revenge and other hijinks.  Adam Knight and Kathleen Johnson say make sure to come at 6:30 for the “Green Show,” kind of a condensed version of the play to help …

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Culture Crawl 826 “Feeling Way, Way Old”

Dennis Green was present for the very first July 4 fireworks display in downtown Cedar Rapids, which over the past 40 years has grown into the 3-week Freedom Festival celebration. Freedom Festival celebrates its big birthday with the return of some old favorite events, plus some new ones, including Jazz on 2nd, the Festival’s first …

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Culture Crawl 825 “My Computer Screen is Too Small!”

With Cedar Rapids Municipal Band director Steve Shanley still on vacation, Linn-Mar’s Jen Tiede is guest directing this week. Her guest is bassist and singer Blake Shaw, who took this opportunity to do his first-ever arranging for concert band, which is much larger than a jazz big band, and even more so than Blake’s usual …

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Culture Crawl 824 “What Grant Wood Didn’t Cover”

Husband and wife art collectors Dan Shogren and Susan Meyer from the Twin Cities have spent decades building a collection of art, all surrounding urban life in the 1930s. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art hosts their first-ever exhibit, entitled “Work and Society in the 1930s: American Paintings and Photographs.” Dan and Susan, working folks …

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Culture Crawl 823 “They All Talk Together”

Two exhibits are up at Gilded Pear Gallery, with a reception to see them and meet the artists on June 9 from 5-7:30pm. “Welcome: New Artists” is just what it says, debut exhibits from seven artists, most from the local area. “By Design” displays ideas from four area design firms on different ways to incorporate …

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