Community Concert organizations were created in the 1930s, as smaller communities worked to bring musicians and entertainers to towns of all sizes, not just big cities. The Cedar Rapids Community Concert Association has been doing that very thing for 93 years. Board member John Haack says because the group is all-volunteer, they can keep ticket …
This is arguably the biggest week of the year for Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, as the patriotic-themed concerts around Independence Day are always popular. But Muni Band director Steve Shanley says the program will not only include expected favorites like America The Beautiful (featuring the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale), Stars & Stripes Forever, and Armed …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
