The biennial Magnolia Baroque Festival is back, and better than ever with world renowned early music soloists and an entire week of fascinating programs from Friday, May 25, through the 31st in Winston-Salem. Magnolia Baroque Festival’s 5th anniversary season is a unique opportunity for Triad audiences to hear gifted musicians from all over the world performing a remarkable series of concerts from the best of Bach’s gorgeous cantatas, to an entire evening of sundry ground bass classics. What’s a ground bass you ask? Magnolia Festival Founder/Director, and accomplished tenor Glen Siebert joins TAUC host David Ford to explain that and much more.
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Over the last century, North Carolina produced some of the most influential artists in American jazz. Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Percy Heath, and John Coltrane were all born in the state; Dizzy Gillespie grew up just beyond the state line in South Carolina, but he attended school and studied music in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
For decades the Piedmont Triad enjoyed a thriving jazz scene well into the 90s when it wasn’t that hard to find a jazz club or an open mic jam session in progress on any given night. Those heydays may have come and gone, but my guest today, one of the region’s finest jazz musicians, Composer/Double Bassist Matt Kendrick, is doing his darndest to bring ‘em back.
You can hear Matt swinging on Tuesday nights from 8-11pm with drummer John Wilson and keyboardist Ken Rhodes at Tate’s Bar on 4th Street in downtown Winston-Salem. It’s open mic night every Tuesday night at Tates.
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Let’s face it, life is good, but it can also be hard, and couldn’t we all use a good laugh right about now? Comedians Sarah Barnhart and JJ Johnson certainly think so, and they’re more than happy to accommodate you at the Comedy Potluck every second Tuesday and fourth Saturday of the month at the Community Arts Café Underground Theatre in Winston-Salem. The bi-monthly show features local standup comedians and Winston-Salem’s own improv troupe Nekkid Feet. The next show is Saturday, May 26, at 8:00pm.
JJ grew up in Winston-Salem, and eventually wound up in L.A., where he worked on films like Malibu’s Most Wanted and Charlie’s Angels 2. You may recognize the actor/comedian as one of the on-field entertainment hosts for the Winston-Salem Dash where he tag teams with his colleague Sarah Barnhart to keep the crowd on its feet. Sarah is a Winston-Salem native, comedienne, actress and owner of The Dueling Butter Knives, a website devoted to sketch comedy and comedic marketing.
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Legendary trumpeter with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, longtime Seattle Symphony conductor and Eastern Music Festival music director Gerard Schwarz puts us in the trumpet chair for a Gustav Mahler experience you won't soon forget. EMF 2012 is June 23-July 28.
