Book review | Dan Brown returns with another page-turner, ‘Inferno’
In the fourth Robert Langdon novel, the Harvard symbologist is caught up in a conspiracy in Florence tied to Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy.’
Readorama: A Reagan budget director to speak in KC
Kansas City Ballet names a veteran dancer and choreographer as its artistic director
Singer Nick Carter to release memoir Sept. 24
Lea Michele has book scheduled for 2014 release
Summer visual arts: A lively mix of artists and ideas
Epsten Gallery exhibit solidifies Lester Goldman’s legacy
Classical Music and Dance
Shirley Helzberg resigns as head of KC Symphony board
After guiding the transformation of the Kansas City Symphony for 18 years, Shirley Helzberg is stepping down as chairwoman of the orchestra’s board. William M. Lyons, a former president and CEO of American Century Investments, will replace her.
KC Symphony, conductor and pianist Asher Fisch overcome early missteps
Parts of Friday’s performance of the Kansas City Symphony, led by conductor and pianist Asher Fisch, were plagued by a variety of issues with balance, blend and synchronization. Despite the flaws, the orchestra was able to capture the music's inherent beauty.
Visual Arts
Summer visual arts: A lively mix of artists and ideas
Modern Mexican art, contemporary New York abstraction and probing photographs of the American West head up the summer’s offerings at Kansas City’s art museums. Meanwhile, It’s a big summer for art in St. Louis, where the St. Louis Art Museum will open a 211,431-square-foot wing designed by David Chipperfield.
Epsten Gallery exhibit solidifies Lester Goldman’s legacy
“Tale of the Eye: The Art of Lester Goldman,” which closes Sunday at Village Shalom’s Epsten Gallery, touches on various points in the late Kansas City artist’s career and his vast exploration of subjects and media.
Books
Novels for young adults are reaching more (adult) readers
When so many adult fiction offerings read like variations on a theme of emotional impotence, is it any wonder readers are turning to young-adult novels for spellbinding stories and authentic connection?
‘The Guns at Last Light’ completes Rick Atkinson’s long-in-the-making history of WWII
“The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945” is the third volume of Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, which details the triumph of the Allied powers in Europe and North Africa. He began researching the project in 1999. But, arguably, he began working that story 18 years before that, during a three-hour drive through southeastern Kansas.
Annotated 'Harry Potter' 1st edition on auction
A first edition copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" that contains author J.K. Rowling's notes and original illustrations is going on sale at a charity auction.
Long lost art is found wearing a price tag
A 1918 work by Edwin Blashfield, “The Call of Missouri,” was displayed for years at the Kansas City Public Library. It disappeared in 1983. A six-year search found it online — on sale for $650,000.
Spencer Museum’s collection inspires two artists to take different paths
Ann Hamilton and her former teacher, Cynthia Schira, have teamed up for a joint exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. “An Errant Line” derives its most compelling moments from the human drama of the presepio.
Three big voice and organ works worthy of a cathedral
It may not be a sacred space, technically speaking, but when the Kansas City Chorale and organist Jan Kraybill join forces for a concert this Friday, Helzberg Hall will be filled with numinous sounds worthy of a cathedral.
No weak link in Cantus ensemble’s lineup
The Harriman-Jewell Series presented an eclectic performance Thursday by Cantus, a nine-voice, Minneapolis-based men’s vocal chamber ensemble. “On the Shoulders of Giants” was a polished and rewarding program to hear. The really outstanding voice of the nine belongs to tenor Paul Rudoi, but there’s no weak link in the group.
Domingo Martinez’s memoir, ‘The Boy Kings of Texas’
“The Boy Kings of Texas,” Domingo Martinez’s memoir about growing up poor and rudderless in a Brownsville, Texas, barrio, is the current selection of the FYI Book Club.
Novels for young adults are reaching more (adult) readers
When so many adult fiction offerings read like variations on a theme of emotional impotence, is it any wonder readers are turning to young-adult novels for spellbinding stories and authentic connection?
‘The Guns at Last Light’ completes Rick Atkinson’s long-in-the-making history of WWII
“The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945” is the third volume of Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, which details the triumph of the Allied powers in Europe and North Africa. He began researching the project in 1999. But, arguably, he began working that story 18 years before that, during a three-hour drive through southeastern Kansas.
‘Guns at Last Light’ completes sublime history of WWII
In the third volume of Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, he reconstructs the period from D-Day to V-E Day by weaving a multitude of tiny details into a tapestry of achingly sublime prose.
Local military takes 200-year journey through the story of U.S. Army
A reader-friendly version of more than 200 years of U.S. Army history would seem a contradiction in terms. But that’s what Kansas City area military scholar D.M. Giangreco achieves with “The United States Army: The Definitive Illustrated History.”
Washington Ballet’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’ doesn’t quite succeed
The very idea of a ballet adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” ought to invite snickers. Yet there was no derision in evidence when the Washington Ballet gave the world premiere of Septime Webre’s two-act staging at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater.
KC Symphony, conductor and pianist Asher Fisch overcome early missteps
Parts of Friday’s performance of the Kansas City Symphony, led by conductor and pianist Asher Fisch, were plagued by a variety of issues with balance, blend and synchronization. Despite the flaws, the orchestra was able to capture the music's inherent beauty.
NYers furious over photos taken through windows
In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.
Historic mural waits to be found
Kansas City’s first World War I memorial disappeared in the 1980s and a garage-sized chunk of Kansas City’s history is missing.
‘An innate taste for art’ defined collector and dealer Byron Cohen
The local art world will remember Byron Cohen, who died May 10 at the age of 72, as a dealer who loved his work and was also good at it. Cohen was an avid art collector before retiring from real estate development to become a dealer.
Jim Gaffigan’s ‘Dad Is Fat’ is packed with dark parental humor
“When you are handed your screaming newborn for the first time,” Jim Gaffigan writes, “you are simultaneously handed a license for gallows humor.” The comic will discuss his new book Tuesday at Unity Temple on the Plaza.
