Conversation with Tamara Adira, Flamenco Artist and Company Leader

By Jasmina Wellinghoff, Editor A Conversation with TAMARA ADIRA Flamenco artist and company leader By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor Years ago, Tamara Adira walked into a night club in New Orleans and discovered flamenco- dance and music. It was love at first site.  She threw herself into the study of this Spanish art, and eventually founded a performing company — Arte …

News Roundup, 11/15/2024

The highly anticipated music event of the season is “Beethoven 9” that the San Antonio Philharmonic will perform this weekend at the Majestic Theater. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the iconic work, which has elated audiences across generations and cultures. This symphony is also the first to feature human voices as instrumental components. The work culminates in the …

“A Ghost in the Throat” by Doireann Ni Ghriofa

Reviewed by Steven G. Kellman             At age 11, Doireann NĂ­ GhrĂ­ofa was smitten with “Caoineadh Airt UĂ­ Laoghaire,” an Irish dirge that Oxford Professor Peter Levi pronounced the “greatest poem written in these islands in the whole eighteenth century.” At 34, NĂ­ GhrĂ­ofa sets out to translate the work into English and reconstruct the dramatic life of its author, …

News Roundup, Nov. 7, 2024

NEWS ROUNDUP, Nov. 7, 2024 As is usual at this time of the year, concerts and music events are bountiful. Camerata San Antonio will present its third program of the 24/25 season, “Tresors Musicaux,” (Musical Treasures), which will put French chamber music in the spotlight. The musicians: Laura Scalzo (violin), Emily Freudigman (viola), Kenneth Freudigman (cello), and pianist Viktor Valkov, …

Anna Plays Ann

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor One of San Antonio’s best and most versatile actresses, Anna Gangai, is portraying former fire-brand governor of Texas, Ann Richards, in a one-woman-play at the San Pedro Playhouse Classic Theater. Many readers will remember Richard’s flamboyant persona, her tenacity and resilience as only the second female governor of the Lone Star State. We spoke with Gangai …

News Roundup, Oct.31, 2024

NEWS ROUNDUP, Nov. 1, 2024 The best part of this season is the abundance of great music in our halls great and small. Upcoming events range from symphonic music and choral events to theatrical humor combined with dazzling operatic singing. The Mid-Texas Symphony will present Jean Sibelius’ Second Symphony that moves “from darkness to triumph, symbolically conveying Finland’s fight for …