Ballet San Antonio has a Christmas gift for you. In a wonderful gesture of holiday generosity, the company has made its 2020 production of “The Nutcracker” accessible to all via YouTube, free of charge. Different from all previous versions, this is a COVID-19-imposed reinvention of the classical staging, born out of need and ingenuity. It will be available for streaming …

It’s holiday time but, thanks to COVID-19, we can’t do a lot of things that we normally do, like going to festive shows or gather with friends and family. But there’s a silver lining: we can still go outside to explore the outdoors. You may be surprised to discover that San Antonio and Bexar County have lots of parks, large …

Today’s poem is by Austin-area writer and poet Milton Jordan, who, with his wife Anne Jordan, runs the Cypress Book Co. in Georgetown. A Grammar of Good TroubleBy Milton Jordan Have we grown comfortable with the languageof despair and the vocabulary of hopelessness we have now learned to use?Is the renewed grammar of what’s possibleoffering us a familiar structurewe’re no longer …

‘Tis the season for “The Nutcracker”!  Though Ballet San Antonio’s 2020 edition of the beloved show closed last Sunday, here comes another one, produced by the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio, the pre-professional company of talented dancers led by the former principal dancer of the National Ballet of Panama, Vanessa Bessler. These dancers may be young but many are quite …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor For 26 years, jazz lovers have flocked to the Balcones Heights Jazz Festival in July to listen to great music played outdoors on balmy summer nights. Pictures show a packed amphitheater just outside the Wonderland of the Americas Mall, with people lounging on chairs and blankets around a shallow pool of water, facing the make-shift stage …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — Kate Thomas was seven when her parents first signed her up for recreational dance classes at the Dance Center of San Antonio. But the school’s founder, Vanessa Bessler, quickly detected that her new student had the potential to become a real dancer and suggested that the girl be moved into the intensive program. “I spotted …

Today’s poem is by Austin poet, Kimbol Soques, who is currently finishing a Master of Divinity degree. Aren’t we all waiting for the experts to say: Come forth!? Bell JarBy Kimbol Soques Victorian windowsare narrow, darkwith screens tight-woven 100 years in, it’s hardto remember their gift of skyuntil I stand, nose-pressed,and look up too, spring’s greenleaves are just at eyes’ …

This Sunday, Dec. 13, The Agarita Chamber Players will kickstart their new initiative that brings music to the people in outdoor settings for free. Named Humble Hall, it will take the four Agarita members to all ten districts of San Antonio, starting with District 1. The first concert will take place at the open-air garden behind the Witte Museum at …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — After a longish search for a new executive director, the board of Luminaria has selected local arts advocate and marketing/PR specialist, Yadhira Lozano, as its new top executive. She succeeds Kathy Armstrong who led the organization for five years. “I think it’s great. It’s wonderful,” said Lozano who had applied a while back and was …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — Come spring, you may have a unique opportunity to hear top-notch musicians play beautiful music at your neighborhood park or other outdoor space near you. The group that plans to do that is Agarita Chamber Players, a quartet of talented young musicians with a sterling classical music education and a growing reputation for innovative and …