Laura Durham is the Director of Programming and Engagement for PBS Utah. She curates projects and plans events that utilize local and national media to provide entertainment and meaningful dialogue beyond broadcast. Prior to PBS Utah, Laura worked at the Division of Arts & Museums for 15 years, served as Vice President of the Salt Lake Gallery Association, Program Director for the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, and was a board member for the Utah Cultural Alliance.
“You’re just an appropriator.” That’s what a young, huffy art student said to Joe Ostraff in 1993 when he was a finalist for his current teaching position at Brigham Young University’s art department. Negative comments like that typically bounce right off him. In fact, although he’s sure he […]
In 2013, Trent Alvey was selected by 200 of her peers as one of “Utah’s 15 most influential artists.” The following profile appeared in Utah’s 15: The State’s Most Influential Artists, published by Artists of Utah in 2014. Every day Trent Alvey walks up the hillside near her home […]
In 2013, Joan Woodbury was selected by 200 of her peers as one of “Utah’s 15 most influential artists.” The following profile appeared in Utah’s 15: The State’s Most Influential Artists, published by Artists of Utah in 2014. We almost lost Joan Woodbury to New York. That’s where all the […]
Bonnie Phillips at Phillips Gallery, 2014. Photo by Zoe Rodriguez Photography. “I’m not so sure you have to like art as much as be stirred by it; we’re so easily stirred by something we like, but can we find that emotion inside with something we question?” That’s how […]
“When I was a student, the feeling was composers were super nerdy, academic, and kind of out of it,” says Christian Asplund. “Composers were the pocket protector guys.” Asplund didn’t see himself in that vein, but he knew he wanted to write and perform music since grade school. […]
Percussionists have all the fun. On the symphony stage, while all the other instrumentalists are usually seated in their assigned chair, the percussionist moves around a playground of drums, symbols, marimbas, chimes, and triangles. Some of those instruments you may not even recognize. For example, the gender wayang. […]
The quality programming is definitely what the audiences come back for, but the surprises Intermezzo throws in also endear the audience to the organization. It isn’t uncommon for the musicians to take the stage to play a romantic sonata, but first launch into a short, unexpected contemporary work, […]
The year was 2003. Hundreds of sound designers, composers, and musicians were gathering at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose to network and share ideas on the gaming industry and, specifically, game audio and interactive music. The Game Audio Network Guild was hosting its first annual awards […]
Alyssa Pyper will perform a set of works for solo voice, violin, and electronics at 12 Minutes Max this Sunday at the City Library in Salt Lake City. For Pyper, this particular set of works is about reclamation. “I’ve worked to craft a re-telling of personal narratives through […]
Repertory Dance Theatre has a long tradition of collaborating with the arts community. It only makes sense for them to culminate their 50th anniversary season with a collaboration. “Revere” brings together various artists to honor José Limón, whose work has been part of RDT’s repertoire since 1967. The Salt Lake […]
“It seems so hard to get people to actually listen to music,” says Salt Lake City rock musician Andrew Shaw. “There’s so much saturation right now with so many bands making great music and other entertainment vying for your attention. Someone dedicating any amount of time in […]
On Monday, March 14, KUED will air the first of what will be a trilogy of films commemorating 100 years of the National Park Service. The trilogy, called Year of the Parks, begins with “National Park Symphony,” a visual portrait (or music video, depending on how you want […]
If you’re planning on attending Ballet West’s production of Romeo and Juliet this month, you might notice the company has hired a new maestro: Tara Simoncic. Artistic Director Adam Sklute has brought her in over the past several years for projects, but she was appointed as the orchestral […]
Dr. Michael Hicks is a widely-published musicologist at Brigham Young University. He teaches music theory, score analysis and aesthetics. He is also a singer/songwriter and a composer. His new work for string quartet titled “Of the” will premiere on January 31st at Libby Gardner Concert Hall as […]
Regular readers of 15 Bytes don’t need to be told what an important figure Shawn Rossiter is in Utah. His dedication to this magazine alone is a testament to his passion for Utah’s artists and the work they create. When you don’t see him surveying the latest exhibit […]
The press has used many words to describe the music of Christian Asplund: passion, panoramic power, pure pointillist, plaintive, painstaking…and that’s just the “p”s. Asplund is a Canadian-American composer-performer based in Utah. He is an associate professor of music at Brigham Young University and extremely active in the […]
We’ve been taking advantage of the “pause” in our state’s cultural programming to take stock — both of our supply of toiletries and our past coverage of the arts scene (i.e. we’ve been working on our archives). We wanted to bring this video from 2015 — about a […]
