For the past five months, theaters across the globe have gone dark due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Find out how you can help “Save Our Stages” here.) Many artists and arts workers have had their livelihoods thrown into chaos as they try to navigate the unknown - and while our stages are silent, the need... Continue Reading →
Before COVID-19 disrupted the world, The Florida Orchestra’s table at The Straz in May was set with "Beethoven’s Fifth," Superhero Soundtracks and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. https://youtu.be/t7XBpHFpmuw When announcing the cancellation of the remainder of the orchestra season, TFO noted its instinct was to provide hope, comfort and healing with the power of music.... Continue Reading →
The music chair at the Patel Conservatory, Dr. Lauren Murray, shows you fun, simple instructions for how to make your own instruments using household objects. Today we’re offering up an activity of note where you can conduct an experiment of symphonic proportions. We invited Lauren Murray, chamber musician extraordinaire and the music chair of the... Continue Reading →
The 2019 Acoustic Guitarist of the Year happens to be a Tampa native. One of the things we love about being this area’s performing arts center is that we get to host so many incredible Tampa Bay-area talents early in their careers. One such—guitarist Christie Lenee—appeared in the Jaeb Theater in 2018, already crowned 2017’s... Continue Reading →
Club Jaeb artist Kyshona Armstrong talks about the music that made her and her journey from a music therapist into a singer-songwriter in this exclusive interview. Caught in the Act caught up with folk musician Kyshona Armstrong while she was on the road to Missouri for a gig. She appears next Monday, Dec. 16 as... Continue Reading →
Dear “The Star-Spangled Banner,” why are you so hard to sing? WHY. This time last year, we brought you the exciting story behind our national anthem but we didn’t go into the technical aspects of performing the song. Which, as a performing arts center, we should. So, as we all celebrate America’s independence this Thursday, let’s... Continue Reading →
In honor of Broadway’s hit 80s fantasia ROCK OF AGES playing at The Straz June 11-15, Straz staffers busted out our old 80s hair pics—just for you. As you’ll see, we were *not* afraid to let it flow. Well, folks, this is it. We’re in the final countdown before the 10th anniversary tour of ROCK... Continue Reading →
Let’s say one morning you hustle into your favorite coffee shop, order your regular, and as you’re dawdling by the pick-up counter, you happen to make eye contact with someone at the high-top in the corner who happened to look up the same time you did. An exchange occurs in that moment: you capture each... Continue Reading →
Springsteen’s musical progeny teem within the alt-rock and Americana scenes, including our Club Jaeb series. Let’s talk about Bruce. Or, as millions (probably billions) of fans know him: BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE. Why we haven’t seen a generation of children named Springsteen remains a mystery given the man’s four decades of generating an extreme fanbase with his theatrical,... Continue Reading →
We’ve realized Straz fans love knowing what goes on outside of the spotlights, so we’re running a short series called Tools of the Trade, listing some cool and maybe-unheard-of tools for life in the performing arts. This week’s spotlight is on music. Gouging Machine Not just for medieval torture anymore, the gouging machine serves professional... Continue Reading →
Ten-year-old music student Mateo Valdes’ violin journey at the Patel Conservatory. Patel Conservatory violin student Mateo Valdes has a very deep and wise gaze under a flop of shaggy, dark bangs. He doesn’t make eye contact much, but when he does, he seems to possess a kind of old-soul way of knowing that belies his... Continue Reading →
Fifteen-year-old Patel Conservatory student Meghan Lock: “learning drums is my life.” Meghan Lock’s formal musical life began like most, with piano lessons at the bright, young age of five years old. But, when her parents realized she was spending more minutes in time out for not practicing than minutes she was playing, they took a... Continue Reading →
About ten years after the birth of hip-hop in the Bronx, the art form found its way to Japan when young Japanese artists encountered the music and saw breakdancing in New York, taking what they saw back to Japan. In 1983, the film Wild Style, a seminal hip-hop documentary capturing the four pillars of the... Continue Reading →
The performing arts and conflict resolution If the folks at (TITLE) for Dummies® or the Idiot’s Guide™ to (THIS THING) ever wrote a how-to guide on building a better world, certainly there’d be a chapter or two on the performing arts. Much has been said on the value of elevating culture and artistic achievement as... Continue Reading →
Nacho Arimany’s years working with rhythm showed him how natural harmonic patterns heal the human body and mind. At first glance, Nacho Arimany can easily be confused for a European version of holistic healer J.P. Sears in the “Ultra Spiritual” spoofs. But after a few moments into an interview or demonstration, Arimany reveals himself as... Continue Reading →
How Music Wrote the Lives of the Men of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Ask a member of the seven-piece band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble how they got their name, and you may get a surprise answer. It started as an acronym for the band’s mission: Helping Young People Notice . . . hypnotic. Notice what, though? Music.... Continue Reading →
The Straz Center official piano tuner Kevin Patterson on what it takes to keep the ivories in the pink. The average home piano needs a tune up about twice a year, but when your livelihood and music critics are on the line, a good concert piano gets its ivories tickled, twisted, polished and pricked before... Continue Reading →
You don’t have to have a lot of money to study the performing arts. If you have a child or child in your life who has dreams, talent or just plain curiosity, we have scholarship opportunities to help them get the classes they need. The next Patel Conservatory scholarship deadline is Dec. 3, 2016. This... Continue Reading →
Carole King, one of the greatest American songwriters of the 20th century, started with a piano melody. As the song took shape, she added layers, eventually adding lyrics — first with her then-husband Gerry Goffin and eventually on her own. Tapestry, her seminal 1971 solo album, remained on the Billboard charts for six years, top... Continue Reading →
The Patel Conservatory Gears Up for Another School Year There’s no such thing as summer break for the faculty and staff of the Straz Center’s Patel Conservatory. We spend the summer months steeped in a camps, classes, workshops, performances and pre-professional productions like this year’s impressive mounting of an almost full-scale Les Miserables. So, we... Continue Reading →
