Joshua Bell is peerless perfection on violin. His artistry knows no bounds.
Friday night’s nearly sold-out crowd at Hancher Auditorium heard Bell and his 300-year-old violin in all their glory, in a magnificent two-hour recital with pianist Alessio Bax.
The pair performed three sonatas and three encores, each piece keeping listeners on the edge of their seats, holding their breath as each final note hung suspended in midair before fading into silence, broken only by gasps, thunderous applause and multiple standing ovations.
“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard,” a young woman told her friend as they exited the auditorium.
Some sites may require subscription
The Gazette - Sunday, October 22, 2017
The Gazette - Saturday, October 21, 2017
Diana Nollen The Gazette More stories from Diana
Oct 21, 2017 at 8:00 pm | Print View
New York City Ballet is on the move to Hancher for the first time, keeping an Iowa City native on her toes.
Miriam Miller, 20, was just 4 when she danced on the former Hancher stage, but she doesn’t remember that performance. This time, she’s stepping into “After the Rain,” a pas de deux choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, who mounted the Joffrey Ballet’s new “Nutcracker” at Hancher Auditorium last December. She also will be among the three couples dancing “La Stravaganza,” with music by Vivaldi and others, set by French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj.
The Gazette - Thursday, October 19, 2017
Theirs is a love affair that bridges the centuries and makes audiences swoon, whether they’re zipping past in a subway or seated in one of the world’s most magnificent concert halls.
It was love at first sight for Joshua Bell and his 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin, which he’ll make sing at Hancher Auditorium on Friday night (10/20).
Many hands have held the instrument during its 300 years, and Bell is determined to hold it for the rest of his life.
The Daily Iowan - Thursday, October 19, 2017
Walk into the auditorium. The lights are dimmed. Wait for a world-class musician to take to the stage. The crowd applauds as he walks on, holding his instrument. He lifts the instrument, ready to take flight and bring the audience into an uplifting world.
Joshua Bell, a world-renowned classical violinist, will perform at Hancher at 7:30 p.m. Friday. He performed at Hancher’s previous incarnation in 2003.
For Bell, this love of music began early. As a child, his parents found him in his room, plucking rubber bands he had tied to his dresser drawers. Young Joshua was trying to play the music he had heard, and his parents immediately took action. Thereafter, Bell and his violin took on the world.
The Daily Iowan - Monday, October 16, 2017
Sandy Boyd, the president emeritus of the University of Iowa and our dear friend, has long said Hancher Auditorium is the largest classroom on campus. I’ve always been inspired by that notion, and it has motivated me to raise funds for the many programs at Hancher that change lives.
Our work inspires the lives of elementary, middle-school, high-school, and University of Iowa students — as well as people of all ages throughout our wider community, region, and state.
Little Village - Monday, October 16, 2017
On the day of the Women’s March, Jan. 21, 2017, King and I lead actress Heather Botts was onstage in L.A. playing Anna. When she said the line, “I believe women are just as good as men — just as intelligent, just as important,” Botts remembered, the show stopped. The audiences started cheering, roaring in her ears. She knew then she was a part of something, in a time in history that it was important to be telling the story of The King and I.
The Gazette - Wednesday, October 11, 2017
IOWA CITY — “The King and I” is something wonderful, from the orchestral overture to the bittersweet ending.
The Lincoln Center’s 2015 Tony Award-winning revival breathes new life into the classic elegance of the beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. More than a dozen actors, including Jose Llana as the King, have moved from the Broadway cast to the first national tour, onstage through Saturday at Hancher Auditorium
Daily Iowan - Monday, October 9, 2017
Five years ago, Wilson received a phone call from two editors at Marvel who wanted to see if she was interested in writing her own comic series.
Editor Sana Amanat and Wilson conversed for months about who the lead superhero would be. The only vision Wilson and Amanat had from the beginning was that the superhero would be a Muslim female, Wilson said.
“To me it sounds like a crazy proposition,” she said. “My first thought was to tell them to hire an intern just to open all of the hate mail that we were going to get.”
The Daily Iowan - Monday, October 9, 2017
On Oct. 5, La Santa Cecilia performed at Hancher to a packed house. The band had been around the Iowa City area during the week, touring the city and visiting the campus and campus resource centers such as the Latino Native American Cultural Center.
La Santa Cecilia is a Latin rock group from Los Angeles. Its music is a mix of Latin American and Pan-American styles such as cumbia, bossa nova, rumba, bolero, tango, jazz, and klezmer.
The Gazette - Thursday, October 5, 2017
Heather Botts has been whistling a happy tune ever since she saw the 2015 Broadway revival of “The King and I.” And now she’s living her dream.
The day after opening in “Dr. Zhivago” on Broadway, she scooted a mile or so up to Lincoln Center to see Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic musical unfold in all its shimmering glory.
The Walla Walla, Wash., native, now based in Manhattan, won’t be on standby when the show comes to Hancher. She’ll step into Anna’s hoop skirts and iconic songs for all six performances Tuesday (10/10) to Oct. 14 in Iowa City.