IN BRIEF
‘Listen’ to new play
There’s music-filled musicals (hence the name, silly).
Then there’s musicless plays about music. One, anyway.
“Listen” by local playwright and ex-Las Vegas CityLife theater critic Dave Surratt, is such a creation, opening for a two-weekend run at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave.
Produced by RagTag Entertainment and directed by Surratt, the “dramatic comedy” — expanded from a short piece first performed last year at the Katherine Gianaclis Park for the Arts — focuses on Ben, a cancer biologist and audiophile committed to the healing power of music. However, Ben’s boss isn’t sold on his sound therapy, complicated by the demands of a headstrong new girlfriend, an overbearing friend and an eccentric new patient.
Veteran Vegas performers Erik Amblad, Thomas Chrastka, Breon Jenay, Candice McCallum and Drew Yonemori star in “Listen,” which, we hear, goes curtain-up at 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Nov. 25 and 26, for a $10 ducat, available online at www.onyxtheatre.com. For more information, call 732-7225.
Philharmonic pines for Pine
What’s instrumental to successful Philharmonic concerts? Accomplished instrumentalists.
Fortunately, the stellar crew of the Las Vegas Philharmonic gets a boost Saturday from acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine for this season’s second Masterworks presentation.
Hitting the strings for Russian composer Alexander Glazunov’s “Violin Concerto in A Minor,” Pine was, at the tender age of 17, the youngest person to win a gold medal in 1992 at the J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany, and has since been a guest artist with prestigious orchestras worldwide.
Rounding out the program, the Philharmonic will perform German composer Robert Schumann’s “Symphony No. 3” and go red, white and blue with American composer Aaron Copland’s classic “Appalachian Spring.”
Conducted by maestro David Itkin, the concert at Artemus W. Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, will be preceded by a conversation with Pine and Itkin at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $78, $53 and $38 and are available by calling 895-2787 or visiting www.lvphil.com.
Swing-a-ding-ding at concert
Warm up those snapping fingers and tapping toes. Fret not — the Walt Boenig Band will provide the music to go with them at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Bruce Trent Park at 8851 Vegas Drive, at Rampart Boulevard. Sponsored by the city of Las Vegas, the free concert offers the eight-member ensemble beating out an infectious beat on the east side of the park at the Arts Connection showmobile.
Wielding his trombone, Boenig has racked up an impressive resume that’s included stints with the Glenn Miller, Harry James and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras, as well as on Tom Jones’ South African tour. Since arriving in Las Vegas in the mid-’70s, Boenig has performed with house bands and for shows at many hotels, including the Desert Inn, “Lido de Paris” at the Stardust and the musical “Chicago” at Mandalay Bay, as well as fronting his own band.
For more information, visit www.waltboenigbigband.com or www.artslasvegas.org.
Duo brings international flair
Foreign policy, musically speaking, gets a boost tonight at 7 when American flutist Jessica Pierce and Bosnian guitarist Almer Imamovic — otherwise known as AlmaNova — bring their classical style to the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive.
Exploring a range of musical traditions as well as performing their own compositions, the duo plays chamber music from around the globe. “Classic Giuliani,” their CD, is a compilation of music culled from the repertoire of 18th-century guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani. In 2006, Pierce and Imamovic were filmed performing for PBS, and they have played venues including the Theatre de Naples in Paris and the Dom Armije in Sarajevo.
Tasting their international flavor will cost $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Call 455-7340 or visit www.ClarkCountyNV.gov/parks.
— By STEVE BORNFELD
