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Performing Arts




The Telluride Dance Academy presents the unkillable ballet, the one that features a young girl on the verge, her handsome prince, a cornucopia of dancing delicacies, mad mice, determined toy soldiers, and a tree on growth hormones. The second annual production of "The Nutcracker" takes place this coming weekend, Saturday, December 12, 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 13, 3 p.m. at the Michael D. Palm Theatre.

The pure magic of "The Nutcracker" is etched into the evening almost as soon as the curtain goes up, when the magician, Herr Drosselmeier, godfather to Clara, makes a grand entrance at a Christmas party and gives little heroine Clara a Nutcracker doll.
10 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Beth Roberts and Sasha Cuciniello]

DSCN1381 In the early 1870s, miners first came to the Telluride region in search of silver and gold,  but the settlement wasn't called "Telluride." It was named Columbia. But Columbia's post office application was turned down on the grounds a town in California with the same name beat the settlers to the punch. The U.S. Postmaster General resolved the problem in 1880: we got our post office, but it came with a new name:"Telluride."

"Telluride"might have been derived from "tellurium," an element often associated with gold seams. Was the moniker just a crass marketing ploy to lure prospectors to the region? Some subscribe to the idea "Telluride" was code among outlaws. Was the name simple contraction of the phrase "to hell you ride," because way back when Telluride was wild and wooly.

08 December, 2009 /

by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer More than these greens tossed with toasted pecans, I want to serve you the hymn I sung into the wooden bowlas I blended the oil and white vinegar. More than honey ice cream beside the warm pie, I want to serve...

08 December, 2009 /
Photo_all7 For two years running, the man who is arguably America's greatest living composer of classical music was artist-in-residence for the Telluride Musicfest. During that time Philip Glass was pretty busy doing what he does. He performed all over the world, wrote two new operas and several more film scores. One of the classical pieces Glass agreed to write at the time was commissioned through the Meet the Composer program by Martin Murray as a special birthday gift for his wife, Lucy Miller Murray. Mrs. Murray was celebrating her 70th birthday and 27 years as the founding director of Market Square Concerts. Glass's "Sonata for Violin and Piano," premiered in Harrisburg, PA, in February and got raves. Maria Bachmann of the Trio Solisti, artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest, was the violinist.
07 December, 2009 /


Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the historic Sheridan Opera House, where the Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater presents "The Wizard of Oz," this weekend, December 4 – December 6, 6 p.m. nightly.

Director Jen Julia's Telluride production is based on the classic MGM musical "The Wizard of Oz," and features 33 locals, grades 6 – 8.

04 December, 2009 /

You may have seen them last Fall on Letterman, but if you missed the show at Telluride's Sheridan Opera House on December 2 with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, you missed one hell of a show. And right there in the front...

03 December, 2009 /

Wiz of Oz Telluride's Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater begins its 11th season with director Jen Julia's adaptation of the MGM classic (1939) "The Wizard of Oz," one of the most popular musicals of all time.

"Everyone can identify with Dorothy, the bewildered yet brave farm girl, on her journey through Oz," explained Jen.  "What's more, the songs are catchy, and the lyrics, almost tongue twisters, are extremely clever."

The production, performed by 33 students, grades 6, 7, and 8, includes all the usual suspects: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "If I Only Had a Brain," "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," "We’re  Off to See the Wizard." But in keeping with the YPT tradition Julia established, the show has some non-traditional elements, including a few songs from the musical, "The Wiz," to spice up the action.

01 December, 2009 /


[click "Play" to hear Alex Ebert's conversation with Susan]   

Noel Nite in Telluride, December 2,  is the official launch of the holiday season in town. The idea: Shop til you drop, but put some in storage. Following the feeding frenzy, guaranteed you'll be shaking what your mommy and daddy gave you and then some, when Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros performs at the historic Sheridan Opera House.

30 November, 2009 /

You've heard it before. Telluride is a global sandbox, a place supernovas gather to play. Now in its ninth season, Telluride Musicfest occurs over several weeks in June, mostly chamber music style, in the living room of two of its producers. Telluride Musicfest's artist-in-residence...

29 November, 2009 /