Cultural, Community, Information

Airs Saturday, July 14 at 7 p.m. It was in the notoriously opera-critical country of Italy that Joan Sutherland was christened “The Stunning One” after her debut in Venice in 1960.  The previous year, after her “Mad Scene” in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the applause lasted 20 minutes. The next year, in anticipation of her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the same role, the queue for standing room tickets began at 7.30 that morning.

Airs Friday, July 13 at 12:00 noon.  River City Repertory Theatre, the area’s only professional theatre company, presents its 2012 “Overtures & Ovations” concert, recorded live at Riverview Theatre. The concert brings together the Shreveport Symphony and the Shreveport Opera Chorus performing an evening of Broadway overtures and definitive songs with Tony Award winning actress, Donna McKechnie and London’s West End star, Jeremiah James. They will lead the audiences through an evening of show stopping performances and overtures that have set the standard on Broadway.

Airs Thursday, July 12 at 8:00 p.m.  Tune in to this episode to hear one of the most exciting young pianist in jazz, Gerald Clayton, performing with Hareesh Ragovan on bass and Justin Brown on drums at the 2010 Savannah Music Festival. The most common piano trio format in jazz has usually included a pianist, a bassist and a drummer. Communication between these three players is built around the talents they have amassed through extensive training, so that their reflexes are to the point where the music takes over on the bandstand.