News
A mix of local artists and puppeteers, STEM and stagecraft students from TCC, and FSU art majors participated in an exclusive workshop with award-winning puppeteer, Joseph Cashore, as part of Opening Nights in Class programming. Mr. Cashore led the hands-on workshop, sponsored by Tallahassee Community College, through the process of bringing a marionette to life. […]
From the Director ON Director Michael Blachly With continued thanks to those who completed the member survey that was distributed in December, we are still gleaning good information from your input. “Headline Artists and Attractions” were listed as highly desirable program options for Opening Nights to present. We’re striving to have a good number of […]
When internationally acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell first performed in Tallahassee in 2002, the Opening Nights performing arts series booked him at the DoubleTree Hotel in the heart of downtown.
Terrie Young has a playful personality, a sparkling smile and a love of the arts. An eighth-grader at Gretchen Everhart School, he uses a wheelchair to get from place to place but he also enjoys a more expressive type of movement.
No, it’s true: Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, whose coronation as the ”king and queen of banjo” would come courtesy of Paste magazine, met at a square dance. From there, the celebrated pickers began to collaborate, musically and otherwise, married, and became a Grammy-winning duo.
When Jimmy Webb arrived at Johnny Rivers Music in the mid-1960s, he had unrecorded songs in his pocket, including a ballad that Frank Sinatra would call the “best torch song ever written.” Rivers immediately recognized “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” as a stone cold hit. But with a song of his own, “Poor […]
From the Director ON Director Michael Blachly My thanks are extended to all of you who responded to the recent membership surveys. The input that you provided is helping us evaluate future membership benefits as well as directions in programming. You let us know what you’d like to see on stage in coming seasons. The […]
The South African Gospel group paid a visit to Godby High School on Wednesday morning, singing selections from their program, honoring Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday.
The Soweto Gospel Choir took over the auditorium at Godby High School the morning after their evening show, performing an abridged version of Songs of the Free. In Partnership with the Florida Center for Reading Research, Opening Nights was able to create customized programs to give students deeper insight into Nelson Mandela’s story and the […]
When Mandy Harvey walked onto the stage at Opperman Music Hall, most of the elementary and middle school students clapped to welcome her. But some students raised their hands, spread their fingers and shook their hands back and forth — the American Sign Language symbol for applause.
