Haitian choir coming to Staunton

AFP

The earthquake changed the center of their world. Their Holy Trinity Cathedral and thousand-student music school in Port au Prince collapsed into rubble. Scores of lives were lost all around the church complex. The philharmonic orchestra’s instruments were crushed. Choristers in the elite men and boys choir, Les Petits Chanteurs, lost their homes. They sleep…

Kids now have HOPE

AFP

Music for HOPE, an acronym for Helping Other People Everywhere, is a nonprofit organization that will help those who are interested in playing a musical instrument, but that do not have the funds to do so, obtain the instrument of their choosing.  The idea for Music for HOPE was developed in Las Vegas by Mike…

Big Read back on in ’11

Chris Graham

The Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge announced on Thursday that it has received a $10,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host The Big Read 2011 in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County. This is the fourth year in a row that the Foundation has received this honor. The Community…

Busy building at EMU

Jim Bishop

A quiet campus at Eastern Mennonite University? Not at all, especially this summer, with outside groups and auxiliary programs stretching the facilities non-stop from early May through mid-August and several major capital improvement projects happening simultaneously. The biggest project: what is being called “Phase II” of the University Commons, a $2.4 million funded project that…

Sweet Dreams made in Draft

Chris Graham

This year marks the seventh annual Sweet Dreams Festival in Stuarts Draft. Saturday, July 24, thousands of people will show up to buy from local businesses, artisans and crafters and enjoy the stage with musical entertainment by S.A.L.T and Steve Losh. The Festival begins at 9 a.m. and goes until 5 p.m. Venders lined up…

Tickets on sale for Hairspray

AFP

ShenanArts will be hosting the Virginia premiere of the recent Broadway hit musical Hairspray beginning Aug. 12. The local production, based on the film written and directed by John Waters, is being directed by one-time “American Idol” contestant Colon Berry, who also co-stars as Link Larkin, the resident hunk of “The Corny Collins Show.” The…

Shenandoah Pizza owners branch out into concert promotion

AFP

Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   When Shenandoah Pizza owners Cheryl and John Huggins started following one of their favorite bands the Allman Brothers around from concert-to-concert years ago, they never imagined that a few years hence they would be hosting musicians associated with the band in their very own concert series. “We just loved…