Inside the Arts

What happens when a classically trained pianist meets a closed-up church in the Marigny? Why he turns it into an opera house. This week on Notes from New Orleans, Sharon Litwin talks with Dave Hurlbert, the man behind that mission.

  

  

This week on  Inside the Arts  we catch up with Emmy Award winning actor John Larroquette. There's big news from the LPO as it names a CEO and extends Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto's contract. Then, Southern Rep Theater tackles the issue of mental illness in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt's powerhouse musical, Next to Normal.

Most New Orleanians have probably heard that the Dalai Lama is in town this week. But perhaps you do not know of the work it took to bring the spiritual leader of 6 million Tibetan Buddhists to this city.

On this week's Notes from New Orleans, Sharon Litwin talks with Ronald Marks, the Tulane scholar who organized the visit.

  

  

This week on Inside the Arts, we'll boogie down to Bayou St. John for the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo Festival. Then, as the Dalai Lama heads to New Orleans, we'll talk with the co-author of his most recent book, The Wisdom of Compassion.  And, we'll make a stop in the French Quarter where a popular art gallery re-opens after a 14 year absence from the New Orleans art scene.

Sixty eight years ago this week — May 8, 1945 to be exact — the Second World War ended in Europe with the signing of the official documents in Berlin. But, for one group of British military women, it would be more than 30 years before they were allowed to talk about their secret role in that devastating conflict.

Sharon Litwin had the chance to speak with one of them for this week's Notes from New Orleans; she filed this report from the back patio of a charming, soft-spoken resident of Covington, Louisiana.

This week on Inside the Arts we'll find out how two Brazilian night club owners are promoting New Orleans throughout their home country. We'll look at the connection between the BP oil spill and a major arts center. Is there a silver lining? And, we'll take a walk on the wild side as we trek into the woods for a magical celebration of art and nature.

Airs Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. and Thursday at 7:35 a.m.
 

InstrumentHead — a surrealist portrait series by acclaimed photographer Michael Weintrob — opens tonight in connection with the Frenchmen Art Market.

The pop-up exhibit captures the identities of musical legends without showing their faces.

The pop up gallery opens April 25  with live music by Papa Mali & Friends, featuring Eric McFadden, Rob Mercurio, Eric Bolivar, Nigel Hall and DJ Logic.

2121 Chartres Street, 7 p.m.

The exhibit runs through May 5.

Martha Redbone and her Roots Project Band return to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this year to perform songs from her internationally acclaimed new CD, The Garden of Love — Songs of William Blake.

The CD is a switch for Redbone, as the indie-soul diva returns to the music of her childhood, growing up in the hills of Kentucky.

Martha Redbone performs Sunday, April 28 at the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at 1:30 p.m.

 

 

This week host Diane Mack goes Inside the Arts to check out a series of events as the 44th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival gets underway.