Cara Lieurance

Cullen O'Neil has come a long way from her days as a cellist in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony. An outstanding talent at that time, she continued her studies at the University of Michigan, then in Finland, then at the Juillard School in New York City, where she formed a string quartet with Majka Demcak, Aniela Eddy, and Natalie Kress. Committed to historic performance practice, they traded their metal strings for gut and named themselves Quartet Salonnières, a reference to the historic women of society who brought great musicians to their salon gatherings.

In a near-miraculous resurrection, a production of Steven Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George will be staged from Sep 18 - Oct 4, with three of the four leads maintaining their roles. 

Western Michigan University Theatre Department students Marcus Jackson and Aaron Czarnecki, double-cast in the title role of George, and Miranda Vandenberg as Dot, were closing in on opening night last April when the show was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This month, as seniors, they're able to pick up where they left off. Ally Taylor, who had another role originally, is newly double-cast as Dot. Jackson, Czarnecki, Vandenberg and Taylor, joined by director Jay Berkow, professor of music theatre performance, join Cara Lieurance to talk about their second chance to perform a classic work.

Today would have been Dacia Bridges' 47th birthday. The performer, who died of a brain aneurysm in 2019, was re-building a music career from Kalamazoo, after garnering considerable international success on the music scene in Germany. Bridges was working on an album with the Dacia Bridges Project, an all-female lineup of Michigan-based musicians. She was also raising her daughter, Billie Sky, as a single parent, and filming a documentary about an untold piece of Kalamazoo history, the Kalamazoo Boxing Academy, among other things.

In a conversation that frequently references Dacia's spirit and personality, bandmates Carolyn Koebel and Cori Somers, and La Luna Studios' Ian Gorman, talked to Cara Lieurance about finishing seven songs (including "Unpredictable Child" and "Road Back To You") for release on Bandcamp (available locally at Green Light Music).  Proceeds will go toward a fund benefitting Bridges' daughter.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is the newest film by screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It's currently available on Netflix, and as Madeline Cimini and president Dhera Strauss of the Kalamazoo Film Society tell Cara Lieurance, it's worth talking about. The KFS is inviting people to tune in on a "Virtual Lobby" Zoom session, Wednesday, Sep 16 at 7 pm. The link is available by contacting the society through its website.

The arboretum at the Kalamazoo Nature Center will ring with more than birdsong on Sunday, Sep 13 at 3 pm. Six performers and ensembles, invited by the Connecting Chords Festival, will be stationed at different points along the paths, allowing visitors to wander and listen. The performers are world music percussionist Carolyn Koebel, Ugandan singer/dancer/multi-instrumentalist Samuel Nalangira, the Celtic group Hazeltree, singer/storyteller Sidney Ellis II, Scandinavian duo Norse Code, and the Middle Eastern group Bahar Ensemble. Koebel, Nalangira, and Connecting Chords executive director Elizabeth Start joined Cara Lieurance for a preview.