For classical enthusiasts across Charlottesville, few events were as eagerly anticipated as the performance of chamber music duo Augustin Hadelich and Orion Weiss — and rightfully so.
Volcanoes. Remote controlled vehicles. Palaces for kittens. These are just some of the building challenges contestants are being given this television season on “Lego Masters,” an outlandish creative competition with $100,000 on the line and the chance to have the winning creation immortalized in a new, official Lego set.
Carlehr Swanson knew she was in for a treat when Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Batiste visited Carr’s Hill at the University of Virginia on Sunday. Swanson, a fan of Batiste’s genre-bending style who had put herself on the waitlist for Batiste’s “Arts on the Hill” event, just learned she had gotten a ticket and found a front-row seat to the action.
More than 1,000 people packed the seats at the Paramount Theater on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall Wednesday for the Virginia Film Festival’s opening night. Still more lingered outside the restored 1930s movie palace, hoping that additional tickets might be released for that evening’s sold-out showing of “Maestro,” written and directed by – and starring – Bradley Cooper.
Tim Longo, whose official title is associate vice president for safety and security and chief of police, is substantially older than 10. But on Monday, he took an audience gathered in the Rotunda Dome Room back several decades, spinning a yarn about the time he ran for the office of “assembly coordinator,” or the “guy that gets to call the shots for the assemblies.”
The Virginia Film Festival kicks off its five-day run on Wednesday with a showing of “Maestro,” a new film written and directed by, and starring Bradley Cooper about the composer Leonard Bernstein’s life and romance with actress Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan.
There is always a waitlist for Stanley Stepanic’s course, “Dracula.” The University of Virginia assistant professor has been teaching it since 2007, and the number of students has grown every year. There are about 200 students enrolled this semester.
Cooler weather and colorful foliage in Charlottesville can mean only one thing: fall is in full swing at the University of Virginia, where the school and students have created a raft of spooky offerings between now and Oct. 31, Halloween night.
![The “Somebodies” [from left: Mary Hall, Darnell Glover, Katia Ramirez, Sean Miller, Lilla Woodard] Photo Credit: Michael Bailey](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_large/public/2023-10/MBailey-231005-010%20crop.jpeg?itok=lUy70aer)