Dove Awards
After a 42-year history in Tennessee, the Dove Awards moved to Atlanta, cementing the city’s status as Award Show Central and garnering its highest ratings ever. The awards, presented by the Gospel Music Association, are considered the Grammys of the Christian music industry, and this year trumpeted a trove of Atlanta-based artists including Francesca Battistelli, Chris Tomlin and Third Day. The awards return to Atlanta in April.
Music Midtown
After a six-year break, Music Midtown returned to a 40,000-plus crowd this fall at what promoters hope will be its new home at Piedmont Park. The beloved music festival, led by original co-founder Peter Conlon, was a scaled-down resurrection featuring mostly burgeoning alternative rock bands such as Young the Giant and Manchester Orchestra, but earned marquee status with its headliners, The Black Keys and Coldplay.
Jay-Z, Kanye West “The Throne” tour
The rap titans kicked off what was arguably the most anticipated tour of 2011 with a two-night stand at Philips Arena. Throughout the two-and-a-half-hour marathon, the pals proved a dynamic duo by blending their own smashes with their new collaborative material on a set highlighted by multimedia and shifting stage pieces.
Melissa Ruggieri, ruggieri@ajc.com “
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Bring It On: The Musical”
Some of American theater’s brightest talent came to the Alliance Theatre early in the year for the world premiere of a delightful new show based on the “Bring It On” cheerleader movies: Lin-Manuel Miranda of “In the Heights,” Jeff Whitty of “Avenue Q” and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Kitt of “Next to Normal.” Now director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler’s powerhouse actor/athletes have taken their killer chops on a national tour.
“The Glass Menagerie”
After nearly shutting its doors, Georgia Shakespeare came back from the abyss of economic turmoil with a devastating production of the Tennessee Williams masterpiece, directed by Richard Garner and starring the superb Mary Lynn Owen as Amanda Wingfield. Joe Knezevich (as Tom) and Bethany Anne Lind (as Laura) had just skipped in from another dysfunctional family drama: the Alliance’s excellent “August: Osage County,” directed by Susan V. Booth and featuring Garner in a terrific comedic turn.
Serenbe Playhouse
While many of the city’s established theaters struggled to survive, this upstart company in Chattahoochee Hills rolled up its sleeves and presented a memorable summer season — “Ordinary Days,” “The Ugly Duckling” and “Shipwrecked.” Just two years after arriving on the scene, artistic director Brian Clowdus has made a mark with site-specific works that play off the bucolic landscape of the theater’s namesake community.
Wendell Brock, for the AJC
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“Maá”
In September, choreographer Lauri Stallings established her place among the city’s leading artists with this earth-shaking blend of music, dance, theatrical design, lighting and projection that marked the Symphony Hall debut of Stallings’ performance group gloATL and ASO music director Robert Spano’s first collaboration with Stallings. Joined by about 40 dancers, contemporary music ensemble Sonic Generator performed Kaija Saariaho’s encompassing score while Adam Larsen’s nature-inspired moving images enveloped the sod-laden stage.
“Rhythm and Rhapsody”
The Georgia Ballet elevated artistic standards last October with this stylistically varied, technically challenging program that progressed from the 19th-century classical lines of “Aurora’s Wedding” to soft-shoe rhythms of 1930s movie musicals in George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” to the rapturous partnering of resident choreographer Janusz Mazon’s intricate “Prelude Pictures.”
“EDEN/EDEN”
Driven by composer Steve Reich’s video opera “Three Tales,” the mesmerizing, kinetically intense choreography of Wayne McGregor showed a leaner, meaner Atlanta Ballet steeped in classicism but equally impressive performing cutting-edge contemporary work. Presented in October, the beautiful yet terrifying vision of a stark, future world inhabited by clones and cyborgs was a cautionary tale on the merging paths of science, technology and human evolution.
Cynthia Perry, for the AJC
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“Missa Solemnis”
In January, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivered an electrifying performance of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” conducted by Donald Runnicles. A challenging and perplexing sacred choral work, it had not been performed here for 10 years.
“Nyx”
In preparation for its annual trip to Carnegie Hall, the ASO presented in October the American premiere of “Nyx” by Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, a dazzling piece calling for high virtuosity. Also on the program were “The Bells,” Sergei Rachmaninoff’s setting of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and “Le Poeme de L’extase,” an eccentric work by Alexander Scriabin.
“Lucia di Lammermoor”
In terms of staging, Atlanta Opera delivered its most interesting work yet with the November production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Stage director Tomer Zvulun employed a massive unit set for the castle and elaborate projections in the production, which was updated to the Victorian era. The singing was generally superb, with the title role vividly portrayed by soprano Georgia Jarman.
Jimmy Paulk, for the AJC
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“Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters”
The High Museum’s relationship with the Museum of Modern Art produced this journey through 20th century art. Drawn from MOMA’s vaunted collection, some 100 paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs and video comprise both textbook classics and some rarely seen surprises. It’s fascinating to watch the artists talk to one another across the generations. Through April 29.
“Moulthrop: A Southern Legacy”
The Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art showcased the achievement of three generations of Atlanta wood-turners: Ed Moul-throp, the patriarch, his son Philip and grandson Matt. Their vessels, models of skill and craftsmanship, celebrate the beauty of nature through the myriad grains and colors of the wood they choose.
Flux 2011
The September evening of art, dance, parades and communal good cheer held annually in the Castleberry Hill District offered a variety of experiences from the feats of aerial dancers to the songs emanating from little boxes dotting the district. Despite the air of festivity, it also registered serious thoughts about the times in which we live.
Catherine Fox, for the AJC
