5/2/2022
Education and Outreach
Villalobos-Cardenas says her students’ participation in the Ballet Folklorico master class was more than just about learning dances and steps. “The experience gave the students a taste of Mexico’s cultural diversity,” she says. “In turn, this helps to grow the students as a community and invest in each other as dancers.”
4/29/2022
Discovering The Smith Center
When visitors now enter The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall, they will pass through the Betty Engelstad Grand Lobby. These naming rights honor a deeply generous donation from the Engelstad Foundation of $10 million to The Smith Center, a nonprofit organization. The foundation provided this as a matching gift for the Campaign to Sustain The Smith Center, an initiative to grow the center’s endowment fund and secure its future as a community resource for decades to come.
4/27/2022
Broadway Las Vegas
As an older and wiser season-ticket holder, I’m happy to pass along some gems of wisdom for current and potential season subscribers to consider.
4/22/2022
Performances and Artists
“I have a variety of wide-ranging influences, and always thought many of them were more connected than most people think they are,” he explains. “My goal for this (new) record was to share some of my favorite, and illuminate that connective tissue between them, while making the piano itself the genre.”
4/15/2022
Performances and Artists
Her family built a global following as Brazil’s First Family of Music, starting with her grandfather Seu Jorge, a famous mandolin player, followed by her father Sergio and uncle Odair, hailed as one of the world’s preeminent guitar duos.
4/15/2022
Performances and Artists
John Tesh boasts a long list of accolades for his globally acclaimed career as a radio and television host, pianist and composer, including three gold records, 8 million albums sold and several Emmys. But before all that, he got kicked out of college and his home.
4/8/2022
Performances and Artists
She spent much of her youth watching her father Louis Prima – one of the most renowned big-band leaders in entertainment history – performing at Vegas’ glamorous lounges in the ‘60s and ‘70s, where she enjoyed his infectious music and charismatic persona up close.
4/6/2022
Performances and Artists
Lena Prima’s memories from growing up in Vegas aren’t like most people’s. With her father, Louis Prima, one of the most renowned big-band leaders in music history, much of Lena’s youth was spent at Vegas’ iconic casinos and lounges of the ‘60s and ‘70s to watch him perform.
4/5/2022
Education and Outreach
“Our schools are only as good as our teachers,” says Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, media partner for The Smith Center’s Heart of Education Awards since 2016.
4/4/2022
Performances and Artists
The Hawaii native’s introduction to music began with learning ukulele as a young boy – but he found his true inspiration when he caught a local TV show featuring Hawaiian slack-key guitar master Raymond Kaleoalohapoina’oleohelemanu Kāne and his young protégé Bobby Moderow Jr.