Judy Harrison

Entitled, “Past, Present, Future: Bach and Beyond,” the performance of a new work by Nathan Shields and the performance by guest piano soloist Awadagin Pratt thrilled the audience.

Those productions showed that UMaine has a deep well of talented performers to draw from. They and the theatergoing public of Greater Bangor deserve a better play than “A Pirate's Life for She” to showcase that talent.

Who are the People of the Dawn who inhabited Maine long before European settlers arrived? Who are their heroes? What are their origin tales?

The piece, performed Sunday by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, required 74 musicians, more than the 56 on stage for the opening concert in October or the 49 used for the phenomenal January performance that wove a tapestry of sound out of new and old music. Mahler's symphony required hiring extra musicians in almost every section.

Maine has seen little snow through most of the winter, making traditional sports like snowmobiling and skiing more difficult.

This production, directed by Deanna Rice, is a love letter not only to Shakespeare and his work, but to the joys and sorrows that actors experience in bringing an author's words to life. Ten Bucks takes theatergoers into the lives of the men who were part of Shakespeare's performing troupe known as the King's Men in this funny and touching story.

It's the first day of open water fishing in lakes and ponds that were closed to it before this date, and it's the first day hunters can submit their moose permit applications to the state's lottery.

In a survey last year on the financial health of nonprofit regional theaters, the executive director of Penobscot Theatre Company described her organization as “struggling.”

In the not-too-distant future, the electric grid has failed and nuclear plant meltdowns have killed millions.

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra threw its conductor and music director, Lucas Richman, one heck of a 60th birthday party Sunday at the University of Maine's Collins Center for the Arts.