The fat lady didn't sing, so I guess the opera isn't over. Instead, it's just beginning, with City Opera Company of the Quad Cities' first self-produced opera, Mozart's The Magic Flute. And if you think opera is stuffy, the production the organization staged this past weekend at the Galvin Fine Arts Center would have proved you wrong.
Two hundred sixty years after its composer set the words to music, The Messiah still draws hundreds of spectators to enjoy the tradition in the Quad Cities. What makes The Messiah different from hundreds of other masterpieces created through the years? Perhaps its history can give us a clue to why crowds flock to see performances.
The Winter Blanket is one of those bands that the more you listen to them, the more you want to know. My first experience with the group, which originally hailed from the Quad Cities but is now based in Minneapolis, came when I stumbled across its sophomore effort, Actors & Actresses (see "Building a Better Sedative," River Cities' Reader Issue 358, January 23-29, 2002).
The fledgling club Quad City Live got a big push in October, when the annual Pigstock metalfest was held in its parking lot (in the Freight House complex off River Drive in Davenport). But that boost wouldn't do much if the club didn't continue to bring in interesting acts.
After a year in operation, the Quad Cities-based Future Appletree label has an impressive résumé: four sparkling releases and a stable of reliable acts with an experimental-indie-pop flavor. It's clear even at this early stage that there's a distinct Future Appletree sound, which is evidenced by the new Soundtracks for Kisses, Trips, & Fits: A Future Appletree Compilation.
The Holiday Pops concert inspired Christmas spirit in a near-capacity crowd of about 8,500 people at The Mark on November 22 with an array of dazzling sights and sounds of the season. The Sanctuary Choir of First Presbyterian Church in Davenport, the Holiday Pops Children’s Chorus, traveling medieval performers Tapestry, and skaters from the Figure Skating Club of the Quad Cities joined the Quad City Symphony Orchestra for a Christmas program impressive in texture and depth.
A mosaic of the classical and modern, vocal and instrumental greeted a receptive audience at The Friends of Chamber Music concert November 16 at Edwards Congregational Church in Davenport. Baritone Lionel Marcoux and piano accompanist Kathleen Kelly alternated with the Rosewind Trio for an interesting mix of short performances.
As Allen Vizzutti walks through the music departments of many colleges, he can hear students diligently practicing from the method books he wrote. These books, the basis of a music student’s practice repertoire, are challenging trumpet students to new levels of technique and musicality and are rapidly replacing the method books written by Arban, according to Donald Schleicher, conductor and musical director of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.
The Chicago band Tenki has graduated from pop oddity to maturity, and contrary to what you might imagine, the transformation is anything but dull. After last year's playful debut Red Baby, Tenki has just released View of an Orbiting Man on the Quad Cities' Future Appletree label.
Last week, Quad City Arts brought in Terrance Simien & The Mallet Playboys, one of Louisiana's top zydeco bands, for a residency as part of its Visiting Artist series. The band featured Simien on accordion and vocals, a rubboard or frottoir player, a guitarist, a keyboardist, a bassist, and a drummer.

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