Arts & Culture

Ernest Hemingway’s historic home in Ketchum has new ownership. The nonprofit and privately funded Community Library in Ketchum now owns Ernest Hemingway’s home along the Big Wood River.

Despite the new acquisition, Executive Director of the Community Library, Jenny Emery Davidson, intends to preserve the historical significance of Hemingway’s house.

There’s a house in Garden City with strange noises happening inside.

Experimental electronic artist Gretchen Jude is playing around with all kinds of instruments, including the sound from a cracklebox. Jude is the artist-in-residence at Surel’s Place this month. She’s from Idaho, but has spent time in Japan and now lives in Hawaii – places that all come up in her newest piece which Jude will debut Friday night.

The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is preparing for another summer under the stars - its 41st season. This year’s repertory includes Wait Until Dark, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, a musical adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Hound of the Baskervilles and a rather unique twist on Hamlet.

Weekend Edition’s George Prentice talks with the festival’s producing artistic director Charles Fee about how he builds a season and his unique casting decision for Hamlet.

Listen to their conversation below.

A famed sculptor who calls Florence, Italy home finishes up a two-week course he’s teaching students in Boise State’s Fine Arts program today. A trip to his workshop is like a trip back in time.

Besides the constant clacking of chisels against blocks of imported Carrara marble, one of the most striking things about stepping into the back sculpture studio at the Ben Victor Gallery on campus is the dust. Little chips of rock and dust fly from each student’s block as they turn white stone into art.

A new book follows the journey of a Sun Valley family in the 1990s when they're faced with the death of their son.

Rocky Bates struggled from the time he was adopted with medical issues. In the book “Empty Jacket,” his mother Vicky Bates chronicles Rocky’s struggles with illness, his childhood and his sudden death at age ten.

A year ago, the Boise Philharmonic began an intensive search for a new Music Director. They’ve now finalized their decision.

It was like a yearlong episode of “Survivor.” Seven conductors came to Boise, not just to interview for the open position of Music Director, but also to lead the Boise Philharmonic.

It was an unusual process for the candidates. All seven finalists played with the musicians and also met donors and audience members. In the end, only one was left standing.

Zoo Boise marks a milestone Friday. It was twenty years ago that Steve Burns joined up with the zoo.

Back then, Steve Burns was working at the Nature Conservancy in Washington D.C. He shifted gears and took the job as the Executive Director of the Friends of Zoo Boise. After three-and-a-half years, he added head of Zoo Boise to his title and now holds both jobs.

Zoo Boise is still reeling after the sudden loss of one of their two beloved giraffes, Julius Longfellow, in April. Since then, the zoo has been looking for a new companion for the remaining giraffe. Now it looks like they may have found one.

Johnny Mathis is coming to Boise. The 81-year-old singer celebrated his 60th year as a recording artist in 2016. He’s recorded 78 original albums and has sung with everyone from Barbara Streisand to Ray Charles.

He’s known for a long-string of hits – he’s had 43 singles on the Billboard pop charts – including “Chances Are,” “It’s Not for Me To Say,” and six original Christmas albums.

Last weekend, the Fiddlers of Idaho State Championship was held in Hailey. Those with the top scores have now advanced to the national championships in Weiser this summer. 

There was competition at all levels, from the “senior senior” division of 70 and above, to the “small fry” division of eight and younger.

Contestants were judged on three fiddle songs: a waltz, a hoe down and a tune of their choice. But who wasn’t there was as important as who was.

When it opened in New York, the play “The Clean House” was championed by The New York Times as a production of “theatrical audacity and emotional richness.” It is the work of celebrated playwright Sara Ruhl; and it opens this weekend at Boise Contemporary Theater and runs through May 6th.