News

San Antonio Symphony delivers diamond-sharp Beethoven 9th

09/22/2015 - 9:45am

Starting his sixth season as San Antonio Symphony music director, Sebastian Lang-Lessing clearly has made the orchestra his creation more than ever. This was abundantly clear throughout Friday night's classical series opener featuring Ludwig van Beethoven's mighty Ninth Symphony.  The orchestral colors, the balances between the instrument sections, the shaping of the melodic arches, the driven pacings and the soft-to-loud dynamics were fabulous.

Tobin Center reports surplus for first year

09/02/2015 - 11:00am
The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts’ opening act — its financial first season — has been a fiscal success so far as it nears the anniversary of its opening. The Tobin Center’s staff reports that the $205 million building’s revenues are exceeding its costs, keeping the center on track to keep a promise its founding board members made when planning the arts venue. The promise was that the downtown Tobin Center would not seek annual operating subsidies from the city and county governments that provided the majority of the construction costs.

Fifth Harmony served up female empowerment at Tobin

08/03/2015 - 3:00pm
The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts attracted one of the youngest (and loudest) audiences in its young history Sunday night when Fifth Harmony brought its girl-group dance-pop to the Tobin stage. Fifth Harmony is the inheritor of a stylistic tradition passed down from the Supremes to En Vogue to Destiny’s Child, but the audience reaction at the Tobin most strongly evoked memories of the screams and shrieks of elation that the Spice Girls produced in their brief heyday.

Coming Soon: San Antonio Film Festival

07/28/2015 - 4:00pm
Attention all movie lovers, future filmmakers, and actors! It is the time of year again to go to the beautiful Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and watch movies that will give you a deeper sense of gratitude for independent flicks. This is the 21st year the San Antonio Film Festival has shared independent short film and movies with the city of San Antonio. Adam Rocha, arts administrator and founder of the S.A. Film Festival, explained that he could not imagine a better city to have it than in San Antonio “It’s the coolest city in the world.

Meghan Trainor matches attendance record at Tobin

07/17/2015 - 11:45am

“All About That Bass” pop star Meghan Trainor brought her rested vocal cords to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday for a sold-out concert with two opening acts, the British pop band Life of Dillon and rising star singer-songwriter Charlie Puth. Her fans are called “Megatronz” and many of them are kids. Avery Anson, 11, a veteran of Taylor Swift and One Direction concerts, said Trainor is a special role model. “She makes you feel good about yourself,” Avery said. “That’s important.” Her friend Payton Louis, 11, says it’s all about that music.

Tyler Oakley, the internet’s sure shot

07/09/2015 - 10:15am
In the dawn of a new golden age for LGBTQ people, YouTube vlogger Tyler Oakley has the distinction of being in the right place at the perfect time. Excitement is brewing over the Teen Choice Award-winner’s upcoming live variety show, Tyler Oakley’s Slumber Party, which will play H-E-B Performance Hall July 9 as part of his very first-ever international tour.

Black Violin bridges hip-hop and classical at Tobin

06/19/2015 - 4:45pm
Black Violin — musicians Wil Baptiste and Kevin Sylvester — certainly qualify as honorary Texans. The talented instrumentalists have become perennials at the South by Southwest Music Conference the last few years, helping to get bleary-eyed crowds going before the festival’s keynote and at various panel sessions, as well as dazzling fans and music critics at their own official showcases.

Tobin adds adult-oriented Edge series

06/15/2015 - 3:15pm

Tickets and subscriptions go on sale Monday (June 15) for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts’ new Edge series, which is aimed at adults. “It’s provocative, fun, engaging theater for the contemporary audience,” said Aaron Zimmerman, senior director of programming and marketing for the Tobin Center, in a press release. The series includes touring productions and an AtticRep show. Here’s the lineup: “One Man Breaking Bad,” Sept. 12:Actor Miles Allen brings the whole series to life, channeling everyone’s favorite meth manufacturers as well as the other characters.

A conversation wtih Robert Irvine

06/15/2015 - 3:00pm

You have seen Robert Irvine on Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible,” and you know him for his tough and brutally honest approach to owners of failing restaurants (and his massive biceps). Catch Irvine in person when he comes to San Antonio on Thursday for a performance at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.  Here, Irvine speaks about his upcoming live performance, his show “Restaurant Impossible,” and his own San Antonio chef connection. What should people expect at “Robert Irvine Live”?

All of S.A.’s a stage — with lots of performances

06/15/2015 - 9:15am
San Antonio has a rich and varied performing arts community. Here’s a look at just a few of the companies that keep things hoppin’ year round. AtticRep set a tone with its first production, a punch-to-the-gut take on Harold Pinter’s “One for the Road” staged in 2006. The company swiftly earned a reputation for masterful productions of largely contemporary work. It also occasionally has created thought-provoking original work.

Travis Tritt going unplugged in Tobin Center

06/12/2015 - 9:00am
Twenty-six years ago this week, Travis Tritt released his first single, “Country Club,” which became a Top 10 hit. The native of Marietta, Georgia, was part of the vanguard of the country boom of the early 1990s that came to be known as “The Class of ’89” that included other soon-to-be superstars Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson. But Tritt not only was the only one who did not wear a cowboy hat, he also delved into his childhood musical loves of blues, Southern rock and gospel and earned an outlaw image that distinguished him from the others.

SOLI preps a multimedia ‘Experience’

05/18/2015 - 10:45am
Tobin Center giving chamber ensemble, other companies opportunity to push the envelope...The SOLI Chamber Ensemble, which has a long-standing reputation for innovative programming, endeavored to make every concert this season an event.And now comes “Experience,” which wraps up the ensemble’s 21st season in a big way. The concerts — taking place Monday and Tuesday — will be laced with multimedia elements mixed live by visual artist Gary Wise. Some of the visuals will be projected directly onto the musicians.

Cirque de la Symphonie spins like a top at Pops concert

05/11/2015 - 10:30am
Frequent, nearly constant applause erupted during the San Antonio Symphony Pops concert Friday night as circus-like performers flew, juggled, muscled and balanced ever more imaginative feats of human agility at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. About 1,500 people attended the presentations by eight acrobatic members of the Atlanta-based Cirque de la Symphonie.

Gregg Allman attracts 1,300 to Tobin Center

05/06/2015 - 4:15pm
Gregg Allman lost himself in the music onstage Tuesday at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts deep in the blues and Southern rock he pioneered years ago with the Allman Brothers and as a solo artist. He didn’t say a whole lot between the standing ovations he received walking onstage and after he left. His 15-song set and encore spoke volumes.

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