“Is Christopher Nolan Catholic?” That’s the first thing I Googled upon exiting “The Odyssey.” As a director, Nolan has built a filmography around tortured men: atomic-bomb patriarch J. Robert Oppenheimer; dream wanderer Dom Cobb in “Inception;” marooned Joseph Cooper in “Interstellar.” But Nolan’s latest protagonist, the Greek hero Odysseus, endures a barrage of suffering so […]
Patrick Hosken
Patrick is CITY's arts and culture reporter. He was formerly the music editor at MTV News and a producer at Buffalo Toronto Public Media.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Circus in the City’ anchors Rochester Fringe Festival 2026 lineup
There can be no ESL Rochester Fringe Festival without the Spiegeltent, the signature mirrored hall that houses many of its shows. Indeed, the Spiegeltent will return for the fest in September. But this year’s Fringe also brings a slew of outdoor acrobatics, trapeze and aerial arts performances to downtown venues like Parcel 5 and Gibbs […]
Posted inCulture
Local radio show ‘Rainbow Roc’ celebrates 10 years of proud LGBTQ+ advocacy
When Brian Hurlburt applied to host a radio show on low-power community broadcaster WAYO-FM, the station didn’t technically exist yet. This was 2015, and organizers were still laying cables and installing power racks before launching. Hurlburt wanted in. He’d worked in radio before, hosting a show in Batavia, and he dreamed of returning to the […]
Posted inMusic
Eastman School’s 2026-27 concerts include Timothy Long’s Indigenous songbook, Chris Thile, Aoife O’Donovan and more
The Eastman School of Music has announced its concerts for the next school year. The new season includes student performances and a few guest stars. The celebration of America at 250 will be woven throughout the next year of concerts at Eastman in performances by students, faculty and visiting artists. Those concerts include “The North […]
Posted inMusic
RPO names Tonya McBride Robles as new president and CEO
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has tapped Tonya McBride Robles to lead the organization as its new president and CEO, beginning August 17. McBride Robles most recently served as vice president of expanded education at the New England Conservatory in Boston and before that, she had been chief operating officer at both the Baltimore and Nashville […]
Posted inCulture
As ‘Antiques Roadshow’ films in Mumford next week, these local shopkeepers are ready
Antiques are the name of the game this week in Mumford, when PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow” rolls into the Genesee Country Village & Museum to film on June 17. The production will host thousands of collectors looking to get their items appraised — and to explore what local spots have to offer. Rick McKay opened McKay’s […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Medina Triennial brings ambitious, accessible art to the Erie Canal
Last September, an old canal barge made its way from Rochester 45 miles west to the village of Medina. Community members lugged trees and soil to help the artist Mary Mattingly build a unique garden — a floating one. Mattingly’s project is one of the key pieces of the Medina Triennial, which brings international artists […]
Posted inCulture
The Ticketing Co. strives to be an independent, alternative option in a crowded market
If it takes two laptops and a smartphone to secure Taylor Swift concert tickets — and these days, it does — the ticketing system might be broken. Indeed, behemoths Live Nation and Ticketmaster recently settled an antitrust case with the Justice Department, though 33 states and the District of Columbia are still moving forward with […]
Posted inLilac Festival
Rochester Lilac Festival has a musical act for every ear
For Mikaela Davis, the 2026 Rochester Lilac Festival is a homecoming. Though the harp-playing, twangy, jam-adjacent singer-songwriter is now based in Catskill, New York, she still considers Rochester home enough to make her May 13 headlining set in Highland Park the release party for her new album, “Graceland Way.” Fellow local cornerstone group Giant Panda […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Muck Duck Studio spreads its wings with a new event space in NOTA
Take a walk with Casey Arthur. Descend the stairs at 100 College Ave. and meet the artist and founder of Muck Duck Studio, who is standing in a feathered hat. Then step into a 7,000 square-foot space where soon, Arthur said, couches will host first dates in which paintbrushes and chamomile tea break the ice. […]
Posted inMusic
REVIEW | ‘Devil’s Gonna Get You’ by Annie Wells
People mean well. They offer thoughts and prayers, best wishes and Bible verses, but they don’t understand. Sometimes their good intentions end up as judgments. This social consternation is at the heart of local singer-songwriter Annie Wells’ newest single, “Devil’s Gonna Get You,” released in March. The bluesy number was inspired, Wells writes in the […]
Posted inLiterature
A new posthumous collection adds dimensions to poet Lucille Clifton’s profound catalog
Though she died in 2010, Lucille Clifton remains one of the most consequential poets in American literature. It requires only a few lines to understand her power. Clifton, a Buffalo native who spent years in Baltimore, chose clear, distilled language to articulate her meanings. “(T)hey ask me to remember,” she wrote in a 1987 poem, […]
