From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

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Shakespeare with a twist

Luke Fanning of northeast Minneapolis has his eye on Zach Christensen of Jackdonkey Productions, whose staging of “Henry V” is now at Theatre in the Round.

Fanning says Christensen has “an uncanny knack for taking something that might be a little bit old and dusty and shaking it up and making it new and fun.”

This production promises music, movement and “weird vibes” while still exploring the play’s central themes of war, power and their effects on people. “Henry V” runs through Aug. 18.

Luke says: I know I can trust Jackdonkey to add music, movement, weird vibes in a way that I’m gonna lean in instead of zone out.

— Luke Fanning

Tim Harding’s shimmering ‘Double Vision’

Minneapolis visual artist Carolyn Halliday has followed Tim Harding’s textile work for decades, but his new series “Double Vision” is something entirely different.

Harding prints his own photographs on polyester, reprints them at a different scale on organza, then layers, gathers and stitches the fabrics to create a stereopticon-like effect.

The result, Halliday says, “moves and shimmers and distorts the view.” The show is on view at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis through Aug. 30.

Carolyn says: It’s really dramatic.

— Carolyn Halliday

A symphonic ‘Ring’ in Brainerd

Justin Lucero, artistic director of Theatre Latté Da, says the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd is preparing its largest-ever orchestra for an ambitious weekend.

The festival will present an orchestral program featuring music from “The Lord of the Rings,” a new work by French composer Camille Pépin, and “The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure,” a 70-minute distillation of Wagner’s epic 15-hour cycle.

More than 100 musicians will perform on the Gichi-ziibi stage Aug. 16 and 17.

Justin says: It’ll be the largest ever orchestra that has been involved with the Lakes Area Music Festival.

— Justin Lucero