Benjamin Britten News

Vancouver, BC ~ Effervescent, intoxicating, and just a little daft, Vancouver Opera's colourful production of Albert Herring bursts onto the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Stage in less than two weeks. Benjamin Britten's fast-paced, clever and hummable opera, directed by Glynis Leyshon, transports audiences to the 1950s in a riot of scrumptious costumes, devastating satire, and charming slapstick.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of Mozart's three final symphonies - Nos. 39, 40, and 41, Jupiter - tonight, November 29, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 30 at 8:00 p.m. Classical 105.9 FM WQXR in New York will broadcast the November 30 concert live at 8:00 p.m. as part of a month-long festival on the music and life of Mozart.

Throughout 2013, the centenary of British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) has been observed around the world by musicians and institutions of every kind. Music Director James Conlon, whose lifelong fascination with Britten is reflected in his personal three-year performance cycle of the composer's works in America and Europe, is the inspiration for LA Opera's Britten 100/LA: A Celebration, an extensive collaboration featuring performances, conferences and exhibitions presented by a host of organizations throughout the Southland. Britten's centenary year may be drawing to an end, but Britten 100/LA events will continue into early 2014.

New York's city-wide plans to celebrate the centenary of prolific UK composer Benjamin Britten will continue in 2014 when the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) stages the US première of Glyndebourne's critically acclaimed opera Billy Budd.

Tonight, November 24, 2013, VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert presents the Canadian Premiere of Benjamin Britten's GLORIANA. The work premiered in London at Covent Garden in 1953 and was written in celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch now in the 50th year of her reign.

In the New York Philharmonic's concerts this week celebrating the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, tenors Dominic Armstrong, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Michael Slattery will replace Paul Appleby, who has withdrawn due to illness. On November 21-22, 2013, Michael Slattery will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and tenor Dominic Armstrong will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Spring Symphony. The concert on November 23 will feature tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in both works, and he will sing the Serenade on November 26 on a program that also includes Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, Jupiter.

Today, Carnegie Hall announced that the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), a program of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, will make its debut at the Tanglewood music festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, on Thursday, July 24, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten with a celebratory concert today, Nov. 22.

Valencia College's East Campus performing arts students will close the year with an array of concerts between now and the first week of December. The cost gives music lovers even more reason to rejoice-admission is absolutely free.

Conductor James Conlon, Music Director of LA Opera, will lead a series of Britten performances across the Southland as part of the Britten 100/LA celebration, in commemoration of the 2013 Benjamin Britten centenary.

Events coming up in the next few weeks for the LA Opera include special celebrations tonight, November 22, Britten's 100th birthday.

TENET, one of New York's preeminent vocal ensembles combines forces with the highly acclaimed chamber ensembleThe Sebastians in a performance of ODES: A Celebration of St. Cecilia. Works to be performed include odes by Henry Purcell and a tribute to Benjamin Britten on his birthday during this anniversary year. TENET will perform his poignant and beloved Hymn to St. Ceciliafor unaccompanied choir in an intimate, one-voice-per-part scoring. The performance is part of TENET's fifth anniversary festivities and takes place at 7PM tonight, November 22, St. Cecilia's Day at St. Luke in the Fields (487 Hudson Street, New York).

Rare photographs of Benjamin Britten including family and personal snapshots from his boyhood and professional life, are included from today in a new display at the National Portrait Gallery, ahead of the composer's centenary this weekend.

The world of music is a vast place indeed, with room for what seems to be an endless mix of styles – everything from aboriginal drum melodies to esoteric computer scores. After about four decades of the musical avant-garde, in the late 1960s and early 1970s a style known as “minimalism” emerged in which the continuous repetition of simple musical elements (or one basic phrase) became the basis for a complete score. New names soon arrived on the scene, including Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams, among others. Also, a single overriding idea managed to prevail, at least for a time: it seems they all sought to escape from the spectacular, ultra-modern din (some say “noise”), reaching for a kinder, gentler manner of serious music.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a celebration of the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten. The program will include Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, featuring tenor Paul Appleby and Philharmonic Principal Horn Philip Myers, and Britten's Spring Symphony, with soprano Kate Royal (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Philharmonic subscription debut), tenor Paul Appleby, New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus directed by Dianne Berkun-Menaker. The concerts, which include a performance on the composer's 100th birthday, November 22, will take place tonight, November 21, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 23 at 8:00 p.m.

It isn't the Holidays until Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) presents its annual musical extravaganza, 'Holiday Spectacular: Festival of Carols!' This year's presentation will kick off the Chorus's 35th Season when it returns to the Alex Theatre (216 N. Brand Boulevard) in Glendale, CA on December 14th and 15th, 2013.'Holiday Spectacular' is the annual West Coast spectacle that helps ring in the joyous Christmas season! Full of color and theatrical performances, special guests and the powerful 240-voice Chorus, the show has become a holiday tradition for families throughout Los Angeles.

Vancouver, BC ~ Effervescent, intoxicating, and just a little daft, Vancouver Opera's colourful production of Albert Herring bursts onto the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Stage in less than two weeks. Benjamin Britten's fast-paced, clever and hummable opera, directed by Glynis Leyshon, transports audiences to the 1950s in a riot of scrumptious costumes, devastating satire, and charming slapstick.

BalletNext led by internationally renowned dancer Michele Wiles, will present a highly anticipated season at New York Live Arts, January 14 - 18, featuring three works by acclaimed choreographer and former American Ballet Theatre (ABT) dancer, Brian Reeder. Building on their long-running relationship which began in 2000 while dancing at ABT, Wiles and Reeder have collaborated on a diverse program that includes two premieres, Surmisable Units and Different Homes, as well as Picnic which was created for BalletNext in 2012. Live music will accompany the dancers by the BalletNext Ensemble led by noted Israeli cellist Elad Kabilio and featuring Julliard pianist, Ben Laude.

And so, on Monday, December 23, 2013, at 8:00 PM-the eve of Christmas Eve-at Carnegie Hall, the Oratorio Society of New York will offer its 204th performance of Handel's Messiah in the grand style for which it is celebrated. Music Director Kent Tritle leads the 200-voice chorus, currently marking its 141st concert season, and a quartet of young soloists: Kathryn Lewek, soprano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor, and Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, who was the 2012 first-prize-winner of the OSNY's Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition.