Dana Gioia News

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján on Thursday, February 13, 2020.

The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, the arts center of the Archdiocese of New York, has announced highlights of its 2020 Spring season, a rich mix of theater, film, music, author's nights, gallery exhibitions, and talk events featuring artists and thought leaders including Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist and author Peggy Noonan; New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks, and Director of The Philanthropy Roundtable's Character Initiative and author Anne Snyder; Director of the Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ; a rousing evening of gospel music from Vy Higginsen's Sing Harlem choir; celebrated composer and big bandleader Darcy James Argue plus the New England Conservatory Alumni Big Band; Tony Award nominee Melissa Errico and multi-award winning New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik; singer, songwriter, and acclaimed clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn and genre-bending composer, guzheng virtuoso and vocalist from Beijing Wu Fei; and events tackling thought-provoking topical themes including justice in underserved communities, the protection of immigrants to America, and the inspiration of Sr. Thea Bowman and other Servants of God.

The Broad Stage continues its collaboration with Red Hen Press for the second event of the 2019-2020 season, Red Hen Press: Facets of Fatherhood, on Sunday, January 26 at 2:00pm in The Edye at The Broad Stage. The afternoon will feature performance and poetry with Carlo Ponti, Edoardo Ponti and the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra.

The Broad Stage continues their collaboration with Red Hen Press for their first event of the new season, Red Hen Press: Work and Love in Stage and Verse on Sunday, October 6 in The Edye at The Broad Stage.  The afternoon features performances by poets Kim Dower, Ron Koertge and Sam Sax and performers Bronwyn Reed and Michael Sutherland.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) on Thursday, May 9, 2019. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. the evening will include a cocktail reception in the Bank of America Lower Lobby with a seated dinner in the Molly Smith Study. Tazewell Thompson, playwright and director of Jubilee, will give remarks. Jubilee is inspired by the world-renowned a cappella African American ensemble born on the campus of Fisk University. Rep. Lewis is a graduate of Fisk University. The seated dinner will feature the presentation of the American Voice Award to U.S. Representative John Lewis.

The Broad Stage continues their collaboration with Red Hen Press for their final event of the season, Red Hen Press: The Figure of Orpheus in Poetry and Performance on Sunday, April 28 in The Edye at The Broad Stage. Poets selected by Poetry Society of America Director Alice Quinn will perform contemporary poems on the Orphic theme. A film clip from Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus will be shown to represent the theme in cinema, and pianist Paul Barnes will captivate the audience with The Orphee Suite for Piano, his amazing transcription of Philip Glass's symphony Orphee for solo piano. This event is sponsored in partnership with The Poetry Society of America and Red Hen Press.

The Broad Stage continues their collaboration with Red Hen Press for Red Hen Press: The Fool in the World on Sunday, February 10 in The Edye at The Broad Stage. Composer Sophia Serghi and writer Nancy Schoenberger combine to present a multi-art performance piece comprising original music, poetry and artwork, inspired by the imagery of the 22 cards of the Tarot's Major Arcana. This piece is presented in conversation with the narrative poetry of Judy Grahn and Brynn Saito.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Red Hen Press: An Afternoon of Poetry and Performance at The East Wing at The Broad Stage on Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm. The spiritual depth of Morten Lauridsen's music, paired with the stunning voices of Rod Gilfry and Carin Gilfry, in conversation with the lyric poetry of Amber Flora Thomas and the works of California State Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, will make for a thrilling venture into the radiant beauty of soul language.

The Broad Stage continues their collaboration with Red Hen Press for Red Hen Press: At the Kitchen Table with Rinde and Ellen on Sunday, July 22 at 2:00pm in the East Wing at The Broad Stage.

Isabella Rossellini's Link Link Circus, 7 Fingers' REVERSIBLE, The Reduced Shakespeare Company, Manual Cinema's Memento Mori; acclaimed jazz & blues artists Madeleine Peyroux, John Beasley, Billy Childs, The Stanley Clarke Band, Etienne Charles, Freddy Cole, Corey Harris & Guy Davis and the return of Hiromi: Solo; classical artists Vox Luminis, Olga Kern, Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Jeremy Denk, Lucia Micarelli; an Artist-in-Residence Series featuring violist Richard O'Neill; eclectic world artists Nobunto, Kinan Azmeh CityBand, Alash, Ranky Tanky and the return of David Broza; Kybele Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico; diverse family programming featuring Pacifico Dance Company, Aaron Nigel Smith's Family Reggae Bash, and The Story Pirates; plus partnerships with Sotheby's Institute of Art - Los Angeles, KCRW, Red Hen Press and National Geographic Live are among over 40 attractions announced for the 2018-2019 Eli & Edythe Broad Stage at The Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center season. 

The upcoming April 26 concert by American Modern Ensemble represents two firsts: it is the ensemble's first concert at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall (or any of the Carnegie halls) in its 13-year history, and it is the first program devoted completely to the vocal works of composer and AME founder Robert Paterson (and the second all-Paterson program). About the program, which features six works for voice and piano, including three world premieres, Paterson says, "The texts are wildly diverse, and include poems constructed from reCAPTCHA texts (those texts you type online to prove that you're human), songs about the life of baseball catcher Mike Piazza, online dating, and settings of poems by W. H. Auden, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Richard Wilbur, William Carlos Williams, Sara Teasdale, David Cote (my collaborator on the opera Three Way), and others."

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday, February 8, 2018 as part of the opening night celebration for Robert Schenkkan's political drama The Great Society. Beginning at 6:00 p.m., the evening will include a cocktail reception in the Bank of America Lower Lobby, seated dinner in the Molly Smith Study, the 8:00 p.m. opening night performance of The Great Society in the Fichandler Stage and post-show dessert reception in the Grand Lobby. The seated dinner will feature the presentation of the American Voice Award to Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Seattle Opera's 2018/19 season offers something new for everyone. Every production is new to Seattle, and the offerings span the entire repertoire from the standard European classics Il trovatore and Carmen to the twentieth- century masterpieces The Gershwins' Porgy And BessSM and The Turn of the Screw. The season also reaches into the twenty-first century with The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which comes to Seattle after its world premiere and rave reviews in Santa Fe where it was hailed as the best-selling new production in the company's history.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Red Hen Press: Poetry Through Voice, a musical showcase of renowned artists featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann, Grammy Award-winning composer Eric Whitacre, California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, Salastina, and Red Hen poets Elise Paschen and Douglas Manuel on Sunday, December 10 at 4:00pm in The Edye.

AP has just reported that Richard Wilbur, poet, lyricist and translator, has died at age 96. Wilbur was best known to the theatre community as the lyricist behind Leonard Bernstein's CANDIDE. His work on the 1956 musical earned him a Tony Nomination.

The Canadian Opera Company's acclaimed Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre returns for its 2017/2018 season on September 26, 2017.

The Canadian Opera Company's acclaimed Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre returns for its 2017/2018 season on September 26, 2017.

Top of fall, Quest Theatre Ensemble will follow up its production of THE FANTASTICKS with another Off-Broadway offering blessed with longevity and universal appeal: the musical comedy revue I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, by Tony-winning wordsmith Joe DiPietro and composer and entertainer Jimmy Roberts.

Top of fall, Quest Theatre Ensemble will follow up its production of THE FANTASTICKS with another Off-Broadway offering blessed with longevity and universal appeal: the musical comedy revue I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, by Tony-winning wordsmith Joe DiPietro and composer and entertainer Jimmy Roberts. A charming and tender look inside our deepest, darkest, most secret thoughts - whether out on a date, making headway toward the altar, or juggling the challenges of marriage - the musical will continue Quest Theatre Ensemble's 15th season on Saturday, September 23, 2017 following one preview performance on Friday, September 22. The performance schedule will be Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through October 29, 2017. Additionally, there will be a Special Accessible Programming Matinee with curb to seat assistances, pre-show touch tour and a conversation with the artists Saturday, October 21 at 2 pm.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC) on Thursday, April 6, 2017 as part of the opening night celebration for Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking drama A Raisin in the Sun.