Eric Whitacre News

A performance of Verdi's Requiem that is a tripartite collaboration highlights the 2014-15 season of Kent Tritle, called 'New York's reigning choral conductor' by The New York Times. In an event emblematic of Kent's multiple roles in the city's choral life, he will conduct a performance of the massive work by the Oratorio Society of New York, of which he is Music Director, and the Symphony and Symphonic Chorus of the Manhattan School of Music, where he is Director of Choral Activities, in the grand space of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist -- with a new choral configuration that features the more-than-250 singers on risers in the cathedral's Great Choir space.

Warehouse of Theatre presents the world premiere of THE DEATH OF THOMAS EDISON, a new play by Lee Smith, with direction by Katherine Hammond as part of the 18th annual New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, Warehouse of Theatre is a collective which devotes its energy to passionately creating a conversation, juxtaposing cinematic imagery and poetic language.

The Theatre @ Boston Court and Circle X Theatre Co. present Stupid f**king Bird, by Aaron Posner, directed by Michael Michetti. Opening night is Today, June 28, 2014 on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

Music Director Osmo Vänskä guides Orchestra's flagship classical series, September 2014 to June 2015, featuring a lineup of classical masterworks, star soloists and conductors

The Theatre @ Boston Court and Circle X Theatre Co. present Stupid f**king Bird, by Aaron Posner, directed by Michael Michetti. Opening night is Saturday, June 28, 2014 on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue.

Artistic Director Charles Bruffy brings his two professional Grammy winning choirs, the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Chorale, together to perform the pinnacle of Russian sacred music, Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil. Bruffy has led the Kansas City Chorale since 1988 and the Phoenix Chorale since 1999. The concert takes place tonight, May 23, 2014, in Kansas City at Redemptorist Church, 3333 Broadway.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) has announced that eminent Music Director Grant Gershon will continue his key leadership role at the choir's helm through the 2019-2020 season, which will be his 19th season with the chorus, with the new title of Artistic Director effective July 1, 2014, according to LAMC Chair David Gindler.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) opens the doors of Walt Disney Concert Hall to the public on Friday, May 2, 2014, 11 am and 1 pm, for two free concerts culminating the Chorale's highly regarded High School Choir Festival, which this year features the world premiere of Es Tu Tiempo composed for the Festival's 25th anniversary by 2011 MacArthur Fellowship recipient Francisco Nuñez, artistic director of the Young Peoples Choir of New York City who is acclaimed for seamlessly fusing a wide gamut of cultural and musical idioms. The 11 am performance features a concert by the professional Los Angeles Master Chorale Chamber Singers under the direction of Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton. At 1 pm, one of the largest high school choir festivals in the nation showcases the remarkable vocal talents of nearly 1,000 students from 28 Southland high schools in a massive chorus conducted by LAMC Music Director Grant Gershon. The afternoon concert also includes three songs performed by the prestigious 80-voice Festival Honor Choir, comprised of students from the participating high schools who were nominated by their teachers.

PSYWE's season finale celebrates musical learning with programming that makes connections between classical and contemporary composers. The concert is set for Sunday, May 11, 1:30 p.m. at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA.

Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble's season finale celebrates musical learning with programming that makes connections between classical and contemporary composers. The concert begins with two wind ensemble arrangements of Bach's music: “Who Puts His Trust in God Most Just” (arr. James Croft), originally a chorale for four parts, and “Fugue in G Minor” (arr. Lucien Calliet), a masterful combination of counterpoint and harmony. Next is Eric Whitacre's “Sleep,” a smooth composition with drawn-out harmonies inspired by Robert Frost's poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The concert concludes with Frank Ticheli's Symphony No. 2, which was composed in 2003 as a tribute to James Croft, director of bands at Florida State University. Its movements—“Shooting Stars,” “Dreams Under a New Moon” and “Apollo Unleashed”—are an evocation of the heavens, tying back to the concert's first number, not just with the dedication to Croft, but with a brilliant finale that quotes the chorale work by Bach. Tickets are $12 with general admission seating. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Broadway star Sara Jean Ford, currently starring as Christine in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera, joins the already stellar line up for this Sunday afternoon's concert, presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY). Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz and Eric Whitacre at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, is the first concert collaboration between groundbreaking choral composer and Grammy winner Eric Whitacre and renowned Academy Award and Grammy-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, whose musical Wicked continues to run on Broadway after more than 10 years. Performing alongside Sara Jean Ford, who will be the soloist for Eric Whitacre's 'Fly to Paradise,' from Virtual Choir IV, is star performer Ashley Brown, the original Mary Poppins on Broadway. Eric Whitacre conducts the Distinguished Concerts Singers International- comprised of choirs from across North America as well as Italy and China- as well as Stephen Schwartz himself for select works. Sara Jean Ford was last heard with DCINY as soprano soloist for Messiah ... Refreshed! and in Whitacre's Paradise Lost on tour with DCINY at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Auditorium Theatre and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Three innovative choral ensembles, all specializing in exciting new music, take the stage tonight, March 21 at 8:00pm for the next concert in DCINY's Distinguished Concerts Artist Series at Weill Recital Hall. The three vocal ensembles include the Ad Astra Singers, a professional choir from Wichita, Kansas; NOTUS, Indiana University's Contemporary Vocal Ensemble; and the UC Berkeley Chamber Singers.

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents a thrilling afternoon of song with Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz and Eric Whitacre on Sunday, March 30 at 2:00pm at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

Artistic Director Charles Bruffy brings his two professional Grammy winning choirs, the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Chorale, together to perform the pinnacle of Russian sacred music, Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil. Bruffy has led the Kansas City Chorale since 1988 and the Phoenix Chorale since 1999. The concert takes place on May 23, 2014, in Kansas City at Redemptorist Church, 3333 Broadway.

Three innovative choral ensembles, all specializing in exciting new music, take the stage on Friday, March 21 at 8:00pm for the next concert in DCINY's Distinguished Concerts Artist Series at Weill Recital Hall. The three vocal ensembles include the Ad Astra Singers, a professional choir from Wichita, Kansas; NOTUS, Indiana University's Contemporary Vocal Ensemble; and the UC Berkeley Chamber Singers.

Distinguished Concerts International New York presents an evening of musically epic proportions, featuring Carl Orff's 1936 masterwork Carmina Burana, as conducted by revered conductor Vance George, with a beautiful selection of music for women's chorus in celebration of International Women's Day, conducted by Hilary Apfelstadt and performed by 16 outstanding choruses hailing from across North America; Vienna; Hong Kong; Munich; Curitiba, Brazil; and Brunswick, Australia. Lust & La Femme Mystique takes place on Monday, March 10 at 7:00 PM at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) has announced that Ashley Brown, a multi-award winner for the title role in Mary Poppins, which she originated on Broadway, will be a guest artist in Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz and Eric Whitacre. This year, DCINY's popular annual collaboration with Eric Whitacre, known to millions worldwide through his Grammy-winning recordings and ground breaking Virtual Choir, includes a special collaboration with multi-Grammy and Oscar-winning Broadway and film composer Stephen Schwartz . Whitacre will conduct Brown, Schwartz, and over 250 voices in the concert, which takes place on Sunday, March 30 at 2:00pm at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) - heralded around the globe for its unparalleled artistry and wide ranging repertoire - continues expanding and transforming the spectrum of choral music with two world premieres while also presenting Renaissance gems, a cappella masterpieces, contemporary classics and seminal large-scale works during the 2014-15 Season, its 51st, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Acclaimed Kiki & David Gindler Music Director Grant Gershon, who marks his 14th season at the choir's helm, conducts 10 programs, 4 of which are repeated, for a total of 14 performances at Disney Hall. The Grammy®-nominated Chorale displays its skills as both a virtuosic symphonic chorus and a masterful a cappella tour de force with a season of carefully curated repertoire, featuring works by some 20 composers, nearly half of whom are active today, among them Swan Family Composer in Residence Shawn Kirchner, Tan Dun, Arvo Part, Eric Whitacre, Nack-Kum Paik, Richard Einhorn, Ariel Quintana, Jan Sandstrom and Morten Lauridsen.

The 49th season of Lincoln Center's Great Performers series, which will run from November 2, 2014 through May 10, 2015, was announced today by Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director. Highlighting the season are the return of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, led by Riccardo Chailly and of Michael Tilson Thomasconducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The "Art of the Song" series returns in 2015 with recitals by four outstanding vocal artists. The 2014-2015 season also features a period-instrument chamber orchestra series, a recital series, and a film series, and includes pre- and post-concert discussions and lectures. A new series, "Complimentary Classical" will bring four compelling string quartets to the David Rubenstein Atrium in free concerts in 2015.

15-year-old organist Michael Jon Bennett from New York City will appear on an upcoming episode of From the Top, the hit NPR radio program featuring America's best young classical musicians and hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O'Riley. Broadcast from Costa Mesa, California, the show will air nationally and online the week of February 3 and on WQXR on February 8 at 6:00 AM The episode was taped before a live audience at the Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.