Henry Purcell News

Westside Ballet of Santa Monica announces Grace and Grit to be presented at the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus, East Parking Lot, on Saturday & Sunday October 9th & 10th, at 7:30 & 10pm as a Drive-In Movie venture in conjunction with Santa Monica College's Public Policy Institute Annual Arts Forum and the SMC Dance Department.

This weekend, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presented the premieres of new commissions from Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher, and Gabrielle Lamb.

La Secretaría de Cultura y el Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL), a través de la Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes, con la colaboración de Canal Once, inician la Temporada de Verano Memoria OCBA, en la que se mostrará parte de la historia poco conocida de la agrupación, con conciertos realizados a inicios de la década de los años noventa. 

This weekend, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presented the premieres of new commissions from Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly. Both WPA Virtual Commissions were co-presented by The Metropolitan Opera.

In 2018, New York newspapers praised the short-notice Metropolitan Opera debut of baritone Alexander Birch Elliot in Bizet's The Pearlfishers. During this time of closed theaters, Elliott's a?oeLiving Room Recitala?? may be heard on Los Angeles Opera's website.

On April 25th, Grammy Award-winning producer, singer and longtime Artist in Residence at Monteverdi Tuscany will perform a backyard concert from his home in Los Angeles with all band members stationed more than 6-feet apart from each other. They are performing “Bella Notte,” by Peggy Lee and “Stand By Me,” from Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Ben E. King.  

Ars Lyrica Houston has announced its 16th season, which introduces a new chamber series at Rienzi alongside its popular mainstage subscription series at the Hobby Center. Highlights of the 2020/21 season, entitled Turning Points, include two operas, one a contemporary work for solo voice and historic instruments and the other a full-dress Baroque opera with period dancing and poignant drama. Timeless stories and transcendent music animate Ars Lyrica's 2020/21 programming, as this Grammy-nominated ensemble continues to offer Houston audiences the finest in live period-instrument performance.

This winter, Trinity Church Wall Street's  program of ambitious musical offerings in lower Manhattan sees the return of the audience favorite Bach + One concert series, which will crown its season in the spring with a performance of three of Bach's cantatas at the Leipzig Bach Festival. Director of Music Julian Wachner has also just been announced as one of three finalists to become the next Artistic Director of the storied Oregon Bach Festival. On the heels of last August's release of Ellen Reid's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera p r i s m on the Decca Gold label, with Wachner leading The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity's in-house contemporary orchestra, NOVUS NY, the same forces reunite for the Washington D.C. premiere of the opera in the Kennedy Center's DIRECT CURRENT festival.

Hailed as “a remarkably strong and diverse exploration of everything opera can be in the city (The New York Times),” the New York Opera Fest celebrates its fifth season with performances by 20+ local opera companies in all five boroughs of New York City.

Composer Henry Purcell once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.” Music knows no race, or gender. It is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and can both inspire and heal. Owned by New England-based business Tag Team Friendship Productions LLC, the New England Music Hall of Fame was founded by ECW legend Angel Orsini, Queen of the Paranormal, Kadrolsha Ona Carole, and International award-winning filmmaker and Blues Ambassador Christopher Annino who also suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Its mission is to unite, educate, promote and preserve the integrity of New England music and the people who represent it. The board of directors is a diverse group of musicians and educators.

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) announced details of its 2020-21 subscription series presented by Carnegie Hall. Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie, a specialist in music of the Baroque and Classical era, will lead the three programs.

Opera Atelier announces its iconic 35th Anniversary Season with two groundbreaking works at the historic Elgin Theatre: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, considered the company's most successful production in its history, on stage from October 22a?"November 1, 2020; and The Angel Speaks a?" a new Canadian commission a?" double-billed with Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas from February 20a?"27, 2021. Both productions will feature the full corps of Artists of Atelier Ballet with choreography by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg C.M., stage direction by Marshall Pynkoski C.M., and the renowned Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra led by Music Director Elisa Citterio under the baton of Opera Atelier Music Director David Fallis.

Due to a burst pipe and water damage at Miller Chapel on the Princeton Theological Seminary campus, the Dryden Ensemble announces new locations for its February and March events in Princeton. They will present lutenist Daniel Swenberg in a free concert entitled a?oeThree Centuries of Lutesa?? on Sunday, February 16 at 3:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Church, located on 50 Cherry Hill Road off Hwy. 206 in Princeton, New Jersey. Admission is free. On March 13th and 14th, the ensemble presents their largest undertaking to date: a production of Bach's St. John Passion at All Saints' Church, located at 16 All Saints Road in Princeton. Both venues have plenty of parking. Tickets for the St. John Passion are $45 for general admission and $10 to students with an ID. They may be purchased at the door or online at http://www.drydenensemble.org.

This February, Lincoln Center will present a plethora of music, dance, theater, and panel events across the campus and beyond. David Rubenstein Atrium continues to offer free programming, consisting of diverse live performances, and panel conversations. The 2019-20 season of LC Kids (October 5a?"June 7, 2020) is in full swing with free and ticketed events developed for toddlers, children, and teenagers stepping into young adulthood. The ongoing Great Performers series (October 29a?"May 16, 2020) brings an array of beloved musicians and up-and-coming artists to the Lincoln Center stage. American Songbook (January 22a?" February 29) concludes its latest season with artists performing Broadway, folk, classical, and more. 

The San Francisco Early Music Society's 2019-2020 Concert Season continues next month with Musica Pacifica. One of the Bay Area's most venerable early music ensembles, Musica Pacifica will perform a program of scintillating 18th-century Scottish music, delightfully blurring distinctions between classical and folk music. The concert is a follow-up to the group's most popular CD, Dancing in the Isles.

The Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division announces several music and theatre performances, listed below, during the months of January through April 2020.

Parthenia, New York's premiere viol consort, will be in concert on Friday, February 7 at 7:30 PM, performing Theatrical Music for Dramatic Times - Songs and instrumental pieces from Monteverdi to Purcell, at The Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street in Manhattan.

On Sunday afternoon, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presented the world premiere of its adaptation of Henry Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur at the Beverly O'Neill Theater. A semi-opera refers to a Restoration entertainment that combines a spoken play with musical episodes that involvolomot, Darryl Taylor, e singing and dancing. Purcell's best known semi-operas are King Arthur and The Fairy-Queen. LBO presented its version of the latter in 2017. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that Bay Area natives and provocateurs, Culture Clash, are returning with their latest production, Culture Clash (Still) in America. The play, written and performed by Culture Clash and directed by Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson, marks the fifth time the satirical group has performed at Berkeley Rep.

Long Beach Opera presents a new production of Purcell's King Arthur --- a collaboration with Chicano provocateurs CULTURE CLASH and the authentic sounds of LA 's premiere Baroque orchestra MUSICA ANGELICA -- in January 2020 for only three performances at Long Beach's Beverly O'Neill Theatre.  Performances are Sunday January 12, Saturday January 18 and Sunday, January 19.