Isaac Stern News

For Lebanon-born Joanna Medawar, performing on one of the world's biggest stages at legendary Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium “never gets old” despite five prior appearances. On Saturday, May 26 at 8 pm she will command the main stage a sixth time, conducting the New England Symphonic Ensemble in Joseph Haydn's Missa in Angustiis “Lord Nelson Mass” as part of MidAmerica Productions' 35th annual concert season.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the appointment of Matt Brewer to its faculty. Brewer, a bassist who has toured with some of the world's most esteemed jazz artists and a recent addition to the SFJAZZ Collective, will join his colleagues in the ensemble in Fall 2018 as a faculty member in SFCM's Roots, Jazz, and American Music program.

This week the third concert in this landmark 18th season of Town Hall's signature series, Broadway by the Year drew out some of Broadway's finest performers including Tony-nominee Carolee Carmello, Drama Desk nominee Cheryl Freeman, Luke Grooms (Jerry Springer: The Opera), Douglas Ladnier (Jekyll & Hyde), Maxine Linehan (South Pacific), Kyle Selig(Mean Girls), Oakley Boycott (Bells Are Ringing), Joshua Israel (Annie). Check out photos from the even below!

Hoff-Barthelson Music School's Festival Orchestra closes out its 2017-18 season with "Vienna: Three Generations," on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at 7:00 pm at the Recital Hall at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, New York.

The Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership continues this summer with activities on two continents. The New York Philharmonic travels to Shanghai for its fourth annual residency, July 1-7, 2018, with concerts conducted by Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden and Bramwell Tovey. This follows students from the Shanghai Orchestra Academy traveling to New York City for a week-long immersion in the life of an orchestral musician, June 9-16, 2018, as part of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program. Starr International Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership.

The San Diego Symphony, along with many others, is this year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. The first half of the Symphony's 'Dances Suites and Serenades' concert consisted of 'Three Dance Variations' from Bernstein's ballet Fancy Free, and Serenade (After Plato's 'Symposium'). Fancy Free was choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins collaborated on all of Bernstein's ballets and his hugely successful Broadway musical Westside Story. Fancy Free features three sailors on leave who want to impress two young women. Since two doesn't equal three, except possibly in fake-news reports, they  dance to showoff and help the women decide which two suitors will win approval. Galop, waltz and danzon variations provide solos for each sailor in which to demonstrate skill and personality.

This August, New York City will host the first ever Classical Bridge, an international music festival, academy and conference designed to build bridges through the music. Presented by New York Concert Artists & Associates (NYCA), the inaugural event runs August 4 - 11 at Merkin Concert Hall atKaufman Music Center (129 West 67th Street, between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave), Symphony Space (2537 Broadway, at 96th Street), and Steinway Hall (1133 Avenue of the Americas at 44th Street). For tickets. reservations and more information visit www.ClassicalBridge.org.

The Koret Foundation has awarded the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) $150,000 to establish a music education program with the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, Congregation Emanu-El, and the San Francisco Interfaith Council. Launching in the fall of 2018, this after-school program will offer children in need music classes in piano and chorus. The grant will be dispersed in three installments over three years. Additionally, Music Exchange and the Yamaha Corporation will donate 16 keyboards designed for a class piano setup to help launch the program.

Another all-star cast has been assembled for the third concert in this landmark 18th season of Town Hall's signature series, Broadway by the Year. The next concert in the series is on May 21st at 8pm & will star Tony-nominee Carolee Carmello, 4-time Grammy-winner John Easterlin, Drama Desk nominee Cheryl Freeman, Luke Grooms (Jerry Springer: The Opera), Douglas Ladnier (Jekyll & Hyde), Maxine Linehan (South Pacific), Kyle Selig (Mean Girls), Oakley Boycott (Bells Are Ringing), Joshua Israel (Annie) and more to be announced soon!

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the appointment of trumpeter Michael Rodriguez to its faculty. Rodriguez, a Grammy-nominated musician renowned for his artistry as a composer and instrumentalist, joins the cadre of high-profile faculty members in the Roots, Jazz, and American Music (RJAM) program, which welcomed its first class, composed of some of the world's finest young jazz musicians, in the fall of 2017.

The Chamber Music Society of Detroit brings its 2017-18 season to a close with the Zukerman Trio featuring revered violinist Pinchas Zukerman and two of his esteemed colleagues, cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Cheng, on Saturday, May 19 at 8 PM.  The program includes Beethoven's Piano Trio in B-flat major, WoO. 39, Dvorak's Piano Trio No. 4, "Dumky," and Schubert's Piano Trio in B-flat major, D. 898.  The concert takes place at Seligman Performing Arts Center, located at 22305 West 13 Mile Road (at Lahser Road) in Beverly Hills.

SFCM presents a chamber opera double bill Friday, May 4 and Sunday, May 6 with performances of John Musto's Bastianello and William Bolcom's Lucrezia, both featuring libretti composed by Mark Campbell. This production of Lucrezia will serve at the world premiere of a new orchestration--a chamber orchestra instrumentation--by William Bolcom, commissioned by SFCM.

American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist (and audience favorite) Tom Rush returns to the Capitol Center for the Arts (CCA) on Sunday, May 20 at 7:30PM. This presentation is one of several free William H. Giles Concert Series performances during the CCA's 2017-18 season.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) announces the expansion of its campus and the construction of the Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts (The Bowes Center) in San Francisco's Civic Center. The $185 million performing arts center and residential tower will be located at 200 Van Ness Avenue and construction will begin in the summer of 2018. The opening of the new building is slated for the fall of 2020 when it will welcome its first class of residents to a facility that will transform students through the study of music at the highest level. The name of the building is in honor and recognition of a financial gift of $46.4 million from the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, which is the largest single gift ever made to a conservatory or music school for a new facility. To date, $96 million has been raised toward a fundraising goal of $110 million. The existing SFCM building at 50 Oak Street will remain in active use through the construction of the new building and after it is completed.

The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) Wind Ensemble from Conway, Arkansas, will make its second appearance at Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 23 at 8 pm as part of MidAmerica Productions' 35th annual concert season.

The Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet returns to D.C. on April 19, 2018 with long-time collaborator Wu Man to perform their major collaborative work, A Chinese Home, at Lisner Auditorium, presented by Washington Performing Arts. The program was conceived by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, Kronos' Artistic Director David Harrington, and acclaimed stage and film director Chen Shi-Zheng (The Peony Pavilion, Dark Matter, The Bonesetter's Daughter).

The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) has announced the 36 quarterfinalists invited to participate in the live competition rounds in Shanghai beginning August 10, 2018. The candidates were chosen from a total of 174 applicants and hail from ten countries.

Pianist Murray Perahia has cancelled his spring tour, including his recital performance with the University Musical Society (UMS) scheduled for Sunday, April 22 at 4 pm at Hill Auditorium, due to illness.

Manfred Honeck will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Sibelius's Violin Concerto, with Nikolaj Znaider as soloist; Mr. Honeck's own arrangement of Dvorák's Rusalka Fantasy, orchestrated by Tomáš Ille; and selections from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 4 at 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. The following week, Nikolaj Znaider will make his New York Philharmonic conducting debut leading Elgar's Cello Concerto, with Jian Wang in his subscription debut, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams, Thursday, May 10, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 11 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 p.m.

Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Waitress), Eddie Korbich (A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, The Drowsy Chaperone), Sal Viviano (The Full Monty, The Life), Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita who has won fans across the length and breadth of Broadway with her starring roles in Matilda & Dames at Sea, Tony Yazbeck (Tony Award nominee for On the Town), Jenny Lee Stern (Rocky: The Musical & Spamilton), and Mia Gerachis (Jekyll & Hyde) performed at Broadway by the Year at Town Hall on March 26th at 8pm.