John Adams News

Based on stories collected through interviews at St. Leonard's Ministries with men in transition from incarceration in the Illinois prison system, Broken Text examines the past, present, and future of these individuals and the communities in which they live. Through theatrical interpretations written and devised by Mechelle Moe of Raven Theatre's Take Flight education program, original spoken-word responses by Senn Arts High School students, musical selections by living composers Marc Mellits, Edgar Meyer, and John Adams performed by Fifth House Ensemble, and soundscapes by DJ/Producer Searchl1te, these previously untold stories find a voice.

BNY Mellon Grand Classics: The Sound of a Modern Symphony highlights the power and range of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on May 15-17 under the baton of British conductor Michael Francis. This program features the Pittsburgh Symphony premiere of Mason Bates' Alternative Energy and the orchestral world premiere of Jake Heggie's The Work at Hand, a Pittsburgh Symphony co-commission for principal cellist Anne Martindale Williams.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, concludes its 46th season with a world premiere by Ted Hearne, a composer hailed for his 'off beat imagination' (New Music Box) whose new work, Respirator, culminates the Orchestra's unique 'Sound Investment' commissioning program on Saturday, May 16, 2015, 8 pm, at Glendale's Alex Theatre, and Sunday, May 17, 2015, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. The concert also features Jonathan Biss, 'one of the most accomplished pianists of the younger generation' (BBC Music Magazine), who performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major. In addition, Kahane conducts Mendelssohn's Nocturne & Scherzo, evocative incidental music from A Midsummer Night's Dream; as well as Mendelssohn's exuberant Symphony No. 4 in A major, 'Italian.' Concert Preludes, pre-concert talks providing insights into the program's music and artists held one hour before curtain and free for ticket holders, feature Kahane in conversation with Hearne. After the performance, ticket holders are invited to mingle with friends and musicians at an after-party in the lobby with complimentary drinks and appetizers.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra joins with Amy Ray and Emily Saliers - better known as The Indigo Girls - for a one-night-only concert featuring their greatest hits - with an orchestral twist - tonight, April 30 at 8 p.m. in Heinz Hall.

BRIC is pleased to announce the lineup for its 37th annual Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival, which will comprise 29 performances, June 3 - August 12. The programming, reflective of Brooklyn's eclecticism and diversity, will feature a wide array of free, world-class performances in the singular environs of the Prospect Park Bandshell.

Audra McDonald performs tonight, April 29, 2015 in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. She will be joined by music director and pianist Andy Einhorn, bassist Mark Vanderpoel, and drummer Gene Lewin.

Tickets are already flying like loaded dice, as theater fans snatch up seats for Guys and Dolls, which will run May 21-June 14 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

The sixth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, concludes with "Focus on Japan," Friday, June 5, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, led by Jeffrey Milarsky in his Philharmonic debut. The program co-presented with Met Museum Presents, the live arts series at the Metropolitan Museum, will feature modern and contemporary works by Japanese composers and a work influenced by Japan: Takemitsu's Archipelago S for 21 players; Messiaen's Japan-inspired Sept Haikai, with Stephen Gosling as piano soloist; the U.S. Premiere of Misato Mochizuki's Si bleu, si calme; and the World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commission of Dai Fujikura's Infinite String.

Deadline writes that VIOLA Davis will portray the iconic Harriet Tubman in an upcoming film for HBO.

The five-time Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus will conclude its 2014-2015 season with an ambitious and ingenious program exploring the serious fun of modern and contemporary music Friday, June 5, at 8 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Artistic Director Lisa Bielawa has announced. Conducted by SFGC Music Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe and featuring guest composer/violinist Carla Kihlstedt, the program includes a new work by Kihlstedt and her Hold my own with the composer as soloist, John Cage's iconic Living Room Music, Meredith Monk's Panda Chant, selections from Lou Harrison's Mass for Saint Cecilia's Day, Einojuhani Rautavaara's Viatonten Valsi and John Adams' Desert Chorus—both with Kihlstedt on violin, William Schuman's Requiescat and To Thy Love, Lisa Bielawa's Opening: Forest from the opera Vireo and The Andrews Sisters' “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Beat Me Daddy”. The concert's repertoire will be performed by the Girls Chorus on tour in Estonia, Finland and Sweden in June.

On all new episode of Disney Channel's GIRL MEETS WORLD, Riley's met some outrageous things, but you won't believe what she'll meet next, including the return of Mr. Feeney!

Today, April 25 at 2:30 p.m., EDT, medici.tv (www.medici.tv) will present a free, live webcast of the New York Philharmonic's concert, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, of 20th- and 21st-century music at the newly opened Philharmonie de Paris, marking the first time an American orchestra is performing at the venue.

Musiqa and NobleMotion Dance join forces in Tonal Impact, a dynamic evening of music and dance at The Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall, April 24-25 at 7:30 PM. Musiqa, winner of the 2013 Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, matches wits with the physically daring and visually stunning work of NobleMotion Dance. The evening features original compositions by Pierre Jalbert and Marcus Maroney, a light and technology installation from Jonathan Kinsey and David J Deveau, and performances by some of Houston's best contemporary dancers and musicians. Tonal Impact is a bold evening that will awaken the senses.

Superstar bass-baritone and native Philadelphian Eric Owens comes home to make his much-anticipated role debut as King Philip II in a new production of Don Carlo, Verdi's grand opera of passion and political intrigue. Five performances will be staged at the Academy of Music, April 24-May 3. Tickets are available via Ticket Philadelphia at 215-893-1018 or operaphila.org.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale wraps its 51st season with a compelling program showcasing the boundless harmonic imaginations of American composer Eric Whitacre, a noted pioneer who has embraced the artistic potential of social media, and the music of Estonian "mystic minimalist" Arvo Part, celebrated for his beautifully sensuous and reflective chant-like compositions, on Saturday, May 16, 2 pm, and Sunday, May 17, 2015, at 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

WALNUT CREEK, CA (April 21, 2015) – The California Symphony, entering its third season with Music Director Donato Cabrera, is expanding its regional profile in Northern California, performing concerts in three new venues beginning in June. The orchestra, based in Walnut Creek, will perform three concerts in summer 2015 and eight concerts during its 2015-16 season, including at its home at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek as well as at Oakland's Kaiser Center Rooftop Garden, the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center's Lincoln Theater in Yountville, and at the Concord Pavilion in Concord. The orchestra is focused on American repertoire, nurturing new American composers as part of its Young American Composer in Residence program, and bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings as well as performing the most revered core classical repertoire. In May 2016, the orchestra and guitarist Jason Vieaux perform the world premiere of the new concerto commission by Dan Visconti, current Young American Composer in Residence, in concert in Walnut Creek and Yountville. Other season highlights include an American Roots program with pianist Charlie Albright performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, a showcase of two California Symphony principal musicians in a little-heard R. Strauss double concerto, a rooftop outdoor performance with Postmodern Jukebox, performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Brahms' Symphony No. 2, the orchestra's first performance accompanying the live classic film The Wizard of Oz, and holiday music with Pacific Boychoir. Season subscription ticket packages go on sale today, Tuesday, April 21, at 10 am.

Oakland, CA, April 21, 2015 – Music Director and Conductor Michael Morgan and the Oakland East Bay Symphony have announced an unusually eclectic season for 2015-2016 including premieres, guest artists and music spanning 300 years from Bach to today in seven concerts at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Highlights of the 27th season include guest artists Kenneth Renshaw, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, Tracy Silverman And Amy Likar Plus Toland Vocal Arts Competition And Young Artist Competition Winners. In keeping with its programming philosophy of presenting an insightful and innovative palette of music that represents a variety of traditions—and creating a few—Maestro Morgan and the Symphony will perform music by Mason Bates, John Adams, Martin Rokeach, David Conte, Bendix, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Bernstein, Cherubini, Stravinsky, Ravel and Frank Sinatra. Of special note are thematic programs including Notes From Vietnam, which will introduce audiences to music and guest artists from symphonic traditions other than the mainstream, a new annual “Lost Romantics” series in which Morgan will conduct gorgeous and compelling but somewhat forgotten music by composers who were better known in their time than ours and vocal soloists who have won the Oakland-based James Toland Vocal Competition in their debuts. All concerts will be preceded by a pre-performance talk one hour before curtain, free to all ticket-holders. For complete season information, visit www.oebs.org and follow the Symphony at www.facebook.com/OEBSymphony , Twitter@OakSym and Youtube: oebsym  

Jeffrey Kahane will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct and perform an all-Mozart program featuring Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21 and Symphony No. 38, Prague, Wednesday, June 3, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, June 5 at 11:00 a.m.; and Saturday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m.

Stravinsky's twentieth-century operatic masterpiece The Rake's Progress will return to the Met stage for a revival of three performances only, opening May 1 and continuing through May 9. Music Director James Levine leads the performances, with rising stars Paul Appleby and Layla Claire in the central roles of the carefree Tom Rakewell and his faithful sweetheart, Anne Trulove; Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk, the hot-tempered bearded lady whose life becomes entangled with Tom's; English bass Brindley Sherratt in his Met debut as Anne's father, Trulove; and Gerald Finley as Nick Shadow, the mysterious man who encourages Tom to trade respectability for a life of aimless pleasure.

In a collaboration between the LA Phil and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, "Available Light -- Creators in Conversation" reunites choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer John Adams, and architect Frank Gehry, in a post-performance discussion about the evolution of Available Light, the production that opened the Temporary Contemporary (Geffen/MOCA) 31 years ago. This conversation is open to ticket holders for the Available Light performance on Friday, June 5.