John Adams News

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces the first classical music concert of its inaugural 2013 - 2014 season in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. with the acclaimed St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) performing a program of Haydn, Korngold and Beethoven. Geoff Nuttall, violin, Mark Fewer, violin, Lesley Robertson, viola, and Christopher Costanza, cello, comprise the quartet.

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce will take a star turn together when they co-host the Ninth Annual Opera News Awards, set to take place on Sunday, April 13, 2014, in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City. They will be joined by a distinguished line-up of presenters – Luca Pisaroni, Susan Graham, Renata Scotto, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Francesca Zambello – who will pay tribute to five superb artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: the late director Patrice Chéreau, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig,bass-baritone James Morris, and soprano Nina Stemme. First introduced in 2005, the Opera News Awards gala dinner, which features the hosts and presenters speaking about the awardees and introducing video performance clips, has become one of the most anticipated opera events of the season: an evening of celebration, appreciation, reuniting and celebrity-spotting that is without parallel in the industry.

The opening months of 2014 bring into focus the strengths of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), which launches the new year with an extraordinary line-up. This comprises the world premieres of three important new commissions -Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve "must-see opera events of the season" (Opera News), and two works exploring Houston's Vietnamese and Indian communities, courtesy of HGO's award-winning Song of Houston project; the hotly anticipated American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's long-suppressed Holocaust opera, The Passenger, in the production that took Europe by storm; the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by Catalan's La Fura dels Baus; a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; a revival of Rigoletto; and a restaged production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi. As the Houston Press recently noted, "Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers is thinking bigger than ever."

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic on the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour, February 6-19, 2014. The two-week tour - the Philharmonic's seventh international concert tour under Alan Gilbert's leadership - will feature ten concerts in three countries, with performances in Seoul, South Korea; Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama, Japan; and Taipei, Taiwan.

Houston, December 17, 2013 ­– The opening months of 2014 bring into focus the strengths of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), which launches the new year with an extraordinary line-up. This comprises the world premieres of three important new commissions —Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve “must-see opera events of the season” (Opera News), and two works exploring Houston's Vietnamese and Indian communities, courtesy of HGO's award-winning Song of Houston project; the hotly anticipated American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's long-suppressed Holocaust opera, The Passenger, in the production that took Europe by storm; the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by Catalan's La Fura dels Baus; a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; a revival of Rigoletto; and a restaged production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi. As the Houston Press recently noted, “Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers is thinking bigger than ever.”

Max McLean, Artistic Director of Fellowship for the Performing Arts, announces that C.S. Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE will be presented at The Knight Theater, Levine Center for the Arts, 430 South Tryon Street, for three performances only on Saturday, February 15 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 16 at 3 p.m. This journey to Heaven and Hell is a provocative exploration of human nature, featuring vivid characters drawn with Lewis' trademark wit. THE GREAT DIVORCE National Tour will visit cities including Cleveland, Nashville, Colorado Springs and Columbus in 2014.

Today, December 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, celebrated conductor David Robertson, music director of the St. Louis Symphony, leads Ensemble ACJW in a performance of Luciano Berio's Folk Songs featuring guest soprano Dawn Upshaw, who last performed the piece at Carnegie Hall in March 2004. ACJW's inventive program also includes Steve Reich's City Life, the composer's homage to his hometown of New York City, and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.

Max McLean, Artistic Director of Fellowship for the Performing Arts, announces that the World Premiere of C.S. Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE will be presented at Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe St., in Phoenix, in a limited engagement from tonight, December 13 through Sunday, December 22, 2013.

The KahaneSwensenBrey Trio, comprised of Jeffrey Kahane, piano; Joseph Swensen, violin; and Carter Brey, cello, perform an evening of celebrated chamber music at Segerstrom Center for the Arts tonight, December 12 at Samueli Theater.

SAVING MR. BANKS' Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson joined legendary stars on the red carpet last night in Burbank, California for the premiere of their highly anticipated film, hitting theaters on December 20th. 'Mary Poppins' actors Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews joined 'Banks' cast members Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell and Bradley Whitford and many more at the event held at Walt Disney Studios. Click below to watch a clip of the stars singing 'Let's Go Fly A Kite' at the premiere!

The Berliner Philharmoniker and its music director, Sir Simon Rattle, will return to New York in October 2014 for a unique eight-day residency presented by Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in a co-presentation with Park Avenue Armory.

SPOILER ALERT! 'Downton Abbey' has just released the new teaser for its upcoming season 4 Christmas special, which will air for two hours on ITV on December 25th. But if you live in the US and haven't seen season 4, you might want to steer clear of the teaser for now to avoid spoilers. The Christmas special will air here as the final episode of season 4's run on PBS' Masterpiece. Season 4 begins January 5, 2014. Click below to watch the teaser!

Los AngeLes Children's Chorus, acclaimed for its pure, agile, Bel Canto sound that has made it one of the most in-demand children's choirs in the county, spotlights the music of Benjamin Britten and the English choral tradition and also performs a compelling array of music from around the globe at its popular annual Winter Concert tonight, December 7, 7 PM, and Sunday, December 8, 2013, 7:30 PM, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

The New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) continue with a focus on Mozart's Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, led by Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione, today, December 7, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. This is the second program in this season's series, Points of Entry, in which each concert explores facets of music and the orchestra itself through an influential score. The concert will also feature selections from Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 33 and his Missa Brevis in F; Pachelbel's Canon; and Arvo Part's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten.

Rockwood Music Hall welcomes back pianist James Carson and drummer Lyndon Rochelle on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 10:30pm on Stage 2. The pair experienced a triumphant appearance hailed by Feast of Music for its "shimmering piano flights, and trance inducing ostinatos...[which] came as close to John Adams minimalism as any jazz performance...Rochelle, of Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society band fame, added hypnotic hip hop and jazz-influenced beats that drove the music with a passionate pulse and grounded Carson's agile dashes across the keyboard." Since then, Carson's documentary, Cabin Music, has been completed and is being submitted to film festivals worldwide for consideration. He is thrilled to return to the stage for another spiritual release. Expect incredible energy and an eclectic blend of masterly improvisation and pianistic and percussive virtuosity.

The Joffrey Ballet celebrates the 26th annual presentation of Robert Joffrey's The Nutcracker, Chicago's most popular holiday tradition and America's #1 Nutcracker, in a 23-performance engagement at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, tonight, December 6 - 28, 2013.

Two distinguished American pianists-Ursula Oppens and Robert Levin-will team up to perform selections of piano works by the celebrated British-American composer Bernard Rands this evening, December 5th at 7:30 p.m. at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, New York, NY.

Selections from the National Gallery, an exhibition of history-inspired works by Nashville artist Lain York, will be on view in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery from January 31, 2014 through May 11, 2014. Employing a colorful visual shorthand, Mr. York invites viewers to think about the creative connections that shape our understanding of the continuing impact of American history.

Max McLean, Artistic Director of Fellowship for the Performing Arts, announces that the new production C.S. Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE will be presented at The Alabama Theatre, 1817 3rd Avenue N in Birmingham, on Saturday, January 11 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. This journey to Heaven and Hell is a provocative exploration of human nature, featuring vivid characters drawn with Lewis' trademark wit. THE GREAT DIVORCE National Tour kicks off in Phoenix in December and will visit cities including Kansas City, Charlotte, Charleston, Cleveland, Nashville, Colorado Springs, and Columbus in 2014.