John Adams News

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) continues its popular "Baroque Conversations" with a program featuring three Bach sonatas performed by LACO Music Director and keyboardist Jeffrey Kahane and three LACO principals on Thursday, April 19, 2012, 7 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Kahane, who celebrates his 15th anniversary as LACO music director, performs the Viola da Gamba Sonata in G major, BWV 1027 with Principal Cello Andrew Shulman; the Oboe Sonata in G minor, BWV 1030b with Principal Oboe Allan Vogel; and the Violin Sonata in E major, BWV 1016 with Concertmaster Margaret Batjer. Kahane shares his insights into the music from the stage and invites questions from the audience. A complimentary pre-concert wine reception for ticket holders begins at 6 pm.

Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, will lead the New York Philharmonic in Mahler's Symphony No. 9 at the Annual Free Memorial Day Concert, Monday, May 28, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. This will be the 21st Annual Free Memorial Day Concert offered by the New York Philharmonic, a tradition begun in 1992 as a gift to the people of New York City. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the performance. The audio of the performance will be broadcast onto the adjacent Pulpit Green, weather permitting.

Rachel York will join Megan Hilty in the Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, opening May 9 at New York City Center. York will play the brunette, Dorothy Shaw, best friend of Lorelei, the diamond-loving blonde played by Hilty. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will be directed by John Rando with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Randy Skinner and will play for seven performances, May 9 - 13, at New York City Center, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, announces three New York concerts in May and an album release in June 2012. At 8 pm on both Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 the group will take the stage at The Kitchen (512 W. 19th St., NYC) for two performances of the music of William Brittelle and Mick Barr. At 8pm on Monday, May 14, ACME performs Timothy Andres' I Found it by the Sea as part of the 2012 Look & Listen Festival, held at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery (144 W. 14th St., 2nd Floor, NYC).

The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Classical KUSC in partnership with WFMT Radio Network, have confirmed 150 markets nationwide will carry the annual radio broadcast concert series (a number that will grow throughout the coming year). The 2011 series was broadcast in 193 markets and reached over 2.6 million listeners.

Choreographer/dancer Stefanie Batten Bland has had a busy year and is poised to have an even busier future beginning with the April 19 premiere of "The Legacy of Inheritance" for Ailey II, her first work for the company, followed by the world premiere of "A Place of Sun" on May 10 and the New York premiere of "Terra Firma" at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), May 17 and 18, where she has been a two-time recipient of a Jerome Robbins New Essential Works fellowship (NEW). The performances mark the first time Bland's choreography has been seen in New York since 2009.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) continues its popular "Baroque Conversations" with a program featuring three Bach sonatas performed by LACO Music Director and keyboardist Jeffrey Kahane and three LACO principals on Thursday, April 19, 2012, 7 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Kahane, who celebrates his 15th anniversary as LACO music director, performs the Viola da Gamba Sonata in G major, BWV 1027 with Principal Cello Andrew Shulman; the Oboe Sonata in G minor, BWV 1030b with Principal Oboe Allan Vogel; and the Violin Sonata in E major, BWV 1016 with Concertmaster Margaret Batjer. Kahane shares his insights into the music from the stage and invites questions from the audience. A complimentary pre-concert wine reception for ticket holders begins at 6 pm.

Ford's Theatre Society just opened the Tony-winning musical 1776, directed by Peter Flynn, on March 9. The production runs though May 19, 2012. With 'quick-witted dialogue and a playful score,' 1776 dramatizes the impassioned debates of Philadelphia's Second Continental Congress and the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Check out highlights from the production below!

Conductor Jeffrey Milarsky returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the LA Phil New Music Group in a Green Umbrella concert, Tuesday, April 10, at 8 pm. The concert features the world premiere of Oscar Bettison's LA Phil-commissioned Livre des Sauvages, the U.S. premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Five Star Signs, and John Cage's Concerto for Prepared Piano, performed by Gloria Cheng. Milarsky replaces John Adams, who had to withdraw as conductor due to scheduling demands.

Tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Opening Night Gala, The Philharmonic Dances, led by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and marking the beginning of the orchestra's 2012/13 season, are now on sale.

Conductor Jeffrey Milarsky returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the LA Phil New Music Group in a Green Umbrella concert, Tuesday, April 10, at 8 pm. The concert features the world premiere of Oscar Bettison's LA Phil-commissioned Livre des Sauvages, the U.S. premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Five Star Signs, and John Cage's Concerto for Prepared Piano, performed by Gloria Cheng. Milarsky replaces John Adams, who had to withdraw as conductor due to scheduling demands.

Tony Award winning actresses Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities, The West Wing) andLaura Benanti (Gypsy, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) will star in a one-night only reading of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies' Collected Stories to benefit Opening Act, an innovative nonprofit that provides free after-school theater programming to New York City's most under-served public high schools.

On May 12, 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed a poem about Alexander Hamilton, titled 'The Hamilton Mixtape,' at the White House's 'An Evening of Poetry, Music & the Spoken Word.' Alexander Hamilton, from Chicago comedy company Octavarius' transmedia project 'I Made America' recently saw this video. He wrote and performed a response poem featured in the video below.

TVLine.com reports that Broadway vet William Daniels will be making a guest star appearance on an upcoming episode of ABC's GREY'S ANATOMY.

Ballybeg today announced its debut production, EMPANADA FOR A DREAM, the story of a boy growing up on the Lower East Side, written and performed by Juan Francisco Villa*. Alex Levy will direct six performances to be held at the TBG Studio Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) from April 21-29, 2012. *Member, Actors' Equity Association. AEA Showcase.

Los Angeles Philharmonic Creative Chair John Adams leads the orchestra in three performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 4, 5 and 6, at 8 pm. All three programs feature Adams' Violin Concerto, played by Leila Josefowicz, a close and frequent collaborator with Adams, and the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass' LA Phil-co-commissioned Symphony No. 9. The Thursday and Saturday programs also include Arvo Part's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.