Leonard Nimoy News

In a phone conversation, Maestro Keith Lockhart talks about Billy Porter, Leonard Nimoy and the upcoming Pops season

Artists from their Spring 2014 season sing 'Over the Rainbow' to help the Boston Pops celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. Artists include Jason Alexander, Melissa Etheridge, Billy Porter, The Hot Sardines, Jennifer Holliday, and Leonard Nimoy.

2014 has already been quite a year so far for NYC's innovative classical/jazz ensemble PUBLIQuartet. They made their debut recital at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton at Symphony Space in March and now they are proud to announce the inaugural year of PUBLIQuartet's Emerging Composers Program: PUBLIQ Access. Formed in Spring 2010, PUBLIQuartet, were recipients of the New Music/New Places Fellow and awarded the Sylvia Ann Hewlett Adventurous Artist Prize at the 2013 Concert Artists Guild Competition (CAG is a comprehensive management group founded in 1951 with a mission to discover, nurture and promote young musicians and provides support to a roster of talented artists during the critical and formative time between completion of formal studies and the achievement of an established career). The quartet, which features Curtis Stewart, violin; Jannina Norpoth, violin; Nick Revel, viola; and Amanda Gookin, cello, and their creative, interactive programming, bring a fresh perspective to the classical music scene. Drawing on jazz, world, and electro-acoustic influences, PUBLIQuartet pairs music from the classical repertoire with contemporary works, original compositions, and open-form improvisations that expand the stylistic norms of the string quartet. Following their focus on newly composed works by developing as well as established composers, and their dedication for creating awareness for new talent, they established the inaugural year of PUBLIQuartet's Emerging Composers Program: PUBLIQ Access. The program, designed to promote new works for the string quartet and highlight the voices of today's emerging composers, received 125 submissions, and 7 compositions were chosen. The winning works will be performed by the quartet on May 24th at the PUBLIQ Access Showcase Concert at the Dimenna Center/Mary Flagler Cary Hall in NYC (450 West 37th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenue) at 7PM.

As a highlight of its 2014 Spring Festival, 'Sleeping Around: the Cultural Lives of New York's Hotels,' Symphony Space presents Virgil Thomson and Friends at the Chelsea Hotel tonight, May 8 (7:30 pm) in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

Fresh off its recent Tchaikovsky production at BAM Fisher, the Ensemble of the Romantic Century (ERC) presents another fully staged theatrical concert interweaving drama and music about one of the most famous trials of the 19th century. Delivered by a top-caliber cast in an intimate setting, The Trial of Oscar Wilde focuses on the tragic shackling, public scrutiny, and subsequent imprisonment of the homosexual playwright/writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). A script based on Wilde's correspondence, plays, and short stories (performed by Broadway's Michael Halling as Oscar Wilde and esteemed Robert Ian Mackenzie as Lord Queensbury) provides a dramatic backdrop for chamber music by French and English composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries including Chausson's masterful Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet, and works by Satie, Elgar, Faure and Franck in performances by the dynamic Amphion String Quartet, violinist Susie Park, pianist Max Barros and a romping barbershop quartet.

Tonight, April 28, Symphony Space will host its spring gala, Fiddler at 50, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof.

On April 28, Symphony Space will host its spring gala, Fiddler at 50, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof. The evening will honor Sheldon Harnick, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist behind the iconic musical. Symphony Space's Gala is co-chaired by Lenore Davis and Amy Wilson. Honorary co-chairs for the evening are Mary Rodgers Guettel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Harold Prince, and Stephen Sondheim.

On April 28, Symphony Space will host its spring gala, Fiddler at 50, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof. The evening will honor Sheldon Harnick, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist behind the iconic musical. Symphony Space's Gala is co-chaired by Lenore Davis and Amy Wilson. Honorary co-chairs for the evening are Mary Rodgers Guettel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Harold Prince, and Stephen Sondheim.

Light Opera of New York presents the first NYC staged production since 1920, and the premiere recording by Albany records, utilizing the original orchestrations, of Victor Herbert's 'ORANGE BLOSSOMS', based on the play by Frederique de Gresac, with lyrics by B.G. de Sylva. Tonight and tomorrow, April 25, 26, 2014 7:30 PM at Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, 2537 Broadway, NYC.

32 works of art have been donated by California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) alumni, faculty and friends, including works by John Baldessari, Walead Beshty, Mike Kelley, Robert Longo, Cathy Opie, Ed Ruscha, Tony Oursler and Jennifer Steinkamp.

As a highlight of its 2014 Spring Festival, 'Sleeping Around: the Cultural Lives of New York's Hotels,' Symphony Space presents Virgil Thomson and Friends at the Chelsea Hotel on Thursday, May 8 (7:30 pm) in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presents George Bernard Shaw's masterwork, Heartbreak House, on Monday, May 12 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.).

Light Opera of New York presents the first NYC staged production since 1920, and the premiere recording by Albany records, utilizing the original orchestrations, of Victor Herbert's 'ORANGE BLOSSOMS', based on the play by Frederique de Gresac, with lyrics by B.G. de Sylva. April 25, 26, 2014 7:30 PM at Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, 2537 Broadway, NYC.

Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presents Oscar Wilde's short mystery, The Portrait of Mr. W. H., on Monday, April 14 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.). Adapted and directed by David Staller, The Portrait of Mr. W. H. features Tony nominee Daniel Davis (Sir George Erskine), Wesley Taylor (Mr. Cyril Graham), Josh Grisetti (Basil), and Bill Kux (Shakespeare). The evening will also feature a musical interlude by Tony winner George S. Irving. Stepping away from Shaw for the first time, Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW presents an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's notorious short story that offers a theory about whom Shakespeare might truly have written his infamous Sonnets about. In Wilde's hands, the inspiration for the world's most famous poems is a beautiful young actor in Shakespeare's company. In attempting to prove this theory, a pair of men face their most secret fears and even death. Shaw and Wilde were friends, often inspiring each other with their work. In Wilde's most turbulent year, 1895 -the year of both The Importance of Being Ernest and his subsequent trial, Shaw helped finance Wilde's legal defense, and later was one of the only journalists determined to keep Wilde's name as a major artist in the press. Project Shaw events for 2014 include Heartbreak House (May 12), Getting Married (June 23), A 'Super Shaw' Evening (July 28), Village Wooing (September 29), An Ibsen Evening (October 27), The Millionairess (November 24) Major Barbara (December 22).

Harold Green Jewish Theatre and Angelwalk Theatre are excited to be working together in producing the Canadian Premiere of Stars of David. Fresh off its Off-Broadway run, this is the first major production of this exciting new musical, written by an all-star line-up of Broadway's best.

As a highlight of its 2014 Spring Festival, 'Sleeping Around: the Cultural Lives of New York's Hotels,' Symphony Space presents Virgil Thomson and Friends at the Chelsea Hotel on Thursday, May 8 (7:30 pm) in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

From May 17 to 19 at Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Peter Norton Symphony Space, Underworld Productions Opera (UPO) will present 'TROUBLEfuturesongs,' an evening of Leonard Bernstein's 'Trouble in Tahiti' plus the staged premieres of two shorts: 'Voice for a Future Nightingale' by Justine F. Chen and 'Outerborough Songs' by Thomas Deneuville. The evening explores desire, denial and domestication in the context of these three short operas, each of which has a couple at its center. The evening is conceived and directed by Gina Crusco and will be conducted by Mark Shapiro.

Symphony Space's The Music of Now Series comes to a close for 2014 with a pair of stimulating and imaginative concerts. Changing Night pairs jazz/hip-hop trio Mighty Third Rail with the classical ensemble PUBLIQuartet in a presentation inspired by the Garden of Eden story, Thursday, March 20 (7:30 pm). Guitar, Guitar, Guitar brings together eight leading guitarists - two soloists, a duo, and a quartet - to play music by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Ingram Marshall, and guitarist David Leisner, tonight, March 27 (7:30 pm).

Featuring an array of sounds and stories from the Black Sea region of Europe, World Music Institute concludes its intimate Global Salon series this season with Armenianoudist Richard Hagopian on Sunday, April 13, and Strings of the Black Sea onWednesday, May 7. Both performances take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Thalia Theater at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th street) and promise to bring lively rhythms and haunting lyricism to the stage.