Michael Tilson Thomas News

The 44th Season of Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers (OSSCS) continues with a February 8, 2014 concert inspired by the human spirit. Guest conductor Stilian Kirov, associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony, conducts this evening concert, Friendship and Imagination. It includes The Enchanted Lake by Russian composer Anatoly Liadov, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op 64 byFelix Mendelssohn and Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky with orchestrations by Maurice Ravel. Elisa Barston, principal second violinist of the Seattle Symphony is the guest soloist for the evening.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is holding general vocal auditions on Monday, Jan. 20 from 4 to 6 PM at Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo 14201.

This February, Principal Conductor Yuri Temirkanov leads the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in two performances in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. On Thursday, February 13 at 8:00 p.m., Mr. Temirkanov leads the orchestra, Russia's oldest symphonic ensemble, in a unique concert featuring Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23, with lauded Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin as soloist. In addition, the program includes excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov's nationalistic 1907 opera, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and Giya Kancheli's 2000 work …al Niente. On Saturday, February 15 at 8:00 p.m., the orchestra and Mr. Temirkanov return, performing Prokofiev's folk music-inspired Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63, featuring acclaimed violinist Julia Fischer. On the second half of the concert, the orchestra plays Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27.

The day Leonard Bernstein died, a sense of gut-wrenching loss pervaded the musical world. Anyone who had watched and listened to his extraordinary music making could not help but be affected by his passion and reverence for music. Those of us lucky enough to have known and worked with him and availed ourselves of his wisdom, still hold deep affection and respect for him, along with a feeling that we have been blessed many times over.

Roulette presents Pianist Jeanne Golan and actor David Garrison in Viktor Ullmann: Sonatas & Stories on Monday, January 27, 8pm.

The New York Philharmonic's 2013-14 season includes Tony Award-winning vocalist and Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, making his NY Phil debut with A Broadway Christmas, a special holiday program conducted by Ted Sperling, tonight and tomorrow, December 20-21, 2013. The versatile singer will perform Broadway favorites and holiday repertoire.

The National YoungArts Foundation today announced its 2014 YoungArts Winners. Out of approximately 11,000 applications, 687 young artists from 46 states have been recognized for their outstanding work and accomplishments in one of ten disciplines across the literary, performing, visual and design arts fields. A complete list of the Winners is available online at this link.

The accomplished young pianist Mackenzie Melemed, winner of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation's 2012 New York International Piano Competition (NYIPC) will be heard in recital this afternoon, December 15th at 3:00 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 1 East 65th St., New York, NY.

New World School Of The Arts Lends Tribute To Legendary Cuban Pianist And Composer Ernesto Lecuona with Two-Day Concert December 14 at 8:00 p.m. - December 15 at 3:00 p.m.

Centenary celebrations marking the 100th birthday of the late Brooklyn-born tenor Richard Tucker continue on December 14, when New York City's Park East Synagogue, in association with the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, presents a tribute to the cantor-turned-opera star as its ninth-annual benefit concert for the Park East Day School. The program for the special event showcases the American cantorial tradition and commemorates Tucker's devotional art as a cantor. The 8 p.m. concert at the synagogue (163 E. 67th St.) will feature Park East Chief Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, one of the world's most renowned exponents of the cantorial art, as well as operatic tenor Neil Shicoff, a New York native and veteran of the Metropolitan Opera; also on the program is the Park East Synagogue Choir under music director Russel Ger. Tickets start at $50 with proceeds supporting education activities at the Day School. For more information, contact Park East Synagogue at 212-737-6900 or info@parkeastsynagogue.org.

The five-time Grammy-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus-Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director, and Valerie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director and Principal Conductor-- will present two holiday concerts, today, December 6 and the 22nd at First Congregational Church in Berkeley and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, respectively.

One of America's finest orchestra's will take the stage in one of its most fabled and historic halls when the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs the final concert of the 2014 Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York on Saturday, May 10, 2014.

Carnegie Hall today announced that conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has graciously agreed to step in for Yannick Nezet-Seguin, leading The Philadelphia Orchestra's performance in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage this Friday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Nezet-Seguin has cancelled this appearance as well as concerts this week in Philadelphia on medical advice that he not travel for the next few weeks due to sinus-related problems. Pianist Helene Grimaud is soloist for this performance; Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 will replace the previously-announced Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 at her request. The second half of the program, featuring Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, remains as announced.

The accomplished young pianist Mackenzie Melemed, winner of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation's 2012 New York International Piano Competition (NYIPC) will be heard in recital on Sunday afternoon, December 15th at 3:00 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 1 East 65th St., New York, NY.

In the New York Philharmonic's concerts this week celebrating the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, tenors Dominic Armstrong, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Michael Slattery will replace Paul Appleby, who has withdrawn due to illness. On November 21-22, 2013, Michael Slattery will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and tenor Dominic Armstrong will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Spring Symphony. The concert on November 23 will feature tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in both works, and he will sing the Serenade on November 26 on a program that also includes Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, Jupiter.

San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) stage to lead the CSO in a program of music by Stravinsky and Mahler. These performances will take place on tonight, November 21 and Saturday, November 23, both at 8 p.m.; Friday November 22 at 1:30 p.m.; and Sunday, November 24 at 3 p.m.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a celebration of the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten. The program will include Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, featuring tenor Paul Appleby and Philharmonic Principal Horn Philip Myers, and Britten's Spring Symphony, with soprano Kate Royal (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Philharmonic subscription debut), tenor Paul Appleby, New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus directed by Dianne Berkun-Menaker. The concerts, which include a performance on the composer's 100th birthday, November 22, will take place tonight, November 21, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 23 at 8:00 p.m.

Two months before the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's much-anticipated opera Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real in Madrid (January 28-February 11), the Morgan Library & Museum celebrates one of America's greatest contemporary composers with a 75th birthday tribute concert: CHARLES WUORINEN: Virtuoso Works for Solo Piano & String Quartet, tonight, November 20, 2013 at 7:30pm.

American composer Gordon Getty celebrates his 80th birthday on December 20, 2013. Mr. Getty's music has been widely performed in North America and Europe in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London's Royal Festival Hall, Vienna's Brahmssaal, and Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall and Bolshoi Theatre, as well as at the Aspen, Spoleto, and Bad Kissingen Festivals.