Michael Torke News

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

It was announced today that Billy Crystal will bring 700 SUNDAYS, his Tony Award-winning Broadway blockbuster, to six cities for limited engagements this fall, launching at Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre September 8 - 17. The tour will also play Philadelphia, Dallas, Palm Beach, Miami and Atlanta. 700 SUNDAYS, a play performed and written by Mr. Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff.

Nine young classical composers, ranging in age from 17 to 26, have been named winners in the 57th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards. Newly appointed Awards Chair Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson announced the decisions of the jury and presented the awards at a reception held May 15 at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel in New York City.

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).

He's charming, articulate, and a different kind of classical pianist. From his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead to his powerful interpretations of repertoire classic and contemporary, pianist Christopher O'Riley has redefined the possibilities of classical music. He has taken his unique vision to both traditional classical music venues and symphonic settings, as well as to entirely new audiences on the radio, at universities and even clubs. As host of the most popular classical music radio show on the air today, National Public Radio's From the Top, Mr. O'Riley works and performs with the next generation of brilliant young musicians, demonstrating to audiences, with humour and lack of pretense, that these young artists are as diverse in their personal lives as they are in their music-making. In 2007, From the Top was filmed for public television in Zankel Concert Hall at Carnegie Hall and debuted on PBS in the spring. The series is now airing its third season.

Producer Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner/Jenkins, Bill Kenwright, Northwater Entertainment, Darren Bagert, and Tom Gregory announced the complete cast and design team for the new Broadway production of the greatest musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS. The first joint Broadway project by two-time Tony Award winning director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo since their collaboration on the Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys, GUYS AND DOLLS will begin previews on February 3, 2009 at Broadway's newly refurbished Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). Opening Night is March 1, 2009.

Producer Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner/Jenkins, Bill Kenwright, Darren Bagert, and Tom Gregory announced today that Craig Bierko (Tony Award nominee for The Music Man; Scary Movie 4) will star as 'Sky Masterson' and Kate Jennings Grant (Proof) will also star as 'Sarah Brown' in the new Broadway production of the greatest musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS.

The opening of the 57th annual BMI Student Composer Awards competition was recently announced by BMI President and CEO Del Bryant and BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson. The competition, which is co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, will award $20,000 in prizes.

LAUREN GRAHAM (Golden Globe Award nominee for 'Gilmore Girls') will appear as 'Miss Adelaide' opposite Oliver Platt's 'Nathan Detroit' in the new Broadway production of GUYS AND DOLLS.

A new production of GUYS AND DOLLS, directed by Tony-winner Des McAnuff will begin previews on February 3, 2009 at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre. Opening Night is March 1.

Today it was announced that GUYS AND DOLLS will open on Broadway for the first time in 17 years in the spring of 2009 at a Nederlander Theatre to be announced. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, this production is the first joint Broadway project by director Des McAnuff and Sergio Trujillo since Jersey Boys.

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) continues its 20th Anniversary season by presenting Bastianello and Lucrezia, two newly commissioned comic operas by composers John Musto and William Bolcom with libretti by Mark Campbell. The concerts will take place on Tuesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 13 at 8PM, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, West 57th Street and 7th Avenue.

The opening of the 56th annual BMI Student Composer Awards competition was announced today by BMI President and CEO Del Bryant and BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson. The competition, which is co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, will award $20,000 in prizes. Student composers under the age of 28 who are citizens of the Western Hemisphere. All entries must be postmarked no later than Friday, February 15, 2008.

Operas by composers such as Michael John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel, as well as opera productions helmed by high-profile directors like Mary Zimmerman, are slated to debut at the Met at the end of this decade and the beginning of next

THE 2005 NEW YORK MUSIC THEATER FESTIVAL, DENNIS GRIMALDI PRODUCTIONS and NICK CAVARRA are pleased to announce the New York premiere of the new musical 'RICHARD CORY,' directed by JAMES BRENNAN.

Mark Campbell's Songs from an Unmade Bed will end its New York Theatre Workshop run early on June 19th