Michael Torke News

New York City Ballet returns to the Kennedy Center for their annual engagement, March 1-6, 2016, performing two exciting and distinctively different programs of repertory, including the D.C. premiere of NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck's first narrative work, The Most Incredible Thing and a staging of August Bournonville's La Sylphide by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, as well as additional works by George Balanchine, August Bournonville, and Christopher Wheeldon. All performances will be accompanied by the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

There may be no better way to chase the gloom of an unseasonably chilly and wind-whipped evening in NYC than to watch New York City Ballet's delightfully varied quintuple-bill entitled "Americana X Five". On October 2nd 2015, with Hurricane Joaquin's approach bringing on a gusty downpour, I was among the lucky dancegoers at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center who enjoyed one of the best programs the company has offered in a long time. If you'll be in town through October 7th, don't miss the chance to see the works of four very different choreographers set to the equally wide-ranging works of a talented handful of American composers.

New York City Ballet will open its 2015-16 Season at Lincoln Center tonight, September 22 with eight performances of Peter Martins' production of Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake, through Tuesday, September 29, to launch the Company's 2015 Fall Season, which will continue for four weeks through Sunday, October 18.

WASHINGTON)—Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the fourth season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three pairings of new opera composers and librettists—Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos, David Clay Mettens and Joshua McGuire, and Sarah Hutchings and Mark Sonnenblick—will premiere new one-act operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on December 2, 2015 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Caitlin Vincent, an alumnus of the program's second season, will present their new hour-long work Better Gods—based on the life of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii—on January 8 and 9, 2016 in the Terrace Theater.

George Street Playhouse and Artistic Director David Saint are pleased to present Tony and Emmy Award winners DAVID HYDE PIERCE and DEBRA MONK in A.R. Gurney's classic love story, Love Letters, on the New Brunswick stage for one night only tonight, June 3 at 8pm. The modern classic two-hander will be helmed by GSP Artistic Director DAVID SAINT.

George Street Playhouse and Artistic Director David Saint are pleased to present Tony and Emmy Award winners DAVID HYDE PIERCE and DEBRA MONK in A.R. Gurney's classic love story, Love Letters, on the New Brunswick stage for one night only Wednesday, June 3 at 8pm.  The modern classic two-hander will be helmed by GSP Artistic Director DAVID SAINT. 

The Fourth of July might still be several months away, but the Ohio Theatre's halls were bursting with patriotic pride last weekend for the works of several American artists celebrated in BalletMet's performance of "American Masters."

New York City Ballet will open its 2015-16 Season at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 22 with eight performances of Peter Martins' production of Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake, through Tuesday, September 29, to launch the Company's 2015 Fall Season, which will continue for four weeks through Sunday, October 18.

New York City Ballet will open its 2015-16 Season at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 22 with eight performances of Peter Martins' production of Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake, through Tuesday, September 29, to launch the Company's 2015 Fall Season, which will continue for four weeks through Sunday, October 18.

RIOULT Dance NY, a leading American modern dance company with a classic sensibility, will perform the Dance to Contemporary Composers Series with Tactus tonight, January 22, 2015 at 7:30pm at the Manhattan School of Music's Borden Auditorium, 120 Claremont Avenue, NYC. Tickets are $12 ($7 for students/seniors) and are available online at http://www.msmnyc.edu/Concertgoer/Box-Office, via phone at (917) 493-4428, or at the box office one hour prior to curtain.

RIOULT Dance NY, a leading American modern dance company with a classic sensibility, will perform the Dance to Contemporary Composers Series with Tactus on January 22, 2015 at 7:30pm at the Manhattan School of Music's Borden Auditorium, 120 Claremont Avenue, NYC. Tickets are $12 ($7 for students/seniors) and are available online at http://www.msmnyc.edu/Concertgoer/Box-Office, via phone at (917) 493-4428, or at the box office one hour prior to curtain.

(American Opera Projects) and Adelphi University present Independence Eve, a new chamber opera in three scenes that explores the troubled journey of race relations in America. The concert performances will take place on Thursday, November 13 at 7:30PM at the Concert Hall of the Performing Arts Center at Adelphi University (1 South Ave, Garden City, NY 11530), with a second performance on Saturday, November 15 at 8PM in the Great Room at AOP's South Oxford Space (138 S Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217). Composed by Sidney Marquez Boquiren with a libretto by Daniel Neer, the opera will include performances by baritone Jorell Williams, and tenor Brandon Snook. Damian Norfleet will act as stage director, while Mila Henry will provide music direction and piano.

RIOULT Dance NY, a leading American modern dance company with a classic sensibility, announces its 2014-15 Tour Schedule with 22 performances in 16 cities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

RIOULT Dance NY, a leading American modern dance company with a classic sensibility, announces its 2014-15 Tour Schedule with 22 performances in 16 cities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces a three-year extension of Philip Mann's tenure as Music Director. Mann first took to the podium as ASO Music Director at Robinson Center Music Hall on October 2, 2010.

After an extensive search, the Albany Symphony board of directors has appointed Lawrence J. Fried to the position of executive director of the organization. Fried, who most recently headed up an opera company in Houston, has over 20 years of experience and proven results in the field of arts management.

The Cleveland Orchestra announces a free community concert in which the Orchestra performs 'side-by-side' with members of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). The concert will be given in Severance Hall tonight, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. and will be conducted by Brett Mitchell, who is in his first season as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

The Cleveland Orchestra announces a free community concert in which the Orchestra performs “side-by-side” with members of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). The concert will be given in Severance Hall on Friday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. and will be conducted by Brett Mitchell, who is in his first season as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Musical selections to be performed by The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra are Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Michael Torke's Bright Blue Music, and two movements from Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. Violinist James Thompson, currently a student of Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster William Preucil at the Cleveland Institute of Music, will perform with The Cleveland Orchestra as soloist in Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for violin and orchestra. Mr. Thompson was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra from 2005 to 2012. His positions in COYO included principal second violin, followed by concertmaster.

It is one of the most wondrous moments in all of Shakespeare's plays; the moment near the end of The Winter's Tale when the statue of Hermione comes to life. Whether it is magic, divine intervention, or merely the resolution of a well-concealed plot, it doesn't matter. It never fails to leave me with a catch in my throat and a feeling of awe at the ability of theatre to engender so affecting a response.

Performances begin this Saturday, February 8 as The Old Globe presents Shakespeare's spellbinding romance The Winter's Tale. Artistic Director Barry Edelstein makes his Old Globe directorial debut with the show, the first indoor Shakespeare production at the Globe in over a decade. The Winter's Tale will run Feb. 8 - March 16, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run Feb. 8 - Feb. 12. Opening night is Thursday, Feb. 13 at 8:00 p.m. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!