Monte Carlo News

The Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Mitchell Sardou Klein, will continue its 65th anniversary season with a pair of concerts entitled 'Fountain of Youth' featuring the world premiere of a new Double Concerto for Cello, Clarinet and Orchestra by young composer and clarinetist Jonathan Russell with the composer and award-winning young cellist Nathan Chan as soloistsMarch 21 and 22 in San Mateo and Cupertino. The concerts will also include Grieg's In Autumn, the Intermezzo, Nocturne and Wedding March from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream; Lalo's Cello Concerto with Nathan Chan and Debussy's Premiere Rapsodie for Clarinet and Orchestra with Jonathan Russell.The concerts will be given tonight, March 21, at 8 pm at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center and March 22, at 8 pm at Flint Center/DeAnza College.

According to Deadline, Sally Hawkins (BLUE JASMINE) and Catherine Keener have signed on to join Michael Cera and John Hawkes in FX's upcoming comedy pilot HOW AND WHY.

Directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, the new Broadway production of Of Mice and Men begins performances tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 and will officially open on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch interviews with the cast and get a sneak peek at the play below!

The greatest operatic bass in the world today, Ferruccio Furlanetto, makes his Canadian debut this spring in the Canadian Opera Company premiere of the operatic tale of literature's famous dreamer, Don Quichotte by Jules Massenet. Known for an intensely moving portrayal of the title character, Furlanetto stars in this musically lush and romantic homage to Cervantes' iconic hero, Don Quixote. Don Quichotte is sung in French with English SURTITLES, and runs for seven performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on May 9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 2014.

Primavera has announced full casting for Jean-Jacques Bernard's seminal 1922 play Martine, which opens on Tuesday, 22 April 2014 for a four-week season. Award-winning film and television star Hannah Murray plays Martine, supported by the iconic Susan Penhaligon as Madame Mervan, Leila Crerar as Jeanne, Chris Porter as Alfred, and Barnaby Sax as Julien.

I'm not a fan of the fact that standing ovations, once reserved for truly superb performances, have become almost routine in NYC. Often, in spite of not being able to see the curtain calls while everyone in front of me is up and blocking my view, I remain stubbornly in my seat if I feel that plain old clapping is sufficient. Yet on the evening of Friday, March 15th 2014 at City Center, I was on my feet with the rest of the audience to applaud Les Ballets de Monte Carlo's excellent performance of choreographer-director Jean-Christophe Maillot's "LAC - after Swan Lake". The ballet premiered in 2011 but the all-too-brief run from March 14th to 16th this year, celebrating Maillot's 20th anniversary with Monte Carlo, was the first chance NYC dancegoers have had to see this magnificent production. That's probably more superlatives than I've ever included in the first paragraph of any review!

Celebrity Series of Boston will present a duet performance of poetry and jazz by the Vijay Iyer Trio and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky in POEMJAZZ tonight, March 14, 2014, at 8:00pm at Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. Sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger.

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo will celebrate Choreographer-Director Jean-Christophe Maillot's 20th anniversary with the New York premiere of LAC (After Swan Lake), Maillot's personal vision of Tchaikovsky's masterwork, running for four performances at New York City Center, today, March 14 - 16, 2014. LAC will be presented by Les Ballets De Monte-Carlo under the Presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, in association with New York City Center and Ardani Artists. LAC (After Swan Lake) has scenery by visual artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest and costumes by Philippe Guillotel.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the dance troupe that proves that men can dance en pointe without falling on their faces, performs at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 11, 2014 at 8 pm. Tickets are $29-59.

This spring, Velocity is bringing back the fan-favorite car fabrication show featuring the industry's leading man, the iconic Chip Foose.

New Repertory Theatre announces IN BETWEEN, written and performed by Ibrahim Miari, April 4 - 20, 2014.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra announces the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, a multi-faceted program that promotes new music and emerging composers, presented in collaboration with the Princeton University Department of Music and generously funded in part by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. The Institute will select up to four composers to participate in five days of intense compositional evaluations and consultations July 15-19 on the Princeton University campus; the program will culminate in a live concert performance of the participants' works by the NJSO and Music Director Jacques Lacombe on July 19 at the Richardson Auditorium.

British television and film writer ASCHLIN DITTA (writer of the screenplay to the film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature) flies in to attend tonight's performance of Scenes of a Sexual Nature, the stage play. Mr. Ditta will do a Q & A after the performance.

The 65-year-old Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Mitchell Sardou Klein close their successful 2013-2014 season May 16 and 17 by continuing one of the Orchestra's cherished hallmarks: presenting an extremely gifted young soloist and winner of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. The 2013 Competition winner, 18-year-old South Korea-born violinist Youjin Lee, will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on a program with Brahms Fourth Symphony and Nielsen's Helios Overture Friday, May 16, 2014 at 8 p.m., San Mateo Performing Arts Center, and Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 8 p.m., Flint Center/DeAnza College.

Celebrity Series of Boston will present the eclectic Brazilian sounds of The Assad Family on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 8:00pm at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA. Sponsored by The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corporation and The Boston Park Plaza Hotel LLC.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the return of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo tonight, March 7 - 9, 2014 under the Presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover. The company will perform the American premiere of LAC, a new and brilliantly re-imagined telling of the Swan Lake story by Jean- Christophe Maillot, the company's choreographer and director.

Celebrity Series of Boston will present jazz ensemble The Spring Quartet tonight, March 6, 2014, at 8:00pm at Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. This performance is sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger and Tufts Health Plan.

Bello Nock, the gravity-defying dude with the foot-high hair, returns to 42nd Street! 'America's Best Clown' (TIME Magazine) will tower above the audience on a 44-foot sway pole in just one of his many daredevil stunts during the new incarnation of his 2013 Drama Desk-nominated Bello Mania at The New Victory Theater in Times Square from April 4 - 20, 2014.

New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Nine Fine Irishmen raised more than $112,000 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation this past Saturday, March 1, tripling last year's amount. Guests came out to show their support and cheer on fellow head-shavers in barber chairs at the property's new outdoor plaza on the Brooklyn Bridge. All of the proceeds raised benefit the St. Baldrick's Foundation and will go toward childhood cancer research.

British television and film writer ASCHLIN DITTA (writer of the screenplay to the film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature) flies in to attend the Saturday, March 8 performance of Scenes of a Sexual Nature, the stage play. Mr. Ditta will do a Q & A after the performance.