Ravinia Festival News

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce Writers Theatre's opener to its 2014/15 season: the Midwest Premiere of Isaac's Eye by Lucas Hnath, directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam. The show runs September 2 - December 7, 2014 at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave Ave, Glencoe. The Press Openings are Wednesday, September 10, 2014 and Thursday, September 11, 2014, at 7:30pm.

Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) kick off the 2014-2015 concert season with Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Fourth Symphony on Thursday, September 18 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore, and Friday, September 19 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 21 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Baltimore native and Grammy award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn joins the BSO to perform Beethoven's Violin Concerto, which is widely considered the pinnacle of the violin literature. Also on the program is Mahler's Fourth Symphony, for which soprano Tamara Wilson will join the BSO for its final movement, "Das himmlische Leben." Please see below for complete program details.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents An Evening with Stephen Costello and Ailyn Perez, featuring the celebrated husband-and-wife stars of last season's production of The Elixir of Love, Wednesday, September 10, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents An Evening with Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pe?rez, featuring the celebrated husband-and-wife stars of last season's production of The Elixir of Love, Wednesday, September 10, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Accompanied on piano by Danielle Orlando, Costello and Pe?rez will perform songs, arias, and duets from popular works by Verdi, Puccini, Hahn, Tosti, Falla, Heggie, and more.

Ailyn Perez, born and bred in Chicago, returns to her hometown's famous Ravinia Festival for two performances (Aug 14 & 16) as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni - a role that the Dallas Morning News has said shows her to be "a singer of considerable nuance." LA Opera Music Director James Conlon leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the run, which also features baritone Christopher Maltman in the title role, baritone David Bizi? as Leporello, soprano Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna and tenor Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio. The Chicago Tribune praised Perez's 2012 appearance at Ravinia, as Pamina in Die Zauberflote, as "show-stopping…all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, which roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation."

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 12th- annual summer residency there, performing six concerts today, July 18-25, 2014.

BILLY CORGAN will take time out from recording the next two SMASHING PUMPKINS albums, both due in 2015, to perform a very special, exclusive hometown acoustic-based solo concert

There's only one! The magnificent Tony Bennett, returns to the Ravinia Festival on Saturday evening, August 16, at 8:30 PM. The foremost interpreter of American popular song and one of the Festival's most treasured and highly anticipated artists since his first appearance in 1984, Mr. Bennett headlines his 33rd Ravinia concert with this engagement.

Bramwell Tovey continues the first week of the Los Angeles Philharmonic classical season at the Hollywood Bowl by bringing 20th-century favorites from Bernstein and Gershwin to the stage, tonight, July 10, at 8 pm. Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, fresh from performing at the Bowl the night before in the jazz concert, To Ella with Love, joins the program to sing favorite Gershwin tunes. She replaces Megan Hilty, who was forced to cancel due to scheduling conflicts.

Deborah Voigt showcases her enviable range in a trio of major summer festival engagements this month.

The New York Philharmonic will salute departing Principal Trumpet Philip Smith - who will step down from his position at the end of the 2013-14 season following 36 seasons of service - in A Celebration of Phil Smith, a concert featuring the New York Philharmonic Brass and Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Mr. Smith and Bramwell Tovey, July 5, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. The program will also include works that showcase brass: an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Procession of the Nobles; a Horn Quartet by Gershwin; Tomasi's Liturgical Fanfares; an arrangement of The Great Gate of Kiev from Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition; and Pollack's That's a Plenty, which the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet, of which Mr. Smith was a founding member, has frequently performed as an encore on the Orchestra's tours. Philharmonic musicians will introduce the works and speak about Mr. Smith.

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, New York Live Arts' Resident Dance Company, announced today the touring programs and productions for the 2014-2015 Season. The Company will perform and conduct residencies in more than 11 cities in eight states over the next 12 months, making their debut at a number of venues across the U.S. Highlights of the 2014-2015 Season include the New York City premiere of Story/Time (35, 36, 37 & 38) November 4 - 8 and 11 - 15 on the Company's home stage at the New York Live Arts theater; the world premiere of Analogy (working title) in June 2015 at Montclair State University; the Company debut at Dancers' Workshop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and more. Touring programs for the 2014-2015 season include Analogy (working title), the Company's newest work; Story/Time; Play and Play: An Evening of Movement and Music; Body Against Body; and A Rite.

The New York Philharmonic will present its 11th season of Summertime Classics, July 2-6, 2014, featuring five themed concerts with Bramwell Tovey, who has been the host and conductor of the series since its founding in 2004. On the first program, July 2-3, 2014, titled 'Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Friends,' the New York Philharmonic will perform Shostakovich's Festive Overture; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Joyce Yang as soloist; Musorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain; Rachmaninoff's arrangement of his own Vocalise; and Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker, and Marche slave. The second program, July 4-6, 2014, titled 'Star-Spangled Celebration,' will feature the New York Philharmonic and United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps - 'The Commandant's Own,' which is celebrating its 80th-anniversary year - in a program that includes Copland's Clarinet Concerto, with Associate Principal Clarinet Mark Nuccio as soloist, and Fanfare for the Common Man; Gershwin's 'Strike Up the Band' from Strike Up the Band; Sousa marches; and more. In these performances Major Brian Dix, director and commanding officer of 'The Commandant's Own,' will share conducting duties with Bramwell Tovey.

Ballet Hispanico will perform audience favorite Sombrerisimo by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa from July 23-25 at Victory Dance, a pilot initiative of The New Victory Theater to provide free dance performances to New York City kids this summer.

Ballet Hispanico, recognized as the nation's premier Latino dance organization since 1970, will perform a dynamic trio of works at SummerStage at Central Park on Wednesday, July 16 at 8pm. The program for the evening will include Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro's Asuka, a special piece celebrating the life and music of Celia Cruz on the anniversary of her 2003 passing. Ms. Cruz last performed in Central Park's SummerStage in 2002. Ballet Hispanico's pre-professional second company, BHdos, will also participate in SummerStage with a performance at St. Mary's Park in the Bronx on Friday, July 11 at 7pm. Tickets for both shows are free.

Michael Cerveris, Isaiah Johnson, Randy Newman, Laura Osnes, Vonda Shepard, Brooklyn Shuck, Tony Vincent and Broadway Inspirational Voices have been cast in Randy Newman's Faust: The Concert, which will be performed tonight, July 1 as the second Encores! Off-Center presentation of the 2014 season. Faust will be directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Marcos Santana. Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off-Center artistic director; Chris Fenwick is its music director.

The music, humor, warmth and life of Marvin Hamlisch will once again grace the Heinz Hall stage when "Play It Again, Marvin! A Marvin Hamlisch Celebration" makes its world premiere with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on June 28 at 8 p.m.

The music, humor, warmth and life of Marvin Hamlisch will once again grace the Heinz Hall stage when "Play It Again, Marvin! A Marvin Hamlisch Celebration" makes its world premiere with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on June 28 at 8 p.m.

Bramwell Tovey continues the first week of the Los Angeles Philharmonic classical season at the Hollywood Bowl by bringing 20th-century favorites from Bernstein and Gershwin to the stage, Thursday, July 10, at 8 pm. Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, fresh from performing at the Bowl the night before in the jazz concert, To Ella with Love, joins the program to sing favorite Gershwin tunes. She replaces Megan Hilty, who was forced to cancel due to scheduling conflicts.