Ravinia Festival News

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce Writers Theatre's World Premiere production of Days Like Today, with music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler and book by Laura Eason, directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam, music direction by Doug Peck and choreography by Tommy Rapley. The production runs May 6-July 13, 2014 at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The press opening is May 22, 2014 at 7:30pm.

Guest conductor Jack Everly joins the Utah Symphony on May 2-3 for a trip down memory lane at Abravanel Hall. This special concert, celebrating the Baby Boom generation, highlights songs and television shows from the 1960s. The program features music by the Beach Boys, Frankie Valli, and the Beatles, and guest vocalists Roy Chicas, Jim Hogan, Marissa McGowan, N'Kenge, Kristine Reese and Max Quinlan.

The Massapequa Philharmonic will be featuring guest conductor David Bernard and violinist Kristin Lee in its Season Finale at Berner Auditorium in Massapequa on Saturday May 10th at 8 pm. The program will feature some of the most sublime and engaging classical music, including Dvorak's brilliant Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), Brahms exciting Academic Festival Overture and Saint-Saëns alluring and passionate Violin Concerto No. 3 featuring Ms. Lee. “I am looking forward to collaborating with the Massapequa Philharmonic and Kristin Lee on this fantastic program,” says guest conductor David Bernard. “Dvorak's New World Symphony is thoroughly engaging, while Kristin Lee will dazzle with her artistry in the Saint-Saëns concerto. This concert will be a great experience for the audience.”

No other show in TV history has proven to be a force like AMERICAN IDOL®. Fans of the hit series can see this season's talented Top Ten Finalists live when the AMERICAN IDOL® LIVE! tour returns this summer.

The WBT is celebrating 40 years of Broadway Musicals & Fine Dining! For this momentous occasion, Mary Poppins is flying onto our stage! The cherished 1964 Disney film has been re-imagined into a spectacular new musical. The show has been created, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh, by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and Downton Abbey creator, Julian Fellowes.

The League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) will celebrate its 25th annual Corporate Night on Monday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. with special guest Melissa Etheridge performing with members of the CSO, led by conductor Sean O'Loughlin. Over the course of more than two decades as a performer and songwriter, Melissa Etheridge has earned her post as one of rock 'n' roll's most respected artists with numerous hits, such as 'I'm the Only One,' 'Come to My Window' and 'I Want to Come Over.'

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation has announced that Michael Fabiano - 'the tenor that we have all been waiting for' (San Francisco Classical Voice) - is the winner of the 2014 Richard Tucker Award.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra presents Romeo and Juliet with guest conductor Rossen Milanov on April 18-19, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The performances include Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chausson's Poe?me for Violin and Orchestra and Barto?k's Rhapsody No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra with MSO Concertmaster Frank Almond, and selections from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet featuring Milwaukee Rep actors Max

Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg's landmark work, Pierrot lunaire, was recently the focus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's award-winning Beyond the Score® series. That performance has been added to a selection of other Beyond the Score® presentations which can be streamed at no cost at the CSO's online magazine, Sounds & Stories (www.cso.org/sas).

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Verdi's mammoth Requiem today, April 3-6 in Newark, New Brunswick and Morristown with soprano Marianne Fiset, mezzo-soprano Janara Kellerman, tenor Russell Thomas, bass Peter Volpe and the Montclair State University Chorale. Thomas returns to NJSO stages after his performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestra in January. The April 5 performance at the State Theatre in New Brunswick is the NJSO's third College Night event of the season.

The New York Philharmonic will present Pixar in Concert, a program illustrating Pixar's mastery of film scoring to underscore its celebrated storytelling. Clips from all 14 Pixar films released to date - the Toy Story trilogy; A Bug's Life; Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University; Finding Nemo; The Incredibles; Cars and Cars 2; Ratatouille; Wall·E; UP; and Brave - will be screened as the Orchestra performs the music live, led by film composer and conductor David Newman. The concerts take place Thursday, May 1, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 2 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, May 3 at 8:00 p.m.

James Conlon, Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival since 1979, conducts the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium during the fourth and final installment of the Spring For Music festival. The centerpiece of the Carnegie Hall program is the New York premiere of The Ordering of Moses, a work by Robert Nathaniel Dett that received its world premiere at the 1937 May Festival, performed by a chorus of 350 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by Eugene Goosens. Mr. Conlon will open the program with John Adams' Harmonium.

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 12th- annual summer residency there, performing six concerts July 18-25, 2014. Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct three programs, July 18-20, featuring works by composers for whom he has advocated during his tenure, ranging from Nielsen to The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in- Residence Christopher Rouse. The other Philharmonic concerts will be conducted by Bramwell Tovey (July 23 and 25) and Ted Sperling (July 24), and will feature works by Copland, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Loesser, among others.

Boston Baroque has announced its New Directions Series for 2013 - 2014 Season, featuring two chamber concerts at Longy School of Music, the second of which runs today, March 29, 2014: MONOLOGUES.

One of the fastest rising and highly-regarded cellists Narek Hakhnazaryan and dramatic classical pianist Christoper Shih perform together for the first time in an evening featuring the music of Tchaikovsky, Khudoyan, Rachmaninoff, Paganini and Shostakovich.

Tonight, March 26, 2014, two longtime friends - violinist Hyeyung Julie Yoon and pianist Soyeon Kate Lee - will present an unforgettable evening of chamber music at the new downtown venue SubCulture (45 Bleecker Street, downstairs). The concert features the New York premiere of composer Robert Sirota's Pange Lingua Sonata, written for Yoon and Lee in 2012, and Bach's Sonata in C Minor. Cellist Gregory Beaver joins the ensemble for Brahms' Piano Trio in C Major; Soyeon Kate Lee will also perform 'Agitato/Calmo' and 'Tender Rage' from Robert Sirota's Mixed Emotions for solo piano.

Award-winning musical theater superstar, Patti LuPone, who has portrayed some of Broadway's most memorable roles, returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a special one-night-only performance of her latest concert, Far Away Places tonight, March 22 at 8 p.m. in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Making their Auditorium Theatre debut, Houston Ballet brings their enchanted production of celebrated choreographer David Bintley's 'Aladdin' to the landmark stage, this weekend, March 22 - 23, 2014.

CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti returns to Chicago in March for two weeks of CSO programs that continue the cycle of Schubert's symphonic works which began at the start of the 2013/14 season. Concerts with Maestro Muti take place today, March 20-22 and 26-29, 2014. The first week's program includes Schubert's Symphony No. 9, the 'Great' C Major and Schumann's Piano Concerto featuring pianist Mitsuko Uchida.