Ravinia Festival News

A new season begins Saturday September 21 for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director LARRY RACHLEFF's 18th season with the Orchestra begins with an exciting program featuring Brahms' Fourth Symphony and the return of violinist Jennifer Frautschi, joining the Orchestra in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.2. The concert takes place tonight, September 21 at 8:00pm at The Vets, 1 Avenue of the Arts in Providence.

Riccardo Muti begins his fourth season as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) with a four-week residency, from tonight, September 19 to October 12, which features a celebration of Giuseppe Verdi's bicentennial.

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe - coming off a starring role in Robert Lepage's production of the Ring Cycle at New York's Metropolitan Opera - heads to Chicago for her Harris Theater debut, performing alongside the award-winning French-Canadian ensemble Les Violons du Roy and Music Director Bernard Labadie, October 17 at 7:30 pm. Ms. Blythe and Les Violons du Roy stop in Chicago as part of their North American tour running October 14 - 27.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham will present their second special bonus offering of their 2013 season, the world premiere production of a new musical play, ROCKSTAR, featuring the music of Franz Liszt and others, written and performed by Hershey Felder and directed by Trevor Hay.

The St. Charles Singers, the internationally recognized professional chamber choir founded and conducted by Jeffrey Hunt, will launch its celebratory 30th season of choral artistry with a concert titled "Luminescence," to be presented in St. Charles on October 5 and Wheaton October 6.

A new season begins Saturday September 21 for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director LARRY RACHLEFF's 18th season with the Orchestra begins with an exciting program featuringBrahms' Fourth Symphony and the return of violinist Jennifer Frautschi, joining the Orchestra in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.2. The concert takes place Saturday September 21 at 8:00pm at The Vets, 1 Avenue of the Arts in Providence. Resident Conductor FRANCISCO NOYA presents an informal talk about the concert program in the auditorium before the concert from 7:00?7:25. WPRO News Talk 630 is the media sponsor for the season. Tickets ($15-100) are available at www.riphil.org/tickets, and the RIPO box office at 401.248.7000. An Open Rehearsal is planned for Friday September 20 at 5:30pm.

Boston Baroque has announced its New Directions Series for 2013 - 2014 Season, featuring two chamber concerts at Longy School of Music on Saturday, October 19, 2013 and Saturday, March 29, 2014: TIME CURVES and MONOLOGUES.

Conductor James Conlon returns to the Metropolitan Opera to lead a revival of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in commemoration of the 2013 Britten centenary, with six performances beginning Friday, October 11, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. The 1996 production by Tim Albery returns to the Met after ten years, and features a cast that includes Kathleen Kim as Tytania, Erin Wall as Helena, Elizabeth DeShong as Hermia, Iestyn Davis as Oberon, Joseph Kaiser as Lysander, Michael Todd Simpson as Demetrius, Matthew Rose as Bottom, and Riley Costello as Puck.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the World Premiere stage adaptation of Marguerite Duras' The North China Lover, translated by Leigh Hafrey and adapted and directed by Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman. The North China Lover runs September 25 - November 10, 2013.

Chicago's Merit School of Music has signed an agreement with the internationally acclaimed Lincoln Trio -Marta Aznavoorian (piano), David Cunliffe (cello) and Desiree Ruhstrat(violin) - to be the school's first-ever Artists in Residence.

CSO Resound, the independent record label of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA), announces its 14th release: Verdi's Otello, featuring Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), recorded live during critically acclaimed and sold-out performances at Symphony Center in Chicago in April 2011.

Riccardo Muti begins his fourth season as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) with a four-week residency, from September 19 to October 12, which features a celebration of Giuseppe Verdi's bicentennial.

Ballet Hispanico, recognized as the nation's leading Latino dance organization since 1970, announces the first performance of the Fall 2013 Season for BHdos, the company's pre-professional troupe. BHdos will perform at the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center in Central Park as part of the Harlem Meer Performance Festival on September 1. This is a free event; no tickets will be issued. The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center is inside Central Park at 110th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues. For more information visit http://www.centralpark.com/events/show/1988/harlem-meer-performance-festival.

Megan Mullally is a two-time Emmy-winning star of TV's Will & Grace, and recent star of Broadway's Young Frankenstein. On August 28 & 29 she returns to Provincetown by popular demand - for two shows only - after her sold-out Art House debut last summer. Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, as well Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for her performance as Rose in the most recent Broadway production of Gypsy, and created the title role in Evita on Broadway with her now legendary performance, for which she won her first Tony and Drama Desk Awards. On August 31 and September 1 she makes a triumphant Provincetown return for 4 shows only, after debuting at The Art House last summer. Chita Rivera is a living Broadway legend and a two-time Tony winner as Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Anna in The Rink. She originated the Broadway roles of Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma in Chicago, and appeared in the original casts of Guys and Dolls, Can Can, Seventh Heaven, Mr. Wonderful, Jerry's Girls, and many others. She makes her Provincetown debut on Sept. 7 & 8 with two shows only. Series host and SiriusXM radio star Seth Rudetsky joins each of these three leading ladies at the piano. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com, or call 1-800-838-3006.

The trailblazing Los Angeles Master Chorale launches its milestone 50th Season on Sunday, September 22, 2013, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall, with a spectacular retrospective concert conducted by the Kiki & David Gindler Music Director Grant Gershon celebrating the rich history and inspiring artistry of the extraordinary musical organization that has been acclaimed for its 'needle-sharp quality' (Financial Times) and hailed as 'inspired' (New York Times), 'adventurous' (Daily Variety), and 'matchlessly polished' (Los Angeles Times).

The music, humor, warmth and life of Marvin Hamlisch will once again grace the Heinz Hall stage whenPlay It Again, Marvin! A Marvin Hamlisch Celebration makes its world premiere with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the weekend of June 27, 2014.

Hershey Felder in Abe Lincoln's Piano will have its world premiere in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse as a limited fifteen-performance engagement starting January 3, 2014.

Dubbed a “cello goddess” by The New Yorker, virtuosic cellist Maya Beiser will perform at Bard College SummerScape's Spiegeltent tonight, August 9 at 8:30pm in a concert entitled The Music of Astor Piazolla and Beyond with special guest pianist Donal Fox.

James Conlon, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, has cancelled two August engagements in order to undergo surgery to remove an inflamed portion of his colon as a result of diverticulitis. The surgery will take place in New York, and Mr. Conlon's prognosis is for a full recovery following three to four weeks of recuperation after surgery, according to Mr. Conlon's public relations representative, Constance Shuman at Shuman Associates, Inc.