Ricky Ian Gordon News

The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces that librettist/lyricist Michael Korie will receive the Marc Blitzstein Award for Musical Theater of $10,000. Established in 1965 by friends of the late Academician Marc Blitzstein in his memory, the award is given to a composer, lyricist, or librettist to encourage the creation of works of merit for musical theater and opera. The jurors were John Harbison (chairman), J. D. McClatchy, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Yehudi Wyner.

The 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 6 at the new Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and pianist John Churchwell.

Lincoln Center's American Songbook series doesn't usually cross the road to opera-land, but I'm glad it did, when it presented the Ricky Ian Gordon-Leonard Foglia chamber opera A COFFIN IN EGYPT with mezzo extraordinaire Frederica von Stade last week. Performed in Jazz at Lincoln Center's tiny Appel Room, EGYPT brought us up close and personal to von Stade--and her alter-ego here, 90-year-old Myrtle Bledsoe--and proved she still has “it” as a performer.

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 77th season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27. Spotlighting larger-than-life novelist, poet, playwright, and Pittsburgh native Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, 27 will delight you with Ricky Ian Gordon's 'tuneful score' and Royce Vavrek's 'quick-witted libretto.' 27 is a humorous and touching snapshot of the women's shared lives at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris in the early 1900s, featuring their famous salon and its visitors, including Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others. On stage February 20, 23, 26 & 28 at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters, most tickets for 27 are $40.

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 77th season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 77th season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27. Spotlighting larger-than-life novelist, poet, playwright, and Pittsburgh native Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, 27 will delight you with Ricky Ian Gordon's 'tuneful score' and Royce Vavrek's 'quick-witted libretto.' BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in costume below!

The New School's newly formed College of Performing Arts, led by"firebrand" (New York Times) Executive Dean Richard Kessler, is pleased to announce winter-spring public programming highlights for the College's three schools: Mannes School of Music, The School of Jazz and The School of Drama. Performances will take place at the College's new performing arts hub-designed by Deborah Berke Partners at Arnhold Hall (55 West 13th Street)-as well as at The New School's Tishman Auditorium at University Center (63 Fifth Avenue), The Theater at the School of Drama (151 Bank Street) and venues throughout the city. Please see below for a schedule of events for each school.  

The Public Theater announced complete casting today for the New York premiere of HEAD OF PASSES, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney and directed by Tina Landau. Part of Oskar Eustis' 10th anniversary season, HEAD OF PASSES begins previews on Tuesday, March 15 in the Newman Theater and runs through Sunday, April 17, with an official press opening on Monday, March 28.

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 77th season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27. Spotlighting larger-than-life novelist, poet, playwright, and Pittsburgh native Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, 27 will delight you with Ricky Ian Gordon's 'tuneful score' and Royce Vavrek's 'quick-witted libretto.'

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals. This season, the recitals move to the state-of-the-art Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco Opera's new Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco). The February 28 series-opener—Ports of Call with New York Festival of Song Artistic Director Steven Blier and 2016 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Amina Edris, Edward Nelson and Brad Walker—marks the inaugural public performance in the Taube Atrium Theater, which boasts the innovative Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system. The 5:30 p.m. Sunday recital series continues on March 6 with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and pianist John Churchwell; March 20 with baritone Efraín Solís accompanied by pianist Robert Mollicone; and April 24 with baritone Kihun Yoon and pianist Mark Morash.

This just in! Rita Moreno has cancelled this evening's Lincoln Center Performance.

Returning for its 17th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook continues to broaden its scope in celebrating the best in American singing and songwriting as interpreted by top performers and rising stars, with events at three Lincoln Center venues. The Appel Room series opens with Vanessa Williams performing in the breathtaking space in Frederick P. Rose Hall tonight, January 20, 2016.

The American Theatre Wing and The Village Voice have confirmed that the 61st Annual Obie Awards will be held on Monday, May 23, 2016 at Webster Hall (125 East 11th Street). Obie and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria will return as the host. Tickets to the 2016 Obie Awards will be announced at a later date.

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe returns to Carnegie Hall with pianist Alan Louis Smith to lead an audience sing-slong concert, Sing, America!, on Saturday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage as part of Carnegie Hall's annual series The Song Continues. Audience members have the opportunity to join in and sing along to some of America's most popular songs from the early 1900s including "Oh, You Beautiful Doll," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "By the Beautiful Sea," and many more.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's 35th Annual 'Messiah Sing-Along,' a beloved and time-honored tradition, brings together family, friends and the community to perform Handel's masterpiece tonight, December 16, 2015, 8 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

(WASHINGTON)—Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced complete details and casting 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— Sarah Hutchings and Mark Sonnenblick (Twenty Minutes or Less), David Clay Mettens and Joshua McGuire (Alexandra), and Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos (Service Provider)—will premiere new one-act operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in semi-staged concert performances on December 2, 2015 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The 7 p.m. performance is sold out; a second performance at 9 p.m. has just been added to accommodate demand.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's 35th Annual "Messiah Sing-Along," a beloved and time-honored tradition, brings together family, friends and the community to perform Handel's masterpiece on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 8 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

Blazing brass, majestic pipe organ and soaring voices add sonorous sparkle to the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 'Rejoice! Brass Tidings,' which heralds the season with such classics as Willc*cks' Carols for Brass and Choir, Daniel Pinkham's Christmas Cantata for chorus and double brass, and John Rutter's Gloria, on Sunday, December 13, 2015, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and featuring 62 Chorale members, the program also includes Shawn Kirchner's Behold New Joy: Ancient Carols of Christmas, composed as a companion piece to Rutter's jubilant opus, Nico Muhly's Senex puerum, Paul Gibson's Rejoice in the Lord Alway and two Christmas motets by Giovanni Gabrieli for double and triple choirs.