Theo Bleckmann News

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues withJamie Barton on Saturday, March 23, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. Accompanied by pianist Kathleen Kelly, Barton's one-night-only recital will feature classics from Haydn, Strauss, and Ravel while showcasing the voices of women, including works by composers Nadia and Lili Boulanger and Americans Elinor Remick Warren and Amy Beach. Barton's performance also features Love After 1950, a contemporary song cycle by Libby Larsen that uses offbeat vocal styles like blues, tango, and honky-tonk to evoke different moods. Tickets for this program are $49-$69.

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay today, February 8, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. McKay's one-night-only solo set will include songs from her recent Sister Orchid, as well as others in her catalog. Tickets for this performance are $25-$35.

The John F. Kennedy Center announces the full lineup for DIRECT CURRENT, its two-week celebration of contemporary culture, which returns for a second season this spring (March 24-April 7).

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay on Friday, February 8, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. McKay's one-night-only solo set will include songs from her recent Sister Orchid, as well as others in her catalog. Tickets for this performance are $25-$35.

On Monday, January 7, 2019 at 8:30pm, German-born composer, vocalist, and internationally renowned theremin virtuosa Carolina Eyck; multi-faceted cellist Clarice Jensen; and the dynamic American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) join forces for a performance at DROM (85 Avenue A), each performing an engaging 30-minute set.

Due to popular demand, second performances have been added for Private Peaceful, Songs of Freedom, and Teatro Linea de Sombra's Amarillo. Tickets and subscriptions for Essential Series performances are available at texasperformingarts.org.

Keyboardist, bandleader and collaborator Erik Deutsch has released his sixth album, Falling Flowers, today via LoHi Records – listen via Soundcloud. Glide Magazine premiered Falling Flowersin full ahead of its release earlier this week, noting that the album “combines haunting and healing grooves along with tenacious songwriting chops that keep listeners discovering more upon each listen.'

DIRECT CURRENT, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts's two-week celebration of contemporary culture, returns for a second season. Training its focus on new works, interdisciplinary creations in which artistic worlds collide, and creative responses to topical concerns, the 2019 spring immersion showcases some of the most provocative, original, and pioneering voices in the arts today. DIRECT CURRENT takes place on March 25-April 7 at the Kennedy Center and beyond, extending throughout the District of Columbia through collaborations with a number of alternative venues, to expand the growing audience for contemporary culture in the nation's capital.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor at Large Renee Fleming have added singer/composer Theo Bleckmann as part of the 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series. Presented in conjunction with the Direct Current festival, this concert takes place Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 9 p.m. in the KC Jazz Club, located in the Terrace Gallery.

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) has announced its fall 2018 season of exhibitions and cultural events in Asheville.

On Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 8pm, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) presents a special, free preview concert by Grammy-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann and jazz guitarist Ben Monder, part of BMCM+AC's celebration of its new permanent home at 120 College St. in downtown Asheville. For over 15 years, the Theo Bleckmann & Ben Monder Duo has toured the U.S., Europe, and Asia creating a unique approach to what might be called 'jazz art song,' blurring the boundaries between jazz, classical, ambient and rock.

Keyboardist Erik Deutsch makes American music, pure and simple. Over the last two decades plus, he's earned a stellar reputation as a bandleader and collaborator, working with artists like Steven Bernstein, Theo Bleckmann, Rosanne Cash, Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter, Shooter Jennings, Norah Jones, Leftover Salmon, Shelby Lynne, and many, many more. At the same time, he's made five albums under his own name full of willfully uncategorizable compositions that combine jazz, funk, country and rock into a swirling, raucous blend that jumps, struts, croons and shouts. His sixth album as a leader, Falling Flowers, will be released September 14 onLoHi Records. 

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Joe's Pub at The Public join forces once again for the Kimmel Center Theater Residency. Under the tutelage of Jay Wahl, Producing Artistic Director of the Kimmel Center, and Shanta Thake, Director of Joe's Pub, the program serves as an incubator for artists and their collaborators to create and develop music and theater projects. The program will be held in the Kimmel Center's SEI Innovation Studio (300 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA) from June 18-30 with Public Readings, free and open to the public, on June 29 and 30. Readings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the artists.

Hot Jazz Productions and The McKittrick Hotel join forces with the World Music Institute to present the first annual New York Brass Festival, a ten-hour marathon celebration of brass band music. The Festival is scheduled for Sunday, June 10 from 2:00 pm to midnight on two stages at Chelsea's McKittrick Hotel (530 West 27 Street,) home of the immersive theater spectacle Sleep No More.

On Sunday, June 10, 2018 at 9:30pm (doors 9pm), the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), will perform the music of the late Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St., NYC) as part of the venue's 10th anniversary celebration, LPR X. The concert will include selections from Johannsson's first concert in New York, which took place in 2009 at Le Poisson Rouge, with ACME. ACME artistic director Clarice Jensen will also perform bc for solo cello and tape loops, a piece that she co-composed with Johannsson last year, which is included on her 2018 debut solo album For this from that will be filled (Miasmah).

Continuing a long tradition of presenting world-class performances to The University of Texas at Austin and the Central Texas community, Texas Performing Arts unveils the 2018-19 Essential Series season. This is the 10th since the renovation of Bass Concert and changing our name to Texas Performing Arts.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2017-18 Kumble Theater season with jazz singer/songwriter Alicia Olatuja. Drawing from a wide range of musical influence including classical, R&B, soul, and gospel, this Brooklyn resident brings her scintillating jazz stylings to Brooklyn's Kumble Theater, including a preview of selections from her yet-to-be-released second album, Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women.

From the very first note, Brooklyn-based composer Christopher Cerrone draws listeners into his vibrant sonic imagination—a sublime world of ethereal colors and deep emotional resonance. Riding high following the extraordinary success of his groundbreaking futuristic opera, Invisible Cities, Cerrone teams up with Grammy-award winning Third Coast Percussion ensemble and mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway to perform recent chamber works, including the world premiere of a work commissioned for this Portrait.

In the Claudia Quintet, John Hollenbeck has united five formidable talents to create a truly original ensemble. Performing Hollenbeck's compositions, Claudia seamlessly weaves written material with improvised solos, scored for the unique instrumentation of vibraphone, accordion, bass, clarinet, and drums. The Claudia Quintet draws inspiration from many sources, including American minimalism, Argentine tango, and Senegalese percussion, combining these influences to make a thrilling tapestry of sound.

Brooklyn-based composer Christopher Cerrone - winner of a 2015 Rome Prize and a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his opera Invisible Cities - greets 2018 with a pair of important premieres.