W. H. Auden News

Following the sold-out New Year Year's concerts, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) distinguished Principal Guest Conductor, Yu Long, will kickstart the new year by conducting the orchestra's first two programmes of 2022. While limited seats of the January concerts are still available, fans should act quickly to snap up remaining tickets!

Following the sold-out New Year Year's concerts, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) distinguished Principal Guest Conductor, Yu Long, will kickstart the new year by conducting the orchestra's first two programmes of 2022. While limited seats of the January concerts are still available, fans should act quickly to snap up remaining tickets!

Today sees the release of ‘THIS’, the first release from the forthcoming ‘The Crippling Space Between’ album, due September 24th via Midnight Stamp Records.

The 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center's fall season features critically-acclaimed novelists Marilynne Robinson and Zadie Smith, beloved American poet Billy Collins and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, among others, in virtual events.

92Y's Unterberg Poetry Center continues its celebration of National Poetry Month with archival recordings of readings by many of the best-known poets, including Maya Angelou, W.H. Auden (pictured above), e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda (his first U.S. reading), Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver , Tracy K. Smith and Seamus Heaney, among many others.  All of the poets mentioned have appeared at 92Y as part of the Poetry Center's main reading series; the Poetry Center began in 1939.

In light of the closure of theatres across the UK due to COVID-19, the Original Theatre Company's productions of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART and Ali Milles's THE CROFT, both of which were touring the UK, will now each have an online launch performance.

In light of the most recent government advice due to COVID-19, The Original Theatre Company's production of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART, which was due to open at Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne on Wednesday 18 March 2020, will now perform a closed filmed performance on Wednesday 18 March 2020 at 2pm.

This spring, the Belgrade Theatre invites audiences to venture into a remote corner of the Scottish highlands in a spine-chilling new play by Ali Milles, showing from 15-18 April.

Chiron Performing Arts will present Music of Eugene O'Brien and Christopher Kaufman, a multimedia concert on Sunday, March 1 @ 4:00 PM at The National Opera Center's Marc A. Scorca Hall, 330 7th Avenue in New York, NY.

Following a highly acclaimed tour in 2018, The Original Theatre Company and The Anthology Group in association with Peter Stickney and York Theatre Royal's production of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART will return and tour the UK in 2020. Directed by Philip Franks and starring Matthew Kelly as Fitz (W. H. Auden) and David Yelland as Henry (Benjamin Britten). The tour begins on 18 March 2020 at Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne.

The Northcott Young Company (NYC) is to stage a world premiere of a celebrated book about a family torn apart by a father's descent into mental illness. Senior members of the youth theatre company a?" around 60 actors aged between 9 and 16 a?" are preparing the first dramatization of Mal Peet's heart-rending novella, The Family Tree,

Wendi Peters, Kimberley Walsh and Matthew Kelly will star as Mrs Baskin, Susan Lawrence and George MacMillan respectively. They join the previously announced Jay McGuiness as Josh Baskin. Based on the smash-hit movie starring Tom Hanks, BIG The Musical makes its West End premiere at the Dominion Theatre for a strictly limited nine-week season from 6 September to 2 November 2019, with a Gala Night in aid of Make-A-Wish on Tuesday 17 September.

One of Leonard Bernstein's most iconic compositions will be paired with the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven's most celebrated work in "Bernstein and Beethoven: Part I" on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. As a continued celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centennial, world-renowned pianist Michael Brown will join Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski and the National Philharmonic in performing Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety"), a genre-defying work that combines elements of symphony, concerto, and program music and is inspired by the dramatic poem The Age of Anxiety by W.H. Auden. After an intermission, Gajewski will lead the Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This timeless work is one of the most performed, recorded, adapted, and abused of all the works in Beethoven's canonical repertoire. A pre-concert lecture will take place between 6:45-7:15 p.m. From 7-7:30 p.m., families can explore orchestral instruments with Philharmonic musicians. The concert will feature a members-only encore question-and-answer. Ticket prices are $42-$78, and young people 7-17 are free. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.

When the curtain rises for Junk on April 5, it will mark a full circle for Actress Nancy Sun

The Academy of American Poets is pleased to announce that Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey have been named its newest Chancellors, an honorary position that has been held by some of the most distinguished poets in the United States, including W. H. Auden, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Yusef Komunyakaa, Adrienne Rich, and Mark Strand. Poets elected to the Board of Chancellors become an important part of the history of Academy of American Poets and as of 2019, only 115 poets have been elected to this board since it was formed in 1946.

What a bizarre year 2018 has been. In the months that saw too much Trump, devastating Californian wildfires, an escalation in the refugee crisis, not to mention the dreaded 'B' word, it makes me more grateful than ever for the pure escapism that live theatre so often provides.

The Morris Choral Society (MCS) will present their annual Holiday Concert entitled "Songs Earthly and Divine" in two performances, Saturday December 8 at 8PM and Sunday December 9 at 3PM at St. Virgil's Parish, 250 Speedwell Avenue in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Tickets range from $25 for General Admission, $20 Seniors (60+) and $15 Students and may be purchased online at www.morrischoralsociety.org .

Following a slew of four and five star reviews for performances in York, Brighton, Salisbury and Oxford, Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art comes to the Belgrade Theatre this November in a new production from Original Theatre Company.

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts opens its 30th Anniversary 2018-19 Season and launches its new Chamber Opera Commissioning Initiative with the New York Premiere of PROVING UP, adapted from the short story "Proving Up" by Karen Russell.

Get a first look at rehearsal images from the first revival of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART, which opens at York Theatre Royal on 30 August 2018. The National Tour will then continue through to 1 December 2018.