Passion 2003 - Articles Page 18

Herbert Blomstedt comes to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in three performances of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, at 8 pm, as well as Sunday, April 15, at 2pm. Also performing are soprano Ruth Ziesak, mezzo-soprano Gerhild Romberger, tenor Richard Croft, bass-baritone Hanno Muller-Brachmann and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Beethoven's 80-minute Missa Solemnis, considered by the composer to be his greatest work, is atypical for him. It's missing the sustained development of themes that is one of the composer's hallmarks. Also missing is Beethoven's penchant for theme and variations. Instead, the Missa presents a continuous musical narrative, almost without repetition. The first LA Phil performances (in 1952) were followed by downtown performances in 1961, 1970 and 1980. The work has not been performed by the Philharmonic in 32 years. Herbert Blomstedt was chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1975 to 1985 and, in his continued relationship with the orchestra, was awarded its Golden Badge of Honour in 2007. Additionally, he holds the following titles with the various orchestras: Honorary Conductor of the NHK Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, Honorary Conductor of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, the Danish and Swedish Symphony, as well as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he continues guest conducting the world's most pre-eminent orchestras. Blomstedt, who celebrates his 85th birthday in 2012, has an extensive discography that includes over 130 works with the Dresden Staatskapelle, among them all symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the complete orchestral works of Carl Nielsen with the Danish Radio Symphony. With the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra he recorded exclusively for Decca. Several of the numerous recordings received major awards; the complete cycles of the symphonies of Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen enjoy reference standard. In September 2012, to make Blomstedt's jubiless, the querstand label is releasing a CD box set with all the symphonies by Anton Bruckner from live recordings with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Blomstedt has received several Honorary Doctorates and is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy and he was awarded the 'Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz' by the German Federal President Johannes Rau. Following her debut at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein based in Dusseldorf and Duisburg, Ruth Ziesak's career led her from the stages of Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin and Dresden to the international platforms of Milan, Florence, Vienna, Paris, London and New York, where she shone in signature roles of Pamina, Ännchen, Marzelline, Ilia and Sophie. She has also extended her repertoire and made her debut in the role of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Glyndebourne and Zurich. It is in this role that she appeared at the Wurttembergisches Staatstheater in Stuttgart under Manfred Honeck in the 2009/10 season. The versatile artist is a much sought-after concert soloist and works with the leading orchestras in Paris, Milan, Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Amsterdam and London. She is also a frequent guest at the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the BBC Proms. In addition to her concert recordings with Georg Solti, Riccardo Chailly and Herbert Blomstedt for Decca, Ziesak has recorded Die Zauberflote (Solti/Decca), Fidelio (Dohnanyi/Decca), La Clemenza di Tito (Harnoncourt/Teldec), Der Freischutz (Janowski/BMG), Hansel und Gretel (Runnicles/ Teldec) and Robert Schumann's Genoveva with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Harnoncourt/Teldec). Her solo recordings include Opera Arias by Mozart with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin (German Symphony Orchestra Berlin) conducted by Marcus Creed (Capriccio) and lieder by Mahler (Gatti/BMG), as well as a series of lieder recitals for BMG, Naxos and Sony with Ulrich Eisenlohr. Recent highlights of Gerhild Romberger's concert career include concerts with Manfred Honeck, who invited her for, among others, Mahler´s symphonies, Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis or the Große Messe by Walter Braunfels. Additional highlights include concerts at the NDR Hamburg with Wolfgang Rihm´s Drei spate Gedichte von Heiner Muller, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Prague, numerous performances with Enoch zu Guttenberg (among others Bach´s Passions, Verdi´s Messa da Requiem, Beethoven´s Missa solemnis and Wagner´s Wesendoncklieder). She frequently works with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly, as well as with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (in Schmidt´s Buch mit den sieben Siegeln and Mendelsson´s Elias with Thomas Hengelbrock), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt, the Symphony Orchestras of WDR and MDR and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. This season, Romberger performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, on tour with Beethoven's Missa solemnis with the Orchestre des Champs Elysees Paris under Philippe Herreweghe, the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck in the United States and on tour in Europe. American tenor Richard Croft is internationally renowned for his performances with leading opera companies and orchestras around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Opera National de Paris, the Berlin Staatsoper, Opera Zurich, Glyndebourne Festival, the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. His clarion voice, superlative musicianship and commanding stage presence allow him to pursue a wide breadth of repertoire from Handel and Mozart to the music of today's composers. The 2011/2012 season sees Croft returning to the Metropolitan Opera for an encore engagement of their visually extravagant production of Satyagraha in the role of Gandhi which will also be broadcast live in HD to movie theatres around the world. He continues the operatic season with Bayerische Staatsoper where he will play the title role in Mitridate under Ivor Bolton. He began the concert season with two performances of the Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and continues with performances of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and then with the Berliner Philharmonker conducted by Herbet Blomstedt. Hanno Muller-Brachmann has sung with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors, including: Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the London Philharmonic under Masur, Bach's St. John Passion with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra under Gardiner and with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Blomstedt, Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette with the Berlin Staatskappelle under Luisi, Schubert's Alfons und Estrella with the Berlin Philharmonic under Harnoncourt, Beethoven IX with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Dohnanyi and with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Chailly and Beethoven IX and Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi under Chailly, Britten's War Requiem with the European Youth Orchestra under Ashkenazy and Beethoven IX with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Haitink. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Barenboim and has sung at the Festivals of Granada, Dresden, Salzburg, Lucerne, Vienna's Klangbogen, Tanglewood and the BBC Proms. Muller-Brachmann made his operatic debut in 1996 in Telemann's Orpheus under Rene Jacobs at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, where he was a member of the ensemble from 1998 and where he sang the great Mozart roles of Leporello, Figaro, Guglielmo and Papageno as well as his first Wotan under Barenboim. In addition to opera and oratorio, he can be heard in recitals in Berlin at both the Staatsoper and Philharmonie. He has given recitals in Graz, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tokyo, Hamburg, Paris, Lausanne, London's Wigmore Hall and at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, Berlin Festwochen, Ittingen and Edinburgh Festivals. He also works with the pianists Burkhard Kehring, Andras Schiff, Philippe Jordan, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau and Daniel Barenboim. Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), considered one of the world's leading choirs, is led by Music Director Grant Gershon. The Los Angeles Times proclaims, "Under Gershon, the Master Chorale seems to be able to master anything," The New York Times calls the choir "inspired," and The New York Observer declares it "a superb vocal ensemble." The Chorale is currently in its 48th season as a resident company of the Music Center of Los Angeles County and its 9th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. Presenting its own concert series each season, it performs choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. To date, the choir has commissioned 27 and premiered 69 new works, of which 44 were world premieres, and has been awarded the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming three times - in 1995, 2003 and 2010. Its discography includes four CDs under Gershon's baton: A Good Understanding, an all-Nico Muhly disk recorded at Disney Hall and released by Decca in September 2010; Daniel Variations by Steve Reich, released in spring 2008 on Nonesuch Records; You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich, released in September 2005 on Nonesuch Records; and an RCM recording featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen's first choral work, Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jaderlund, and Philip Glass' Itaipu. A fifth CD with Gershon, to be recorded in June 2012 at Disney Hall and released in Fall 2012 on Decca, will feature three works by Polish composer Henryk Gorecki, including his rapturous Miserere, and two that have never been recorded - Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise) and Five Marian Songs. LAMC previously released three CDs under Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich on RCM, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna. The Chorale is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Charlie Wilson's War, Lady in the Water, and License to Wed. Serving more than 30,000 audience members of all ages annually, the Los Angeles Master Chorale also provides education outreach to some 6,000 students each year.

Music/Words (www.musicwordsnyc.com), an interdisciplinary series founded and curated by NYC- based pianist Inna Faliks (www.innafaliks.com), continues its fourth season on Sunday, April 22, 2012, at 6:00 pm with a performance at New York's Cornelia Street Cafe featuring Faliks and guest pianist Clarice Assad at the piano along with soprano Samantha Malk and poet Irina Mashinski. The program will explore the sensuousness of early Schoenberg (with the Stefan Georgy poetry used in the songs), along with the passion of Mashinski's poetry and Assad's Brazilian music. The program includes Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstucke, opus 11; his songs from Book of Hanging Gardens; and various improvisations by Ms. Assad based on Brazilian piano music. The Cornelia Street Cafe (www.corneliastreetcafe.com) is located at 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, NYC. Tickets are $20 (includes a drink or credit against food) and are available by calling 212-989-9319.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2011-12 season with the West Coast premiere of Maple and Vine, written by Jordan Harrison and directed by A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Mark Rucker. Fresh from a run at Playwrights Horizons in New York City, Maple and Vine tells the story of married couple Katha and Ryu, a pair of stressed-out urban professionals who feel unfulfilled by the impersonal gadgets and fast-paced lifestyle of the modern world. After meeting a charismatic man from a community of 1950s reenactors, they decide to swap cell phones and sushi for phone trees and fish sticks by joining a community where life is slower, passion is risque, and a cocktail is a daily accessory. In this recreated world, where retro attitudes about gender, race, and sexuality stir up powerful questions, Katha and Ryu must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for happiness and whether the "good old days" were really that good. Maple and Vine performs a limited run March 29-April 22, 2012, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Tickets (starting at $10) are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.

The Highline Ballroom has announced upcoming shows for March 12th through April 12th. All shows will take place at the Highline Ballroom at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619.

Two-time Tony Award nominated costume designer Carrie Robbins, and scenic, lighting, costume designer and educator Lloyd Burlingame are among the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 4, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Robbins was selected to receive the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Mr. Burlingame will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.

The April 2012 at the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, NYC, has been announced, featuring Melanie and Oleta Adams.

Vanessa Redgrave, stage, screen and television actress, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1995, member of Liberty, of Amnesty International, and a longstanding member/supporter of Memorial and Za Prava Cheloveka, the two chief Russian Human Rights NGOs, will bring her passion to Brighton Festival as Guest Director of the 46th three-week celebration which takes place from 5 - 27 May 2012.

Jeremy Schonfeld, Scars on 45 and more are set for performances this week at Joe's Pub.

Feinstein's at Loew's Regency, hosted "OUR SINATRA: A MUSICAL CELEBRATION" last night, January 17. The show's original stars and creators - Eric Comstock,Christopher Gines and Hilary Kole - shared their joy passion for Sinatra's classics. The show includes over 50 songs interspersed with witty banter and humor. The show covers Sinatra's entire musical cannon from the classic ballads of the 40's to the saloon and torch songs, the 50's and 60's swingers and the all time hits.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert present the World Premiere of Invisible Man, adapted from Ralph Ellison's novel by Oren Jacoby, and directed by Christopher McElroen.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert present the World Premiere of Invisible Man, adapted from Ralph Ellison's novel by Oren Jacoby, and directed by Christopher McElroen.

In honor of La MaMa's 50th Anniversary season, Italy's Dario D'Ambrosi will stage 'Teatro Patologico in New York,' a festival of Pathological Theater and Film, December 15 to 22, 2011, mounting one large new work plus three smaller plays that are a cross-section of his 31 years of productions at La MaMa.

For six extraordinary days, internationally acclaimed composer John Corigliano will join fellow international classical music superstars, cellist Matt Haimovitz, violist Kim Kashkashian, violinists Anastasia Khitruk and Lara St, John in the inaugural SoBe Arts American Masterworks String Festival to be presented, Monday, December 5 through Saturday, December 10 at the SoBe Institute of the Arts, it was announced by Executive Artistic Director Dr. Carson Kievman.

Boosey & Hawkes, an Imagem Company, is proud to announce it has purchased Ytalianna Music Publishing LLC, including the acquisition of worldwide copyrights to all published works by the celebrated Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov. The new core publishing and copyright acquisition places Golijov alongside Boosey & Hawkes' remarkable roster of distinguished composers, including modern masters such as Bartók, Copland, and Stravinsky, as well as leading contemporary figures such as John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, and Steve Reich. The relationship between Golijov and Boosey & Hawkes began in July 2009, when Golijov signed an exclusive agreement for representation of his existing catalog and future works.

In honor of La MaMa's 50th Anniversary season, Italy's Dario D'Ambrosi will stage 'Teatro Patologico in New York,' a festival of Pathological Theater and Film, December 15 to 22, 2011, mounting one large new work plus three smaller plays that are a cross-section of his 31 years of productions at La MaMa.

For six extraordinary days, internationally acclaimed composer John Corigliano will join fellow international classical music superstars, cellist Matt Haimovitz, violist Kim Kashkashian, violinists Anastasia Khitruk and Lara St, John in the inaugural SoBe Arts American Masterworks String Festival to be presented, Monday, December 5 through Saturday, December 10 at the SoBe Institute of the Arts, it was announced by Executive Artistic Director Dr. Carson Kievman.

With one of the most refreshingly unique career trajectories in recent show business history, the quirky late-80s/early-90s film star known for her outlandish John Waters comedies - HAIRSPRAY, CRY-BABY and SERIAL MOM included - parlayed her big screen success to a decade-long running eponymous talk-show in the 90s and early 00s that is still talked about to this day - look no further than Nicki Minaj's verse on the remix of Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" for proof - and, now, with news of the 2012 syndicated return of a new iteration of her show, a new memoir, as well as her current compelling casting on the new season of DANCING WITH THE STARS, Ricki Lake has clearly reached a new career high. Imparting her contagious energy and enthusiasm and amply displaying why she is the foremost queen of gab, Lake generously shares her thoughts on a range of topics - Broadway, Hollywood, GLEE, Sondheim, BOOK OF MORMON and much more included - and reveals details about her many upcoming projects and passion, as well as her ongoing star turn on TV's hottest reality competition, DANCING WITH THE STARS. While in rehearsal on Friday night, talking to me from the backstage costume fitting for DANCING/STARS - tutu included - and on the road back to her LA home - before attending Chaz Bono's party later that evening - Lake and I cover it all and she shows why she has been a TV fixture in millions of homes for twenty years and most likely will continue to be so for the next twenty or more - if we are lucky, that is. Plus, she also happens to be a big BroadwayWorld fan, to boot! Who could ask for anything more?

In 2003, concerned that the trend of endless readings and development programs was limiting the texture and ambition of new American plays, 13 midcareer playwrights banded together to try different model.

A dynamic lineup of stars - including a U.S. veteran, an NBA champion, a film and TV star, a TV host and journalist, a Grammy-nominated singer, a supermodel, a reality TV star, a showbiz legacy and activist, and a World Cup star -- will take the stage for the two-hour season premiere of 'Dancing with the Stars,' MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

A dynamic lineup of stars - including a U.S. veteran, an NBA champion, a film and TV star, a TV host and journalist, a Grammy-nominated singer, a supermodel, a reality TV star, a showbiz legacy and activist, and a World Cup star -- will take the stage for the two-hour season premiere of 'Dancing with the Stars,' MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

HAIRSPRAY, the most anticipated musical theatre event of the summer, comes to the stage of the Moonlight Amphitheatre as part of Moonlight Stage Productions' 31st Summer Season. HAIRSPRAY is the Broadway musical phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture and captured eight Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2003. Now, for the first time at Moonlight, audiences will be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this smash-hit musical that's piled bouffant-high with comedy and music. Tickets are priced $22-$50 and are on sale now through the VisTix Ticket Office at (760) 724-2110 and online at moonlightstage.com.

Cygnus Ensemble presents Milton Babbitt and the 21st Century, a special evening of performances to honorone of our most brilliant musical minds, the late Milton Babbitt. The concert will feature Babbitt's SwanSong No. 1, world premieres and a recent piece by four generations of Babbitt protégés, each 15 to 20 years apart in age: Peter Westergaard, Frank Brickle, Jonathan Dawe and David Fulmer. Sopranos Elizabeth Farnum and Tony Arnold will be the featured guest artists. Cygnus had planned this as a 95th birthday concert for Milton since the fall of 2009. While sadly the concert has become a memorial event rather than a birthday celebration, Cygnus shall convey the continuing vitality and relevance of Babbitt's work as we move into the heart of the 21st Century. Babbitt's legacy as composer and educator endures, eliciting undaunted courage and creativity amongst his students and emboldening them to passion and excellence in their pursuits. Milton Babbitt and the 21st Century complements two earlier Cygnus presentations that focused on Babbitt, concerts honoring his 80th and 90th birthdays. His 90th celebration was held at Merkin Hall and was entitled Milton Babbitt at the Crux of the 20th Century, including earlier Babbitt works, from the 1940s. The notes from that event are archived on the Cygnus website.

Cygnus Ensemble presents Milton Babbitt and the 21st Century, a special evening of performances to honorone of our most brilliant musical minds, the late Milton Babbitt. The concert will feature Babbitt's SwanSong No. 1, world premieres and a recent piece by four generations of Babbitt protégés, each 15 to 20 years apart in age: Peter Westergaard, Frank Brickle, Jonathan Dawe and David Fulmer. Sopranos Elizabeth Farnum and Tony Arnold will be the featured guest artists. Cygnus had planned this as a 95th birthday concert for Milton since the fall of 2009. While sadly the concert has become a memorial event rather than a birthday celebration, Cygnus shall convey the continuing vitality and relevance of Babbitt's work as we move into the heart of the 21st Century. Babbitt's legacy as composer and educator endures, eliciting undaunted courage and creativity amongst his students and emboldening them to passion and excellence in their pursuits. Milton Babbitt and the 21st Century complements two earlier Cygnus presentations that focused on Babbitt, concerts honoring his 80th and 90th birthdays. His 90th celebration was held at Merkin Hall and was entitled Milton Babbitt at the Crux of the 20th Century, including earlier Babbitt works, from the 1940s. The notes from that event are archived on the Cygnus website.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance.

Roundabout Theatre Company announced the full company of the new musical Death Takes A Holiday, with a book by Peter Stone & Thomas Meehan, music & lyrics by Maury Yeston, directed by Doug Hughes. The cast will include Linda Balgord (Contessa Danielli), Matt Cavenaugh (Eric Fenton), Mara Davi (Alice), Joy Hermalyn (Cora), Jay Jaski (Lorenzo), Simon Jones (Dr. Dario Albione), Rebecca Luker (Duchess Lamberti), Patricia Noonan (Sophia), Julian Ovenden (Prince Sirki / Death), Jill Paice (Grazia), Michael Siberry (Duke Lamberti), Alexandra Socha (Daisy Fenton), Don Stephenson (Fidele), Max Von Essen (Corrado Montelli).