Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters. In fact, The Chicago Tribune referred to his work as 'extraordinary, jubilant theater music.'
But Brown, who wrote the book and score for THE LAST FIVE YEARS and the music and lyrics for the stage adaptation of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, as well as the music and lyrics for PARADE for which he won the 1999 Tony Award, isn't one to pontificate. In fact, he says, it's all about looking ahead.
'I think I'm just running forward,' he says. 'There's more work to do.'
Vassar & New York Stage and Film announce the programming lineup for their upcoming 35th Powerhouse Season, the annual summer season that brings together some of today's most influential theatrical voices for fully-staged productions, workshop presentations, readings, and other works in progress for theater, film and television.
Mezzo Joyce DiDonato knows quite a bit about being Cinderella--after all, she's played the title characters in Rossini's CENERENTOLA and Massenet's CENDRILLON at the Met and other major opera houses. But it also appears she's a first-rate “fairy godmother,” as she proved with a group of emerging artists in a series of Master Classes in Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Room of the Resnick Education Wing last week.
This summer, Christopher M. Struck's debut novel, Kennig and Gold, is set to hit the shelf. This fascinating whirlwind of a novel has consistently drawn comparisons to The Great Gatsby as it weaves a seductive tale of passion set amidst the big band era and the nascent Jazz age in 1948. The young lovers must compete against the very contemporary issues impacting generations of modern readers of: location, career, and personal philosophy. Each will clash and threaten to disrupt a match fit for Shakespeare.
The star of The Pink Room & Dreamboat Burlesque takes over Sid Gold's Request Room for *one night only*! Francine "The Lucid Dream" hosts this evening of music and burlesque and, in-between champagne breaks, might break out into song & dance. There's no telling whether she'll sing Sinatra or Gaga but she'll do it her way because she was born this way.
May is Lower East Side History Month, and Queer|Art is the new kid on the LES block, having recently relocated their offices from Nolita to the East Village this past year. Heralding their arrival to the neighborhood, they've organized four days of programming throughout May to celebrate the queer past, present, and future of their beloved new East Village home.
Toledo, OH singer-songwriter Mat Kerekes has released his new album Ruby, via Black Cement Records. The album is available digitally HERE and physically HERE starting today.
Best known as lead vocalist of celebrated alt rock band Citizen, Kerekes presents his softer side and showcases his versatility as a singer-songwriter on his new solo material. Incorporating elements of pop and alternative, Ruby boasts massive choruses, dynamic arrangements, and infectious melodies.
Kerekes began writing and demoing Ruby at home with no particular goal in mind besides self-expression. However once longtime collaborator Will Yip (Tigers Jaw, Circa Survive) heard the demos, he asked that Kerekes consider releasing them on his newly formed Elektra Music Group sub-label Black Cement Records. Kerekes tracked most of the instruments himself, and produced and engineered Ruby in a studio that he built with his brother in his garage.
“Since I recorded and produced the album myself, without having anyone talking in my ear, it honestly makes me feel more personally attached to it. It feels like mine,” shared Kerekes.
Ruby follows 2016's Luna & The Wilde Blue Everything as Kerekes' fourth solo album. Kerekes began unveiling songs from the album late last year with the release of title track “Ruby”. In February, he shared the album's anthemic second single “Diamonds”. Kerekes collaborated with director Johnny Chew on music videos for both tracks, and is expected to release an additional music video for “Hawthorne” in the coming weeks.
Last month, Kerekes wrapped a headline tour that saw him debut songs from Ruby to sold-out rooms across North America. This evening, he will celebrate the release of the album with a hometown in-store performance at Toledo, OH's Culture Clash Records. Upcoming live dates and ticket information can be found HERE.
Ruby Tracklisting
1. Ruby
2. Young
3. Diamonds
4. Autumn Dress
5. They Appear At Night
6. Hawthorne
7. Welcome To Crystal Cres
8. Spider Silk
9. One For The Wildflowers
10. An Ode
The MET Orchestra returns to Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage for a series of three concerts this May and June. For the first concert on Saturday, May 18 at 8:00 p.m., Valery Gergiev leads the orchestra in Schumann's Piano Concerto featuring pianist Daniil Trifonov and Schubert's Symphony No. 9, Great. On Monday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m. new Music Director Yannick N zet-S guin leads The MET Orchestra for the first time at Carnegie Hall in a program of French works with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard singing Dutilleux's Le temps l'horloge and Ravel's Sh h razade, alongside Debussy's La mer and Ravel's Daphnis et Chlo Suite No. 2. Maestro N zet-S guin returns the following week on Friday, June 14 at 8:00 p.m. with the orchestra and mezzo-soprano El na Garan a singing Mahler's R ckert Lieder on a program that also includes Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas today announced complete details for Festival 2019, which opens on June 8 and continues for two weeks through June 22 in New Haven, Connecticut.
"You are as welcome as the flowers in May". Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes you to another month of amazing FREE outdoor performances and events on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza. Diving right into May on the 1st, Body Percussion with Dorrance Dance welcomes adventure seekers of all ages and levels for a free workshop on how to use your body to produce a wide variety of sounds. Calling all families, friends, and neighbors! Join us for Family Fun at the Center on Sunday, May 5 for an afternoon of games, art activities, and entertainment featuring America's Got Talent Season 13 semi-finalist, Voices of Hope Children's Choir along with Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards and TAIKOPROJECT drummers. Tuesday Night Dance continues with a new genre! Come explore Bollywood dance four weeks in a row with members of Apra Bhandari of Adaa Bollywood Dance Academy.
The 36th season of the Verdi Chorus continues with the Walter Fox Singers in Love is Timeless for one night only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on May 4, at 7:30pm. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Walter Fox Singers comprise the professional ensemble of the Verdi Chorus, which is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, devoted to the timeless nature of love in all of its intricacies, will feature best loved arias, duets and emsembles from the world of opera, as well as favorite songs from the canon of mid-century American musical theater
The video for “Television Girl” from breakout singer-songwriter J.S. Ondara is premiering today via YouTube Premieres, allowing Ondara to watch and comment live alongside fans.
Class is in session at the School of Rock and they're teaching Jacksonville all about rock-n-roll! The musical featuring music from Tony Award winner Andrew Lloyd Webber, is based on the 2003 movie School of Rock. The musical follows a man, Dewey Finn (Merritt David Janes), as he impersonates his best friend Ned Schneebly as a substitute teacher at Horace Green. When Dewey realizes he is in way over his head, he hears his students playing classical music. He decides he will teach them about rock-n-roll, and they will compete in 'The Battle of the Bands.' The musical displays amazing music, a great story, and life lessons for everyone to take away.
With a stage career spanning half a century that includes dozens of notable performances in New York alone, Andre De Shields knows a thing or two about seducing an audience. And that's exactly what he does at the opening of Anais Mitchell's exhilarating bluesy mythological folk opera HADESTOWN, which has finally landed on Broadway after a premiere engagement at New York Theatre Workshop, followed by stints in Edmonton and London.
BroadwayWorld is giving you the chance to win tickets to six different concerts from Symphony Space's Project Broadway series! Be sure to enter for the chance to see this celebration of the women of Broadway - from hyper-talented lyricists and composers, to incredible performers, to iconic female characters revered and reinterpreted. Check out the links below to enter!
On Sunday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m., New Yorkers of all ages will take the Zankel Hall stage for Soul Mechanism: A Concert Celebrating the Music of Migrations, a special evening that marks the culmination of a citywide creative learning project. Led by celebrated performer Toshi Reagon and a band made up of longtime collaborators, the concert will showcase original songs written by New Yorkers in a performance featuring American roots songstress Martha Redbone, jazz and gospel vocalist Lizz Wright, singer-songwriter and filmmaker Be Steadwell, activist-artist Taina Asili, Sudanese singer Alsarah Elgadi, and other special guest artists.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and Ella Fitzgerald embodied this genre. International vocalist Michelle Johnson will pay tribute to Ella, known as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella when Michelle Johnson Presents A Tribute To Ella Fitzgerald at the Myron's Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center on April 19.
Danny Zelisko Presents Jackie Evancho at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 13th, at 7 p.m. Tickets for reserved seating go on sale on Monday, April 22, at 10 a.m. at TheSmithCenter.com.
Committed since its inception to reviving important but neglected operas, Bard SummerScape has long proven itself 'an indispensable part of the summer operatic landscape' (Musical America).
Kurt Travis is thrilled to announce his brand new solo record, There's A Place I Want To Take You, out May 17th via Esque Records and Blue Swan Records. Travis has also shared the first single and music, 'Easy Peasy,' streaming now here. Fans can pre-order the album here.
