Barbican Centre News

Emotive Dublin busker and songwriter Glen Hansard is thrilled to release his fourth solo album This Wild Willing today; order it HERE. This Wild Willing marks an inflection point in Hansard's career, a turning where he marries the sonic inventiveness of the best of his work in his former band The Frames to the discipline he's found as a lyricist in his solo career.

The Barbican Centre's Silk Street Theatre has been transformed to host Enda Walsh's third piece in his programme. The stage becomes a dark universe where five huge white cubes hold different rooms. By stepping into them, the audience is transported in perfectly curated personal spaces.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to 92Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. for Merry Pranks, a concert inspired by Strauss' rendering of a fabled trickster, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, which will be performed in an arrangement for nonet by Brett Dean.

London's (via Limerick) premiere indie songsmiths, whenyoung have announced theywill be releasing their debut album, Reasons to Dream, through Virgin EMI on May 24.

Today NPR First Listen has exclusively shared an early stream of This Wild Willing, the fourth solo album by Glen Hansard; listen to it HERE prior to its April 12 release date. This Wild Willing marks a defining point in Hansard's career where he has married the sonic inventiveness of his work in his former band The Frames to the discipline he has found as a lyricist in his solo career.

Bernard Labadie leads Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec in Bach's Mass in B Minor on Tuesday, May 7 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Soloists for the program include soprano Lydia Teuscher, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Robin Tritschler, and bass-baritone Matthew Brook.

The Shed, New York City's new arts center dedicated to commissioning, develops, and presents original works of art, across all disciplines, for all audiences, will open to the public on April 5 with the world premiere of Soundtrack of America. The five-night concert series, conceived and directed by Steve McQueen with a creative team led by Quincy Jones and Maureen Mahon, celebrates the unrivaled impact of African American music on contemporary culture with performances by a new generation of artists. A free live stream of the April 5 concert will be available on The Shed's website, TheShed.org, and its social media channels.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing for her annual much-anticipated series of master classes for young professional opera singers from Friday, April 12 through Sunday, April 14, 2019

Todd Crow is a pianist whose artistry has brought him critical superlatives in the U.S. and notably in England – there largely through regular appearances on the BBC. The New York Times has described his playing as “heroic, [showing] endless flair, color and stamina.” The Times of London has praised his performances as “spine-chilling” and “exhilarating,” and The Wall Street Journal said that his playing exhibited “stunning control and a wonderful sense of musical architecture.”

Following the sell-out success of The Great Christmas Feast, The Lost Estate today announces its latest experience, The Lost Love Speakeasy. Written by award-winning playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero and set within an illicit world built by designers Abby and Alice, it is a Jazz Age tale that sweeps audiences from the African American fishing villages of South Carolina to the glittering lights of Broadway. Woven into the story are classic songs from the era arranged by Steffan Rees, and decadent plates from Temper Restaurants' Executive Chef Neil Rankin each inspired by this epic journey.

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia presents the singular stylings of Anoushka Shankar on April 27, 2019, at 8pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. Divine sitar player, acclaimed composer, and one of contemporary India's cultural gems, the award- winning artist will perform songs from her brand-new compilation album Reflections - which draws on classical ragas as well as contemporary cross-cultural pieces that showcase the versatility of the sitar across musical genres. Shankar will be joined on stage by exceptionally gifted instrumentalists Ojas Adhiya (tabla), Pirashanna Thevarajah (mridangam), Ravichandra Kulur (flute), Danny Keane (cello and piano), and Kenji Ota (tanpura).

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) Music Director Designate Jaime Martin makes his only appearance this season on LACO's Orchestral Series when he conducts the West Coast premiere of the LACO-co-commissioned song cycle Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner, known to many as a guitarist with Grammy Award-winning alternative rock band The National and one of the most sought-after composers of his generation, on Saturday, April 27, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre, and Sunday, April 28, 2019, 7 pm, at Royce Hall. Dessner's work was written for and features Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, who is also spotlighted in Mozart's Requiem with soprano Sarah Shafer, tenor Thomas Cooley, bass Dashon Burton and the USC Thornton Chamber Singers. Martin begins his tenure with LACO in the 2019-20 season.

Carlos Miguel Prieto, Musical America's 2019 Conductor of the Year, will return to the United Kingdom for the second time this season to conduct the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain's (NYOGB) spring concert tour, in April 2019. Prieto will lead three performances - in London, Liverpool, and Birmingham - of a program dedicated to works by Mexican and American composers. These performances mark Prieto's first return appearance with the NYOGB, following his debut with the Orchestra in April 2017.

On Sunday, April 14 at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicket conducts Handel's Semele at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation, soprano Brenda Rae performs the title role, joined by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong (Juno/Ino), bass Soloman Howard, (Cadmus/Somnus), tenor Benjamin Hulett (Jupiter), countertenor Christopher Lowrey (Athamas), soprano Ailish Tynan (Iris), tenor Brian Giebler (Apollo), and bass-baritone Joseph Beutel (Priest), along with The Clarion Choir (Steven Fox, Artistic Director).

In response to popular demand, HERE (Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director) extends the world premiere of Nick Lehane's Chimpanzee, to May 5.Currently scheduled to run until March 17, the production will pause and then resume performances April 16-May 5. Visit here.org for the performance schedule.

Reich/Richter is Steve Reich's latest work for large ensemble, which he composed for a film by renowned painter Gerhard Richter and filmmaker Corinna Belz. It debuts on April 6–June 2, 2019, at The Shed, New York City's new arts center, performed live by Ensemble Signal and the International Contemporary Ensemble in alternation.

The ACO return to North America for the first time in three years to perform eight concerts in New York, California, Boston and throughout the country

The Boston Symphony Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall this March for two back-to-back programs in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. In an all-Richard Strauss program on Tuesday, March 19 at 8:00 p.m., music director and conductor Andris Nelsons and the BSO are joined by world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming for the closing scene in the composer's final opera, Capriccio, on a program also including the Sextet and Moonlight Music from that opera, as well as the tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra.

An often beautiful, sometimes confusing, work that uses dance and technology to move from the rigid certainties of three dimensions into the threats and opportunities of the fourth.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2018-2019 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum's exhibitions and showcasing leading female performers and composers, continues today, February 28, 2019 at 7:30pm. The acclaimed string quartet ETHEL performs the complete string quartets of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe: Dig Deep, Early that Summer, Four Marys, and Blue Dress. This is the first performance of all of Wolfe's string quartets at one time, on one stage.