Benjamin Britten News

Roger Wright, director of BBC Proms and controller of BBC Radio 3, plans to leave the BBC after 15 years for a job as chief executive of Aldeburgh Music. Wright has worked with the BBC for over 15 years, becoming Radio 3 controller in 1998 and taking over the Proms in 2007. Wright said that he was 'sorry to be leaving the BBC having enjoyed such a long and fulfilling period' there. Wright will join Aldeburgh Music in September, taking over from Jonathan Reekie. Aldeburgh Music is based at Snape Maltings in Suffolk. It organizes the annual Aldeburgh Festival, which was founded by Benjamin Britten. Wright stated he was 'honoured to have been invited to lead Aldeburgh Music at such an exciting time in its development.' Chairman of Aldeburgh Music, Simon Robey, said Wright would 'bring an exceptional breadth and depth of experience to all we do.' Members of the BBC responded to this news with BBC Radio director Helen Boaden calling Wright 'a unique and brilliant talent' who would be 'hugely' missed and BBC director general Tony Hall saying that Wright made a 'huge contribution to the BBC, through the success of both Radio 3 and seven seasons of the Proms'.

Today, at a press conference in Edinburgh, Director Jonathan Mills revealed the artists, companies and work from around the world which will fill the stages of Edinburgh's annual cultural celebration. Over 2,400 artists from 43 nations have been invited to Edinburgh to perform in the annual showcase of the world's great performing artists.

The opening concert of the University of Adelaide's Evenings@Elder Hall 6.30pm Saturday 12 April is an evening of piano wizardry delivered by two exceptional exponents of the keyboard, Clemens Leske and Daniel Herscovitch.

An Actors Touring Company, Young Vic Theatre, Brageteatret & Schauspielhaus Wien Co-Production, THE EVENTS by David Greig, is set for a UK and US tour and Young Vic return in 2014, directed by Ramin Gray and featuring music composed by John Browne.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2014-15 season. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst's programs include Bach's Mass in B minor, and Brahms's Piano Concertos with Yefim Bronfman as soloist. Mr. Welser-Möst continues his long-standing tradition of opera performances at Severance Hall with concert performances of Richard Strauss's rarely heard opera Daphne. Guest artists returning to Severance Hall include Lang Lang, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Mitsuko Uchida, and conductors Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Fabio Luisi. The Orchestra celebrates the 90th birthday of Pierre Boulez in three programs conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.

La MaMa, in association with Monk Parrots, presents the World Premiere of Bum Phillips All-American Opera, a new contemporary opera conceptualized and directed by Luke Leonard, composed and conducted by Peter Stopschinski, with a libretto by Kirk Lynn. Bum Phillips All-American Opera runs from March 12 - 30, 2014 in a limited engagement at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, located at 66 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue & the Bowery in New York City. Previews begin March 12 for a March 15 opening.

Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and Chorus in Britten's War Requiem April 24, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. and April 26, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center.

For DIRECTOR'S CHOICE, the fourth program of Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2013-2014 season, Artistic Director Peter Boal selects from his roster of acquisitions and increases them by one: The captivating mixed-bill program will feature a much-anticipated world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The program also reprises audience favorites TAKE FIVE...More or Less, Broadway-darling Susan Stroman's sunny slice of jazz-infused Dave Brubeck fun; and Susan Marshall's distinctive aerial duet, Kiss. Rounding out the lineup is Molissa Fenley's State of Darkness, a tour-de-force solo performance set to Stravinsky's riot-inducing The Rite of Spring. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE runs for seven performances only, today, March 14-23, 2014 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall.

For DIRECTOR'S CHOICE, the fourth program of Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2013-2014 season, Artistic Director Peter Boal selects from his roster of acquisitions and increases them by one: The captivating mixed-bill program will feature a much-anticipated world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The program also reprises audience favorites TAKE FIVE...More or Less, Broadway-darling Susan Stroman's sunny slice of jazz-infused Dave Brubeck fun; and Susan Marshall's distinctive aerial duet, Kiss. Rounding out the lineup is Molissa Fenley's State of Darkness, a tour-de-force solo performance set to Stravinsky's riot-inducing The Rite of Spring. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE runs for seven performances only, today, March 14 through 23 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall.

Ardani Artist proudly presents for the first time in the United States The Mikhailovsky Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia for a special two week engagement November 13 - 23, 2014 at the David H. Koch Theatre (Lincoln Center) NYC. There will be four programs for this premiere engagement performed with a live orchestra. The lead dancers* for the company scheduled to perform include Natalia Osipova, Angelina Vorontsova, Kristina Shapran, Oksana Bondareva, Ivan Vasiliev, Leonid Sarafanov, Victor Lebedev, and Ivan Zaytsev. The Mikhailovsky Ballet USA engagement is supported by the Russian Miistry of Culture. *subject to change

One of America's most beloved sopranos, Christine Brewer, who won a George London Award in 1991, and 2013 George London Award winner Dominic Armstrong, called a 'clarion-voiced tenor' by The New York Times, will share the stage for the third and final event in the season's George London Foundation Recital Series. Pianist Craig Rutenberg joins the singers for the recital on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at 4:30 PM at The Morgan Library & Museum.

Theatre Rhinoceros presents The Habit of Art: A Very British Comedy by Alan Bennett (The History Boys) and directed by John Fisher. The production will only be in San Francisco for a limited engagement, opening March 27 and closing April 13.

In celebration of Stanton Welch's tenth anniversary as Artistic Director at Houston Ballet, the company is presenting a mixed repertory program that showcases his work as a choreographer. Across the three acts, audiences are treated to stunningly beautiful stage pictures, fascinating movement, and breathtaking feats of agility and poise. With their THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA program, Houston Ballet splendidly illustrates why Houston is truly to lucky to have Stanton Welch in our city.

To celebrate the release of Bryce Dessner's new album Ensemble LPR will perform at Le Poisson Rouge tonight, March 7, with Andre de Ridder conducting.

Carnegie Hall today announced the names of the 120 outstanding young musicians from across America who have been selected to come together this summer as the second annual National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA).

Audiences be warned: a dangerously attractive aristocrat will be in Vancouver when VO's Don Giovanni hits the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage in just a few weeks. The serial seducer will captivate audiences for five passionate performances only, tonight, March 1 to 9, 2014. Based on the captivating figure of Don Juan, Mozart's treatment is comedic and tragic, complex, and a towering achievement of music and drama.

Guest conductor Anu Tali will lead the CSO in an exceptional program showcasing works of Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Pärt. In the hands of guest violinist Guy Braunstein, the first concertmaster of the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky's glorious violin concerto will sparkle and thunder as never before. Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 is an epic piece, filled with color, drama, and a sense of sweeping forward momentum. The quiet and moving work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt pays sincere tribute to Benjamin Britten, one of the twentieth century's most illustrious composers.

Pablo Heras-Casado will make his New York Philharmonic debut conducting Barto?k's Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring pianist Peter Serkin; Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes; and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 4 at 11:00 a.m.; and Saturday, April 5 at 8:00 p.m.

On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in two unusual—and unusually apt—venues this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death: Madame Tussauds New York, on June 17, and Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, on June 20 & 21.

The Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir's Seminary presents four concerts from May 27 to June 2 devoted to the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The concerts take place in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Theater (May 27) and The Phillips Collection (May 29) and in New York City at Carnegie Hall (May 31) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (June 2), and will feature performers closely associated with Pärt's music. Traveling from Estonia for these events are the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra with their conductor Tõnu Kaljuste.