Benjamin Britten News

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 .

Sarasota Opera has been awarded a $50,000 Arts Appreciation Grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The grant offers unrestricted funding to area arts organizations in support of their artistic mission. This year's Arts Appreciation Grant will help support Sarasota Opera's 2018/2019 Season, which marks the company's 60th year of presenting world-class opera on the Southwest Florida Gulf Coast.

Short on financial resources but long on ambition, Utopia Opera started its eighth season last weekend with a New York premiere: Thea Musgrave's THE STORY OF HARRIET TUBMAN. It's a 90-minute chamber version, orchestrated by composer Julian Grant, of Musgrave's full-length, two-act HARRIET, THE WOMAN CALLED MOSES, which debuted in 1985 at the Virginia Opera, with some fervent portrayals by its cast of about two dozen, including the stellar soprano MaKayla McDonald as Harriet and mezzo Karmesha Peake as her mother, Rit.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is proud to announce the 2019 finalists of the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase, a biennial program offered as part of OPERA America's continuing commitment to foster emerging opera artists. The showcase, made possible through generous support from the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, was established to bring promising talent to the attention of field leaders and connect up-and-coming directors and designers with those who are in a position to advance their careers.

The Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) brings together two holiday traditions under the baton of Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Nuñez, who conducts contemporary stagings of Benjamin Britten's Christmas cantata A Ceremony of Carols and Samuel Adler's Hanukkah cantata The Flames of Freedom at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. Heard for the first time in New York City, The Flames of Freedom was composed as a musical counterpart to Britten's classic, and both works are explored on the program through sets, lighting, and choreography.

Chestnut Street Singers, Philadelphia's cooperative chamber choir, is preparing an entire season of concerts that explore the struggles and the reconciliation of the human spirit. Their season theme, RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE, examines music as a tool for liberation, and features new venues, new musical styles, and the choir's largest roster ever.

The Burning Coal Theatre Company is proud to present Conor McPherson's The Weir, the story of what happens on a seemingly quiet evening in a rural Irish pub when the local boys are visited by a stranger. Directed by Jerome Davis, The Weir will play at Burning Coal's Murphey School Auditorium in downtown Raleigh from November 29th through December 16th. There will be a "pay what you can day" on Sunday December 2nd.   Performances are November 29, 30 and December 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14 & 15 at 7:30 pm and December 2, 9 & 16th at 2 pm.  Tickets are available now for $25, with a senior discount (65+) at $20, a student, teachers, and active military discount at $15 and student rush tickets for $5 (if available) at curtain. Those interested can secure their tickets online at burningcoal.org or by calling the box office at 919.834.4001.

The inventive chamber music collective Decoda-an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall that features alumni of Ensemble Connect-makes its debut on Carnegie Hall's concert schedule with two creative concert programs in Weill Recital Hall. Both concerts showcase signature works from Decoda's repertoire and include interactive activities with the audience.

The 2018-2019 'Great Music at St. Bart's' concert series will present ET IN TERRA PAX: A CONCERT FOR HOPE on Sunday October 28 at 7pm. Led by noted American conductor Jason C. Tramm, the concert will feature the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Seton Hall University Chorus and guest soloists Ashley Bell, soprano, Augusta Caso, mezzo-soprano, Victor Starsky, tenor and Jeremy Galyon, bass in works by Joseph Haydn, Ola Gjeilo, Arvo Part and John Tavener.

Con un muy celebrado concierto en el Palacio de Bellas Artes, la orquesta británica Academy of St Martin in the Fields inició su breve gira de presentaciones en México y refrendó su calidad y excelencia que le han ganado a uno de los públicos más fieles en el mundo: el de México.

 The National Children's Chorus of the United States (NCC), one of the world's leading choral institutions, will proudly celebrate its 10th Anniversary with Starlight, an unprecedented 2018/19 Season with more than 700 students in 20 ensembles taking the stage under a unified vision for music as a global force of hope. Led by Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, Starlight will include professional collaborations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Youth Symphony, and Grammy-winning soprano Jessica Rivera, under the baton of notable conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Carlos Izcaray, among others. World premieres will include a new piece by composer Nico Muhly, as part of the LA Phil's centennial, and will be followed by the orchestra's first-ever Disney Hall performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), in addition to a West Coast premiere of Cellular Songs by composer Meredith Monk. As part of Starlight, which will explore relationships between science and music, the lineup of extraordinary repertoire will go further to highlight the students' singing virtuosity with masterworks by Benjamin Britten, Gabriel Faure, Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Scriabin.

The National Children's Chorus of the United States (NCC), one of the world's leading choral institutions, will proudly celebrate its 10th Anniversary with Starlight, an unprecedented 2018/19 Season with more than 700 students in 20 ensembles taking the stage under a unified vision for music as a global force of hope. Led by Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, Starlight will include professional collaborations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Youth Symphony, and Grammy-winning soprano Jessica Rivera, under the baton of notable conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Carlos Izcaray, among others. World premieres will include a new piece by composer Nico Muhly, as part of the LA Phil's centennial, and will be followed by the orchestra's first-ever Disney Hall performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), in addition to a West Coast premiere of Cellular Songs by composer Meredith Monk. As part of Starlight, which will explore relationships between science and music, the lineup of extraordinary repertoire will go further to highlight the students' singing virtuosity with masterworks by Benjamin Britten, Gabriel Faur, Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Scriabin.

On November 3rd and 4th, Sarasota Youth Opera will present a revival of their acclaimed production of Benjamin Britten's charming opera The Little Sweep, last seen in 2013. The Opera will be preceded by a prologue created especially for Sarasota Youth Opera by conductor and Youth Opera Music Director Jesse Martins and stage director Martha Collins (Rootabaga Country, The Secret World of Og).

La legendaria orquesta británica Academy of St Martin in the Fields, fundada por el no menos legendario Sir Neville Marriner, volverá a México, en el final de su gira por América, para ofrecer una serie de conciertos en las ciudades de México, Guadalajara y Guanajuato en los próximos días.

The 2018-2019 'Great Music at St. Bart's' concert series will  present ET IN TERRA PAX: A CONCERT FOR HOPE on Sunday October 28 at 7pm. Led by noted American conductor Jason C. Tramm, the concert will feature the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Seton Hall University Chorus and guest soloists Ashley Bell, soprano, Augusta Caso, mezzo-soprano, Victor Starsky, tenor and Jeremy Galyon, bass in works by Joseph Haydn, Ola Gjeilo, Arvo Pärt and John Tavener.

Stephen Lawless will be directing the San Diego Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro this week. I met with him in the opera company's rehearsal room recently to discuss that, how he came to be a director, and his views of a director's responsibilities.

The Morris Choral Society (MCS) one of Northern New Jersey's most dynamic choral ensembles led by Music Director, Jason C. Tramm, continues its 45th Anniversary year with the announcement of its 2018 and 2019 season concerts.

The Habit of Art is a wonderfully funny and deeply moving revival of Alan Bennett's fantastic 2009 follow up to The History Boys. The play focuses on a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten in 1972, when Britten seeks out his old friend to combat his loneliness and ask advice about his new composition of Death in Venice. This meeting is framed as a play within a play where rehearsals are taking place; aged thesps Fitz and Henry play Auden and Britten respectively, musing on life, ageing, sex and art.

The Broad Stage presents early-music ensemble Vox Luminis today, October 11 at 7:30pm.  Praised for its seamless blend of high quality individual voices, exquisite tuning and clarity of sound, Vox Luminis will perform works by Luther, Schutz, Purcell and Bach, exploring the rich history of musical memorials that both mourn death and celebrate life.

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Zeger, opens its opera season with Britten's The Turn of the Screw, featuring Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Steven Osgood and directed by John Giampietro, on Wednesday, November 14 and Friday, November 16, 2018, at 7:30pm, and Sunday, November 18, 2018, at 2pm in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.