Benjamin Britten News

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts announces a roster of upcoming shows confirmed, to date, for the 2016-2017 season.  These newly added performances will join the previously announced FAIRWINDS Broadway in Orlando season, resident companies Orlando Ballet and Orlando Philharmonic's seasons, as well as Maxwell, Alice Cooper, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, among others.

An innovative new puppet and dance production of THE FIREBIRD, featuring Igor Stravinsky's original score, will head to the Artscape Opera House, the National Arts Festival and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. 

The 2016 May Festival, which celebrates and concludes Music Director James Conlon's 37-year tenure, ends Friday and Saturday, May 27-28 with grand scale performances at Music Hall. These will be the final performances at Music Hall prior to its closing for renovation. On Friday, May 27 at 8 p.m., Mr. Conlon leads Dvo?ak's deeply personal cantata, Stabat Mater, a work was written during a time of deep grief for the composer following the death of his children. This rarely-performed work is full of symbolism, following a journey of mourning to hope of Paradise. At the invitation of James Levine, Mr. Conlon made his May Festival debut in 1978 conducting Stabat Mater (the following year he began his storied tenure as Music Director). Joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus will be soloists Julianna DiGiacomo (soprano), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor) and Kristinn Sigmundsson (baritone).

This summer the 27th Annual Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival (TMF) will chart several musical firsts, including the TMF debut of distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf, who holds the distinction of having been the longest serving Music Director in Houston Symphony history. The June 3 - July 2 international music residency, based at the University of Houston (UH) Moores School of Music, attracts classical music's rising stars from top tier music conservatories worldwide to study and perform in concert with world-class soloists, conductors and faculty artists at the UH Moores Opera House and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

We caught up with Gemma Sutton as she rehearses new show The Go-Between. She stars alongside Michael Crawford and Issy van Randwyck.

Cape Town City Ballet is nothing if not ambitious. SHADES OF LOVE sees the company's featured artists dancing superbly, but the production never coheres into a fully-realised evening of ballet.

The Adelphi Orchestra presents 'Wagner Masterworks: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod and Die Walkure : Act 1' on Sunday May 15 at 7:30 PM at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City in collaboration with the Wagner Society of New York.

 National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA's second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016.  Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $10,000 in support of Mercury's innovative cross-disciplinary, bilingual musical education workshops performed in Houston Independent School District. 

Based on true events, the World Premiere of Zoe Lewis's passionate and thought-provoking play BRITTEN IN BROOKLYN will be staged at Wilton's Music Hall, starring Sadie Frost and directed by Oli Rose, for 21 performances, 31st August to 17th September 2016.

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra presents the last concert in the Lexus Classic Series at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts onToday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 8pm.  Music Director José-Luis Novo will conduct the orchestra in Bed?ich Smetana's The Moldau, Vivian Fung's Dust Devils, Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and César Franck's Symphony in D Minor.  

Actors Touring Company, together with the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, is delighted to present the British premiere of Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women in a new version by internationally-renowned playwright David Greig. As the anticipated incoming Artistic Director of The Lyceum, Greig is also collaborating with ATC to reunite the world-class creative team behind the hugely acclaimedThe Events - director Ramin Gray and composer John Browne.

The Adelphi Orchestra, celebrating its 62nd season of 'Music for All'  presents a Grand Mother's Day concert Sunday May 8th in New Jersey. 'Wagner Masterworks: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod and Die Walkure : Act 1.' The Wagner Masterworks Mother's Day concert will be the first of two performances, held on consecutive weekends, the second performance to take place in NYC at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.  The Adelphi Orchestra's special  Mother's Day performance of Wagner Masterworks is free and open to the public -  the first 50 individuals to reserve their seats through Eventbrite will receive a complimentary long stem rose at the concert for their Mother.

Louisville Orchestra Announces 2016-17 Season And Teddy Abrams Is An Unstoppable Force

Opera singer, Brian Asawa has died following a long illness on April 18, 2016, at the age of 49.  He was a Japanese-American countertenor. 'In his prime', according to Opera News, 'Asawa was an electric performer, his fearless performing style supported by a voice of arresting beauty and expressivity'. 

The St. Charles Singers, conducted by founder Jeffrey Hunt, will perform choral works from every century from the 1400s to the 2000s in its 'Choral Eclectic' concerts 7:30 p.m. Today, April 16, 2016, at Grace Lutheran Church, 7300 Division St., River Forest, Ill.; and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles, Ill.

With an all-time family favourite like COPPELIA plus a triple bill of exquisite neo-classical ballets by Ashley Killar in SHADES OF LOVE, Cape Town City Ballet's upcoming season promises to be an absolute feast for the senses.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir will make its return to New York City's Carnegie Hall in October 2016 for the first time since 1978. Tickets will go on sale in August and will be available for purchase at www.indychoir.org or through the Carnegie Hall website.

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra presents the last concert in the Lexus Classic Series at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts onFriday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 8pm.  Music Director José-Luis Novo will conduct the orchestra in Bed?ich Smetana's The Moldau, Vivian Fung's Dust Devils, Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and César Franck's Symphony in D Minor.