Billie Holiday News

The Sorting Room-an exciting new intimate space for live performance-is launching in December at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts through January 14, 2017. Transforming the Lovelace Studio Theater into a 150-seat custom-built space, The Sorting Room will offer Los Angeles audiences the opportunity to see some of the best and upcoming talent in cabaret, comedy, live contemporary music, dance performance and more, delivering a unique, personal experience.

As the country gears up for an intense presidential election, issues like race, gender, class and age creep into the national conversation. This fall, Brooklyn- a renowned epicenter of New York's politics- becomes a stage for these issues with Richard Wesley's political drama AUTUMN. The Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT) at The Center for Arts & Culture of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation presents the New York Premiere of AUTUMN in-residence at the Kumble Theater at LIU in Brooklyn, 1 University Plaza fromFriday, October 21 through Sunday, November 6, 2016. 

Orbert Davis's Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP) returns to the Auditorium Theatre on Friday, November 11, with a diverse program that celebrates the rich cultural fabric of the United States.

In what has become an 'enjoyable tradition during the holiday season' (The New York Times), Ballet Hispanico in collaboration with the Apollo Theater makes its annual return to the Apollo stage, led by Eduardo Vilaro in his seventh season as Artistic Director. A trio of works will draw upon the innovation and versatility of one of the world's premier dance companies to capture contemporary Latino culture through movement. The performances are supported by Goya Foods, Lead Sponsor of Ballet Hispanico.

On October 15 at 2:00 pm in the 2nd floor concert hall of Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center at 100-01 Northern Blvd., Corona, musician and bandleader Carol Sudhalter will lead the Astoria Big Band in a concert of music composed by women, with arrangements written by both men and women, including band member and prominent arranger Christopher Rinaman. The show highlights the works of a variety of women from Billie Holiday to saxophonist Ada Rovatti and many more. This unique presentation will offer many delightful surprises to the audience. The vocalist is Marti Mabin, well-known for her powerful rendition of Horace Silver's tune 'PEACE'.

Viva La Diva!: The Music of Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, Aretha Franklin(and many more) starring Broadway & Recording Artist Carter Calvert.

Viva La Diva!: The Music of Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, Aretha Franklin (and many more), starring Broadway and recording artist Carter Calvert, will play the Algonquin Arts Theatre on October 15, 2016.

 From 1964 to 1967, the extraordinary Nina Simone released seven albums on PhilipsRecords, further establishing her peerless artistic expression and singular voice. During this exceptional purple patch, she recorded some of her best and most important work of her career, much of it fuelled by the Civil Rights Movement and the turmoil of 1960s America. In conjunction with their 60(th) anniversary this year, Verve is celebrating the genius of Simone, the supernaturally gifted singer, pianist and prolific songwriter, and her incredible mid-'60s run with the release of her entire Philips catalog on vinyl.

From 1964 to 1967, the extraordinary Nina Simone released seven albums on Philips Records, further establishing her peerless artistic expression and singular voice.

On Sunday, October 23 at 4pm at the Princeton Club of New York (15 West 43rd Street), The Town Hall will hold its Annual Gala where they will honor Grammy & Peabody Award-winner Garrison Keillor's acclaimed program A Prairie Home Companion with The Town Hall Friend of the Arts Award (over 150 shows were broadcast live from The Town Hall stage).

Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley recently announced the 2016-17 ZACH Theatre Season at an event for ZACH's Trustees, annual donors, and Season Sponsors. ZACH is thrilled to produce Hamilton composer/playwright Lin Manuel Miranda's extraordinary, Tony award winning, Broadway musical In The Heights.

Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the 1988 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere, and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year. She had previously received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the film version of My Favorite Year (1982). Her other film appearances include The Delta Force (1986), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Beaches (1988), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016). Kazan made her Broadway debut in The Happiest Girl in the World in 1961 followed by Bravo Giovanni (1962).

This fall, Seattleites can hear opera in a Central-District venue that once housed performances by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. But the location isn't the only new thing about Seattle Opera's As One,which will be presented in the historic Washington Hall. As One, a chamber opera with only two singers, tells the story of Hannah, a transwoman, and her journey to self-understanding. The opera is meant to be both an experience, and a vehicle for meaningful conversation.

Martinis Above Fourth | Table + Stage presents multi-platinum selling singer/songwriter and Tony-nominee Ann Hampton Callaway in "Diva Power." The show features a soaring celebration of the legendary ladies who helped shape the soundtrack of our lives - Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Edith Piaf, Etta James, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Tickets for the Today, September 27 performance at 8PM are available atwww.ma4sd.com/shows.

From 1964 to 1967, the extraordinary Nina Simone released seven albums on Philips Records, further establishing her peerless artistic expression and singular voice.

The Theatre Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is proud to announce a workshop production of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill featuring Mary Louise Lee. Lady Day will run for three performances only, October 28, 29 and 30 in The Jones.

Sargent, the new project from singer Gretchen Lieberum and her collaborator Jake Blanton (The Killers, Beck), have released her self-titled debut today.

"No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it ain't music." spoke jazz singer Billie Holiday. No singer duplicated Billie Holiday's inimitable voice or immortalized jazz singing and standards quite like this legendary diva.. While Holiday herself idolized Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, "Lady Day" as she was nicknamed, captured the audience's imagination while breaking their hearts when speaking of her tragic childhood. Unfortunately, the singer's personal demons in love and life were also legendary In a tribute to Holiday's career, Milwaukee Rep's opening Stackner Cabaret Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill features the award-winning Alexis J. Roston portraying the star in her declining years after release from a year's imprisonment on drug related charges, which plagued the star her entire life.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's producing and licensing company, the Really Useful Group, has teamed with U.S. recorded music and publishing company Concord Bicycle Music to launch the new New York-based enterprise, The Musical Compan

This year's impressive list of Emmy nominations boasts two Tony Award winners, reprising their Broadway roles for the small screen.