Charles Anthony News

FAITH-HOPE-LOVE! This musical was inspired by love of theatre, music, classic story-telling hip-hop, Commedia dell'arte, and Shakespeare.

Three years ago, after a visit from his longtime collaborator and friend, lyricist and poet Charles Anthony (Tony) Silvestri, composer Eric Whitacre found a poem Silvestri had left for him sitting on his piano. Silvestri had lost his wife to cancer 12 years previously, losing his soul mate and leaving him to bring up their two young children. He had not been able to write about the experience for a long time. The poem he left for Whitacre was called The Veil Opens and Whitacre immediately sat down and began to set it to music. The resulting piece is part of a broader work based on Silvestri's poetry addressing all stages of life and death called The Sacred Veil that will receive its world premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Whitacre in Walt Disney Concert Hall Saturday, February 16 at 2 PM and Sunday, February 17 at 7 PM.

Highlights this season include world premieres from Steve Reich, Unsuk Chin, Christopher Rouse, and Louis Andriessen, as well as major stage productions from Tod Machover and Meredith Monk.

Los Angeles composers feature prominently in the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 55th concert season announced today by Grant Gershon, Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director, and Jean Davidson, President and CEO. The contemporary works include the world premiere of Eric Whitacre's The Sacred Veil and the West Coast premiere of Reena Esmail's This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity. All concerts will be performed in Walt Disney Concert Hall where the Master Chorale is choir-in-residence.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale brings works by six Los Angeles composers together on a concert program celebrating the 20th anniversary of Morten Lauridsen's choral masterwork Lux Aeterna June 17-22 in Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concerts will include world premieres by Billy Childs and Moira Smiley, and a U.S. premiere by Artist-in-Residence Eric Whitacre, performed alongside Lux Aeterna. The program will also feature Iri da Iri by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Shawn Kirchner's Heavenly Home: Three American Songs. The Master Chorale's full roster of 115 singers will be accompanied by a 47-piece orchestra and Artistic Director Grant Gershon will conduct.

Today, November 30, journalist, content creator and LGBT activist Emil Wilbekin will host the inaugural Native Son Awards honoring Tony Award-winning director and playwright, George C. Wolfe; journalist and CNN Tonight Host, Don Lemon; and Black Lives Matter Activist DeRay Mckesson at New York City's Cadillac House.

On Wednesday, November 30, journalist, content creator and LGBT activist Emil Wilbekin will host the inaugural Native Son Awards honoring Tony Award-winning director and playwright, George C. Wolfe; journalist and CNN Tonight Host, Don Lemon; and Black Lives Matter Activist DeRay Mckesson at New York City's Cadillac House.

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) releases a new holiday recording Festive!: Four Years of Favorites. Nineteen stunning tracks comprise this brand-new album, recorded between 2011-2015 and conducted by Dr. Timothy Seelig, SFGMC's Artistic Director. The recording is available now atSFGMC.org, and is also available digitally on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy Seelig, announced the program for the spring concert series, Passion at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness, San Francisco), tonight, April 1 and Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8 p.m.

The 110-member Los Angeles Master Chorale continues its vital role of expanding the choral music repertoire when Artistic Director Grant Gershon conducts two highly anticipated world premieres based on the theme of ascension by Swan Family Composer in Residence Shawn Kirchner and distinguished Korean-American composer Nackkum Paik on Sunday, March 8, 2015, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy Seelig, announced the program for the spring concert series, Passion at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness, San Francisco), on Wednesday, April 1 and Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8 p.m.

Celebrating its 50th season, Chicago's Grant Park Chorus, conducted by Christopher Bell, makes its a cappella recording debut with a CD of imaginative, moving, and sometimes whimsical works written between 1974 and 2005 by seven contemporary American composers.

The winners of the 41st annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of a capacity audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

In honor of being selected for mainstage performance at the National Black Theatre Festival, the Billie Holiday Theatre will present encore performances of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 39th season with the world premiere of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander. The new play will close March 27 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn.

On Friday, March 4, the Billie Holiday Theatre opened world-premiere play The Legend of Buster Neal to a sold-out house. In addition to cast Charles Anthony Burks, Sidiki Fofana, Stephen Hill, Dennis Johnson, Patrick Mitchell, and Nathan Purdee, in attendance were playwright Jackie Alexander, Emmy Award-winning actor Robert S. Woods (One Life to Live), Sean Ringgold (One Life to Live), Marja Harmon (The Lion King, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Aida), playwright/actor Layon Gray (creator of Black Angels Over Tuskegee), Delano Barbosa (Black Angels Over Tuskegee), and actors Jamil A.C. Mangan and Warner Miller.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 39th season with the world premiere of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander. The new play will begin previews February 18 and open March 4, running through March 27 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Buster.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 39th season with the world premiere of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander. The new play will begin previews February 18 and open March 4, running through March 27 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Buster.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 39th season with the world premiere of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander. The new play will begin previews February 18 and open March 4, running through March 27 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Buster.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 39th season with the world premiere of The Legend of Buster Neal, written and directed by Jackie Alexander. The new play will begin previews February 18 and open March 4, running through March 27 at the 200-seat Billie Holiday Theatre, Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm, and Sundays at 4:00pm, with tickets $15 - $25, available at zerve.com/BHolidayInc/Buster.