Charlie Parker News

Pittsburgh Opera announces its 2020-21 season, the company's 82nd. The season continues Pittsburgh Opera's tradition of performing world-class productions from old favorites to exciting new works.

Actress/singer Tiffany Bailey has many talents. She also happens to be a behavioral therapist for children with autism. I laud her for that. Last spring 2019 she released an album entitled Jazz with Pop and her cabaret show was very well received. In this interview she updates our readers as to the success of the CD and talks about her other projects for 2020.

Below is the upcoming schedule at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater February 3 through February 16: 

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Opera Philadelphia scored a hit at O19, a?oeits increasingly essential September festivala?? (New Yorker), with the world premiere of Denis & Katya. A timely and immersive multimedia chamber opera by composer Philip Venables and librettist-director Ted Huffman, the new work was recognized with the 2019 FEDORA-GENERALI Prize for Opera and by inclusion in the New York Times's a?oeBest Classical Music of 2019.a?? Commissioned and produced in collaboration with Music Theatre Wales and Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, now Denis & Katya makes its European debut with a tour of Wales (Feb 27a?"March 27) and dates at London's Southbank Centre (March 13 & 14), underscoring Opera Philadelphia's role as a?oea hotbed of operatic innovationa?? (New York Times) that represents a?oeone of North America's premier generators of valid new operasa?? (Opera News).

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater are pleased to present the schedule for the month of February! At Birdland Jazz Club, catch the iconic Lionel Hampton Big Band Featuring Jason Marsalis, current GRAMMY nominee Catherine Russell, the Birdland debut of AGUAS Trio with Omar Sosa, Yilian Cañizares and Gustavo Ovalles, and iconic vocalist Jane Monheit. Internationally recognized trumpeter Rachel Therrien, the Seth Weaver Big Band, and The Voice contestant Melinda Rose Rodriguez will also be performing upstairs. 

Traveling the world as an international opera star, Angela Brown noticed something about audiences. 'I would see very few people who looked like me,' says Brown. On the surface, it looked like a racial divide, but when Brown performed at schools and universities across the country, she learned that exposure and access also played key roles in the gap. This compelled her to create her show Opera...from a Sistah's Point of View that dispels the myths surrounding the sometimes-intimidating art form called opera. By demonstrating the ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic diversity portrayed in opera characters, she helps people from all walks of life and races find themselves in and enjoy opera. She blows up the preconceived expectations of opera by mixing show-stopping arias, poignant art songs, and moving spirituals with tongue-in-cheek commentary. The show breaks down barriers for audiences that wouldn't necessarily include opera as a part of their entertainment options.

The Purchase College Conservatory of Music has announced its spring 2020 season, which will include classical, Jazz, and chorus concerts, and a full opera production. All performances will feature the professional-caliber students selected from the highly competitive conservatory.

As the days get longer and Spring hits Seattle in the first quarter of 2020, The Opera Center bustles with free and low-cost activities for all ages. The mainstage operas attract big crowds Eugene Onegin (1/11 a?' 1/25) and Charlie Parker's Yardbird (2/22 a?' 3/7) at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. But, adjacent to McCaw Hall, is Seattle's newest education, artistic and civic space known as The Opera Center. This state-of-the-art facility opened to the public on December 15, 2018 and is accessible to everyone.

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus, along with Resident Company support from The Philly POPS and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, celebrates Black History Month in February 2020 with an array of FREE and ticketed programming honoring African American artistic expression and culture.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents Gregory Porter on Friday, February 7 at 8 p.m. at Royce Hall. Tickets starting at $28 are available now at cap.ucla.edu, 310-825-2101 and the Royce Hall box office.  

Continuing its long tradition of honoring and celebrating the legacy of musical icon and Newark native Sarah Vaughan, Newport Festivals Foundation and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) announce the jointly-presented biographical drama, Free Bird: The Early Life of Sarah Vaughan. This half-hour theatrical performance will premiere at Newark's public schools, and at free performances at community venues across Newark, beginning in January of 2020.

Arizona Theatre Company (Sean Daniels, Artistic Director; Billy Russo, Managing Director) presents Athol Fugard's powerfully haunting masterpiece, 'Master Harold' ... and the Boys from Jan. 18- Feb. 8 at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and from Feb. 13 to March 1 at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

In the centennial year of legendary alto-saxophonist Charlie Parker, one company is using opera to tell a story about jazz. Seattle Opera presents Charlie Parker's Yardbird, a work created by saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder and Bridgette Wimberly, an award-winning poet and playwright.

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus has announced three new Jazz Residency teams for the 2019-20 season: Ruth Naomi Floyd (Composer/Vocals) and Charles a?oeChaza?? Lattimore Howard (Lyricist/Poet); Immanuel Wilkins (Composer/Saxophone) with Rog Walker (Photographer) and David Dempewolf (Video Installation); and Richard Hill Jr. (Composer/Voice/Bass). Each team will create a new, relevant, and engaging a?oePhilly Madea?? work for the community. In the Kimmel Center Jazz Residency's seventh consecutive year, all three of these original pieces will focus on the relationship of Philadelphia against a social issue, including the homelessness issue, the introspective examination of one's cultural identity as a citizen, and a futuristic look at neighborhoods.

Award winning jazz soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom returns to St. Paul's German Lutheran Church to present the second of a series of special all-acoustic concerts in the resonant space renown for its extraordinary acoustics. Bloom will be joined by long-time bandmates pianist Dominic Fallacaro and bassist Mark Helias. They will perform original compositions and American songbook ballads specially selected for performance in the unique acoustic environment of the church.

The incomparable life and extraordinary, trailblazing career of jazz titan and influential composer Charlie Parker will be honored throughout 2020 with a worldwide celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth (August 29, 1920). Lovingly dubbed Bird 100 after the nickname of the preeminent alto saxophonist who was one of the fathers of bebop and progenitors of modern jazz, the centennial will include a host of major initiatives including exciting new music releases, a tribute tour, festivals and events, prestigious exhibitions, special partnerships, a unique graphic novel, exclusive collectible art, and myriad of independent appreciations and concerts.

On Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 8:00 p.m., jazz supergroup Artemis make their Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Each renowned for their outstanding solo work, these powerhouse musicians including Cécile McLorin Salvant (Vocals), Renee Rosnes (Music Director and Piano), Anat Cohen (Clarinet and Bass Clarinet), Melissa Aldana (Tenor Saxophone), Ingrid Jensen (Trumpet), Noriko Ueda (Bass), and Allison Miller (Drums) captivate audiences with bold new arrangements of classics by The Beatles to Thelonious Monk, as well as strikingly original compositions by the group's members.

Cyrille Aimee: A Sondheim Adventure, Brandon Goldberg Trio, Sheila Jordan Birthday Celebration and more announced for the week of November 18-November 24 at Birdland Jazz Club. 

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its upcoming schedule for the week of November 11. Acts include The Django Reinhardt Festival 20th Anniversary, Joe Alterman Trio, Christina Crawford's 'Mommie Dearest: The Musical' In Concert, and more!