Daron Hagen News

A fascinating fusion of video game technology, visual art and live performance. A game player joins Fifth House on stage and, when the video game Journey begins, the ensemble performs its Grammy-nominated score, in real time, as the stunning visuals of Journey are projected live on a screen above the stage. Journey - "the most beautiful [video] game of its time" (IGN) - meets the "conviction, authority and finesse" (New York Times) of Chicago's Fifth House Ensemble, offering a spectacle like no other. No two performances are the same, as the performance allows the ensemble to be responsive to the actions of the live game player. "Beautiful balance … emotionally-charged ..." (CinemaBlend).

Peri Mauer's new piece for contrabass flute and cello, Shadow Harlequinade, will be premiered this weekendin the Bargemusic Here and Now Labor Day Festival. The concerts will take place today, August 31 at 8pm,Saturday, September 1 at 6pm, and Sunday, September 2 at 4pm. It will be performed by flutist Lish Lindseyand cellist Timothy Leonard.

A concert celebrating the 95th birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winning and Grammy Award-winning composer Ned Rorem (b. Oct. 23, 1923). The concert features the world premiere of the clarinet, violin and piano version of 'Pas de Trois' and a performance of 'Four Colors', composed for clarinetist Thomas Piercy, a long-time champion of Rorem's music. The concert also features three pieces composed for Thomas Piercy as Rorem birthday celebration music by former students of Rorem: Daron Hagen, Jennifer Higdon, and Troy Peters. Joining Piercy in the concert are violinist Eiko Kano and composer/pianist Chen Yihan.

KYO-SHIN-AN ARTS  is a contemporary music organization celebrating its 10th Anniversary Season. From groundbreaking to mainstream, over the last decade KSA has built and promoted a wide body of new classical repertoire combining Japanese and Western instruments.  Commissions to date total 27 composers for 45 new works. 2018-19 continues KSA's annual five-concert series at the Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan and marks the launch of its next decade with a distinctive, two-year 'Septet Commissioning Project.'

Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) is proud to announce its 2018-2019 season beginning in October of 2018. BASS's ninth season features all the innovative programming and world-class performers audiences have come to expect, plus some new surprises. By the numbers, season nine includes 250 songs by nearly 20 composers over 10 concerts, performed by 40 of today's top interpreters of song.

In their astounding new opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell explore the spiritual evolution of one of the most influential men of modern times as he creates a revolutionary new world of technological empowerment, then discovers a larger world within himself.

A more revealing, soul-searching expression of the life of Astor Piazzolla-the father of Nuevo Tango-is at the heart of a revamped production of "That's Not Tango - Astor Piazzolla, A Life In Music," returning for an extended run at New York's SubCulture on June 8, 9 & 10th and for multiple performances in July. The director is Stephen Wadsworth, named one of the most influential stage directors of the 21st century by American Theatre.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the NEA's second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $20,000 to the Sarasota Youth Opera program to support their 2018 re-mount of The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten. The Art Works category is the NEA's largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.

On Thursday, May 24 (7:30 pm) Japan Society presents an evening with two New York-based master instrumentalists: koto player Yumi Kurosawa and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura, who are revitalizing their instruments through novel repertoire, musical approaches, and playing techniques. The eclectic program will span traditional, classical, and contemporary works, including duets of koto + shamisen, shamisen + cello (Hikaru Tamaki) and koto + tabla (Anubrata Chatterjee). The recital will take place in Japan Society's serene and intimate Murase Room, with a cash bar at 7 pm. Tickets are $25, $20 for Japan Society members, available at japansociety.org/performingarts.

American Composers Orchestra continues its commitment to the creation and development of new orchestral music with the 27thAnnual Underwood New Music Readings on June 21-22, 2018 at NYU's Loewe Theater (35 West 4th Street).

From Sunday, June 3 through Friday, June 22, 2018, conductor Michael Christie will lead the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere performances of An American Soldier, the new two-act opera by Huang Ruo and Henry David Hwang, at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road). Tenor Andrew Stenson (Danny Chen), mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu (Mother Chen), and soprano Kathleen Kim (Josephine Young) make debuts with OTSL and join bass-baritone Wayne Tigges (Sergeant Aaron Marcum) and director Matthew Ozawa for this production.

On Thursday, May 24 (7:30 pm) Japan Society presents an evening with two New York-based master instrumentalists: koto player Yumi Kurosawa and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura, who are revitalizing their instruments through novel repertoire, musical approaches, and playing techniques. The eclectic program will span traditional, classical, and contemporary works, including duets of koto + shamisen, shamisen + cello (Hikaru Tamaki) and koto + tabla (Anubrata Chatterjee). The recital will take place in Japan Society's serene and intimate Murase Room, with a cash bar at 7 pm. Tickets are $25, $20 for Japan Society members, available at japansociety.org/performingarts.

American Composers Orchestra continues its commitment to the creation and development of new orchestral music with the announcement of sixteen emerging composers who will participate in its catalytic programs. Six emerging composers will participate in the 27th Annual Underwood New Music Readings on June 21-22, 2018 at a location to be announced. Ten emerging composers receive 2018 EarShot New Music Readings presented by Fort Wayne Philharmonic (February 7, 2018), Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (March 1, 2018), and Jacksonville Symphony (April 20, 2018). EarShot is a partnership between American Composers Orchestra, League of American Orchestras, American Composers Forum, and New Music USA.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to present the sixth show in its 97th season, the world premiere of NATHAN GUNN FLYING SOLO, written and directed by Hershey Felder, with musical direction by Michael Bagby.

American baritone Nathan Gunn and pianist Julie Gunn, partners in life and often on stage, will make their debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in an evening of cabaret by iconic composers ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter to Billy Joel and Tom Waits.  The evening concert from an eclectic American Songbook joins Bernstein at 100, the worldwide celebration of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history. An Evening with Nathan and Julie Gunn takes place Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 7:30pm in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis.

Impresario Peter Tiboris announced today that he has commissioned acclaimed composer Christopher Theofanidis and poet and librettist J. D. McClatchy, a 2003 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, to create an opera-oratorio based on the international bestseller 'Eleni,' about a woman's sacrifice to save her children during the Greek Civil War.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced the cast for their next REVELATION READING, Moliere's Don Juan, adapted & directed by Stephen Wadsworth: Mary Bacon, Gilbert Cruz, Francesca Faridany, Adam Green, Adam Greer, Allen Tedder, Adam Stein, Mary Testa, and Raphael Nash Thompson, on Monday February 12th at 7:30 PM at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets). Stephen Wadsworth's version of Don Juan was commissioned by the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the McCarter Theatre and has recently been published by Smith and Kraus.

Andrew Eggert, assistant professor and head of opera at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA), has been selected for the U.S. Department of State's competitive Fulbright Specialist Program.

Pianist Lara Downes will release her new album For Lenny, a tribute to Leonard Bernstein in honor of his centennial celebration, February 9, 2018, on Sony Classical.