Ravinia's 2015 season, jam-packed with more than 120 events from June 16 through Sept. 10, was announced today by Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. The season features 60 artist debuts and 55 classical works never before performed at Ravinia. More than 35 programs will feature works by new and 20th-century composers.
After a critically acclaimed run in St. Louis in June of 2014, composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek's opera "27" will now be available to audiences around the globe, with the release of the world premiere recording of the opera on Albany Records. Recorded live in performance throughout the run of the opera, the album is the first commercial recording of a commissioned world premiere from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Opera Philadelphia is inviting the public to witness the artistic development of its three Composers in Residence as they participate in a Master Class conducted by acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw. This unique, “opera in the making” event, spotlighting new music being written composers Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, and David T. Little, takes place on Tuesday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m. in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
New York, NY – The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) continues its 10th anniversary celebratory season with three concerts in April, reflecting BAC's expanded series of music programming for 2015. The weeklong celebration begins Monday, April 6 at 7:30pm, with one of BAC's signature events – a BAC Salon – in the Howard Gilman Performance Space, featuring the chamber music of Berio, Cage, and Mozart in an intimate salon setting. On Wednesday, April 8 at 7:30pm, composer and jazz pianist Stephen Prutsman will perform the entirety of his album Passengers for the first time ever, in another BAC Salon in the Howard Gilman Performance Space. The final performance of the week, on Saturday, April 11 at 8pm in the Jerome Robbins Theater, features the Latvian National Choir, hailing from BAC Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov's birthplace of Riga and bringing to New York a program that includes music by Arvo Pärt, Grammy nominee Ugis Praulins, and the U.S. premieres of works by acclaimed Latvian composers Jekabs Janchevskis, Gundega Smite, and Raimonds Tiguls. The Latvian National Choir last appeared in New York as part of the 2010 White Light Festival at Lincoln Center, in performances The New York Times described as “ravishing.”
The winners of the 44th 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.
Today, February 24, Avital will release Vivaldi, his third album on DG that returns the instrument to its origins-the Venetian Baroque and master composer Antonio Vivaldi. On this release, Avital captures the mystical spirit of Venice, shedding new light on Vivaldi's musical genius by performing his own transcriptions of the composer's works, demonstrating the rock star status that he cultivated in his own time.
Celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato concludes her season-long Carnegie Hall Perspectives series on Wednesday, March 18 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, joining The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Maurizio Benini for a program of bel canto arias, ensembles, and orchestral selections with special guests and close colleagues soprano Nicole Cabell and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Music from Donizetti's Maria di Rohan and L'elisir d'amore, Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Rossini's Zelmira will be performed, along with other pieces.
As part of its 2015-2016 season announcement, Carnegie Hall today shared that singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash will curate a four-concert Perspectives series at the Hall beginning in October 2015.
Orange County, Calif.-Jan. 9, 2015-Composer, conductor and teacher Leonard Bernstein, one of the undeniable giants of 20th-century music, and the first American-born conductor to become a major star, becomes the focal point of Pacific Symphony's second "Music Unwound" concert this season, "For the Love of Bernstein." In 1985, a young Carl St.Clair met Bernstein as a conducting fellow at Tanglewood Music Center. A few years later in 1990, St.Clair stepped in for the ailing Maestro and conducted his "Arias and Barcarolles" during what turned out to be Bernstein's last concert. St.Clair would soon be named music director of Pacific Symphony, but the impact of Bernstein's mentoring to St.Clair has remained to this day.
On February 24, Avital will release Vivaldi, his third album on DG that returns the instrument to its origins-the Venetian Baroque and master composer Antonio Vivaldi. On this release, Avital captures the mystical spirit of Venice, shedding new light on Vivaldi's musical genius by performing his own transcriptions of the composer's works, demonstrating the rock star status that he cultivated in his own time.
Over three days of preliminary auditions on February 23-25, 2015, 90 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 44th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.
The Collegiate Chorale continues its 2014-15 season with George F. Handel's Susanna on February 3, 2015 at 8pm at Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Tickets are $30-$95 and are available at TicketMaster.com. For more information, visit http://collegiatechorale.org/performances/susanna.
Orange County, Calif.—Jan. 9, 2015—Composer, conductor and teacher Leonard Bernstein, one of the undeniable giants of 20th-century music, and the first American-born conductor to become a major star, becomes the focal point of Pacific Symphony's second “Music Unwound” concert this season, “For the Love of Bernstein.” In 1985, a young Carl St.Clair met Bernstein as a conducting fellow at Tanglewood Music Center. A few years later in 1990, St.Clair stepped in for the ailing Maestro and conducted his “Arias and Barcarolles” during what turned out to be Bernstein's last concert. St.Clair would soon be named music director of Pacific Symphony, but the impact of Bernstein's mentoring to St.Clair has remained to this day.
On Wednesday, January 28, banjo legend Béla Fleck will join Brooklyn's own innovative chamber orchestra, The Knights, at Schimmel Center at Pace University to kick off a seven-state East Coast tour. The concert features the title track of the orchestra's brand new album, being released on January 26 on Warner Classics, The Ground Beneath Our Feet, a group composition that was written collaboratively by the members of the ensemble and is named after the Baroque ground bass that inspired it. Additional repertoire includes Rossini (overture and Se il mio nome spaer voi bramate, both from The Barber of Seville) and John Adams (Chamber Symphony).
In early 2015, the celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato continues her multi-part Carnegie Hall Perspectives series showcasing her vocal creativity and multifaceted talents that range from programs of familiar and forgotten repertoire from the Baroque and bel canto eras to new works by Jake Heggie written expressly for her.
Music Director ?Marin Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on Thursday, January 8, 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Also on the Classical Concert Series program are Barber's Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance and Osvaldo Golijov's Rose of the Winds (BSO premiere). The Rite of Spring is the subject of Maestra Alsop's third Off the Cuff program of the 2014-2015 season, held Friday, January 9 at 8:15 p.m. at Strathmore and Saturday, January 10 at 7 p.m. at the Meyerhoff. Capitalizing on Marin Alsop's charismatic way of illuminating classical music, the Off the Cuff programs focus on one masterwork, allowing the Maestra to discuss the back story of the piece and the composer's life. Please see below for complete program details.
OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 10th Annual Opera News Awards. This year's honorees—Piotr Beczala, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sondra Radvanosky, Samuel Ramey and Teresa Stratas—will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Previous Opera News Award Winners Martina Arroyo,Gerald Finley and Susan Graham are among the presenters.
Flexible in size and repertory, and dedicated to transforming the concert experience, The Knights have been hailed as 'the next generation of classical music' (Performance Todayhost Fred Child). Now, marking their debut as exclusive Warner Classics artists, the ground beneath our feet epitomizes the very qualities that set the trailblazing New York orchestral collective apart.
HOUSTON (November 19, 2014) - After the Thanksgiving dinner dishes are cleared, show gratitude for Beethoven's First and Fourth Symphonies with family and friends on November 28-30 as Andres Orozco-Estrada conducts the Houston Symphony, featuring principal cellist Brinton Averil Smith.