Emily Dickinson News

CHICAGO — San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) stage to lead the CSO in a program of music by Stravinsky and Mahler. These performances will take place on Thursday, November 21 and Saturday, November 23, both at 8 p.m.; Friday November 22 at 1:30 p.m.; and Sunday, November 24 at 3 p.m.

Austin Shakespeare presents William Luce's The Belle of Amherst, a one-woman show featuring Helen Merino November 14-24th at the Rollins Studio Theatre of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 West Riverside Drive, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm.

The Drawing Center presents their programming through December 5th, offering different activities throughout November and into December and January.

Tonight, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., soprano Jessica Rivera and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor are joined by pianist Robert Spano on a program featuring three New York premieres, two of which are Carnegie Hall co-commissions.

The 2013-2014 season marks the 40th anniversary of the performance career of the internationally celebrated Canadian dance artist Margie Gillis. In celebration, Montreal's Margie Gillis Dance Foundation launches a cross-Canada tour marking the illustrious four-decade career of the iconic dancer and choreographer, one of the country's most honoured artists.

Chicago Opera Theater (COT) offers more opportunities to look inside its operas through its initiative, "Viewpoints." These collaborations with Chicago cultural institutions draw audiences even further into the passionate world of COT and offer new insight and perspective on the artistry and vision of upcoming productions.

Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) presents the 1st show of its 21st season THE BELLE OF AMHERST a play based on the life of Emily Dickinson. Directed by Suzan Fete, featuring Jenny Wanasek. Running tonight, October 18 - November 10, 2013 at the Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway.

Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage charts a new direction for one of America's best-known living artists. Unlike her staged and carefully lit portraits made on assignment for magazines and advertising clients, these photographs were taken simply because Leibovitz was moved by the subject. The exhibition, including 78 photographs, taken between April 2009 and May 2011, will be on view at the Columbia Museum of Art October 4, 2013 through January 5, 2014. The CMA is the only exhibition presentation in the Southeast. Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage is an evocative and deeply personal statement by a photographer, whose career now spans more than 40 years, encompassing a broad range of subject matter, history and stylistic influences. The work shows Leibovitz at the height of her powers and pondering how photographs, including her own, shape a narrative of history that informs the present.

The upcoming 2013-2014 season marks the 40th anniversary of the performance career of the legendary Canadian dancer Margie Gillis. In celebration, Montreal's Margie Gillis Dance Foundation launches a cross-Canada tour and premieres new works marking the illustrious four-decade career of the iconic dancer, one of the country's most honoured artists.

Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) presents the 1st show of its 21st season THE BELLE OF AMHERST a play based on the life of Emily Dickinson. Directed by Suzan Fete, featuring Jenny Wanasek. Opening night is October 19that 8:00 pm. Running October 18 through November 10, 2013 at the Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway.

Composer/pianist Gregg Kallor performs tonight, September 26, 2013, 7:30 p.m. (Doors 7:00 p.m.) at SubCulture (45 Bleecker Street at Lafayette, Downstairs).

The Austin Shakespeare Theatre Company presents the New York premiere of Ayn Rand's novel ANTHEM. Adapted for the stage by composer Jeff Britting, curator of the Ayn Rand Archives, previews for ANTHEM begin tonight, September 25 at the Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (450 W. 37th Street). Opening night is scheduled for Monday, October 7th for a limited ten-week run through December 1, 2013.

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe - coming off a starring role in Robert Lepage's production of the Ring Cycle at New York's Metropolitan Opera - heads to Chicago for her Harris Theater debut, performing alongside the award-winning French-Canadian ensemble Les Violons du Roy and Music Director Bernard Labadie, October 17 at 7:30 pm. Ms. Blythe and Les Violons du Roy stop in Chicago as part of their North American tour running October 14 - 27.

On Tuesday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., sopranoJessica Rivera and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor are joined by pianist Robert Spanoon a program featuring three New York premieres, two of which are Carnegie Hall co-commissions. Ms. O'Connor and Ms. Rivera have collaborated in concert halls and on modern operatic masterpieces including Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar and John Adams's El Niño. This unique program features Ms. O'Connor performing the New York premiere of David Bruce's That Time With You, a four-song cycle that she co-commissioned with Carnegie Hall. Ms. Rivera sings the New York premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff's Monica Songs, another Carnegie Hall co-commission. Two selections from The Kitchen Songbook by Gabriela Lena Frank will also have their New York debuts, sung by both Ms. O'Connor and Ms. Rivera. Completing this diverse program, the artists present vocal duets by Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, and Gounod, as well as Debussy's erotically charged Chansons de Bilitis and Mompou's haunting "Combat del Somni."

The Catastrophic Theatre is pleased to announce the world premiere of The Pine, a new play by the author of past Catastrophic favorites There is a Happiness That Morning Is, Spirits to Enforce, and The Strangerer, Mickle Maher. The Pine opens Friday, September 27 and runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm through October 19 at The Catastrophic Theatre, 1119 East Fwy, 77002.

The upcoming 2013-2014 season marks the 40th anniversary of the performance career of the legendary Canadian dancer Margie Gillis. In celebration, Montreal's Margie Gillis Dance Foundation launches a cross-Canada tour and premieres new works marking the illustrious four-decade career of the iconic dancer, one of the country's most honoured artists.

The Broadway community mourns the loss of celebrated stage, screen and television actress Julie Harris, who passed away on Saturday at age 87. The marquees of Broadway theatres in New York will be dimmed in her memory tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 28th, at exactly 7:45 p.m. for one minute.

Upcoming exhibitions at The Drawing Center feature work by celebrated artists Sean Scully, Alexis Rockman, Deborah Grant, William Engelen, and master chef Ferran Adrià; a group show that investigates the relationship between drawing and writing; an exhibition of original manuscripts by Emily Dickinson and Robert Walser; and performances by Susan Hefuna + Luca Veggetti. Please read more below and go to our website here for more details.

The O'Debra Twins are back! For the last year, they've been quietly constructing their most ambitious work to date. Tonight, August 15th at 7:30pm, you're invited to a free reading of The Secrets of Avondale Falls, the most absurd, over-the-top, outrageous soap opera ever conceived. It's like Dynasty meets The Power Rangers, but with a hundred times more quicksand. Do not miss this sneak peek of the first two episodes in the Dixon Place Lounge (161A Chrystie St.)! Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30.

Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) presents the 1st show of its 21st season THE BELLE OF AMHERST a play based on the life of Emily Dickinson. Directed by Suzan Fete, featuring Jenny Wanasek. Running October 18 - November 10, 2013 at the Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. Tickets can be purchased for $36 (fee & taxes not included) in person at the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office, by telephone at (414) 291-7800, or online at www.r-t-w.com.