George Manahan News

Check out the holiday season lineup at NJPAC!

On Friday, December 16th McCarter Theatre Center will present two special holiday music events just in time for the most wonderful time of the year. At 7:30 p.m. in Princeton University's Richardson Auditorium, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will present Handel's Messiah. At 8 p.m. in McCarter's Berlind Theatre, pianist Stewart Goodyear will perform his solo arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

Members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra perform Handel's Messiah with the Montclair State University Singers and a quartet of vocal soloists December 16 and 18 in Princeton and Newark, respectively. George Manahan, the NJSO's interim Music Director from 1983–85, returns to conduct Handel's masterwork—a Christmastime tradition in concert halls across the world. Soprano Patricia Schuman, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, tenor Ryan MacPherson and bass-baritone David Pittsinger join the Orchestra and choir.

Recognized the world over not only by their bold-face names, but especially by their superb talents, the artists headlining New Jersey Performing Arts Center's 2016-17 Classical season validate the Arts Center as the state's most diverse and artistically excellent presenter.

For the 2016-2017 season, Carnegie Hall has appointed Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair.

On Today, October 28 at 7:30 PM, the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor, will premiere Judith Shatin's Black Moon, for orchestra and conductor-controlled electronics.

American Composers Orchestra's (ACO), under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan, opens its 40th Anniversary Season today, October 28, 2016 at 7:30pm with Orchestra Underground: Contempo-Scary Music at Carnegie Hall's subterranean Zankel Hall.

Carnegie Hall presents Music Director George Manahan and the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) on Today, October 28 at 7:30 p.m., in the first of two concerts in Zankel Hall this season as part of the orchestra's 40th anniversary. The concert, a Halloween-themed program titled Orchestra Underground: Contempo-Scary Music, includes two world premieres: Paul Moravec's "The Overlook Hotel Suite" from The Shining, featuring music from his new opera based on the classic Stephen King horror novel, and Judith Shatin's Black Moon for Orchestra and Conductor-Controlled Electronics, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its 125 Commissions Project. The program also features electrifying music from Bernard Herrmann's Psycho Suite-from Alfred Hitchcock's legendary film-and David Del Tredici's Dracula. Guest artists include soprano and narrator Nancy Lundy and electronic engineer Maxwell Tfirn.

On Friday, October 28 at 7:30 PM, the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), George Manahan, Music Director & Conductor, will premiere Judith Shatin's Black Moon, for orchestra and conductor-controlled electronics.

American Composers Orchestra's (ACO), under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan, opens its 40th Anniversary Season on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 7:30pm with Orchestra Underground: Contempo-Scary Music at Carnegie Hall's subterranean Zankel Hall.

For the 2016-2017 season, Carnegie Hall has appointed Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair.

Carnegie Hall presents Music Director George Manahan and the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) on Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m., in the first of two concerts in Zankel Hall this season as part of the orchestra's 40th anniversary. The concert, a Halloween-themed program titled Orchestra Underground: Contempo-Scary Music, includes two world premieres: Paul Moravec's "The Overlook Hotel Suite" from The Shining, featuring music from his new opera based on the classic Stephen King horror novel, and Judith Shatin's Black Moon for Orchestra and Conductor-Controlled Electronics, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its 125 Commissions Project. The program also features electrifying music from Bernard Herrmann's Psycho Suite-from Alfred Hitchcock's legendary film-and David Del Tredici's Dracula. Guest artists include soprano and narrator Nancy Lundy and electronic engineer Maxwell Tfirn.

Opening weekend for San Francisco Opera's 2016-17 Season continues with the 43rd San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park free outdoor concert on Sharon Meadow in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Sunday, September 11 at 1:30 p.m. This annual open-air concert celebrates the opening of San Francisco Opera's 94th season and features many distinguished artists from the Company's Fall Season performing favorite arias and duets by Donizetti, Giordano, Rossini, Verdi and others accompanied by Company Music Director Nicola Luisotti and conductor George Manahan leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

San Francisco Opera presents the world premiere of Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, with a libretto by the composer and David Henry Hwang, in six performances from September 10-29, 2016. Commissioned by San Francisco Opera, the work is a co-production with the Hong Kong Arts Festival and will be performed March 17-18, 2017 at the Grand Theatre in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as part of its 45th annual festival. Based on one of the quintessential works of world literature, Sheng and Hwang's opera explores the characters at the heart of Chinese author Cao Xueqin's 18th-century novel and communicates their story as a vivid musical and theatrical experience. 

San Francisco Opera presents the world premiere of Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, with a libretto by the composer and David Henry Hwang, in six performances from tonight, September 10, through September 29, 2016.

San Francisco Opera today announced additional details for the Company's world premiere commission DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER by renowned Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, opening at the War Memorial Opera House on September 10, 2016.

Tickets are now on sale for American Composers Orchestra's (ACO) 40th Anniversary Season, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan. This season includes eight world premieres by a diverse set of composers performed by ACO at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space, and continues the orchestra's commitment to serve as a catalyst for the creation of new orchestral music, providing unprecedented opportunities for American composers to create new work and for audiences to discover it. Founded in 1977, ACO remains the only orchestra in the world dedicated exclusively to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers. To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. ACO takes its commitment to fostering new work beyond the stage in its annual Underwood New Music Readings for emerging composers, now in its 26th year in New York, and through its program EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, which brings the Readings experience to orchestras across the country in partnership with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA.

San Francisco Opera will present two public Insight Panel discussions next week to explore and illuminate the operas that will open the Company's 94th season during the weekend of September 9.

American Composers Orchestra (ACO) has awarded composer Carlos Simon its 2016 Underwood Commission, bringing him a $15,000 purse for a work to be premiered by ACO on May 23, 2017 at Symphony Space in New York City.

San Francisco Opera presents the world premiere of Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, with a libretto by the composer and David Henry Hwang, in six performances from September 10-29, 2016.