Harold Meltzer News

The internationally acclaimed American pianists Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal will perform in an Music Academy concert on Thursday evening, March 9, 2023, at 7 PM, PST, at Music Academy of the West's Hahn Hall (1070 Fairway Road Santa Barbara, CA 93108). This concert, entitled 'Lowenthal's Legend,' honors and celebrates the extraordinary pianist and preeminent pedagogue Jerome Lowenthal, who has served as a Music Academy teaching artist for half a century.

New York Festival of Song, led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, will continue its 2022-2023 season with Amor on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 8:00pm at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center.

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, presents its annual holiday show, A Goyishe Christmas to You! on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 7:00pm at Merkin Hall's Upper Lobby at the Kaufman Music Center.

​​​​​​​New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) continues its 2022-23 season with the 12th rendition of its NYFOS Next Festival on October 16, 2022 at 3:00pm and October 23, 2022 at 3:00pm at the Rubin Museum of Art's Theater.

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, opens its 2022-23 Mainstage Series with HEROES on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 8:00pm at Merkin Hall, co-presented by Kaufman Music Center.

This year the highly regarded pianist Ursula Oppens returns to multiple summer music festivals in Europe and the United States. She will be giving recitals, participating as juror, and leading masterclasses.

Bargemusic presents GRAMMY® Award-winning Ukrainian-American pianist Nadia Shpachenko on  Friday, July 22nd at 7pm.

New York Festival of Song will hold its annual Gala-this year titled Still in Love-on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 6:30pm at the Racquet and Tennis Club, celebrating the musical contributions of Duke Ellington and his collaborator Billy Strayhorn.

The concert features mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, and baritone Jorell Williams, together with pianists Nathaniel LaNasa and Steven Blier, in works by Black composers that include H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Harry Burleigh, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Robert Owens, Hale Smith, and William Grant Still..

The internationally acclaimed American pianist Ursula Oppens is participating in the Music Teachers' National Association's 2022 Virtual Conference Tuesday, March 29, 2022, for an online advanced piano masterclass at 9:15 a.m., and an online solo piano recital at 8:00 p.m.

Ursula Oppens is joined by longtime collaborator, the noted pianist Jerome Lowenthal at Brooklyn's Bargemusic (Fulton Ferry Landing, 1 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201) for an in-person piano concert, Eclectic Series: Friendship, on Friday evening, September 17, 2021 at 7 pm EDT.

On Friday, May 22, 2020, GRAMMY-winning choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, releases CARTHAGE, an album featuring six striking pieces by composer James Primosch, on Navona Records. Internationally recognized and prolific, Primosch is the 2020 winner of The Virgil Thomson Award for Vocal Music from The American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Grammya"?-winning new-music choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, gives the world premiere performances of Michael Gordon's Travel Guide to Nicaragua with cellist Maya Beiser in presentations by co-commissioners, the Annenberg Center on Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 7:00pm in Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 7:30pm in New York City. Before the Carnegie Hall performance on March 25, Donald Nally and Michael Gordon will have a 6:30pm pre-concert conversation with John Schaefer, host of WNYC's New Sounds and Soundcheck.

The Annenberg Center will present Grammya"?-winning new-music choir The Crossing in the premiere of a newly staged theatrical production, Knee Plays, on Friday, February 21, 2020 at 8pm and Saturday, February 22, 2020 at 8pm at the Harold Prince Theatre. The program, part of the Center's #GLASSFEST celebration, features a rare opportunity to hear Knee Plays from Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and David Byrne's New Orleans-inspired contribution to Robert Wilson's large scale project, the CIVIL warS. The premiere will be narrated by popular Philadelphia actor Dito van Reigersberg.

The GRAMMY AWARDS Premiere Ceremony took place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 26, from 12:30-3:30 p.m. PT. Preceding the 62nd Annual GRAMMY AWARDS telecast, the Premiere Ceremony was hosted by two-time GRAMMY winner and current nominee Imogen Heap and featured a number of performances by current GRAMMY nominees. Performers included classical violinist Nicola Benedetti, jazz legend Chick Corea, folk music supergroup I'm With Her, West African sensation Angélique Kidjo and Best New Artist nominee Yola.

The Crossing has received an extremely generous $200,000 gift from long-time friend, advocate, and supporter Thomas Kasdorf of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The extraordinary unrestricted funding will support The Crossing's 2019-2020 season, with commissions of Edie Hill, Tawnie Olsen, Gavin Bryars, Daniel Felsenfeld, Aaron Helgeson, Gabriel Jackson, and Michael Gordon at venues such as Crane Arts Icebox, the Met Cloisters, the Hal Prince Theater and Zellerbach Theaters at the Annenberg Center, Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and at The Crossing's home, the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.

Recording Academy® President/CEO Deborah Dugan alongside Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees and renowned record producer Harvey Mason Jr., as well as GRAMMY Awards® host Alicia Keys and past two-time GRAMMY® nominee Bebe Rexha, today revealed nominees for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards in select categories. This year's nominees reflect a melting pot of artistic innovation that defined the year in music, showcasing the unparalleled craftsmanship of established artists and the industry-shifting impact of rising music creators. Leading nominees Lizzo (8), Billie Eilish (6) and Lil Nas X (6) not only topped the charts but ignited a cultural conversation around their genre-bending hits. As the only peer-selected music award, the GRAMMY Awards are voted on by the Recoding Academy's membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers and engineers.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents celebrated American tenor Paul Appleby in Schumann's Dichterliebe for Voice and Piano, Op. 48 (1840) with pianist Ken Noda on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 7:30pm at Alice Tully Hall. Part of a concert titled 1891: Brahms's Clarinet Quintet, the program also includes Schubert's Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940, Op. 103 (1828) and Brahms's Quintet in B minor for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 115 (1891) performed by pianist and Artistic Director Wu Han, violinists Aaron Boyd and Francisco Fullana, violinist and violist Yura Lee, cellist Keith Robinson, and clarinetist David Shifrin.

On Friday, November, 1st, Brooklyn Art Song Society presents the second installment of its series Home with a rare complete performance of Joseph Canteloube's magnum opus, Chant's d'Auvergne. Canteloube collected the folk melodies of the Auvergne region and imbued these whimsical, earthy tunes with emotional depth and a rich Straussian harmonic palette. The work will be performed in the original piano version and sung in the French dialect Occitan. Soprano Maria Valdes and mezzo soprano Devony Smith make their BASS debuts, joined by sopranos Marnie Breckenridge and Laura Stricking. Art Historian Patricia Mainardi (CUNY) gives a pre- concert lecture at 7:00PM.

Grammy-winning new-music choir The Crossing presents the world premiere of English composer Gavin Bryars' substantial new evening-length a cappella work, A Native Hill, on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 5pm at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia.