Hildegard News

"Man plays 800-year-old music on harmonica." That's how multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird describes his latest work, felix anima, interpretations of the music of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179).

The Dinner Party Operas, a showcase of eleven original mini-operas inspired by Judy Chicago's iconic feminist installation The Dinner Party, a multi-media work housed in the Brooklyn Museum, will be presented this May in New York City by the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (GMTWP), the Brooklyn Museum, the NYU Tisch Department of Design for Stage & Film and American Opera Projects (AOP). Six of the operas will be performed on Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. at NYU Tisch's GMTWP Black Box Theatre, located in Manhattan at 715 Broadway, between Washington and Waverly places, on the second floor. The remaining five operas will be performed on Sunday, May 27 at 2:00 p.m. at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Each under 15-minutes long, the operas were written and composed by students in the NYU Tisch GMTWP Opera Lab and will be performed by professional opera singers with piano accompaniment. The Dinner Party Operas is free with advance registration (May 23) or museum admission (May 27) and open to the public. To reserve tickets for the May 23 performance at NYU, email tisch.ipa@nyu.edu. Complete info at www.aopopera.org.

Gendered power dynamics, the commodification of art, and abuse in the creative industries: Joe Penhall's new play certainly feels of the moment, and there's a particular frisson in seeing such subject matter explored at the Old Vic, which is dealing with the legacy of Kevin Spacey. Yet a potent topic remains stubbornly discursive in this rather circular piece.

On the occasion of the 20-year mark of Matthew Shepard's tragic death, the Ford Theatres presents Considering Matthew Shepard, on Friday, June 15 and Saturday June 16 at 8:30pm, in association with Chris Isaacson Presents. Part of the 2018 Season and the IGNITE @ the FORD! series, Considering Matthew Shepard is performed by the 30-member GRAMMY Award-winning Conspirare choir, and composed and conducted by its GRAMMY Award-winning artistic director, Craig Hella Johnson. 

Parthenia, New York's premiere viol consort, will be in concert on Sunday, May 6 at 4:00 PM, performing Purcell's Roots: Elizabethan and Jacobean Fantasies for Six Viols at The Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street in Manhattan.

Today (16 April 2018), rehearsals begin for the West End production of Nina Raine's Consent which will begin previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 18 May with its opening night on 29 May 2018. Directed by Roger Michell and originally co-produced and commissioned by Out of Joint, this strictly limited 12-week run is booking through to 11 August 2018 following the 2017 critically acclaimed sell-out run at the National Theatre. A series of accompanying pre-show talks and discussions exploring ideas of justice, consent, marriage and modern parenthood will be announced at a later date.

The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, NYC) continues their live music series, 'Inspirations: Women And Their Muses,' with a one night only event featuring Grace McLean & Them Apples, Friday, April 20 in The Loreto Theater. Tickets are $35 and available at SheenCenter.org, by phone at (212) 925-2812, or in-person at The Sheen Center box office.  

What does it mean to be a woman in the times of the #metoo and #timesup movements? What would our historical sisters have to say about it? From Sappho and Hildegard von Bingen to present day, this classical cabaret explores some of the innermost thoughts, desires, dreams, and experiences of women through music and poetry. Opera on Tap makes its' Flea debut as an Anchor Partner, presenting a diverse program of classical song in their signature fresh, heartfelt, and entertaining style.  

Sonia Friedman Productions and the National Theatre today (12 March 2018) announce the West End production of Nina Raine's Consent following the 2017 critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Dorfman Theatre. Directed by Roger Michell and originally co-produced and commissioned by Out of Joint, Consent will begin previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 18 May for a strictly limited 12-week run. Opening night will take place on 29 May with booking through to 11 August 2018. Tickets for this West End transfer - with over 14,000 priced at £25 or under - will go on public sale on Thursday 15 March 2018 at 10am.

#METAMORPHOSIS is UJ Arts & Culture's 2018 programme of change. Drawing inspiration from the theme of #METAMORPHOSIS has seen UJ Arts & Culture plan to change more than its content. The 2018 programme features two brand new festivals as well as new partnerships that will increase opportunities for the university community, creative industries and the public to experience and participate in the arts.

Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met continues on PBS on Sunday, March 25, at 12:00pm with the American premiere of Thomas Adès's The Exterminating Angel, a surreal fantasy about a dinner party from which the guests can't escape. The Exterminating Angel was inspired by the classic Luis Buñuel film of the same name, and stars John Tomlinson and Alice Coote. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is the host.

After a successful ten-city tour of Russia in 2016, Migguel Anggelo returns this February as a cultural attache under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State, singing opposite lauded multi-hyphenate actress-singer-writer-teacher on the rise, Grace McLean.

The Nightingale based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen; a steam-punk and dance inspired retelling of the classic story dances onto Stages Theatre Company's (STC) main stage this March.

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble proudly announces its 2018 Season, "The Reckoning." The season includes three plays about women who come face to face with an essential truth that threatens to shatter the things they love most. The 2018 Season will be performed at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.

'Heads.' One word, and one coin toss, decides which roles Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams will play on the night: the titular Mary, or her rival Elizabeth I. Last night Williams took the latter - the company immediately bowing to her. It was a comic moment that underlined a key theme: fortune is fickle, and power is a mirage.

As previously announced, the critically acclaimed Beautiful Soup Theater Collective will present the world premiere production of Steven Carl McCasland's Memorare this winter. The new drama, featuring an all female ensemble, will bow at St. John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street in January of 2018. Set to star in the production is Helen Hayes Award-winner Patti Mariano as Sister Mary Cecelia (Broadway: Original Cast of The Music Man, George M!, The Full Monty and more) and newcomer Ashleigh Awusie as Sister Mary Azu (Ain't Never Been Easy). Award-winning director Peter Darney (5 Guys Chillin') directs the limited engagement.

Folger Consort, the early music ensemble in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, performs two concerts of A Branch of Freshest Green: Music of Hildegard von Bingen, Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3, 2018 in the Gothic nave of Washington National Cathedral. Celebrating the legacy of Hildegard von Bingen, the program intersperses works by the great 12th-century visionary and composer with works by contemporary female composers arranged for medieval instruments and voices. Folger Consort artistic co-directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall will be joined by the all-female vocal ensemble, Trio Eos, and multi-instrumentalists Shira Kammen and Christa Patton.

Sound permeates our daily lives and shapes our existence. From 'ear yoga' to Buddhist-inspired opera, talks and programs this fall build on themes in Rubin Museum's newest exhibition, The World Is Sound. For more about the exhibition, visit RubinMuseum.org/Wavelength, and scroll down for related talks, films and experiences, including a panel with David Henry Hwang about Broadway's M. Butterfly!

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced today the 2018 class of Emerging Artists, recognizing diverse talents, from a choreographer bridging the worlds of classical Indian and contemporary dance to one of the new faces of indie film to world-class musicians. Each recipient was nominated by one of Lincoln Center's 11 resident organizations, acknowledging his or her extraordinary talent and budding career.

The San Francisco Early Music Society's 2017-18 concert season resumes the weekend of January 5 with three concerts by Vajra Voices performing a program of medieval song. Joined by Shira Kammen and Kit Higginson on vielle, harp, recorder and psaltery,