James Agee News

Edo de Waart began his official tenure as The San Diego Symphony Orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor with a program of three 20th Century works of, to receptive listeners, quiet reassuring beauty. The concert opened with 'The Walk to the Paradise Garden,' a between-scenes interlude from British composer Frederick Delius's opera A Village Romeo and Juliet. The interlude's gentle soothing melodies and pace are the exact opposite of those of the boisterous overtures that more typically open a concert. Just about any of Delius's music will sooth the savage breast. Extreme examples could be used to sedate patients before surgery. With that, I fear my bias shows, though I admit de Waart elicited beautiful playing and affectionate warmth in Thomas Beecham's arrangement. Lush and molasses-like as it is, it's hard to believe the arrangement was written so that the piece could be performed by a smaller orchestra than the oversized one Delius originally wrote it for, but it's true.

Asolo Repertory Theatre will proudly present the world premiere of KNOXVILLE in spring 2020. This moving and innovative musical will feature lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty and will be adapted and directed by Frank Galati, reuniting the dynamic Tony Award-winning creative team behind Ragtime, one of the most beloved musicals of all time. KNOXVILLE is based on James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel A Death in the Family and based, in part, on the play All The Way Home by Tad Mosel.  

An inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people, Hale County This Morning, This Evening looks at the lives of two young African American men from rural Alabama over the course of five years. Daniel Collins attends college in search of opportunity while Quincy Bryant becomes a father to an energetic son in this open-ended, poetic film without a traditional narrative. Distilling life to its essence, the film invites the audience to experience the mundane and the monumental, birth and death, the quotidian and the sublime. These moments combine to communicate the region's deep culture and provide glimpses of the complex ways the African American community's collective image is integrated into America's visual imagination. The directorial debut of award-winning photographer RaMell Ross, the film premieres on Independent Lens Monday, February 11, 2019, 10:00-11:30 PM ET (check local listings) on PBS. The film received an Oscar nomination today for Best Documentary Feature from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

By 1931, technology had advanced enough to allow Charlie Chaplin to make his latest film, 'City Lights,' as a talkie. But why would he? By then, he had mastered his singularly poetic choreography that universally communicated comedy without need for language. Further, he could use advancements in sound to take control of the musical accompaniment. If individual theaters had erratic success in accompanying his films music, now they were not only uniform, but using a full score he composed himself - another Chaplin talent that flowered.

The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO) announces its 2018-2019 season concerts, led by Music Director Barbara Yahr. Now in its 32nd season, the GVO is committed to making music at the highest possible level and enriching the lives of both players and audience through emotionally charged, exhilarating performances. All concerts of the 2018-2019 season will take place at All Saints Church (230 East 60th Street, NYC) unless otherwise noted.

The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO) announces its 2018-2019 season concerts, led by Music Director Barbara Yahr. Now in its 32nd season, the GVO is committed to making music at the highest possible level and enriching the lives of both players and audience through emotionally charged, exhilarating performances. All concerts of the 2018-2019 season will take place at All Saints Church, 230 East 60th Street, Manhattan, unless otherwise noted.

Georgia Shreve, composer and writer, announced the release of her first album entitled “Paradise” featuring the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble on May 17th worldwide. The album is made up of three original compositions by the New York composer: Dante's Paradise, Portraits of the 20thCentury, and Fantasia on Celtic Themes. A digital release of the album is now available on iTunes, Spotify,GooglePlay, and Amazon.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art announce the complete lineup for the 47th annual New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), March 28-April 8. Throughout its rich, nearly half-century history, the festival celebrates filmmakers who represent the present and anticipate the future of cinema, daring artists whose work pushes the envelope in unexpected ways. This year's festival will introduce 25 features and 10 short films to New York audiences.

TACT/ The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Artistic Executive Director; Nora Chester & Jeffrey C. Hawkins, Associate Artistic Directors), the award-winning Off-Broadway company celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season, today announced the cast for Three Wise Guys, the World Premiere of a new comedy by Scott Alan Evans & Jeffrey Couchman, based on Damon Runyon's short stories, 'Dancing Dan's Christmas' and 'The Three Wise Guys.'

The New School's College of Performing Arts presents the sixth edition of (Un)Silent Film Night, a performance series in which The College of Performing Arts Theater Orchestra performs live music to classic silent films. Previous events in the series hosted by Matthew Broderick, Bill Irwin, Rob Bartlett, and Ed Rothstein, have drawn capacity crowds to the 400-seat Tishman Auditorium at The New School.

The beautiful suite prepared by William Dawson Jr. and the poetry of Florida's Poet Laureate Peter Meinke came together like a beautiful, strong cocktail- waves of the fused art forms crashed audiences note after note in unforgettable fashion.

Classic and contemporary, opera and orchestral, the music doesn't stop when the temperatures climb in New York, whether you're in New York City, or ready to travel to one of the festivals that dot the landscape of the Northeast. Musical life doesn't stop when the Met closes its doors: Here's a look “from here to eternity”…in the first part of our series on summertime's opera/vocal venues, covering New York City and Westchester.

THREE WISE GUYS by Scott Alan Evans & Jeffrey Couchman, directed by Scott Alan Evans+, is up next as part of TACT's newTACTics Festival.

TACT concludes its 2016 - '17 season with its 7th annual newTACTics New Play Festival, a fresh collection of four unpredictable and engaging new works. The original plays at newTACTics always invite you to expect the unexpected, and this year's offerings are no exception.

A common but lamentable occurrence in classical music is the disappearance or mishandling of certain composers and works. For example, Johann Sebastian Bach's music was not in circulation at his death in 1750, and his local legacy was headed toward obscurity.

Hartford Opera Theater is pleased to present THE TENDER LAND with music by Aaron Copland, libretto by Horace Everett, as its main stage production. Directed by Kristy Chambrelli with music direction by Joseph Hodge, THE TENDER LAND tells the story of a young girl, who finds herself on the cusp of adulthood and must choose whether to remain in her small town or experience what the world has to offer.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra (LO) under the direction of Music Director Christopher Wilkins, and Executive Director Jo Frances Meyer,  announces its 2017 season of free concerts at the DCR's Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade. Concerts will be held every Wednesday evening (7 p.m.) from July 19 through August 23, 2017. For more information visit landmarksorchestra.org.

The Chicago Artists Chorale, a group of 60 singers drawn together from across Chicago's professional arts communities, wraps up its second season on May 10 with SONGS OF LOVE AND LIGHT, a concert of resonant, powerful choral music spanning from the late Romantic period through the present day. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, at 1010 W. Webster Ave. in Chicago.

The Chicago Artists Chorale, a group of 60 singers drawn together from across Chicago's professional arts communities, wraps up its second season on May 10 with SONGS OF LOVE AND LIGHT, a concert of resonant, powerful choral music spanning from the late Romantic period through the present day. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, at 1010 W. Webster Ave. in Chicago.

Abrons Arts Center and 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. are pleased to present the world premiere of Sibyl Kempson's Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag (tonight, April 28-May 17), a musical meditation on the slippery nature of the photographic image.