John Adams News

Violinist Amadeus Leopold will make his Houston debut Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

The New York Philharmonic has announced the 2014-15 season's free Insights at the Atrium series. All held at the David Rubinstein Atrium and beginning at 7:30 p.m., these events combine discussion, often with live performance and video, to explore themes of the season.

Karina Canellakis, hailed as a 'masterful' violinist and recognized as one of America's most promising young conductors, makes her Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra debut showcasing her dual talents performing and leading Vivaldi's vivid Violin Concerto, 'La tempesta di mare' ('Storm') and conducting Schubert's Symphony No. 5 on Saturday, January 24, 2015, 8 pm, at Glendale's Alex Theatre, and Sunday, January 25, 2015, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Los Angeles Philharmonic presents Anthony Newman, John Adams, Kremer & Trifonov in Recital, and more January-March 2015 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Renee Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehar's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

The sixth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, continues Monday, February 9, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. at SubCulture.

As part of the tenth edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122 and Parkside Lounge present the New York premiere of The Blind Date Project by Australia's Ride On Theatre. Unpredictable, dark and funny, The Blind Date Project is an event to which everyone can relate - a blind date between two people who have never met and who are desperately in need of connection.

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for its winter comedy, Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. This touching and wickedly hysterical Tony Award-winning best play features Broadway, television and film veterans: Philippe Bowgen (Spike), Gina Daniels (Cassandra), Carolyn McCormick (Masha), Mark Nelson (Vanya), Michele Pawk (Sonia) and Jamie Ann Romero (Nina). Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will be directed by Don Stephenson. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from January 21 through February 15, 2015. The official press opening night is Sunday, January 25, at 7:00pm. Paper Mill Playhouse's 2014-2015 Season is sponsored by Investors Bank.

From the home city of manned spaceflight, the Houston Symphony announced today that it has released The Earth-An HD Odyssey on DVD and Blu-ray. The Earth-An HD Odyssey is the highly anticipated second installment of the Symphony's groundbreaking HD Odyssey film trilogy and Music Director Andres Orozco-Estrada's first recording release with the Houston Symphony. This DVD/Blu-ray release follows the world premiere live performance of The Earth-An HD Odyssey in February of 2012 at Jones Hall.

Diavolo - Architecture in Motion, returns to Houston Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, at 8 p.m., in Jones Hall, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) highlights the beauty and majesty of the harpsichord with an unusual program featuring four harpsichords and chamber orchestra in the first of its Baroque Conversations series tonight, December 11, 2014, 7 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles, which repeats on Saturday, December 13, 2014, 7:30 pm, when the Orchestra makes its debut at the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge.

From the home city of manned spaceflight, the Houston Symphony announced today that it has released The Earth-An HD Odyssey on DVD and Blu-ray. The Earth-An HD Odyssey is the highly anticipated second installment of the Symphony's groundbreaking HD Odyssey film trilogy and Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada's first recording release with the Houston Symphony. This DVD/Blu-ray release follows the world premiere live performance of The Earth-An HD Odyssey in February of 2012 at Jones Hall.

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 10th Annual Opera News Awards. This year's honorees—Piotr Beczala, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sondra Radvanosky, Samuel Ramey and Teresa Stratas—will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Previous Opera News Award Winners Martina Arroyo,Gerald Finley and Susan Graham are among the presenters.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from tonight, December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra presents Symphonie fantastique this weekend, November 29-30, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Adding a final flourish to the holiday season, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon, presents two concerts of Handel's Messiah on Wednesday, December 17, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, December 21, 2014, 7 pm, at Disney Hall. Featuring 40 members of the acclaimed chorus, orchestra and four gifted soloists from the Chorale's ranks, the concert provides the opportunity to hear this riveting oratorio - rich with soaring high notes, powerful bass, majestic brass and lush orchestrations - performed by what many critics consider to be the best chorus in the country. The soloists are Christina Bristow, soprano; Nike St. Clair, mezzo soprano; Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor; and Chung Uk Lee, baritone. Composed in a mere 24 days, Handel's 1741 English-language oratorio continues to be the composer's most popular work and may be the most performed classical work of all time.

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's freshest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state. This week's spotlight falls on Cumberland County Playhouse's legendary Jason Ross.

Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, opens its 2014-15 season in December with New Dances: Edition 2014 featuring four world premieres by innovative choreographers: Juilliard alumnus Austin McCormick (1st-Year Dancers); alumna Loni Landon (2nd-Year Dancers); Kate Weare (3rd-Year Dancers); and Larry Keigwin (4th-Year Dancers). Mr. Keigwin is returning to Juilliard where he previously choreographed and premiered, in December 2008, Runaway, a large-scale piece that riffs on the high fashion runway scene, and, in December 2009, Megalopolis.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's holiday offerings continue with "Rejoice! A Cappella Christmas," showcasing the Chorale's astonishingly pure sound and exquisite balance in an all a cappella program that celebrates the 20th anniversary of former composer-in-residence/National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen's monumental O Magnum Mysterium, on Sunday, December 14, 2014, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.