Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the company will present a new production of Richard Wagner's monumental four-opera masterpiece, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) starting in 2016-17.
One of the most powerful concert experiences of recent seasons is about to become one of the most significant releases of the new year: Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, along with an outstanding cast featuring Kelley O'Connor, Tamara Mumford and Russell Thomas, in Deutsche Grammophon's world-premiere recording of composer John Adams' internationally acclaimed The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Adams' “21st-century masterpiece” (Los Angeles Times) will be released on the Yellow Label on March 11, 2014.
The February broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Music Director Alan Gilbert leading the Philharmonic in Beethoven's Fidelio Overture and Symphony No. 1; Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist; and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The following week, guest conductor Andrey Boreyko will lead the Philharmonic in a performance of Stravinsky's The Song of the Nightingale; Mozart's Bassoon Concerto, with Philharmonic Principal Bassoon Judith LeClair as soloist; and Zemlinsky's The Mermaid, Fantasy for Orchestra.
Coming off the acclaimed and wildly popular LumenoCity event in August and the first half of Louis Langrée's blockbuster inaugural season as Music Director, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is positioned for an extraordinary 2014-15 season that will not only feature musical performances at the highest level, but also continue the Orchestra's focus on groundbreaking initiatives and collaborations that have garnered international attention. The CSO's 2014-15 season includes 20 subscription programs and reinforces Cincinnati's position as a richly diverse cultural destination in the United States.
This winter, The Joffrey Ballet revisits its contemporary roots with a mixed repertory program titled "Contemporary Choreographers," an evening of three pieces, two by some of contemporary ballet's most luminous choreographers working today and one by a local "rising star" choreographer. "Contemporary Choreographers" is presented in 10 performances only at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, February 12-23.
When 2% of the world's population abruptly disappears without explanation, the world struggles to understand just what they're supposed to do about it. Three years later, the new HBO drama series THE LEFTOVERS is the story of the people who didn't make the cut.
Academy Award winner Frances McDormand ('Fargo,' 'North Country') and Academy Award nominee Richard Jenkins ('The Visitor,' HBO's 'Six Feet Under') star in the HBO Miniseries drama OLIVE KITTERIDGE, a film by Academy Award-nominated director Lisa Cholodenko ('The Kids Are All Right,' 'Laurel Canyon'). Based on Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and written by Emmy-winner Jane Anderson (HBO's 'The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom' and 'Normal'), the miniseries recently completed production in Massachusetts for debut later this year on HBO.
The adventurous St. Lawrence String Quartet marks its third Segerstrom Center appearance with an exciting program that includes a world premiere of composer James Matheson's new string quartet commissioned for the Center's Chamber Music Series by long-time subscribers Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.
In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Fellowes declared that the highly popular historic drama, returning to PBS tonight for its fourth season, will not 'go on forever.'
In an all-new video from FUNNY OR DIE, Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery plays Agent Tough in the hottest new cop drama that's not at all anachronistic, Tough Justice. With a special guest voice appearance by Jon Hamm, the video also features Michael Chiklis.
DOWNTON ABBEY star Elizabeth McGovern, who portrays Lady Cora, took time to spoof the PBS historical drama during a recent trip to Disney's Epcot theme park.
Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a program that, for the first time, unites the Philharmonic's Artist-in-Residence and former and current Composers-in- Residence, two posts Alan Gilbert introduced at the beginning of his tenure. The program features The Marie-Jose Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Rapture; former Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2, with The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman as soloist; and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, tonight, January 2, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, January 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the world premiere of The House that will not Stand, a historical comedic drama commissioned from award-winning poet-playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley. Sensuous, witty, heartbreaking, and uplifting - The House that will not Stand unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with affluent white men. When her wealthy lover mysteriously dies, Beartrice Albans' foundation of security hangs precariously by a thread. She is left to fend for her three unwed daughters in a world where freedom must be carefully negotiated. Told in a rich and lyrical river of words, this new play was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. It's helmed by Patricia McGregor, whose many credits include the celebrated production of Spunk at California Shakespeare Theater. The House that will not Stand begins previews on Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage on Friday, January 31, opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday, March 16, 2014.
The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with an all-American New Year's Eve Concert conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert with Thomas Hampson as soloist. The program, recorded on New Year's Eve in 2009, includes Copland's Suite from Appalachian Spring and Old American Songs (selections), in addition to selections from Broadway musicals and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The following week, composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the New York Concert Premiere of his Violin Concerto, featuring Leila Josefowicz as soloist, as well as Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Sibelius's Symphony No. 5.
OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, is pleased to announce it has awarded grants to nine opera companies through its Opera Fund: Repertoire Development grant program. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new North American opera and music-theater works.
The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is delighted to announce its spring schedule of major events. The largest single source of performing arts events in the state of Ohio, CCM presents nearly 150 major public performances from Jan. 12 through May 18, ranging from faculty and guest artist concerts to fully supported opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions.
The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces the first classical music concert of its inaugural 2013 - 2014 season in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. with the acclaimed St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) performing a program of Haydn, Korngold and Beethoven. Geoff Nuttall, violin, Mark Fewer, violin, Lesley Robertson, viola, and Christopher Costanza, cello, comprise the quartet.
Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce will take a star turn together when they co-host the Ninth Annual Opera News Awards, set to take place on Sunday, April 13, 2014, in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City. They will be joined by a distinguished line-up of presenters – Luca Pisaroni, Susan Graham, Renata Scotto, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Francesca Zambello – who will pay tribute to five superb artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: the late director Patrice Chéreau, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig,bass-baritone James Morris, and soprano Nina Stemme. First introduced in 2005, the Opera News Awards gala dinner, which features the hosts and presenters speaking about the awardees and introducing video performance clips, has become one of the most anticipated opera events of the season: an evening of celebration, appreciation, reuniting and celebrity-spotting that is without parallel in the industry.