Festival General Director Nigel Redden announced today the program for the 38th annual Spoleto Festival USA, taking place from May 23 - June 8, 2014. Held in Charleston, South Carolina the festival includes American premieres of the opera Facing Goya by Michael Nyman, the play My Cousin Rachel presented by Dublin's Gate Theatre company, and a new staging of John Adams' opera El Niño directed by John La Bouchardière. The Festival will also present the opera directorial debut of Garry Hynes, the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a play on Broadway, in a production of Leoš Janá?ek's Kát'a Kabanová. Tickets are available to the general public on December 9 at spoletousa.org or by calling 843.579.3100.
In an interview with Boston Common magazine this week, DOWNTON ABBEY star Michelle Dockery talked about the success of the historical drama and how it has changed her life.
Festival General Director Nigel Redden announced today the program for the 38th annual Spoleto Festival USA, taking place from May 23 - June 8, 2014. Held in Charleston, South Carolina the festival includes American premieres of the opera Facing Goya by Michael Nyman, the play My Cousin Rachel presented by Dublin's Gate Theatre company, and a new staging of John Adams' opera El Niño directed by John La Bouchardière. The Festival will also present the opera directorial debut of Garry Hynes, the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a play on Broadway, in a production of Leoš Janá?ek's Kát'a Kabanová. Tickets are available to the general public on December 9 at spoletousa.org or by calling 843.579.3100.
Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of Mozart's three final symphonies - Nos. 39, 40, and 41, Jupiter - tonight, November 29, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 30 at 8:00 p.m. Classical 105.9 FM WQXR in New York will broadcast the November 30 concert live at 8:00 p.m. as part of a month-long festival on the music and life of Mozart.
LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams and the LA Phil New Music Group showcase the imaginative breadth of the next generation of Los Angeles creators with L.A. Now: New Angeleno Composers at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, December 3, at 8 pm.
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.
Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are featured in a new clip from Saving Mr Banks, hitting theaters on December 20th. In the clip, Walt Disney (Hanks) takes Pamela 'PL' Travers (Thompson) for a carousel ride at Disneyland!
In the New York Philharmonic's concerts this week celebrating the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, tenors Dominic Armstrong, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Michael Slattery will replace Paul Appleby, who has withdrawn due to illness. On November 21-22, 2013, Michael Slattery will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and tenor Dominic Armstrong will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Spring Symphony. The concert on November 23 will feature tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in both works, and he will sing the Serenade on November 26 on a program that also includes Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, Jupiter.
The world of music is a vast place indeed, with room for what seems to be an endless mix of styles – everything from aboriginal drum melodies to esoteric computer scores. After about four decades of the musical avant-garde, in the late 1960s and early 1970s a style known as “minimalism” emerged in which the continuous repetition of simple musical elements (or one basic phrase) became the basis for a complete score. New names soon arrived on the scene, including Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams, among others. Also, a single overriding idea managed to prevail, at least for a time: it seems they all sought to escape from the spectacular, ultra-modern din (some say “noise”), reaching for a kinder, gentler manner of serious music.
In 2014 Tanglewood welcomes Andris Nelsonsfor his first festival appearances as BSO Music Director Designate. His first of four concerts with the BSO will be an all-Dvo?ak program, with the composer's symphonic poem The Noonday Witch, the Violin Concerto with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Symphony No. 8 (7/11). For his second BSO program on July 19, Maestro Nelsons will be joined by Swedish trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger performing his compatriot Rolf Martinsson's Trumpet Concerto, on a program with music by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The following Sunday afternoon (7/20), Maestro Nelsons will open his BSO program withChristopher Rouse's Rapture, followed by Lalo'sSymphonie espagnole, with violin soloist Joshua Bell, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.
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, Thursday, 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.
Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a celebration of the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten. The program will include Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, featuring tenor Paul Appleby and Philharmonic Principal Horn Philip Myers, and Britten's Spring Symphony, with soprano Kate Royal (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Philharmonic subscription debut), tenor Paul Appleby, New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus directed by Dianne Berkun-Menaker. The concerts, which include a performance on the composer's 100th birthday, November 22, will take place tonight, November 21, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Elegant themes and opulent variations by a wide range of Baroque composers set the tone for the holidays as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) features critically acclaimed virtuoso John Schneiderman playing lute and Baroque guitar in the first of five "Baroque Conversations" concerts on Thursday, December 5, 2013, 7 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles. LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, who hosts and curates the concert, is joined by LACO's Tereza Stanislav, violin, Armen Ksajikian, cello, Nico Abondolo, bass, and Patricia Mabee, keyboard. The program opens with Passacaglia in D major by Sylvius Leopold Weiss and also includes Karl Kohaut's Lute Concerto in F major (No. 1); Tarquinio Merula's Ciaccona; three sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti; the Ciaconna from Mauricio Cazzati's Varii e Diversi Capricci, Op. 50; and Arcangelo Corelli's "La Follia," Op. 5, No. 12, among other works. Critics have called Schneiderman "dazzling' and "expressive," noting that, "Schneiderman's tone… turns delicate textures into sparkling jewels."
Los Angeles Children's Chorus, acclaimed for its pure, agile, bel canto sound that has made it one of the most in-demand children's choirs in the county, spotlights the music of Benjamin Britten and the English choral tradition and also performs a compelling array of music from around the globe at its popular annual Winter Concert on Saturday, December 7, 7 PM, and Sunday, December 8, 2013, 7:30 PM, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The repertoire includes Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Friday Afternoons and selections from his extensive collection of folksong settings, as well as a selection of English carols and cathedral anthems from Sir David Willc*cks, John Rutter and others.
On Saturday, December 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, celebrated conductor David Robertson, music director of the St. Louis Symphony, leads Ensemble ACJW in a performance of Luciano Berio's Folk Songs featuring guest soprano Dawn Upshaw, who last performed the piece at Carnegie Hall in March 2004. ACJW's inventive program also includes Steve Reich's City Life, the composer's homage to his hometown of New York City, and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
The New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) continue with a focus on Mozart's Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, led by Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione, Saturday, December 7, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. This is the second program in this season's series, Points of Entry, in which each concert explores facets of music and the orchestra itself through an influential score. The concert will also feature selections from Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 33 and his Missa Brevis in F; Pachelbel's Canon; and Arvo Part's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten.
The world-renowned Miro Quartet and The University of Texas Symphony Orchestra present a program featuring the world premiere of a piece written for string quartet and chamber orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. Puts, a former Butler School of Music faculty member and long-time colleague of the Miro Quartet, composed the work as part of a year-long celebration of the centennial of The University of Texas School of Music which begins with this December 2013 concert. 'We are so excited to kick off the year-long celebration of 100 years of music at The University of Texas with this concert featuring our world-class orchestra and the world premiere of a work composed by former faculty member Kevin Puts,' says Interim Director of the Butler School of Music and Professor Glenn Richter.
CHICAGO (November 12, 2013) – The Joffrey Ballet celebrates the 26th annual presentation of Robert Joffrey's The Nutcracker, Chicago's most popular holiday tradition and America's #1 Nutcracker, in a 23-performance engagement at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, December 6 – 28, 2013.
Two distinguished American pianists-Ursula Oppens and Robert Levin-will team up to perform selections of piano works by the celebrated British-American composer Bernard Rands on Thursday evening, December 5th at 7:30 p.m. at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, New York, NY.
