John Adams News

ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, announces three New York concerts in May and an album release in June 2012. At 8 pm both tonight, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 the group will take the stage at The Kitchen (512 W. 19th St., NYC) for two performances of the music of William Brittelle and Mick Barr. At 8 pm on Monday, May 14, ACME performs Timothy Andres' I Found it by the Sea as part of the 2012 Look & Listen Festival, held at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery (144 W. 14th St., 2nd Floor, NYC).

The Music Institute of Chicago, the oldest community music school in Illinois and one of the three oldest in the nation, offers the 24th annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival July 13-22 at Music Institute's Evanston East Campus and Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue. In addition to offering students private and group coaching and the opportunity to perform in final recitals, the Festival includes three public performances at Nichols Concert Hall featuring acclaimed performers and celebrated duo piano repertoire.

New York City Ballet's 2012 Spring Gala tonight, May 10 will feature a one-time-only salute to France titled À La Francaise, and will feature two World Premiere ballets, one by NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins to a score by the French composer Marc-Andre Dalbavie; and one by French-born choreographer and former NYCB Principal Dancer Benjamin Millepied to a commissioned score by Nico Muhly. The evening will also include a major revival of George Balanchine's Symphony in C, which was created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947 to a score by the French composer Georges Bizet.

The Public Theater is presenting the world premiere of February House, with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane and book by Seth Bockley, beginning today, May 8th in The Public's Martinson Theater, and running through June 10th. Three stars of the show - composer and lyricist Gabriel Kahane, actress Kacie Sheik, and actor Julian Fleisher have all been tapped by Joe's Pub at The Public Theater for solo performances this June.

Composer Robert Paterson's Sextet and Sonata for Bassoon and Piano will be performed by the American Music Ensemble as part of Travelin' Music on Thursday, June 7 at 7:30pm at Merkin Concert Hall (129 W. 67th St., NYC). The concert explores travel-inspired music and also includes Steve Reich's Different Trains, John Adams' Road Movies, D.J. Sparr's Woodlawn Drive, selections from Erik Friedlander's Block Ice and Propane, and Billy Strayhorn's Take The A Train.

RUBICON THEATRE continues the company's 14th season May 24 with August Wilson's powerful and poignant drama GEM OF THE OCEAN (first preview May 16).

Jeffrey Milarsky leads the LA Phil New Music Group in the season's final Green Umbrella concert, at Walt Disney Concert Hall, tonight, May 8, at 8 pm. Joining is percussionist Colin Currie performing the world premiere of LA Phil Principal Timpanist Joseph Pereira's LA Phil-commissioned Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Orchestra.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis has been selected as the 2012 winner of the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery announced today. In connection with the Nemmers Prize, Kernis will be in residence at Northwestern for four weeks each throughout the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, during which time he will undertake various educational activities. The prize will be formally awarded to Kernis in a ceremony to take place during his final weeks at the University.

Mit graziler Ausdruckskraft begeistert das Corps de ballet des Staatsballetts Berlin auf ihrer Reise, unterteilt in drei verschiedene Sektionen, jede von einem anderen Choreographen entwickelt.

Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the Atlanta Symphony premiere and Theater of a Concert presentation of John Adams's A Flowering Tree June 7 and 9, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Piece by Piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater have announced that the world premiere of 3C, written by David Adjmi and directed by Jackson Gay, will begin performances Wednesday, June 6 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place. The opening night is set for Thursday, June 21 at 7pm.

Jeffrey Milarsky leads the LA Phil New Music Group in the season's final Green Umbrella concert, at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, May 8, at 8 pm. Joining is percussionist Colin Currie performing the world premiere of LA Phil Principal Timpanist Joseph Pereira's LA Phil-commissioned Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Orchestra.

For the first time on the West Coast, audiences will have the opportunity to see Ainadamar fully staged in its acclaimed revised version. Long Beach Opera (LBO) presents Argentine composer Oswaldo Golijov and librettist David Henry Hwang's powerful Grammy Award-winning opera on May 20 and May 26, 2012 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, CA. Based on the life of famous writer Federico Garcia Lorca and his murder by Fascists during the Spanish Civil War, Ainadamar celebrates Lorca's fight for artistic, political and personal freedom.

The Public Theater will begin previews for the world premiere production of FEBRUARY HOUSE, with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane and book by Seth Bockley, on Tuesday, May 8 in The Public's Martinson Theater. Directed by Davis McCallum, FEBRUARY HOUSE runs through Sunday, June 10, with an official press opening on Tuesday, May 22. Tickets are on sale now at (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at The Public Theater box office.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will present its thirteenth annual All-City Musical, Footloose to crown the District's 2011-12 series of All-City Arts Programming. The production features the talents of over fifty CMSD students from across the District and will take place on the stage of the Ohio Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, June 1 - 3, 2012. Tony Sias, Director of Arts Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, co-directs the production with Kimberly Brown. Based on the original screenplay by Dean Pitchford, Footloose was adapted for the stage by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. The show's music was written by Tom Snow with lyrics by Dean Pitchford. Additional music for Footloose was written by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman.

Željko Ivanek and Sarah Steele will comprise the two-person cast of Slowgirl, a new play by Greg Pierce, directed by Anne Kauffman, which will be the first production to be presented by LCT3 in its new home, The Claire Tow Theater on the roof of Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Slowgirl will run for six weeks only from Monday, June 4 through Sunday, July 15. Opening night is Monday, June 18 at 7pm.

Ballybeg's debut production, EMPANADA FOR A DREAM, the story of a boy growing up on the Lower East Side, written and performed by Juan Francisco Villa* closes tonight. Alex Levy directs performances, held at the TBG Studio Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) through tonight, April 29, 2012. *Member, Actors' Equity Association. AEA Showcase.

Bang on a Can takes over Alice Tully Hall presented by Lincoln Center's Great Performers series in a triple-bill birthday bash tonight, April 28 at 7pm featuring the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Asphalt Orchestra, and MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika. Bang on a Can is celebrating 25 years during 2012, having grown from a one-day New York-based Marathon concert (on Mother's Day in 1987 in a SoHo art gallery) to a multi-faceted performing arts organization with a broad range of year-round international activities.