John Adams News

2020 marks two momentous events: Beethoven's 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.

Returning guest conductor David Robertson leads a stellar cast of vocal soloists, the Houston Symphony, and the Houston Symphony Chorus in two performances of John Adams' celebrated and contemporary musical telling of the nativity story, El Niño, Saturday, Mar. 14, 8 p.m. and Sunday, Mar. 15, 2:30 p.m. at Jones Hall.

San Francisco Opera today announced that philanthropists Tad and Dianne Taube have committed $6 million to support the Company's general director position. Effective immediately, Matthew Shilvock, who is the seventh general director in San Francisco Opera's 97-year history, becomes the Company's first Tad and Dianne Taube General Director.

Dan talks about his new book John Adams Under Fire, the Harvey Weinstein case, and the success of “Live PD.”

This March, acclaimed conductor Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in his final Carnegie Hall concerts as the orchestra's music director.

Come From Away, Ain't Too Proud a?" The Life and Times of The Temptations, the pre-Broadway tour of Diane Paulus' eagerly anticipated revival of 1776 and a return of one of Nashville's favorite touring productions a?" The Lion King a?" are among the highlights of the 40th HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC season at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, today announced its 2020-21 season that showcases the immense power of voices united in song, including monumental testaments to the power of music by Bach, Haydn, and Handel; an exploration of American music; and a program that features newly appointed Swan Family Artist-in-Residence Reena Esmail's inspiring I Rise: Women in Song. This is a season that opens hearts to the glory of singing and celebrates the expression of spirituality through music.

This winter, Trinity Church Wall Street's  program of ambitious musical offerings in lower Manhattan sees the return of the audience favorite Bach + One concert series, which will crown its season in the spring with a performance of three of Bach's cantatas at the Leipzig Bach Festival. Director of Music Julian Wachner has also just been announced as one of three finalists to become the next Artistic Director of the storied Oregon Bach Festival. On the heels of last August's release of Ellen Reid's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera p r i s m on the Decca Gold label, with Wachner leading The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity's in-house contemporary orchestra, NOVUS NY, the same forces reunite for the Washington D.C. premiere of the opera in the Kennedy Center's DIRECT CURRENT festival.

The newest opera from creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, is titled Cosmic Cowboy: a work of poli sci-fi that blends ancient history and fantasy to talk about the subject of colonization.

a?oe1776a?? is now on sale at the Ahmanson Theatre. Directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus and featuring a book by Peter Stone with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, a?oe1776a?? will begin a pre-Broadway engagement at the Ahmanson from July 21 through August 23, 2020.

With great success, Juilliard's Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, including a notable alumna, Felicia Moore, as Susan B. Anthony, along with members of the New York Philharmonic under Daniela Candillari performed Louisa Proske's production of the Gertrude Stein-Virgil Thomson opera THE MOTHER OF US ALL. It took place in the Engelhardt Court of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as part of the MetLiveArts series.

Carnegie Hall has announced updates to its upcoming schedule! Check them out below!

Opera Omaha announces its third annual ONE FESTIVAL. The ONE Festival is a place for wild dreams, wilder execution, and exploration of those ideas on a grand scale. Programming is driven by the artists, not the executives. With an emphasis on experimentation and new worka?'yet not tethered to premieresa?'ONE fosters an environment that encourages and celebrates bold risks and transformative storytelling. At a glance, one might assume this is happening in NYC or LA; but this opera hothouse sizzles in the dead center of our country, far from the coasts. 

Some of the greatest works of music ever composed, performed by many of the world's finest soloists, will be part of the Grand Rapids Symphony's 91st season.

Washington National Opera's (WNO) 2020-2021 season offers an ambitious mix of sweeping political epics and intimate stories of interpersonal relationships, centered on human pursuits of justice, power, and love. Led by General Director Timothy O'Leary and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, WNO announces the six mainstage titles in the 2020-2021 season: Fidelio, Nixon in China, Boris Godunov, Rigoletto, Così fan tutte, and La bohème.

Colorado Music Festival (CMF) presents its six-week summer concert season from June 25 through August 1 at Chautauqua Auditorium (900 Baseline Rd., Boulder, CO), offering 23 diverse performances of orchestral and chamber music by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and guest artists, alongside educational programming. 

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and David C. Bohnett Chief Executive Officer Chair Chad Smith today announced the 2020/21 Walt Disney Concert Hall season featuring three trailblazing new projects: Pan-American Music Initiative and America: The Stories We Tell led by Gustavo Dudamel and Seoul Festival curated by Unsuk Chin; the premieres of 27 LA Phil commissions; the revival of LA Phil productions including the landmark Tristan Project collaboration of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Sellars and Bill Viola; and performances by world-renowned guest artists including Yuja Wang, Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang, Itzhak Perlman, Yefim Bronfman, Leila Josefowicz, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Barbara Hannigan.

Electric & Eclectic on Wednesday February 26, 2020 will include works by two renowned composers and an emerging Canadian composer, as well as solo performances. American composer John Adams' work Son of Chamber Symphony is a riveting score that changes meters rapidly and scurries all over the place. Also on the program is the World Premiere of James O'Callaghan's Not non-other, and Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 1 for two violins, harpsichord, prepared piano and string orchestra with Marie Bérard and Stephen Sitarski as violin soloists and Stephen Clarke on harpsichord and prepared piano.

The nominees for the 49th Annual JUNO Awards were announced today by The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) at a press conference attended by media and industry notables at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre (CBC), in downtown Toronto. JUNO Week 2020, hosted in Saskatoon, SK, will culminate with Canada's biggest night in music - The 2020 JUNO Awards - broadcast live from the SaskTel Centre on Sunday, March 15 on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, the CBC Listen app and globally at cbcmusic.ca/junos.

This morning, Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) announced the line-up of musicals for its 2020-2021 Season via a video interview with Artistic Director, Dan Knechtges, by Arts & Culture Producer, Ernie Manouse. See the video below!