MN: What would you like operagoers to know about DR ATOMIC?
RMcK: I hope folks are able to arrive with an open heart and mind. As with any librettist Peter Sellars and composer John Adams collaboration, what we are creating is not traditional opera. In this case, it almost feels like a kind of ceremony-a celebration of this land and a display of mourning for what happened here in the desert 75 years ago.
Friday, July 13th 2018 was not unlucky for me. On that evening, I was fortunate enough to watch the final staging of legendary postmodern choreographer Lucinda Childs' Available Light at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival during the Lucinda Childs Dance Company's final season. The work, last seen in NYC 33 years ago, is a collaboration among three distinguished artists: Childs, minimalist composer John Adams, and famed architect Frank Gehry.
On September 27, New York City Ballet will present the seventh installment of its annual Fall Fashion Gala, celebrating choreography and costume design with an evening of world premiere ballets and creative collaborations between some of today's most exciting artists from the worlds of dance and design.
The Philadelphia Orchestra had not finished its residency before Bravo! Vail Music Festival Artistic Director Anne-Marie McDermott took to the stage to announce that the exemplary orchestra would be back in 2019 for the summer classical music destination's debut opera production: Puccini's Tosca. The exquisite, outdoor Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater will be transformed as never before for two performances of Tosca on July 11 and 13, 2019. The unprecedented production for Bravo! Vail will reunite The Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Director James Alexander and production company Symphony V, whose imaginative design will transport audiences to 1800s Rome. An all-star cast will be announced at a later date. More information about Bravo! Vail is available at www.bravovail.org.
Americana Theatre Company (ATC), Plymouth's professional theatre company, presents the musical theatre classic Man of La Mancha, starring Boston television personality Scott Wahle in the dual role of Don Quixote/Cervantes, from July 7 through 29, with performances weekly from Thursday through Sunday, at Spire Center for Performing Arts, 25 ½ Court Street, Plymouth. Man of La Mancha is written by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The production is directed by Michael Kirkland, with music direction by Nancy Sparklin.
Manchester International Festival (MIF) are working with The Warehouse Project to stage four specially curated shows taking place across five nights in November. All performances take place at Manchester's immense Mayfield, a former railway station, where they last came together for the '10 x 10' weekend back in 2015.
In an onstage presentation following the July 1 performance of Richard Wagner's Gotterdammerung, San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock presented former general director David Gockley with the San Francisco Opera Medal, the Company's highest honor. An industry pioneer who helped shape the operatic repertory and build new audiences for the artform, Gockley served ten years at the helm of San Francisco Opera and is currently the Company's General Director Emeritus.
Happy 242nd birthday, America!
On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies officially declared independence from Great Britain, forming a brand new nation, which today celebrates over two centuries of freedom and democracy. In that time, our country has been through war and peace, prosperity and poverty, progress and stagnation.
On June 30, 2018, Santa Fe Opera continued the season begun the night before with a revival of the 1904 Brescia Version of Giacomo Puccini's tragic MADAMA BUTTERFLY. The late Lee Blakeley put together the original 2010 production with simple visual lines and a bold structure. Eight years later, Matthew Ozawa restated it poetically for a new audience.
Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $17, $14 for members, seniors and students, $12 for senior members. Tickets can be purchased in advanced at www.hatboxnh.com or by calling 603-715-2315.
Next month, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
Alberta Bair Theater has added four additional shows since the season preview for its stakeholders on May 24: for fans of 60's rock: Felix Cavaliere & Gene Cornish's RASCALS with special guest Carmine Appice on drums on Friday, September 7 at 7:30; for fans of 80's rock and Broadway musicals: ROCK OF AGES on Monday, November 19 at 7:30; for a fun ladies night out during the holidays: 'Twas a Girls Night Before Christmas on Friday, December 14 at 7:30; and for family entertainment at its best the multi Tony awarded THE SOUND OF MUSIC on Monday, April 8 and Tuesday, April 9, both at 7:30.
German-born conductor Christian Reif, described as "the complete package" by the San Francisco Chronicle, makes his New York conducting debut on Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 7:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, part of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. A former conducting student of Alan Gilbert at The Juilliard School, Reif leads the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in a program celebrating the fusion of piano and technology, centered around John Adams's Grand Pianola Music. The concert also includes Courtney Bryan's Songs of Laughing, Smiling, and Crying and a newly revised version of George Lewis's epic chamber piece Voyager using artificial intelligence technology.
What good is sitting alone in your room this week? If you don't already have plans to see a Broadway show, come out to see your favorite Broadway stars in a cabaret act instead. Highlights this week include:
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association has announced the four conductors who will participate in the 2018/19 Dudamel Fellowship Program: Nuno Coelho, Stephen Mulligan, Elena Schwarz, and Jesus Uzcategui. Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, created the Dudamel Fellowship Program in 2009 to provide a unique opportunity for promising young conductors from around the world to develop their craft and enrich their musical experience through personal mentorship and participation in the LA Phil's orchestral, education, and community programs.
A cast of leading regional musical theatre artists from throughout Southern California will join a live orchestra on the stage of the Moonlight Amphitheatre for one-night-only on Sat., July 7 at 8:00 p.m. for a concert version of Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's iconic Broadway musical 1776. Moonlight Stage Productions' chiefs Steven Glaudini, Producing Artistic Director, and Colleen Kollar Smith, Managing Director, will take prominent roles in the concert: Glaudini will reprise his award-winning portrayal of John Adams, while Kollar Smith will provide direction and musical staging. Ovation Award winner, John Glaudini, who serves as the Musical Director for FROZEN: LIVE AT THE HYPERION at Disneyland will musical direct and conduct.
The Cape Playhouse very proudly presents, Sylvia, the acclaimed comedy by two-time Pulitzer Prize-nominee A.R. Gurney. Starring Playhouse favorite Jennifer Cody, Michele Pawk, John Dossett, and Stephen Derosa, and directed by Matt Lenz, Sylvia runs June 26-July 7, 2018.
Pittsburgh CLO's THE FULL MONTY will take it all off at the Benedum Center this summer July 6 - 15. With a book written by Terrence McNally (Ragtime) and the music/ lyric talents of David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), this duo cooks up an aggressive crowd-pleaser that is both highly-entertaining and charmingly uplifting.