John Alexander News

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.   As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus 'Va, pensiero,' from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

Currently in its tenth summer season, New York Euripides Summer Festival presents Suppliants in three outdoor stages and one indoor stage from the 2nd through the 10th of August. All performances are free of charge to the general public including students and children. In this unusually structured tragedy from ca. 421 BCE, the wives and children of killed soldiers go to Eleusis, near Athens, to seek justice for their dead and help from the monarch of Athens to pressure Thebes to surrender the corpses to their families so that they can be given a  proper burial.

Doghouse Ensemble Theatre presents a developmental reading of the new play THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOME by John Alexander Hatcher. April 15 at 3pm and 7:30pm. Directed by Ashlyn Frank

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced the cast for the next REVELATION READING, Thomas Middleton's The Second Maiden's Tragedy, directed by Craig Baldwin: Zainab Jah, Dion Johnstone, Robert Joy, Christopher Michael McFarland, Dion Mucciacito, Denis O'Hare, Bhavesh Patel, Reynaldo Piniella, John-Alexander Sakelos, Lee Sellars, Miriam Silverman, and Sam Tsoutsouvas.  This will take place on Monday April 16th at 7:30 PM at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets).  

The Verdi Chorus celebrates its 35th anniversary with its Spring 2018 concert The Force of Destiny for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 28 and 29 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, their program will feature selections from three Verdi operas - La forza del destino, Nabucco, including the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," the opening party scene of La traviata, and conclude with beloved melodies from Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

Ally Theatre Company opens their Second Season with the World Premiere of Rabbit Summer by Tracey Conyer Lee, presented January 12-28 2018 at Joe's Movement Emporium as part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival.

Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, will be presenting its popular holiday concerts in December.

Ally Theatre Company opens their Second Season with the World Premiere of Rabbit Summer by Tracey Conyer Lee, presented January 12-28 2018 at Joe's Movement Emporium as part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival.

Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, will be presenting its popular holiday concerts in December.

The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.

Awe-inspiring sounds of praise ring out as Pacific Symphony is joined by Pacific Chorale for the triumphant annual holiday celebration, Handel's Glorious Messiah, celebrating the birth of Christ. A holiday tradition across the world, Messiah has been performed for more than 275 years, but with each new conductor, orchestra and soloists, it becomes a fresh and newly invigorating experience. This year is especially meaningful as Orange County's own John Alexander (Pacific Chorale's Artistic Director Emeritus) returns to the podium to lead the Symphony along with the Chorale and a host of globally distinguished soloists, including the outstanding tenor, Jason Francisco. Full of brilliant choral writing, thundering timpani and blazing trumpets, Messiah energizes its audience and leaves them singing, Hallelujah!

The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.

One of Stephen Sondheim's most beloved musicals, this dark comedy features classic Brothers Grimm characters along with the Baker and his wife who wish 'more than anything' for a child.

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin is pleased to announce that the play Are You Now or Have You Ever Been , a play written and conceived by Carlyle Brown and directed by MetroStage Artistic Associate Thomas W. Jones II with original music by William Knowles, will be in performance Oct. 5-Nov. 5 at MetroStage.

The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert 'Love's Passions and Potions' for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.

Opening next Today, July 28, Bard SummerScape presents the long overdue American staged premiere of Dimitrij (1882). Set to a libretto by Marie Cervinkova-Riegrova, one of the relatively few 19th-century women to contribute to the genre, Antonín Dvorák's grand opera is rarely produced outside the Czech Republic, and only received its U.S. concert premiere more than a century after its composition.

Opening next Friday, July 28, Bard SummerScape presents the long overdue American staged premiere of Dimitrij (1882). Set to a libretto by Marie Cervinkova-Riegrova, one of the relatively few 19th-century women to contribute to the genre, Antonín Dvorák's grand opera is rarely produced outside the Czech Republic, and only received its U.S. concert premiere more than a century after its composition.

???????The Board of Directors of Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, has unanimously elected philanthropist and business entrepreneur Charles (Charlie) Zhang to its Board of Directors.

In true fashion, Pacific Symphony ends its 2016-17 season with a concert designed to make a lasting impression. In the spotlight is Mahler's epic Second Symphony, in which the composer ponders nothing less than life, death and transcendence-and in so doing pens some of his most sublime music.

Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, will be presenting its season finale - and Artistic Director John Alexander's final performance with the organization - on Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.