John Musto News

The Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) brings together two holiday traditions under the baton of Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Nuñez, who conducts contemporary stagings of Benjamin Britten's Christmas cantata A Ceremony of Carols and Samuel Adler's Hanukkah cantata The Flames of Freedom at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. Heard for the first time in New York City, The Flames of Freedom was composed as a musical counterpart to Britten's classic, and both works are explored on the program through sets, lighting, and choreography.

El proximo domingo 11 de noviembre la Sala Verde de los Teatros del Canal acogeran un concierto homenaje a Leonard Bernstein a cargo del Cuarteto Touches.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today that Kim Pensinger Witman, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming, has announced her intention to retire in February 2019  after 22 years of leading Wolf Trap's nationally renowned opera and classical music programs. Witman will be succeeded in the role by Lee Anne Myslewski, who has served Wolf Trap since 2006 as Director, Artistic Administration.

Sacred Music in a Sacred Space begins its 2018-2019 Season by welcoming patrons into the intimate Wallace Hall at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (980 Park Avenue) for a Caritas Concert.

Copland House's 2018-19 mainstage season will offer celebrations aplenty! Ranging widely across more than a century of American music, the popular series is Copland House's 10th at Westchester County's majestic Merestead estate in Mount Kisco, NY. Hailed by The New York Times for "all the richness of its offerings, first-rate fare, and reputation for quality," the series has become a destination for an enthusiastic and growing audience of musical adventurers seeking discoveries of the new, old, and unexpected.

Lyric Unlimited, the branch of Lyric Opera devoted to education, community engagement, and new artistic initiatives, is excited to announce its latest opera for young people, Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt. Created especially for children 7-12 and their families by composer John Musto and librettist/director Eric Einhorn, this operatic adventure explores the crossroads of science and creativity from a child's perspective.

Copland House's 2018-19 mainstage season will offer celebrations aplenty! Ranging widely across more than a century of American music, the popular series is Copland House's 10th at Westchester County's majestic Merestead estate in Mount Kisco, NY. Hailed by The New York Times for "all the richness of its offerings, first-rate fare, and reputation for quality," the series has become a destination for an enthusiastic and growing audience of musical adventurers seeking discoveries of the new, old, and unexpected.

Renowned music conservatory Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is celebrating its Centennial during the 2018-19 season with performances and events that draw inspiration from its rich 100-year history of music-making and education.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the details of its 2018-19 season, the 101st year of the institution's existence. After celebrating the Conservatory's centennial last season, SFCM looks to the future in its curricular model combining performance, history, and the humanities in thematically linked programming. This season's theme, 'Sound and Image,' brings the fine arts together with classes, concerts, and other events that examine the relationship between music, visual art, and the moving image.

The Rally Cat, a new, energized performing arts company based in New York City, launches its inaugural season on July 21st with a concert of new music by award-winning composer Aferdian Stephens at the National Opera Center at 1:30 PM.

The New York International Piano Competition (TheNYIPC), under the auspices of the Stecher & Horowitz Foundtion, returns to Manhattan School of Music for its Ninth Year, June 18 - 22. This biennial event is open to pianists of all nationalities between the ages of 16 to 22. This year, 22 pianists will be competing. No pianist is eliminated throughout the competition's four rounds, a first in the world of competitions.

Forty years ago, two visionary leaders - Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller- took over an abandoned Upper West Side theater for an all-day free marathon concert called Wall to Wall Bach.  This event founded Symphony Space, and every year since 1978, Symphony Space has been presenting free marathon Wall to Wall events, hailed by The New York Times as 'an annual gift to the city of New York.'  In its 40th anniversary year, Symphony Space's signature concert event celebrates the centennial of a cherished American composer: Leonard Bernstein.  This FREE marathon concert will honor Bernstein's legacy with music, dance, conversation, film clips, and more, exploring the many facets of his creative life (May 19th, 3pm-11pm, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 95th and Broadway).

Forty years ago, two visionary leaders - Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller- took over an abandoned Upper West Side theater for an all-day free marathon concert called Wall to Wall Bach.  This event founded Symphony Space, and every year since 1978, Symphony Space has been presenting free marathon Wall to Wall events, hailed by The New York Times as 'an annual gift to the city of New York.'  In its 40th anniversary year, Symphony Space's signature concert event celebrates the centennial of a cherished American composer: Leonard Bernstein.  This FREE marathon concert will honor Bernstein's legacy with music, dance, conversation, film clips, and more, exploring the many facets of his creative life (May 19th, 3pm-11pm, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 95th and Broadway).

SFCM presents a chamber opera double bill Friday, May 4 and Sunday, May 6 with performances of John Musto's Bastianello and William Bolcom's Lucrezia, both featuring libretti composed by Mark Campbell. This production of Lucrezia will serve at the world premiere of a new orchestration--a chamber orchestra instrumentation--by William Bolcom, commissioned by SFCM.

Schimmel Center with the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra presents the world premiere of The Struggle to Forgive: Confronting Gun Violence in America on Friday, May 4, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Led by Music Director and Conductor Gary S. Fagin, the new cantata-which has a libretto by Fagin and features soprano Mikaela Bennett, mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel, and baritone Jorell Williams-gives voice to those whose lives have been impacted by gun violence in the United States, including victims and their families.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus presents Silent Voices: If You Listen, the second installment of its multimedia, multi-composer, and multi-year Silent Voices series of concert works with spoken word, conceived, produced and performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus (April 27-28, at National Sawdust). Silent Voices: If You Listen builds on the success of Silent Voices' 2017 premiere at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House. Here, eight composers, all women, collaborate with the choristers in amplifying the voices of the marginalized and confronting the challenges of division and categorization, racism, sexism, social and economic disparity, immigration, our environment, and threats to our understanding of truth. Commissioned composers for Silent Voices: If You Listen include Julia Adolphe, Olga Bell, Anna Clyne, Paola Prestini, Toshi Reagon, Shelley Washington, Bora Yoon, and Pulitzer winner Du Yun; the concert will also feature a work with guest artist Shaina Taub. Unifying this work is the distinctively versatile and beautiful sound of the rigorously-trained singers - a chorus of culturally and socioeconomically diverse New York City young people, ages 12-18 - joined by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). These are young voices set on resisting the socio-politically retrograde elements of the present in a move towards a more inclusive and compassionate vision of the future.

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.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus presents Silent Voices: If You Listen, the second installment of its multimedia, multi-composer, and multi-year Silent Voices series of concert works with spoken word, conceived, produced and performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus (April 27-28, at National Sawdust). Silent Voices: If You Listen builds on the success of Silent Voices' 2017 premiere at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House. Here, eight composers, all women, collaborate with the choristers in amplifying the voices of the marginalized and confronting the challenges of division and categorization, racism, sexism, social and economic disparity, immigration, our environment, and threats to our understanding of truth. Commissioned composers for Silent Voices: If You Listen include Julia Adolphe, Olga Bell, Anna Clyne, Paola Prestini, Toshi Reagon, Shelley Washington, Bora Yoon, and Pulitzer winner Du Yun; the concert will also feature a work with guest artist Shaina Taub. Unifying this work is the distinctively versatile and beautiful sound of the rigorously-trained singers - a chorus of culturally and socioeconomically diverse New York City young people, ages 12-18 - joined by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). These are young voices set on resisting the socio-politically retrograde elements of the present in a move towards a more inclusive and compassionate vision of the future.

Mikaela Bennett with NYFOS; photo by Karli Cadel On February 27 at 8:00 p.m., New York Festival of Song and Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center present a new program devised by Steven Blier, entitled, simply, PROTEST. A cast of young, diverse and brilliant singers that includes Mikaela Bennett who just wowed the world in Michael Gordon's opera Acquanetta at the Protoype Festival performs songs by a panorama of composers, from Marc Blitzstein and Joni Mitchell to Randy Newman and Mohammed Fairouz. (View the complete program below.)

Pasadena Symphony's annual Holiday Candlelight concert returns to All Saints Church today, December 16, 2017. Having sold out for the past six years, the symphony will offer two performances to meet community demand at 4:00pm & 7:00pm.