John Rockwell News

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival presents the highly-anticipated world premiere of Daniil Simkin's INTENSIO, featuring the remarkable talent of eight American Ballet Theatre (ABT) stars and guest artist Céline Cassone of Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal in the intimate Ted Shawn Theatre, July 22-26. INTENSIO, co-produced, directed by, and starring ABT principal dancer Daniil Simkin, features four world premiere contemporary dance works by top-notch international choreographers including Alexander Ekman of Sweden, American dancemaker Gregory Dolbashian, resident Boston Ballet choreographer Jorma Elo of Finland, and Colombo-Belgian artist Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, currently based in Amsterdam.

In a program that continues the 2014-2015 season theme of spirituality in music, Music Director Marin Alsop pays tribute to her mentor Leonard Bernstein. Maestra Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in a concert featuring the works of both Bernstein and Beethoven, tonight, November 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 23 at 3 p.m at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore.

The second Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism Rubin Prize in Music Criticism culminated at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall today with a ceremony announcing the recipients of the Institute's two awards: the $10,000 and the $1,000 Everyone's a Critic Audience Review Prize for the best review by an audience member.

In conjunction with the long-awaited release of Bob Dylan - The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 11 on Tuesday, November 4

Baltimore, Md. (November 5, 2014) — In a program that continues the 2014-2015 season theme of spirituality in music, Music Director Marin Alsop pays tribute to her mentor Leonard Bernstein. Maestra Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in a concert featuring the works of both Bernstein and Beethoven, Friday, November 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 23 at 3 p.m at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah” are accompanied by Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, the last work Bernstein conducted before his death in 1990. Joining Marin Alsop and the BSO will be members of the Cathedral Choral Society, the BSO's first-ever collaboration with the Washington, D.C.-based choir. Jennifer Johnson Cano performs the mezzo-soprano solos in the Bernstein symphony. Please see below for complete program details.

In a program that continues the 2014-2015 season theme of spirituality in music, Music Director Marin Alsop pays tribute to her mentor Leonard Bernstein.

Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings will release Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11 (http://smarturl.it/BD_basement_amzn) today, November 4.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announced the names of the 17 young writers participating in the public and private events comprising the 2014 The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Taking place in San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area from November 5 through 10, 2014, the biennial Institute, now in its second season, is devoted to the advancement of classical music criticism and aims to be a positive force in the art of writing and talking about music, as well as a catalyst in sparking dialogue on the topic.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today revealed the names of the journalists participating in the second Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, taking place November 5-10, 2014 in its new home on the West Coast. A biennial, week-long event solely devoted to the art of classical music criticism, the Rubin Institute brings together distinguished journalists, aspiring young writers and renowned musicians for a keynote address, lectures by critics, public performances, discussion panels, and critical reviews, culminating in the awarding of both the $10,000 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism to one of the participating writers for demonstrating outstanding promise in musical criticism, and the $1,000 Everyone's A Critic Public Audience Prize for the best review by an audience member of a concert performed during the Institute.

Popular contemporary company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for the first time since 2010, bringing a sensational mixed-bill program. Directed by Glenn Edgerton, the 18-member company performs the dramatic Mediterranean-inspired Gnawa, choreographed by Nacho Duato, and Ji?í Kylián's vivid Falling Angels, a stark all-female work danced to “Drumming” by contemporary composer Steve Reich. The company's performance of Falling Angels earlier this year was called “a gorgeous combination of energetic and hypnotic, a celebration of what the body can do” by Lauren Whalen of Chicago Theater Beat. Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo's latest work for the company, The Impossible, is a bold and theatrical work centered around themes of memory, mortality, and the human spirit.

According to The New York Times, Arthur Gelb, who acted as a critic, chief cultural correspondent, metropolitan editor, deputy managing editor and managing editor for the publication, died today, May 20, 2014. He was 90.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announced initial details on another exciting program that has become part of the Conservatory: the first biennial writing institute in the United States solely devoted to classical music criticism, offering invaluable insight, feedback and observations by distinguished journalists to university-level writers in both a public and private setting.

From May 22 - June 1, 2014 Houston Ballet offers up a mixed repertory program showcasing works by three of the twentieth century's greatest choreographers entitled Modern Masters. The program features the company premiere of Jir?i? Kylia?n's comic and delightful Sechs Ta?nze (Six Dances), along with revivals of his playful and sexy work Petite Mort, William Forsythe's explosive In the middle, somewhat elevated and George Balanchine's complex and inventive The Four Temperaments. Houston Ballet will give six performances of the program in the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center. Tickets start at $19, and may be purchased at www.houstonballet.org or by calling Houston Ballet box office at 713-227-2787, or 1-800-828-2787.

As a highlight of its 2014 Spring Festival, 'Sleeping Around: the Cultural Lives of New York's Hotels,' Symphony Space presents Virgil Thomson and Friends at the Chelsea Hotel on Thursday, May 8 (7:30 pm) in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

As a highlight of its 2014 Spring Festival, 'Sleeping Around: the Cultural Lives of New York's Hotels,' Symphony Space presents Virgil Thomson and Friends at the Chelsea Hotel on Thursday, May 8 (7:30 pm) in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announce the Orchestra's 2014-2015 season, its eighth under the direction of Maestra Alsop. The full schedule and details about each production follow.

FirstWorks' 10th anniversary celebration continues with a landmark concert by one of the world's most revered dance companies, Mark Morris Dance Group, on Saturday, March 8, 2014, 8:00pm at The Vets, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence. Tickets start at $38 at first-works.org or call 401-421-ARTS (2787).

For over 30 years, the Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group has enthralled critics, dance enthusiasts, and novices alike with its amazing technical expertise, unique artistry, and its signature use of live music. Pianists Anton Nel and Colin Fowler, and progressive New York orchestra The Knights join MMDG for two performances of Morris' celebrated evening-length piece Mozart Dances.