Leonard Bernstein News

The Oscar celebration starts early this year with PNC Pops: The Ultimate Oscars at Heinz Hall on February 5-7.

Orange County, Calif.—Feb. 3, 2016—Pacific Symphony's chamber music series, Café Ludwig, takes its audience on a foray into music inspired by dance for “Dancing with the Stars,” a program of exuberant works by star composers showcasing lively dance rhythms. The program brilliantly reveals connections found in energetic gypsy and Hungarian rhythms, a seductive and languorous habanera and that quintessential dance form—the waltz—as first conceived by Brahms, then reimagined by Schoenberg. For the eighth season, charming and sensational pianist Orli Shaham serves as the series' curator/host, leading this matinee of music on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 3 p.m., in the Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Attendees are seated at small tables and enjoy sweet treats, coffee and tea, served in a relaxed café setting, while listening to music performed by Symphony musicians: Paul Manaster, violin; Bridget Dolkas, violin; Robert Becker, viola; Timothy Landauer, cello; Benjamin Smolen, flute; David Chang, clarinet; and Barry Perkins, trumpet. Tickets are $65 and $79; for more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Musical Theatre West (MTW) presents the beloved tale of star-crossed lovers, WEST SIDE STORY, February 12-28, 2016 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. Due to overwhelming demand (opening weekend is sold out and second weekend performances only limited availability remains), MTW has added an extra performance on the third weekend, Sunday, February 28, 7pm. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast!

Pacific Symphony's chamber music series, Cafe Ludwig, takes its audience on a foray into music inspired by dance for 'Dancing with the Stars,' a program of exuberant works by star composers showcasing lively dance rhythms.

Back by popular demand - Apollo's Fire reprises its latest creative crossover program by Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, in collaboration with guest co-director Nell Snaidas.

Gulfshore Playhouse (www.GulfshorePlayhouse.org) - Southwest Florida's premier professional theatre - is pleased to announce the cast of its upcoming production of Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo, a madcap comedy from the author of The Fox on the Fairway and The Game's Afoot, scheduled for February 13 through March 13 at The Norris Center in Naples.

Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (#AileyKenCen) makes its annual Kennedy Center appearance with seven performances in the Kennedy Center Opera House, tonight, February 2, through February 7, 2016.

Darrin Newhardt is one of the busiest music directors in San Antonio. In recent months he has been the music director of ten shows, including the premier of the musical 'Oh Rats' for the Vexlar Theater. 'Ragtime' 'The Last 5 Years' for the Playhouse San Antonio, 'Young Frankenstein' 'Into The Woods' 'Mary Poppins' and 'West Side Story' for the Woodlawn Theater and many more shows while he lived in Los Angeles, California. On top of that he is the regular accompanist at Broadway Nights, a weekly cabaret at the Woodlawn Theatre every Saturday night, where the cream of San Antonio's singers exercise their vocal skills. He is also a vocal coach to many local performers and has been the music director at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church for the past 15 years.

Two-time Oscar nominee Madeline Kahn is the subject of a panel discussion, From Broadway to Hollywood ~ A Chat with her Friends, at Barnes & Noble at The Grove at Farmers Market on Wednesday, February 10, at 7pm. William V. Madison, author of MADELINE KAHN: Being the Music • A Life, will join several of Kahn's friends & colleagues for this first West Coast event for Kahn's biography, published by the University Press of Mississippi. Author Eddie Shapiro (Nothing Like A Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater) will moderate.

PITTSBURGH - Give your loved one the gift of music at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's BNY Mellon Grand Classics Valentine's Day weekend concert, "Romeo and Juliet and Carmen," on February 12 and 14 at Heinz Hall.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announces a special one-night-only presentation of Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-Along. Known for his musical character creations Hershey Felder will lead audiences through 100 years of American music from George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, through Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and many more. Hershey Felder's Great American Songbook Sing-along will be performed at 7pm, Monday, February 15 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View For tickets ($50) and information the public may visit www.TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

New York Philharmonic Chairman Oscar S. Schafer and President Matthew VanBesien today announced that conductor Jaap van Zweden will become the Orchestra's next Music Director, beginning in 2018-19, the Orchestra's 177th season. Mr. van Zweden will serve as Music Director Designate in the 2017-18 season.

Music Director Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony today unveil the 2016-17 Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation Classical and Sunday Casual Connections series and special events. This season celebrates the orchestra's 38th season and its 10th year in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Inaugurated by the Symphony in September 2006, this magnificent venue—with its exceptional acoustics and beautiful architecture—changed the world of symphonic music forever in Orange County. Both the orchestra and its audiences suddenly felt the ceiling to their musical opportunities open up to limitless possibilities. The trajectory of the orchestra sped up, allowing for broader choices in repertoire, greater ensemble excellence and immersive audience experiences—culminating, 10 years later, in this momentous season. 

PITTSBURGH – FUSE@PSO, the genre-bending early evening concert series presented by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, returns Today, January 27 to Heinz Hall with “Copland + Bon Iver with Special Guest Beauty Slap.” 

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced the repertory and artist roster for the company's 2016/17 season. Created by Mr. Domingo in collaboration with Music Director James Conlon and President and CEO Christopher Koelsch, the season will include six mainstage productions and a classic musical presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A total of 40 performances will take place in that venue, while an additional 13 performances will be presented elsewhere through the company's Off Grand initiative. 

La Orquesta de la Radio de Colonia a cuya cabeza se sitúa el especialista en jazz y big-band Wayne Marshall interpretara, el próximo 28 de enero a las 19.30 h. en el Auditorio Nacional, las danzas sinfónicas de WEST SIDE STORY en una noche dedicada a la música americana del siglo XX organizada por La Filarmónica.

Grammy-, Golden Globe- Drama Desk- and three-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer Bernadette Peters-known for her raw talent and ability to knock the socks off an audience with her glorious voice-joins Pacific Symphony just in time for Valentine's Day weekend! The ageless Peters, who boasts a decades-long successful career on the Broadway, film and television stage, recently starred in the critically acclaimed Broadway production of "Follies" after a highly successful run at the Kennedy Center, and can be seen in the Golden-Globe winning TV series, "Mozart in the Jungle." Recent hit performances (backed by orchestras) have included Peters turning up the heat for Peggy Lee's "Fever"; Rodgers and Hammerstein's "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" (from "South Pacific"); "Children Will Listen" and "No One is Alone" (from "Into the Woods"); "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Losing My Mind" (from her turn as Sally Durant Plummer in the 2011 revival of "Follies"); and "Let Me Entertain You" (from the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast album "Gypsy"), among many, many others.

The Oscar celebration starts early this year with PNC Pops: The Ultimate Oscars at Heinz Hall on February 5-7.

Christoph Eschenbach returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct a program of works by Eastern European composers with folk influences: Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring violinist Baiba Skride in her Philharmonic debut and first New York City orchestral appearance, and Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 8, Thursday, February 25, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Led by two sons of one of the most famous jazz pianists of all times, The Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet puts a fresh spin on traditional jazz. Omaha Performing Arts presents The Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet - Tribute to Dave Brubeck on Friday, February 26, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. in the Scott Recital Hall of the Holland Performing Arts Center.