Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? This weekend's big news: DOGFIGHT makes its European premiere, the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival kicks off in Scotland, Broadway stars join together for FROM MARKY MARK TO MICHAEL at 54 Below and more!
Sydney Theatre Company returns to Lincoln Center Festival with Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert, and Elizabeth Debicki in Jean Genet's The Maids. The show plays two previews, tonight and tomorrow, August 6 and 7, for an opening on August 8, 2014.
Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON opens tonight in Williamstown, Cate Blanchett stars in Sydney Theatre's THE MAIDS at Lincoln Center and THE OPPONENT opens off-Broadway, direct from Chicago!
Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director of Lincoln Center and the Mostly Mozart Festival, announced today that Lincoln Center has extended the contract for Louis Langree, the Renee and Robert Belfer Music Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival and Orchestra through 2017. Maestro Langree made his Mostly Mozart Festival debut with the Festival Orchestra in 1998, and was named Music Director in 2002. The artistic partnership between Langree and the musicians of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra has been an exceptionally inspired and 2017 will mark his 15th year as Music Director of the ensemble and the Festival. Under his musical leadership, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra's stature and recognition as an outstanding ensemble has received extensive critical acclaim, and the orchestra's concerts are an annual highlight for summertime classical music lovers in New York City. In addition to its focus on the classical repertoire, concerts by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra now regularly feature works from musical periods following Mozart including the 20th century and beyond.
Returning to NYC after a nine-year hiatus, the storied Bolshoi Ballet danced to nearly sold-out houses night after night at the Koch Theater during the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival in July. The evening of July 25th, when I saw the company's largely turgid production of "Spartacus", was no exception. Other reviewers had already panned the company's first two ballets of the warhorse repertoire for the run, "Swan Lake" and "Don Quixote". None other than Alistair Macaulay of The New York Times wrote on July 16th that the Bolshoi "seems keen to prove that it has reverted to the ghastly artistic torpor it enjoyed in the last two decades of the Soviet era."
A great, big Broadway season is on its way, with fourteen productions already slated to open in the next few months. With several weeks until the craziness begins, there is still plenty of time to catch up on what's been going on at Broadway's already occupied theaters .
BroadwayWorld will be profiling the hits of the Great White Way that continue to draw crowds after months, years, and (in some cases) decades. Meet the current cast of Broadway's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA below!
The brilliant, bold and beautiful Bolshoi Ballet presented its classic Don Quixote at the Koch Theatre on July 22, 2014 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. This Don Quixote is so rich in detail and so full of spectacular dancing and wonderful acting that all other productions pale in comparison.
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE have announced programming for the third annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running January 7-17, 2015, in New York City.
It's easy for opera-lovers to complain about the homogenization of casting at the world's great houses—particularly when there's only a small handful of Annas, Jonases, Juan Diegos, Cecilias, etc., that everybody wants to hear. So it was a treat to hear the visiting Bolshoi's concert performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's THE TSAR'S BRIDE last weekend at Lincoln Center Festival—filled with wonderful solo voices almost completely unknown to New York audiences, along with the stalwart Bolshoi chorus (under Valery Borisov).
The Houston Grand Opera's brilliant production of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's THE PASSENGER, directed by David Pountney, was a stunning visitor to the Park Avenue Armory last week as a coproduction with the Lincoln Center Festival. It's not an easy experience, but well worth the effort.
New York City will resound with the sound of Meredith Monk's music as her 50th anniversary is celebrated far and wide in venues large and small—from (Le) Poisson Rouge to Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall to its Weill Recital and Stern Auditorium to BAM's Harvey Theater—over the next year.
Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger- the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared 'a perfect masterpiece'- earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year. The Chicago Tribune declared The Passenger to be an 'engrossing, thought-provoking experience,' while the Houston Chronicle praised the presentation for 'ingenious storytelling, potent music, commanding performances and vivid, fast-paced staging.' Now HGO brings the David Pountney production of The Passenger for its New York premiere in three performances- today, July 10, 12, 13 -at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is pleased to announce several conducting appointments: Markus Stenz as principal guest conductor, Ken Lam as associate conductor for education, Nicholas Hersh as assistant conductor and Michael Repper as the 2014-2015 season BSO-Peabody conducting fellow.
The third week of this summer's Mostly Mozart Festival, New York's acclaimed annual summer celebration of classical music, kicks off with a pair of all-Beethoven concerts by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra leading one of the great works in the classical repertoire, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, August 12 and 13, at Avery Fisher Hall. Conducting this large-scale choral work is Gianandrea Noseda, featured at Mostly Mozart for a second consecutive summer following his debut last summer leading Rossini's Stabat mater. Singers for the performance include soprano Erika Grimaldi (U.S. debut), mezzo-sopranoAnna Maria Chiuri (Mostly Mozart debut), tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Ildar Abdrazakov (Mostly Mozart debut). TheConcert Chorale of New York, directed by James Bagwell, will accompany the Festival Orchestra and soloists. The Festival Orchestra will also perform Beethoven's Overture to The Consecration of the House, Op. 124, to open the concerts. Additionally, the Amphion String Quartet will perform Barber's String Quartet, No. 11 in a pre-concert recital.
Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger— the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared “a perfect masterpiece”— earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year. The Chicago Tribune declared The Passenger to be an “engrossing, thought-provoking experience,” while the Houston Chronicle praised the presentation for “ingenious storytelling, potent music, commanding performances and vivid, fast-paced staging.” Now HGO brings the David Pountney production of The Passenger for its New York premiere in three performances— July 10, 12, 13 —at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival. Pountney's staging was inspired, in part, by the soaring space of Park Avenue Armory's massive Wade Thompson Drill Hall, where he produced Zimmerman'sDie Soldaten for Lincoln Center Festival in 2008. HGO artistic and music director Patrick Summers will conduct the HGO Orchestra and Chorus; reviewing the Houston performances, the Wall Street Journal praised Summers for the way he “shaped the evening with enormous care.” The Dallas Morning News commended all the singers – headed by mezzo-soprano Michelle Breedt in the title role – by saying: “Top to bottom, the cast is excellent.”
Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger-the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared "a perfect masterpiece"-earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year
The second week of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, New York's acclaimed annual summer celebration of classical music, features a wide range of events, including orchestral music, chamber music, and a New York premiere of a new Mark Morris Dance Group production incorporating both opera and modern dance.
globalFEST (globalfest.org), North America's premier springboard organization for world music, hits the great outdoors, thanks to its upcoming collaboration with Lincoln Center Out of Doors (LCOutofDoors.org) on July 27, 2014. Festivities will include a selection of international music-related documentary films, an early afternoon family-oriented program, and a literally underground global bass stage.
The 2014 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, New York's acclaimed annual summer celebration of classical music, gets underway with an opening week of performances featuring the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, late night recitals and contemporary music, including two free events.