Matt Smith News

Vancouver, BC ~ Demand is high for Vancouver Opera's upcoming production of Giacomo Puccini's beautiful story of honour, love, heartbreak and sacrifice: Madama Butterfly. 

(Los Angeles) February 22, 2016 — LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season continues with Giacomo Puccini's beloved Madame Butterfly, starring soprano Ana María Martínez as Cio-Cio-San.

New Brunswick, NJ – The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers welcomed a new appointment and announced two promotions to key museum positions in February. Amanda Potter, most recently Educator for Public and University Programs at the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University in Columbus, joined the Zimmerli staff as Curator of Education and Interpretation on February 1. Christine Giviskos, Ph.D., and Julia Tulovsky, Ph.D., both associate curators at the Zimmerli since 2007, have been promoted to curator and head of their respective departments. Giviskos now serves as Curator of Prints, Drawings, and European Art, and Tulovsky as Curator of Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art.

A major display of personal items, original manuscripts and works of art to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre, opens at the National Portrait Gallery today, Monday 22February. 

(Lake Worth, FL - February 22, 2016)  Rena Blades, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, today announced that the season's penultimate CULTURE & COCKTAILS at The Colony will be held on Monday, March 7, from 5 to 7 pm. It will be a conversation about Art & Architecture with Gilbert C. Maurer, Director of the Hearst Foundation.

On February 25, 2016 the Pinckney Community Schools' Orchestras and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra will celebrate their tenth annual Side-By-Side concert at Jane Tasch Theater. 

SPRINGVILLE, Utah (February 22, 2016) - Cedar Fort Publishing & Media announces a series of personal reflection books that will make 2016 a brighter one for you. Pick up your copy today! Take the time to implement their uplifting counsel, and be the best you. 'Latter-day Warriors: Stepping into Your Spiritual Strength,' 'The Christlike Leader,' 'With God, Life Is Oh So Good,' 'Living a Life That Matters: 7 Keys for Purposeful Living,' and 'Detour to the Light: Staying Positive During Life's Roadblocks' can take your life to the next level. Make 2016 a year to improve and grow.

West Palm Beach, FL. Legendary comic book artist, George Pérez, and his wife Phoenicia Flynn will be visiting Bak Middle School of the Arts at the invitation of the Middle School of the Arts Foundation on Tuesday, February 23rd. Their visit will incorporate Master Classes for the students and a tour of the new West Palm Beach Arts District.  

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 77th season with the Pittsburgh premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27. Spotlighting larger-than-life novelist, poet, playwright, and Pittsburgh native Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, 27 will delight you with Ricky Ian Gordon's 'tuneful score' and Royce Vavrek's 'quick-witted libretto.' 27 is a humorous and touching snapshot of the women's shared lives at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris in the early 1900s, featuring their famous salon and its visitors, including Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others. On stage February 20, 23, 26 & 28 at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters, most tickets for 27 are $40.

Celebrate the voices of DC youth as 20 teen performers present original poems. Five audience members will judge while the poets compete for a spot in the finals. Finalists have the chance to join the 2016 DC Youth Slam Team. The event is hosted by the National Portrait Gallery and the Teen Museum Council. More information can be found on the event's Facebook page.

HOUSTON (February 18, 2016) – The Houston Symphony will salute the King of Swing and the soaring sounds of the Big Band era in The Best of Benny Goodman at 8 p.m. February 26-27 and 7:30 p.m. February 28. 

THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, PURCHASE COLLEGE is pleased to present APOLLO'S FIRE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHORUS, performing BACH'S ST. JOHN PASSION, Bach's most dramatic and theatrical oratorio. First performed on a Good Friday nearly 300 years ago, the Passion arrives at The Center just two weeks before Easter of 2016. The performance will be Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 3:00pm in the Concert Hall at The PAC, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10577.  Tickets are $40-$70, on sale at 914-251-6200 and https://tickets.artscenter.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=5491.?

SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK — February 18, 2016 —Ubisoft and Scholastic today announced a collaboration on a new young adult book series, Last Descendants, based on the hit video game franchise Assassin's Creed. Written for readers ages 12 and up by award-winning author Matthew J. Kirby, the first book in the “Last Descendants” series will launch simultaneously in September 2016 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The second book will follow in January 2017.

For ages 16 & above Edward Albee wrote The Zoo Story in 1958. Since then, it has been performed throughout the world. Albee had always felt that Peter's character was not etched enough and so, forty years later in 2004 he added an Act One in which we see Peter and his wife, Ann. So was born At Home At The Zoo.

SANTA CLARA, CA, February 17, 2016 – Santa Clara University announced today the full line-up of live theatre, music and dance events taking place in February and March 2016.

Orange County, Calif.—Feb. 17, 2016—Jumpin' Jupiter! Fasten your seatbelts for blast-off as Pacific Symphony, navigated by Assistant Conductor Roger Kalia, takes the audience on a musical journey through the solar system for Family Musical Mornings, “Symphony in Space,” sponsored by Farmers & Merchants Bank. An astonishing experience for ears and eyes, this concert invites the audience to revel in thrilling selections from “Star Wars,” Gustav Holst's epic “The Planets” and more, while watching actual footage from NASA projected onto the giant screen and enjoying a story about a boy who manages to get lost in space. Joining the orchestra are the gifted young musicians of Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) in a side-by-side performance for this awesome galactic experience. This event is sure to inspire awe in both the magnificence of the universe and the wonder of music.

BUFFALO, NY -  Another JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition finalist returns to Buffalo in 2016.

Interested in becoming a docent for the National Portrait Gallery? Now's your chance to join our dedicated docent team! We are seeking a vibrant, diverse group of volunteers to work with visitors in our galleries.