Mel C. News

The Kimmel Center's Building and Theater Tour now features a FREE monthly Organ Tour with a 15 minute demonstration on The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall, in partnership with the American Guild of Organists. On the first Saturday of every month, patrons can now experience the King of Instruments with a performance of program excerpts demonstrating the power and vocal prowess behind the largest mechanical pipe organ in the United States.

World-renowned and award-winning harpist Catherine Michel will perform as soloist for the world premiere performances on February 9, 10 and 11.

Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist John Legend has announced dates for his 2014 North American tour titled An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour with Philadelphia performance in the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall on May 20 at 7:30 p.m. The tour which begins March 20th in Temecula, CA and goes through early June will feature Legend in an intimate and acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet. Other stops on the tour will include a night at the prestigious Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 26 as well as the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY on May 31.

Rising young soprano Nadine Sierra, will take the stage at the Michael Schimmel Center For the Arts on Sunday, February 9 at 3pm as part of Pace's concert series VOCE AT PACE: RISING OPERA STARS. Rising Opera Stars in Recital is supported by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in honor of Dr. Agnes Varis. It is curated by Matthew Epstein.

Artistic Director Karen A. Fuhrman announced that GROUNDED AERIAL, a visceral aerial Dance Company, will present EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CHOREOGRAPHY AMPLIFIED INTO THE AIR tonight, January 25th at 8pm at the Lehman Center for Performing Arts (250 Bedford Park Boulevard, West Bronx).

After two years perfecting four classic flavors, Tahana Confections LLC is expanding its product offerings by following a well-established trend in daily consumption - coffee. Tahana Confections' Espresso Caramel was introduced on January 5, 2014 and is now available as a standard flavor in the Tahana caramel portfolio.

After an acclaimed run this summer on Governor's Island, Jody Oberfelder Projects once again invites audiences to experience their hearts from the inside out with a new production of 4CHAMBERS. Created, directed and choreographed by Jody Oberfelder, this immersive blend of dance, theater, film and visual installation runs tonight, January 22 - March 22, 2014, at Brooklyn's Arts@Renaissance.

Banjo virtuoso and 14 time Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck performs new work with Brooklyn Rider from recent collaborative album release, The Imposter, on Saturday, February 1 at 8 p.m. in the Merriam Theater. This performance features Bela Fleck on banjo performing new work written specifically for a banjo quintet with Brooklyn Rider members Johnny Gandelsman (violin), Colin Jacobsen (violin), Nicholas Cords (viola) and Eric Jacobsen (cello) joining him on stage.

Emerging operatic powerhouse Paul Appleby, one of this generation's most incredible new tenors, will take the stage at the Michael Schimmel Center For the Arts on Sunday, January 26th as part of Pace's concert series VOCE AT PACE: RISING OPERA STARS. Rising Opera Stars in Recital is supported by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in honor of Dr. Agnes Varis. It is curated by Matthew Epstein.

NYU Skirball Center is proud to partner with Kidrockers to present a series of authentic rock shows for families as part of the Big Red Chair series. One of New York's fastest rising bands, Caveman, with recently formed pizza-themed Velvet Underground tribute band, The Pizza Underground (Macaulay Culkin + friends) will begin the series on Saturday, February 8. Comedians Seth Herzog ("Late Night with Jimmy Fallon") and Craig Baldo ("Last Comic Standing") host the event at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, corner of LaGuardia Place and Washington Square South at the base of NYU's Kimmel Center for University Life).

The exceptional young Concert Artists Guild Competition winners violinist Hye-Jin Kim and guitarist and member of the noted Brasil Guitar Duo Joao Luiz will perform this evening, January 15th at 7:30 p.m. at Renee Weiler Concert Hall at Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St., New York, NY as part of the New York City Classical Guitar Society's Salon Series.

Renowned in the region for their productions of gay-themed works, Mauckingbird Theatre Company begins their 2014 season with a down-to-earth look at first love in their production of Beautiful Thing by English playwright Jonathan Harvey. The play, which was described as an 'endearing, lopsided smile of a comedy about a boy who falls for the boy next door' by The New York Times, will run tonight, January 15 - February 2 in the Skybox at the Adrienne.

The worldwide smash hit 'rock theatrical', Queen and Ben Elton's We Will Rock You, built around 24 of Queen's biggest hits, opens at the Academy of Music today, Jan. 14 - 19.. Part of BROADWAY PHILADELPHIA, presented by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization, We Will Rock You is produced by Queen Theatrical Productions, Tribeca Theatrical Productions, Phil McIntyre Entertainment and NETworks Presentations.The official press opening is tonight, January 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Due to popular demand, Live Nation has announces that a second show has been added for BRIAN REGAN at the Merriam Theater tonight, January 11th at 9:30 p.m.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Philadelphia debut of Dinosaur Train: Buddy's Big Adventure in the Merriam Theater will be performed only on Saturday, January 18.

Intertwining the brilliance of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ - the largest concert hall organ in the country - with the charm and intimacy of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Music Director Dirk Brosse conducts a special organ concert in the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall on Sunday, January 19 at 2:30 pm.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia has announced a new collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. In continuing to take its performances beyond the concert hall, the partnership allows hospital patients to watch archived Chamber Orchestra concert recordings through the GetWellNetwork - an interactive patient education system available through the televisions in their rooms. Each performance will be available through streaming, on demand to patients and will include video introductions by executive staff from Thomas Jefferson Hospital and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.

A venerable Philadelphia institution better known as 'Boss with the Hot Sauce' and 'Geator with the Heater,' Jerry Blavat takes a walk down memory lane celebrating the Great Voices of the '60s with Philly native once teen idol turned 'one of the most sought-after nightclub acts in the U.S.,' Bobby Rydell, Eddie Holman, Jay Black, 'An American Original,' Gary U.S. Bonds, Pat Upton of Spiral Staircase, and Jay Siegel's Tokens on Saturday, January 25 at 8 p.m. in Verizon Hall.

Philadelphia is the birthplace of great jazz musicians. KimMel Center Presents now proudly presents the newly minted Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia with a debut performance in Verizon Hall tonight, January 7 at 7:30 p.m. that serves as the Grand Gala Fundraising Concert.

Tomorrow we will finish staging the finale and the show will be completely choreographed. We have covered a gargantuan amount of choreography and staging over the past two weeks. There are several newbies on our line and they have been working tirelessly to get the material in their bodies. I know they are a bundle of fried nerve endings and shorting synapses at this point. Which seam am I on in this section? What number do I travel to on this step? What comes after the "Smile and Sing" chorus? On what count do we leave the line to go into the Connie clump? (ears smoke and heads explodes, leaving a pile of burnt spandex and the distinct odor of tiger balm). We've also reached the point of outgrowing the studio we are rehearsing in. Because the dimensions of the stage have been fudged a bit to fit into a smaller space, it's not uncommon to see actors dancing into walls, tripping over dance bags, or careening into each other trying to squeeze themselves onto the line. We're all very much looking forward to a little breathing room when we move to the stage next week. Think of it as the moment when you unbutton your pants after Thanksgiving dinner.