Mikaela Bennett News

A carefully curated selection of Broadway's best comes to Caramoor this summer, as Westchester's idyllic cultural mecca celebrates its 73rd season (June 16-July 29). The festival opens with superstar vocalist Audra McDonald, performing favorite songs from past and present with the resident Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Hello Dolly! Music Director Andy Einhorn (June 16).

Vineyard Theatre's 2018 Gala Fundraiser celebrating Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary took place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Cody Lassen is the 35th Anniversary Gala Chair and Audible, Inc. is the lead corporate sponsor of the event. BroadwayWorld was on hand and you can check out photos from the evening below!

Vineyard Theatre's 2018 Gala Fundraiser celebrating Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary took place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Cody Lassen is the 35th Anniversary Gala Chair and Audible, Inc. is the lead corporate sponsor of the event.

Forty years ago, two visionary leaders - Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller- took over an abandoned Upper West Side theater for an all-day free marathon concert called Wall to Wall Bach.  This event founded Symphony Space, and every year since 1978, Symphony Space has been presenting free marathon Wall to Wall events, hailed by The New York Times as 'an annual gift to the city of New York.'  In its 40th anniversary year, Symphony Space's signature concert event celebrates the centennial of a cherished American composer: Leonard Bernstein.  This FREE marathon concert will honor Bernstein's legacy with music, dance, conversation, film clips, and more, exploring the many facets of his creative life (May 19th, 3pm-11pm, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 95th and Broadway).

Schimmel Center with the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra presents the world premiere of The Struggle to Forgive: Confronting Gun Violence in America on Friday, May 4, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Led by Music Director and Conductor Gary S. Fagin, the new cantata-which has a libretto by Fagin and features soprano Mikaela Bennett, mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel, and baritone Jorell Williams-gives voice to those whose lives have been impacted by gun violence in the United States, including victims and their families.

The Virginia Arts Festival joins the worldwide celebration of Leonard Bernstein at 100, honoring the life and legacy of the legendary composer and conductor.

Following sold out performances and rave reviews for Lyrics & Lyricists season opener The Bobby Darin Story, the series continues with Lenny's Lyricists, 92Y's nod to the centennial of Leonard Bernstein, including never-before-heard stories about this extensively documented composer.

Mikaela Bennett with NYFOS; photo by Karli Cadel On February 27 at 8:00 p.m., New York Festival of Song and Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center present a new program devised by Steven Blier, entitled, simply, PROTEST. A cast of young, diverse and brilliant singers that includes Mikaela Bennett who just wowed the world in Michael Gordon's opera Acquanetta at the Protoype Festival performs songs by a panorama of composers, from Marc Blitzstein and Joni Mitchell to Randy Newman and Mohammed Fairouz. (View the complete program below.)

'Memories of Things Past'--'A la recherche du temps perdu' in Proust-speak--and very much in the past it was, for me at least, going in to ACQUANETTA, the piece that opened this year's iteration of the PROTOTYPE. Its name and purported subject--horror films--conjured up childhood memories for me. Musically and dramatically, however, ACQUANETTA--by Michael Gordon, composer (of 'Bang on a Can' fame), Deborah Artman, librettist (ditto)--was very much in the present and in a class of its own, seen January 10 at the Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center.

With less than a week until the opening of New York's PROTOTYPE 2018, I was Skype-ing with the producers--no, not Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick--but Jecca Barry (of Beth Morrison Projects, BMP) and Kim Whitener (of HERE), who seem pretty calm. (Actually, they're two of four producers, the others being the eponymous Beth Morrison and Kristin Martin of HERE.) What's to be nervous about? After all they only have 8 new-opera/new-theatre productions (plus other events) opening between January 9th and 20th, including a couple of world premieres.

Tony nominee Norm Lewis returns to Feinstein's/54 Below with his third holiday show from December 18 - 23. All shows are at 9:30pm. Each evening will feature special guest stars from Broadway and beyond.

Tony nominee Norm Lewis returns to Feinstein's/54 Below with his third holiday show from December 18 23. All shows are at 9:30pm. Each evening will feature special guest stars from Broadway and beyond.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, in partnership with The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and local community-based cultural organization Taller Puertorrique o working as part of Unidos PA'PR, has announced a fundraising initiative during next week's performances of West Side Story in Concert led by Yannick N zet-S guin in Verizon Hall (October 12-15, 2017) to assist with hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico. In light of the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria and the closely linked subject matter of the performance, collections will be accepted in the lobby of The Kimmel Center to be distributed through Unidos PA'PR a coalition of community organizations formed to raise funds for recovery efforts in Puerto Rico. The performances also will serve as a powerful reminder of the ongoing relevancy of Bernstein's work and the continued need for unity, embracing Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory, and awareness of economic conditions in the area.

Leonard Bernstein was arguably one of the most versatile musicians the world has ever known. If you are a lover of classical music, you know that his recordings and compositions were the stuff legend is made of; and if you are a musical theatre geek, you know that Bernstein wrote some of the most innovative and genre-merging theatrical scores that still have not been topped to this day.

Some of Broadway's brightest stars will come together tonight, September 22, at 8 p.m. for Bernstein on Broadway, a one-night-only performance celebrating the indelible and lasting impact Leonard Bernstein's work had on American culture through the Broadway stage.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts launches the year-long international centennial celebration of Leonard Bernstein with the opening weekend of Leonard Bernstein at 100.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Mikaela Bennett on August 18, 2017 at 11:30pm.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Mikaela Bennett on August 18, 2017 at 11:30pm.

American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces its complete 2017-2018 season, Dreamscapes, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Music Director George Manahan, and President Edward Yim, featuring ten world, U.S., and New York premieres by a diverse set of composers. ACO continues its concerts at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall (December 8, 2017 and April 6, 2018) while expanding its presence in New York to include performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center (November 7, 2017) and as part of the 2018 PROTOTYPE Festival (January 12-14, 2018). ACO continues to take its commitment to fostering new work beyond the stage in its annual Underwood New Music Readings (June 21 and 22, 2018) for emerging composers, now in its 27th year, and through EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, which brings the Readings experience to orchestras across the country.

This August, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. Scroll down for details!