Music-Theatre Group News

'My Childhood,' the first single from composer David T. Little's modern opera Black Lodge, is available now from Cantaloupe Music on all digital services.

For its first installment of the 2022 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host 'Puppetry and Production Design' with stage designer Carl Sprague on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. ET.

On Wednesday, March 18 at 7 pm, Princeton-based composer and conversationalist extraordinaire Julian Grant tells all­­a?"or maybe just enougha?"about his life, travels, and musical adventures in China and Central Asia at a free Soundtracks talk at the Princeton Public Library. While living in Hong Kong, he hosted a classical music radio show. He also lived in Tokyo and, from 2007-10, in Beijing, where he worked with the Beijing New Music Ensemble and attempted to master the yang qin (butterfly harp). This immersion in learning a traditional Chinese instrument proved to be the genesis of a suite of music titled a?"a??a??a?? (Five Generations, One House), a work soon to be given its US premiere by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.   

Harvey Sabinson, one of Broadway's legendary press agents, and former long-time executive director of The Broadway League, died on April 18, 2019 of natural causes at his residence in Sarasota, Florida. He was 94 years old.

New York City Opera has announced that Blythe Gaissert & Michael Kelly and Briana Elyse Hunter & Jorell Williams will comprise the rotating casts of its upcoming production of AS ONE.

Quintessence Theatre Group, a professional classic theatre company located in Philadelphia's Mt. Airy neighborhood, takes on Shakespeare's greatest tragedy this spring. KING LEAR, a searing drama about the dangers of absolute power, comes to Quintessence from March 19, 2019 through April 20, 2019. Opening night is Saturday, March 23 at 7:30PM.

Continuing its 40th Anniversary Season, Second Stage Theater has announced complete casting for the world premiere musical, SUPERHERO.

“I was, like many composers, not someone who was immediately in love with the human voice, the operatic voice, in new music,” says Lembit Beecher, whose opinion has definitely changed. He has become a powerful new force in the medium, with his new opera, SKY ON SWINGS, written with librettist Hannah Moskovitch and directed by Joanna Settle, opening the second year of Opera Philadelphia's Festival, O18, on September 20. It stars two formidable mezzos, Frederica von Stade and Marietta Simpson.

Peak Performances kicks off its 2018-19 season with the world premiere of Hatuey: Memory of Fire, a rousing Afro-Cuban-Yiddish opera performed in English, Yiddish and Spanish, with music by Frank London, libretto by Elise Thoron, direction by Mary Birnbaum, and choreography by Maija Garcia.

PlayPenn, the nationally recognized new play development organization located in Philadelphia, is thrilled to announce new work dramaturg Julia Mauro Bumke as their Director of Education. A graduate of Harvard and Princeton Universities, Ms. Bumke will assume her position full time on August 1, 2018.

The Muny announced today its full cast, design and production team for the theatre's centennial season production of The Wiz, June 19 - 25. 

Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) is proud to announce the fourth group of composers for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Launched in 2015, Kronos' Fifty for the Future is an exciting partnership with Carnegie Hall and others to create 50 new works - by 25 women and 25 men - expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. Each year, ten composers are announced. As ever, scores, parts, recordings, videos, and other learning materials for the compositions will be offered free of charge online at kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future. 

Updated this week! Check out upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, December 17, 2017 for both productions in your area and around the country including what/when/where and how to audition!

Abingdon Theatre Company, in association with Music-Theatre Group, presents James Lecesne in Eve Ensler's Extraordinary Measures for three performances only: this weekend, December 1, 2 and 3 at 7PM at The DR2 Theatre, 101 E. 15th Street.

This December, Abingdon Theatre Company continues its 25th Anniversary Season with two very special events. Scroll down for details!

Abingdon Theatre Company, in association with Music-Theatre Group, presents James Lecesne in Eve Ensler's Extraordinary Measures for three performances only: December 1, 2 and 3 at 7PM at The DR2 Theatre, 101 E. 15th Street. Featuring original music by William Harper and directed by Tony Speciale, proceeds from the event will be shared with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

It's Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1828 and the city's world-renowned anatomy schools are suffering from a cadaver shortage. Enter two immoral and highly industrious men--William Burke and William Hare--who pick up the slack by murdering disenfranchised citizens and selling their corpses to one of these schools, Dr. Knox's Academy. Perfect story for a chamber opera, eh? Well, yes, actually, says composer Julian Grant (even if it's opening a bit late for Halloween).

CROSSING plays through October 8 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the critics are weighing in!

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.

Former Opera Philadelphia Composer in Residence Lembit Beecher debuts his latest work, Sophia's Forest, this September. This inventive chamber opera scored for five voices, custom-built sound sculptures, string quartet and percussion will premiere September 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. in the Black Box Theater at the URBN Center Annex at Drexel University, 3401 Filbert Street. Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch wrote the libretto. Tickets cost $25 for General Admission and $15 for Students and Seniors. Tickets and more information are available at: lembitbeecher.com/treeofsound/.