Neville News

The 2021 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition will take place on line, March 8-19. More than 100 dancers from around the world will dance for medals, scholarships to international schools, company contracts, and other awards before distinguished juries. 

Led by Musical Director Patsy Reid, the 20 successful applicants will work alongside some of Scotland’s top musicians and composers, attending five masterclasses and five one-to-one mentoring sessions online, with the aim of creating a finished piece of music.

MPAC continues with limited capacity concerts on stage in February, with events spanning jazz, rock and comedy. MPAC also is your source for a variety of virtual concerts and lectures offered across the country.

Wu Man, “the world's finest player of the pipa” (The New York Times), is joined by one of her Silkroad Ensemble bandmates, shakuhachi virtuoso Kojiro Umezaki, on a new album, Flow (流芳), released by In a Circle Records (ICR). The album is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp (digital and physical) and will be available Friday, February 19, through Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and other major outlets.

The Weidner Center for the Performing Arts announces a new slate of digital events for Spring of 2021. Upcoming events include a mix of livestream and pre-recorded theatrical performance, concerts and speaker engagements presented on the Weidner Center's YouTube Channel. Out of concern for public health, all programs will be presented with no-person attendance.

Tickets are now on sale to Les Misérables, back by popular demand for a return season in 2021. The world's most popular musical will be playing at The Concourse Theatre for a strictly limited season in March.

Tonight, January 25th at 8PM EST, Leg Up On Life will kick off 2021 with RECHARGE, benefiting the newly announced Scholarship and Artist Grant Programs.  

Singer/songwriter Lisa St. Lou releases “I've Seen The Light” today, a powerful anthem steeped in New Orleans soul and Lisa's own gospel roots.

Today (January 22) in live streaming: Jessica Vosk visits Backstage Live, highlights from Concert for America, and more!

The 2021 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition will take place online, with dancers performing live and in their own time zones, in Asia, North America, South America, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Australia.  For each time zone, there will be a different panel of judges.  (specific details t.b.a.) 

Artists María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Okwui Okpokwasili, and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs are launching a multifaceted art project that includes a three-minute art film, directed by Codie Elaine Oliver (Black Love, OWN Network) and narrated by Emmy and Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Alfre Woodard.

EXPO CHICAGO today announced the schedule and participants for Alternate Assembly: Environmental Impact in the Era of Pandemic (January 21–23, 2021), a three-day program that will virtually gather a global community of curators, artists, and scholars to address contemporary art's role in confronting the current climate crisis.

La MaMa has announced programming for January 2021. This month will feature In Process with Bobbi Jene Smith, a look at the artistic progress of Bobbi Jene Smith and the team behind her next work, Broken Theater.

Coming February 26, 2021, Los Angeles soul singer Chris Pierce’s new album, American Silence, has already gathered critical acclaim from NPR and Rolling Stone! 

Hell in a Handbag Productions has announced one additional week of performances of its streaming holiday hit The Rip Nelson Holiday Quarantine Special, now playing through January 17, 2021.

In celebration of Black History Month (Feb. 1- March 1) and the contributions African American artists have made in the community and to the greater culture, West Valley Arts is presenting Imprint: African Americans in the Arts, featuring five local artists, at Arts HQ Gallery, 16126 N. Civic Center Plaza.

The 2019 production of POSEIDON! An Upside-Down Musical was recorded by Peter Neville* in HD with stereo sound at Chicago's Edge Theater. POSEIDON! features book and lyrics by Handbag Artistic Director David Cerda*, music by David Cerda* with Scott Lamberty, direction by Derek Van Barham, music direction by Andrew Milliken and choreography by Breon Arzell.

In honor of what would have been the legendary and dearly missed Toots Hibbert's 78th birthday, Trojan Jamaica has released an exclusive, behind the scenes short of the making of his latest GRAMMY nominated album 'Got To Be Tough.'

Hell in a Handbag Productions will celebrate the holidays with the return of America’s favorite funnyman, Rip Nelson (Ed Jones*), in the star-studded world premiere of The Rip Nelson Holiday Quarantine Special, streaming from December 4, 2020 – January 9, 2021 via Vimeo.

Hell in a Handbag Productions celebrates the holidays with the return of America's favorite funnyman, Rip Nelson (Ed Jones*), in the star-studded world premiere of The Rip Nelson Holiday Quarantine Special, streaming from December 4, 2020 – January 9, 2021 via Vimeo.