Paul Plishka News

I caught up with rising star bass-baritone Christian Van Horn the other day, to find out what the devil was going on with his starring role in the Met's first performance of Arrigo Boito's MEFISTOFELE in almost 20 years. Were you nervous as hell (pun intended) on the first night, I asked Van Horn, winner of this year's prestigious Richard Tucker Award, in your role as the Devil?

On Saturday, December 1st at 8:00 PM, the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, led by accomplished conductor, Father Alphonse Stephenson, will be bringing holiday spirit and cheer once again to the Union County Performing Arts Center. This performance will be early on in the Orchestra's December tour of New Jersey, and it has become a yearly must-see show for dedicated fans at the center.

Noted conductor Jason Tramm will lead the  Axelrod Performing Arts Center's upcoming benefit concert "Any Dream Will Do" headlining the Tony award winning actress Christine Ebersole with featured soloists Gary Mauer, one of Broadway's Phantoms, Jim Schubin, who starred in Newsies at the Axelrod, and soprano Claire Leyden. The concert, which takes place at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center on Saturday Evening, October 13 in Deal, New Jersey will support the Axelrod PAC's Education Programming.

Returning to the Morgan Park Summer Music Festival to lead the Long Island Concert Orchestra, following their opening concert of the festival's 59th Season earlier this season, Jason Tramm will conduct 'Music from the Stage and Screen' with featured soloists Claire Leyden, soprano and Jordan Weatherton Pitts, tenor.

Nearly a decade ago a story ran in NJ's most widely circulated print newspaper which opened with the statement "New Jersey doesn't have a state music director, but it would seem that Jason Tramm is out to create the position… as he leads opera, choral and orchestral concerts from Morris County to Ocean Grove." Prescient in their observations, The Star Ledger's 2009 article provided a snapshot of Tramm at the beginning of his career.  In spirit, the image resonates today, albeit with a decidedly expanded geographic reach.

Noted American conductor Jason Tramm takes the podium as the newly appointed Music Director of the Taghkanic Chorale in works by Gabriel Faure and George Frederik Handel on Tuesday August 7 for the chorale's annual concert event "Summer Sing."  The concert heralds the Westchester county based Taghkanic Chorale's fifty second season, with Gabriel Faure's Requiem and a selection of popular choruses from G.F. Handel's Judas Maccabeus. The concert is designed to engage the audience and invites singers of all ages to sing with the Taghkanic Chorale and meet Maestro Tramm in reception afterwards.  Pianist Laura Ravotti will accompany the performance.

Noted American conductor Jason Tramm takes the podium as the newly appointed Music Director of the Taghkanic Chorale in works by Gabriel Faure and George Frederik Handel on Tuesday August 7 for the chorale's annual concert event "Summer Sing."

Celebrating their 45th anniversaries in residence in Ocean Grove, tenor Ronald Naldi and organist Gordon Turk will each perform with the MidAtlantic Orchestra, Jason Tramm, and conductor. Mr. Naldi will sing favorite operatic arias by Puccini, Leoncavallo, and Ponchielli. Dr Turk will open the program with the Concerto in A Minor by Marco Enrico Bossi and later plat the grand Symphony No. 1 by Alexander Guilmant for organ and orchestra, both accompanied by the MidAtlantic Opera Orchestra conducted by Jason Tramm.

Celebrating their 45th anniversaries in residence in Ocean Grove, tenor Ronald Naldi and organist Gordon Turk will each perform with the MidAtlantic Orchestra, Jason Tramm, and conductor. Mr. Naldi will sing favorite operatic arias by Puccini, Leoncavallo, and Ponchielli. Dr Turk will open the program with the Concerto in A Minor by Marco Enrico Bossi and later plat the grand Symphony No. 1 by Alexander Guilmant for organ and orchestra, both accompanied by the MidAtlantic Opera Orchestra conducted by Jason Tramm.

The stars align on August 2nd at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium for an evening of spectacular music making as noted American conductor Jason C. Tramm leads the 65-member MidAtlantic Opera Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera tenor Ronald Naldi, and renown musician soloists, organist Gordon Turk and violinist Byung Kook Kwak in a concert which promises to be nothing less than stellar. 'Grand Orchestra Finale' concludes the acclaimed Ocean Grove classical concert series 'Summer Stars' which runs throughout July and early August with its traditional orchestral show stopper.

The 64th Ocean Grove Choir Festival, the largest sacred music choral event on the East Coast, will take place Sunday July 8th, 7PM at the historic 6,500 seat Great Auditorium under the baton of noted American conductor Jason Tramm. Tramm, who has been at the helm of this spectacular annual festival for over a decade, serves as conductor and steward of Ocean Grove's signature sacred music festival which has historically featured many of the finest choral and oratorio societies from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania - and as far ranging as Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Louisiana - together with renowned soloists, musicians, composers and guest conductors.

Tickets go on sale today for the Met's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning Live in HD series' 2017-18 season, which begins on October 7 with the company's new production of Bellini's Norma.

Noted American conductor Jason Tramm and the Long Island Concert Orchestra will launch the 59th Season of the Morgan Park Summer Music Festival on Sunday July 1st in Glen Cove, New York. The concert program entitled Americana will feature a dynamic and dazzling selection of great American music performed by the Long Island Concert Orchestra (LICO). Accompanying the orchestra will be internationally renowned soloists soprano Indira Mahajan and baritone Jorell Williams.

Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met continues Sunday, May 20 on PBS (check local listings) with one of the world's most popular operas, Puccini's La Bohème, starring Sonya Yoncheva as the fragile Mimì and Michael Fabiano as the poet Rodolfo.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2017-2018 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven Symphony #9 on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC. Tickets are $30-$100 and are available at www.nationalchorale.com, or by calling (212) 333-5333.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2017-2018 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven Symphony #9 on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

Elizabeth Caballero will perform the role of Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème for tonight's performance, March 2 at 8:00 p.m., replacing Sonya Yoncheva who is ill.

The Warner Theatre's Met Opera Live in HD Season continues in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre on Saturday, February 24 at 12:30 pm with Puccini's LA BOHÈME. A complimentary 45 minute pre-opera lecture by Dr. Marguerite Mullee will be offered in the Studio Lobby two hours before the broadcast.

The Adelphi Orchestra, now in its 64th season of Music for All, presents 'Power and Majesty' with works by Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Faure under the baton of AO Artistic Director Jason Tramm on Sunday, January 28th at 2PM, at the Pascack Valley Regional High School Auditorium.

Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHEME will play at The Metropolitan Opera through March of 2018, and the critics are weighing in!