The Colorado Music Festival today announced the appointment of conductor Peter Oundjian as its next Music Director. He is the fourth person to hold this title in the 42-year history of the festival, which is held for six weeks each year at the Colorado Chautauqua, a National Historic Landmark at the foot of the rugged Flatirons. Mr. Oundjian led the 2018 festival as Artistic Advisor, and his appointment as Music Director was announced along with the festival's 2019 season, which runs from June 27 to August 3 and explores the legacy of Beethoven.
Artistic Director and Chair of the CSULB Theatre Arts Department Jeff Janisheski continues his 3rd season strengthening partnerships with artists in our community. This season features artists from across the creative spectrum: Welcoming professional directors such has Ovation-nominated Kari Hayter and Bootleg Theater co-founder Jessica Hanna, and Bruce A Lemon Jr., Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater. Jeff Janisheski says, "Cal Rep's spring season celebrates community: those that are already in our orbit, the new voices we champion, and the community partners and artists we want to work with."
On Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 7:30pm, Bang on a Can will present the 2019 Bang on a Can People's Commissioning Fund (PCF) concert, one of the most anticipated and reliable launching pads for composers in New York and beyond. The performance is presented as part of Kaufman Music Center's Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall (Kaufman Music Center, 129 W. 67th St.) and a New Sounds Live co-presentation with host John Schaefer, streamed live at www.newsounds.org.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast and creative team for Metamorphoses. This co-production with the Guthrie Theater is led by nationally and internationally renowned writer and director Mary Zimmerman.
Violinist, singer, composer and producer Emily Wells confirms the release of her forthcoming album, This World Is Too ____ For You, due March 22 on her label Thesis & Instinct—pre-order the album here.
Live from Here with Chris Thile confirms the guest lineup for its performance in Los Angeles at The Wiltern on February 1 as well as shows in Durham, Chicago and Detroit. The shows feature special guests Jenny Lewis, Andrew Bird, Sarah Silverman, Lord Huron, Jason Isbell, Death Cab for Cutie, Tank and the Bangas, Eighth Blackbird and more.
Long Beach Opera believes that discussions inspired by art should extend beyond the lobby of the theater. For this reason, LBO is using its 40th anniversary season theme, Justice, as a catalyst to present its brand new five-event series called Community Conversations February 9 through June 6.
Opera Omaha's ONE Festival returns March 30 - April 14, 2019 with new explorations and exciting work that exemplify innovation and the power of opera. Led by Omaha native and Opera Omaha General Director Roger Weitz (Chicago Opera Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and Festival Artistic Director James Darrah, ONE amplifies the Omaha creative spirit by curating a cadre of interdisciplinary, world-class artists to rethink how contemporary opera is made. Each of the festival's handpicked creatives is an Artist-in-Residence, partnering across mediums to push beyond operatic norms. Together they bring to life two staged operas, a performance series exploring the operatic form, and various films, lectures, and intimate pop-up classical concert experiences.
On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, American Composers Orchestra (ACO) celebrates four individuals - true forces of nature - who have effected change in the American musical landscape at its annual Gala: Jon Deak, Founder & Artistic Director of New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers; violinist Jennifer Koh; composer and conductor Tania Leon; and Frederick Wertheim, ACO Board Chairman.
Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The Glimmerglass Festival: Blue by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson on Monday, February 11, 2019 at 7:30pm.
Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The Glimmerglass Festival: Blue by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompsonon Monday, February 11, 2019 at 7:30pm.
Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times),” The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)
Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)
Kronos Quartet brings its touring program Music for Change: The Banned Countries to New York, presented by Carnegie Hall at Zankel Hall on Friday, February 8 (9 pm), and Washington, DC, presented by Washington Performing Arts at Sixth & I on Saturday, March 2 (8 pm).
National Sawdust continues its fourth season, HEAR IT NEW!, this spring. The organization expands its commitment to the local and national arts scenes through presentations by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, and expands its mission beyond its physical walls through a new series.
The Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, located on the Gold Coast of Long Island, New York, will present four magical concerts on February 2, April 6, July 13 and October 5, 2019, followed by themed dinners in four stunning locations across the Preserve. The former Guggenheim Estate's historic mansions and waterfront grounds are the backdrop. Each concert is a unique program of chamber music and poetry, inspired by themes throughout the year.
In Music for Change: The Banned Countries—a program that highlights the rich diversity of artistic voices from Muslim majority countries—Kronos Quartet explores musical traditions and soundscapes from more than ten predominantly Muslim nations, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The concert on Friday, February 8 at 9:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall features Iranian vocalist and activist Mahsa Vahdat.
Originally released in early 2000 by Beggars Banquet, Lushlife album peaked at No. 14 on the CMJ Top 200 chart and No. 11 on the Core Radio chart. Nearly two years in the making, Lushlife, in what would become the band's final album, took even greater strides forward from previous releases. The album teems with atomized sounds, each one opening a portal in the mix, importing a haze of space and history, evoking the distant buzz of the city beyond the studio. Throughout, gilded strings build, sway and exhale, plugging the music into the sumptuous melancholy of Philly soul, the emotive Mancini-inspired arrangements of Gaye and Mayfield and the edgy soundtrack scores of David Shire. Yet with all the experiment and variation, Lushlife is actually quite a deliberate and enticing affair for the ear and mind.
Preludes and Nocturnes welcomes the listener into a sonic environment that evokes Bach and Chopin through to Philip Glass, Steve Reich and John Cage. A cascade of pieces - varying from one, two or three performers - unites with stunning visuals by projection artist Jim Walter in a breathtaking and transportive experience.
Spring activities for the Centennial, which continues through all of 2019, include a wide range of performances, film screenings, discussions, education initiatives, community programming, and new works by other artists in conversation with Merce Cunningham's work.
