Everyone is welcome to join the conversation at Breaking Glass: Hyperlinking Opera & Issues. This free public forum opens a door to frank discussion about race and diversity in opera. Topics will include how art is produced in an increasingly diversified America, and who has the right to tell whose story; the role of art in stimulating public discussion about racism and discrimination; and what roles social justice plays within the artistic mission of an opera company. All are welcome; and People of Color are encouraged to attend.
The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This production of Sweeney Todd remains faithful to the original Broadway show, and features an all-star cast, including Michael Mayes in his role debut as Sweeney Todd, and Maria Zifchak as Mrs. Lovett. Timothy Myers will conduct in a company debut, and Albert Sherman, who has directed Sweeney Todd under the mentorship of Harold Prince, will serve as production director.
Portland Opera is pleased to announce programming for the company's 55th season, scheduled to begin in November 2018. The season will launch with the recently announced "November classic" - Verdi's heartbreaking romance La Traviata - bringing opera back to Portland in the fall months. In March, Portland Opera will present Laura Kaminsky's brave and beautiful coming-of-age story, As One, where two voices, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone, share the role of the transgender heroine Hannah. The season will continue in the spring with the company's annual Big Night concert and a bright and vibrant production of Rossini's great Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In July, the company will present Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera for the first time, followed by the company premiere of Philip Glass's exploration of the nature of justice, In the Penal Colony, based on Franz Kafka's short story.
PATH New Music Theater, the upstart artist collective of composers, musicians, choreographers, and visual artists, proudly announces their debut work for the stage, Simulacrum, co-presented by the 3LD Art & Technology Center on June 8th, 9th, and 10th. A radically ambitious combination of opera, dance, and stunning visual technology, the work combines music of the five composers of PATH and one guest composer with three singers, six dancers, vivid projections, and interactive wearable technology. Based on the captivating Marianna Staroselsky original play Loved for Parts, the opera examines the fraught relationship between man and machine.
A special night filled with ballet at Bryant Park, featuring a master class led by American Ballet Theatre's Cynthia Harvey and Richard Toda, a discussion with ABT Principal Dancers Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo, and performances with CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet, Doug Baum & Artists, and Da' Von Doane & the Artists of the Shift!
Placido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, announced today that he has chosen the performers who will join LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2018/19 season. The artists were chosen from 650 applicants, 200 live auditions and, ultimately, 28 final candidates. The finalists auditioned in April for a panel led by Mr. Domingo that included Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco President and CEO Christopher Koelsch, the program's Artistic Advisor Susan Graham and Artistic Administrator Samuel Gelber, along with Stephen King, head of vocal instruction for the program, and Nino Sanikidze, head coach for the program.
Nederlands Dans Theater 2 will kick off its 2019 U.S. tour with a program of premieres at New York City Center, January 16 – 19, 2019. The program will feature three works: American and New York premieres by house choreographers Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, and an American premiere by associate choreographer Marco Goecke.
Two River Theater (TRT) is presenting 'Songbird' from June 9 to July 1 in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, it is written by Michael Kimmel with music and lyrics by Lauren Pritchard. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Deon'te Goodman who plays Rip in Songbird.
String quartet ETHEL, known for its enlivened playing and consistently groundbreaking redefinition of concert music, announces their landmark 20th anniversary season. Described as “an adventurous quartet with a rock band's zest” by The New York Times and deemed “a genre unto itself” by the Village Voice, ETHEL continues to set the standard for contemporary concert music. Celebrations begin with a June 20th benefit gala hosted by New Sound's John Schaefer, honoring ETHEL as well as fellow new music champions: Bang on a Can founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. ETHEL's 2018-19 season offers the New York premiere of Circus: Wandering City at the 2018 BAM Next Wave Festival, along with continued touring of the group's signature works: The River and Documerica. (Please scroll below for more details and complete 2018-19 schedule of events.)
String quartet ETHEL, known for its enlivened playing and consistently groundbreaking redefinition of concert music, announces their landmark 20th anniversary season. Described as "an adventurous quartet with a rock band's zest" by The New York Times and deemed "a genre unto itself" by the Village Voice, ETHEL continues to set the standard for contemporary concert music. Celebrations begin with a June 20th benefit gala hosted by New Sound's John Schaefer, honoring ETHEL as well as fellow new music champions: Bang on a Can founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. ETHEL's 2018-19 season offers the New York premiere of Circus: Wandering City at the 2018 BAM Next Wave Festival, along with continued touring of the group's signature works: The River and Documerica. (Please scroll below for more details and complete 2018-19 schedule of events.)
PATH New Music Theater, the upstart artist collective of composers, musicians, choreographers, and visual artists, proudly announces their debut work for the stage, Simulacrum, co-presented by the 3LD Art & Technology Center on June 8th, 9th, and 10th. A radically ambitious combination of opera, dance, and stunning visual technology, the work combines music of the five composers of PATH and one guest composer with three singers, six dancers, vivid projections, and interactive wearable technology. Based on the captivating Marianna Staroselsky original play Loved for Parts, the opera examines the fraught relationship between man and machine.
Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson announced that the company's 2018 Summer Festival will feature new productions of four operas at The Spa Little Theatre in Spa State Park, along with a wide variety of free and ticketed concert events from May 26 through July 15 at venues throughout the region.
Premiere violinist Anne Akiko Meyers returns to play with Pacific Symphony for "A Hero's Life" to close out the 2017-18 Classical series, joined by Concertmaster-Designate Dennis Kim.
Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto concludes a busy 2017 – 18 season of critically acclaimed performances with orchestras across the United States, Mexico, and Europe, including several important debuts. In his 12th season as Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), Prieto led the orchestra in its Carnegie Hall debut with a program honoring composer Philip Glass. Earlier in the season, Prieto made debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He builds on this success with a contract extension with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and by furthering his commitment to nurturing and guiding young musicians in performances in New York and Miami with Carnegie Hall's NYO2 initiative as well as the Orchestra of the Americas tour of Europe.
On April 12, 1963, Bob Dylan played his first major concert. It was at The Town Hall in New York City. It wasn't sold out - but those who were there witnessed a truly historic event.
Choreographer Jerome Robbins was born in New York City in 1918. On this, the occasion of what would be his 100th birthday, the New York City Ballet, for whom he choreographed and became Associate Artistic Director, presents Jerome Robbins 100 with five different programs. On Friday, May 18, 2018, I was in the David Koch Theater to see program #5.
Composer Thea Musgrave is celebrating these days. It's not just that she's marking her 90th birthday on May 27 with a concert in New York, but that the concert is showcasing a gaggle of world premieres, US premieres and NY premieres (along with more familiar works), which highlight her rich musical vocabulary and keen sense of drama.
The New York Philharmonic announces Foreign Bodies, a one-night-only multidisciplinary event conducted and hosted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, concluding his tenure as The Marie-Jos e Kravis Composer-in-Residence. The concert, Friday, June 8, 2018, at 8:00 p.m., will feature Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies, accompanied by the World Premiere of a live video installation by Tal Rosner; Dan el Bjarnason's Violin Concerto, with Pekka Kuusisto in his New York Philharmonic debut; and Obsidian Tear, a dance work choreographed by Wayne McGregor performed by members of the Boston Ballet (Philharmonic debut) and set to Mr. Salonen's Nyx and Lachen verlernt. Foreign Bodies will be casual and multi-sensory; drinks and conversation will flow as attendees mingle with the performers, who will give additional impromptu performances throughout the event.
