Philip Glass News

Diablo Ballet presents the final program of its 2017-18 Season with Celebrated Masters, May 4-5th at the Del Valle Theatre in Walnut Creek. 

As many of you know, Arena Stage's Artistic Director Molly Smith has been very active on a number of national social issues, including LGBT rights and gun control in addition to her exemplary artistic work. In this way, perhaps it's only natural that the headliner at this year's Arena Stage Gala on May 10th is not only a great singer/songwriter, but also an accomplished speaker and humanitarian.

Continuing a long tradition of presenting world-class performances to The University of Texas at Austin and the Central Texas community, Texas Performing Arts unveils the 2018-19 Essential Series season. This is the 10th since the renovation of Bass Concert and changing our name to Texas Performing Arts.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) today unveiled its 2018-19 season lineup honoring heritage artists and featuring pioneering champions for social justice and diverse world views in bold programs by leading innovators and acknowledged masters in contemporary dance, music, theater and spoken word.

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the bellydancers and fire performers of Raks Inferno are teaming up with singer-songwriter Dawn Xiana Moon to present a celebration of Asian-Americans in the performing arts: The one-night cabaret show will feature live firespinning and bellydance at Uptown Underground on Thursday, May 3 from Chicago-based dancers who have performed all over the world, as well as premiere Moon's latest music video, an original arrangement of a traditional Chinese folk song.

Molissa Fenley and Company, in collaboration with percussionist Frank Cassara and violist Ralph Farris, will present an evening of dance and live music, with scores by four contemporary composers. The program features four dances from Fenley's Water Table, three of which are New York premieres. The program also includes a new configuration of Fenley's 1979 work Mix. Performances are June 21–23 (Thursday–Saturday) at 8pm, at Danspace Project, 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003.

Grand Band, a New York-based "supergroup" (New York Times) formed by pianists Erika Dohi, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore and Isabelle O'Connell, makes its Midwest debut at the Ordway Concert Hall on Wednesday, May 16. Their performance features the world premiere of Three Fragile Systems by Missy Mazzoli alongside music by Julius Eastman, Michael Gordon, Paul Kerekes and Kate Moore.

The York Symphony Orchestra will present Back in the USSR on Saturday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Appell Center for the Performing Arts in York. The performance features guest artist, Katherine Pracht, a talented mezzo-soprano who won the "Outstanding Mezzo Award" in the Metropolitan Opera Competition. Single tickets starting at $9 for adults and $5 for students are available online at www.YorkSymphony.org or by calling 717-846-1111.

Composer Gene Pritsker presents a concert of his vocal music. 'I have written many chamber operas, various chamber music with voice, jazz songs, r&b songs, choral music and songs inspired by various genres and cultures. I thought it would be great to have a concert that features my eclectic vocal compositions. I assembled a group of great singers and picked repertoire that will feature each of their voices as well as combine them to perform some of my choral music.'

Peak Performances presents the world premiere of Spinning, a collaborative musical work written and composed by Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellow Julia Wolfe (Anthracite Fields, 2015), and conceived with "cello goddess" (The New Yorker) Maya Beiser, with multimedia projections by innovative artist Laurie Olinder (May 10-13). Commissioned by Peak Performances and culminating their season of works by women, Spinning considers the essential labor of spinning thread-work once performed by hand by women-paying homage to the human dignity of this "women's work."

On Saturday, May 5, 2018 at 7pm, Utopia Opera closes its 7th season with the US premiere of The Martyr of Antioch, a dramatic oratorio with music by Arthur Sullivan and words adapted by the composer and W.S Gilbert, in concert with orchestra, organ, choir, and soloists at Rutgers Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NYC. The leading soloists are Alexis Cregger, Adam Klein, Caroline Tye, & Duncan Hartman and Utopia founder William Remmers conducts. This performance marks the world premiere of the first-ever critical edition of the score, edited by Robin Gordon-Powell & Martin Wright. Tickets ranging from $20 - $100 are available online and at the door. Tickets are available online at: utopiasullivan.brownpapertickets.com

The Hungarian State Opera and Hungarian National Ballet, which will make their U.S. debuts October 30-November 11, announces that tickets are on sale beginning April 16, casting for its four operas and three ballets, and gala performance program. 

One of the great singers of her generation, renowned for her extraordinary voice and musical versatility, American opera singer and recitalist Jessye Norman has been chosen as The Twelfth Glenn Gould Prize Laureate.  Throughout her career, the sheer size, power and luster of her voice has shared equal acclaim with that of her thoughtful music-making, innovative programming of the classics, and fervent advocacy of contemporary music.  More than forty years after making her operatic debut, Jessye Norman continues to maintain a busy performance schedule, now concentrating on recitals and concerts.

The Martha Graham Dance Company's spring NEW@Graham features a look inside two works that are new to the Company: Lucinda Childs' Histoire and Lar Lubovitch's The Legend of Ten.

Choreographer Lydia Johnson will present her Lydia Johnson Dance in a program of new and repertory works to music by contemporary masters Henryk Gorecki and Philip Glass, as well as the trio sonatas of Handel.  The season's premiere will be a group work for the Company's eight resident dancers joined by four apprentices, and set to music by one of the choreographer's favorite composers, Henryk Gorecki.

Wendy Wasserstein's witty, award-winning comedy, The Sisters Rosensweig, wraps up the 2017-18 season at South Coast Repertory. The production, directed by Casey Stangl, runs May 5-June 2 on the Segerstrom Stage. Tickets are now available at www.scr.org.

Geoff Nuttall, Spoleto Festival USA's Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director for Chamber Music, today announced details of the Festival's 2018 Bank of America Chamber Music series, which comprises 11 programs—33 total concerts—throughout the Festival season (May 25 - June 10). A backbone of the Festival since 1977, the series presents performances twice daily at Charleston's historic Dock Street Theatre, and its diverse repertoire reflects Mr. Nuttall's eclectic tastes and passion for music within and beyond the traditional canon.

While the most recent show of TITAS Presents may be over, the dance scene at the AT&T Performing Arts Center is far from winding down.

Northrop announces its 2018-19 Dance Season featuring 10 remarkable dance companies, including the return of audience favorites American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. The season's three ballet presentations will all feature live music, including a special partnership with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A special copresentation with Walker Art Center presents an ice-dancing group for the season finale.

National Sawdust+ will present "On the Frontlines" at National Sawdust, the Brooklyn based arts incubator, on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The one-night only event, curated for the series by Elena Park, brings Mariana Sadovska - the "Ukrainian Bjork" - and Emmy-nominated genre-bending composer, violinist, and arts leader Daniel Bernard Roumain together for an evening that examines war and resistance through the lens of performing arts, especially music. Both of these critically acclaimed composer-musicians will perform and discuss their work during this presentation.