Philip Glass News

Composer Robert Sirota is curating a new season-long series at National Sawdust (80 N 6th St). Titled Bridging the Gap, the series will feature concerts of chamber, choral, and solo works which Sirota has crafted to explore the student/teacher, mentor/mentee relationships between generations of composers. Each concert will be preceded by a discussion with composer mentors, mentees, and performers, led by a distinguished thought leader. The concerts themselves will include performances of works by both younger composers and the teachers who have influenced their development.

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final casting information for LA Opera's new production of Akhnaten by Philip Glass. A co-production with English National Opera, Akhnaten is conducted by Artist in Residence Matthew Aucoin and staged by British director Phelim McDermott.  Check out a sneak peek below!

Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) presents a concert by genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider on Friday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Flushing Town Hall in Queens. The concert is the second performance in 5BMF's tenth anniversary season of bringing world-class, affordable chamber music to every borough in New York City.

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater, announced today the organization's programming for its 2017 spring/summer season, kicking off with the sensational ballet star Wendy Whelan and in-demand contemporary dance choreographer Brian Brooks' second collaboration, Some of a Thousand Words, set to live music performed by the extraordinary string quartet, Brooklyn Rider.

For the 2016-2017 season, Carnegie Hall has appointed Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair.

 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, with soloists and orchestra, opens its 92nd season at Alice Tully Hall. For one night only, Dessoff presents We Remember including Mozart's Requiem and contemporary choral works reflecting on the lives of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and paying tribute to composer Steven Stucky, a champion of new music.

Celebrating the themes of expression and unity amidst the dynamic diversity of South Florida and the United States just four days before the Presidential election, Pulse: Late Night at the New World Symphony will ask guests to dress to "express themselves" and come together at the iconic multimedia cultural event Friday, November 4, 2016, at the New World Center (500 17th Street).

The Chicago Humanities Festival is moving full speed ahead towards the 27th annual Fallfest, releasing its full line-up of events. Fallfest/16: Speed will feature more than 100 events by prominent artists, authors, historians, scientists, and cultural commentators including Dan Savage, Maureen Dowd, Trevor Noah, and Jonathan Lethem.

New Amsterdam Records is excited to announce the release of Dance Music, the sophomore album from The Living Earth Show. A Bay Area new music initiative comprised of electric guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionistAndy Meyerson —The Living Earth Show works to serve as a megaphone and canvas for some of the world's most progressive artists; the duo commissions, curates, organizes, and promotes composers to help them realize their most ambitious creative visions. On Dance Music, the duo brings to life works inspired by and intended for dance by Christopher Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, Nicole Lizée, Jonathan Pfeffer, and Anna Meredith. The album is now available for purchase from Bandcamp, iTunes, and Amazon.

The Living Earth Show — a Bay Area new music initiative comprised of electric guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson — will release its sophomore album Dance Music October 28 on New Amsterdam Records. 

The debut Adelaide Festival from Artistic Directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy will mark a return to artistic works on a grand scale, with epic opera, theatrical spectacle under the stars and the biggest and most ambitious Festival hub in the event's history all set to dazzle in the 2017 program.

Artistic Director Julie Kent is pleased to announce details of her first-ever commissioned work, Frontier (working title), choreographed by Ethan Stiefel for The Washington Ballet. The work is inspired by President Kennedy and his aspirations for America as a leader of artistic, cultural and intellectual excellence. His historic May 25, 1961 "urgent needs" address to the United States Congress serves as the impetus for this work. This speech launched what became a legacy in U.S. space travel and exploration with a determination for the United States to be the first to land a man on the moon. The President and First Lady focused national attention on the role of the arts in a country and the need for a nation to represent itself through its art. They also encouraged the development of Washington as a cultural center. The President was an advocate for America's ability to educate and develop individuals in cultural, intellectual and artistic endeavors.

San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the thirteen recipients of the 2017 Adler Fellowship. Nine singers, three pianist/apprentice coaches and one director will take part in the program-a multi-year performance-oriented residency offering advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Adler Fellows are selected from the young artists who have participated in the Merola Opera Program. The prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 175 young artists since its inception.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (a comedy with music), opens October 21 and runs until November 12 at the Belrose Theater with performances on Friday and Saturdays at 8pm and matinees most Saturdays at 2pm. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.marinonstage.org or at the door. Ticket prices are $20 for General, $18 for Seniors, $15 for Students. PETER AND THE STARCATCHER is family friendly and will delight adults and children alike. Tickets available at http://marinonstage.org/starcatcher.html

Chicago's historic Studebaker Theater will become the home of live opera with a contemporary adaptation of Henry Purcell's 1692 "The Fairy Queen," a reimagining of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" presented by Chicago Opera Theater (COT) beginning November 5.

The New York City Classical Guitar Society is proud to join with Guitar Plus in presenting the extraordinarily versatile guitarist/composer David Leisner with the expressive, dynamic vocalist Michael Kelly in Leisner's arrangement of Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin

John Tiffany returns to the West End for the first time since the international critical hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two, to bring his acclaimed production of The Glass Menagerie to the Duke of York's Theatre for a limited season.

New this season, LA Opera presents After Hours: A Musical Nocturne, a post-show, late-night concert series featuring classical and contemporary music, performed along with rock and jazz selections. The series will be hosted and curated by Artist in Residence Matthew Aucoin and will feature music ranging from Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler and Francis Poulenc to Bruce Springsteen, Nick Drake and Radiohead. Taking place immediately following select opera performances, these events will feature an array of artists performing in the intimate setting of the Founders Room, located on the second floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012).

The Living Earth Show - a Bay Area new music initiative comprised of electric guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson - will release its sophomore album Dance Music October 28 on New Amsterdam Records.  To celebrate the album, the group will perform in New York City on October 21 at National Sawdust.

American Lyric Theater (ALT) and Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, in partnership with MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), presents The Halloween Tree on October 30, 2016 at 3pm in the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, 129 W 67th Street, New York City.  Based on Ray Bradbury's classic novel that explores the origins of Halloween, composer Theo Popov and librettist Tony Asaro take us on an epic journey as a group of children search for their friend Pipkin, who has mysteriously disappeared on Halloween night. Conductor: Adam Turner. Featuring Mark S. Doss as Moundshroud; with Emma Grimsley, Shirin Eskandani, Spencer Viator, Brian Wallin, Michael Kelly, and Jarrett Porter with members of MasterVoices.