Houston, December 17, 2013 – The opening months of 2014 bring into focus the strengths of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), which launches the new year with an extraordinary line-up. This comprises the world premieres of three important new commissions —Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve “must-see opera events of the season” (Opera News), and two works exploring Houston's Vietnamese and Indian communities, courtesy of HGO's award-winning Song of Houston project; the hotly anticipated American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's long-suppressed Holocaust opera, The Passenger, in the production that took Europe by storm; the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by Catalan's La Fura dels Baus; a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; a revival of Rigoletto; and a restaged production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi. As the Houston Press recently noted, “Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers is thinking bigger than ever.”
START HERE collaborates with composer/musician Tyondai Braxton and Le Poisson Rouge to present Philippines Benefit Concert for Typhoon Haiyan on Thursday, December 19 at 8:00 PM at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, NYC). The night features performances by legendary composer Philip Glass, Tyondai Braxton + Ben Vida, Prefuse 73, Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof, Dan Friel of Parts & Labor, DJ Jon Santos and special guests to be announced. This one-night-only benefit concert brings aid to the Philippines in response to super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). All proceeds will benefit A Single Drop (ASD), a Philippines-based NGO dedicated to shaping mid- to long-term aid in water and sanitation, as well as sustainable strategies for shelter, food security and livelihood.
First Look, Museum of the Moving Image's annual showcase for inventive new international cinema, returns for its third year with a program of 16 films from 10 countries, to be presented on weekends from January 10 through 19, 2014. First Look opens on Friday, January 10, with the U.S. premiere of Alexandre Rockwell's Little Feet, a charming and bittersweet tale of two young siblings on their own, starring Rockwell's own children Nico and Lana; all three will appear in person with the screening. Closing Night on Sunday, January 19, will be the U.S. premiere of Antonin Peretjatko's The Rendez Vous of Deja Vu (La fille du 14 Juillet), a colorful and freewheeling romantic burlesque, with shades of French New Wave and Monty Python, set amidst a beach vacation in France; Peretjatko will appear in person. Featured countries for other First Look films are Canada, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Ireland, Peru, Spain, and the United Kingdom. All of the films have played to acclaim at international film festivals, and all are New York premieres and many are U.S. premieres. Many of the filmmakers will be present for post-screening discussions.
New York, NY — Cellist Maya Beiser will participate in the Rubin Museum of Art's Brainwave: Mind Over Matter series with cognitive psychologist Jamshed Barucha on Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 6pm at the Rubin Museum of Art (150 West 17th Street). Maya will perform composer Michael Harrison's Just Ancient Loops, a 25-minute piece with a film by Bill Morrison, and will converse with Barucha, the President of Cooper Union, about tonality and what effect music has on our psyche and wellbeing. The seventh annual Brainwave, a series of on-stage conversations, films and experiences, explores the role the brain plays in helping us overcome adversity, survive tests of endurance, and understand faith.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton will continue Season 36 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, tonight, December 12-15, 2013. Click below for a sneak peek at ONE THOUSAND PIECES!
On Saturday, February 1 at 8:00 p.m., internationally renowned Greek singer, Eleftheria Arvanitaki makes her Carnegie Hall debut bringing a distinctive blend of the urban folk music genre rebetiko and contemporary Greek music to Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. In addition to her reputation for seamlessly transitioning between these genres, Arvanitaki is also well known for high energy live performances and eclectic collaborations, including her interpretations of the works of contemporary composers and poets whose works she sets to music.
Recognized for its chic artistry, explosive power and originality, Canada's widely acclaimed contemporary repertory dance company Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal (BJM) rings in the new year at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, January 16-18, 2014. Under the artistic direction of Louis Robitaille, BJM consistently delivers sophisticated, technically stunning works by the world's most renowned choreographers. With "the energy of a tsunami with stamina to spare" (Los Angeles Times), the company is among the dance world's elite - coolly stylized, athletic and refined.
The Little Orchestra Society presents Music Under the Big Top, an evening of entertainment and musical acrobatics for audiences of all ages at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center on December 10, 2013. This first of its kind program for The Little Orchestra Society, conducted and co-hosted by new Music Director James Judd, will feature the Orchestra performing an eclectic array of classic and contemporary pieces in the ring of the Big Apple Circus joined by the talented violinist and composer Daniel Roumain. See Judd andRoumain discuss the upcoming concert on The Little Orchestra Society's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleOrchestraSoc.
NEW YORK (For Release 10/24/13) —Pianist Aleck Karis presents a one-night only concert dedicated to late works of the iconoclastic composer Morton Feldman. As an extension of Karis's latest album Wolpe, Feldman & Webern (Bridge Records), this performance casts the composer in a fresh light by showcasing music written by Feldman's teacher, Stefan Wolpe, as well as Wolpe's teacher, Anton Webern. Program opens with solo piano works including Feldman's Piano and Palais de Mari juxtaposed with Wolpe's Form, Form IV and Webern's Piano Variations, culminating with Feldman's Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello featuring special guest artists Curt Macomber (violin), Danielle Farina (viola) and Chris Finckel (cello).
The five-time Grammy-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus-Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director, and Valerie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director and Principal Conductor-- will present two holiday concerts, today, December 6 and the 22nd at First Congregational Church in Berkeley and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, respectively.
Faith & Culture at Annunciation Church will present Tastemakers & Pioneers featuring Composer/Pianist Michael Harrison on Everything in Good Measure: Ancient Greek Principles of Tuning and Their Relevance to Music. Featuring a screening of 'Just Ancient Loops' - a collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison and cellist Maya Beiser on Friday, December 6, 2013 at 7pm.
The Little Orchestra Society presents Music Under the Big Top, an evening of entertainment and musical acrobatics for audiences of all ages at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center on December 10, 2013. This first of its kind program for The Little Orchestra Society, conducted and co-hosted by new Music Director James Judd, will feature the Orchestra performing an eclectic array of classic and contemporary pieces in the ring of the Big Apple Circus joined by the talented violinist and composer Daniel Roumain. See Judd andRoumain discuss the upcoming concert on The Little Orchestra Society's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleOrchestraSoc.
Following its tremendously successful gala in November—which featured some of the world's top ballet stars from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet—and annual Nutcracker performances, Ballet San Jose will open its first repertory season planned by new Artistic Director José Manuel Carreño February 14-16 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.
Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, and Rebecca Robertson, President and Executive Producer, Park Avenue Armory, today announced that the two organizations will co-present The Passenger, Mieczyslaw Weinberg's uncompromising 1968 opera about the Holocaust, performed by Houston Grand Opera and directed by David Pountney, in its New York premiere performances July 10, 12 and 13 at Lincoln Center Festival 2014. Pountney's production will have its U.S. premiere on January 18, 2014 at Houston Grand Opera.
Paris celebrates Robert Wilson. In November, he will be directing famed dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov and world-renowned actor Willem Dafoe in The Old Woman, an adaptation of the work by Russian author Daniil Kharms, at Theatre de la Ville and Christopher Knowles in The Sundance Kid is Beautiful at The Louvre. Mr. Wilson will be the Louvre's artist in residence from mid-November 2013 to mid-February 2014 with exhibitions of Living Rooms and his voom portraits of Lady Gaga. In December, his Peter Pan with the Berliner Ensemble will be at Theatre de la Ville, and in January, his iconic opera with Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach, will return to Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet. In February, his Madama Butterfly will be at the Paris Opera Bastille. Honored in France as Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur, he is a member of the Arts Arena Advisory Council and will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University in November.
In the New York Philharmonic's concerts this week celebrating the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, tenors Dominic Armstrong, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Michael Slattery will replace Paul Appleby, who has withdrawn due to illness. On November 21-22, 2013, Michael Slattery will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and tenor Dominic Armstrong will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Spring Symphony. The concert on November 23 will feature tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in both works, and he will sing the Serenade on November 26 on a program that also includes Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, Jupiter.
The world of music is a vast place indeed, with room for what seems to be an endless mix of styles – everything from aboriginal drum melodies to esoteric computer scores. After about four decades of the musical avant-garde, in the late 1960s and early 1970s a style known as “minimalism” emerged in which the continuous repetition of simple musical elements (or one basic phrase) became the basis for a complete score. New names soon arrived on the scene, including Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams, among others. Also, a single overriding idea managed to prevail, at least for a time: it seems they all sought to escape from the spectacular, ultra-modern din (some say “noise”), reaching for a kinder, gentler manner of serious music.
Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a celebration of the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten. The program will include Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, featuring tenor Paul Appleby and Philharmonic Principal Horn Philip Myers, and Britten's Spring Symphony, with soprano Kate Royal (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Philharmonic subscription debut), tenor Paul Appleby, New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus directed by Dianne Berkun-Menaker. The concerts, which include a performance on the composer's 100th birthday, November 22, will take place tonight, November 21, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Since its founding in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Arts Club has been a hub for risk-taking theater artists from around the globe. La MaMa will celebrate their 2013 season of performances with a gala honoring two pillars of arts journalism: former Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and publisher Patsy Tarr of 2wice. Throughout their long careers, these two individuals have carved out a voice for the arts, championing countless artists working across platforms.
