Rinde Eckert News

'What the hell was that?' an opera fan asked her friend as we shuffled into a parking-garage elevator. Not an easily answered question after a viewing of AGING MAGICIAN. Ambiguity abounds and reality is mixed with fantasy. The reality side is clear, mostly. Harold is a middle-aged watch repairman who lives alone. Although repairs pay the rent, they've been neglected because he can't stop thinking about the plot of a book he's been writing in which an aging magician worries his marvelous tricks won't outlive him. As he seeks a capable heir for his book of secrets, he collapses and is rushed to a hospital.

San Diego Opera's 2021-2022 will close with the West Coast Premiere of Aging Magician a hybrid opera/theatre piece that combines singing, choral work, puppetry, and performance art to create an incredibly unique theatrical experience. Originally scheduled for our 2019-2020 season, and postponed because of COVID-19, San Diego Opera is delighted to finally be able to reschedule this opera for this season.

Kronos Quartet returns to New York City with a performance in Zankel Hall on Saturday, April 23 at 9:30 p.m. The ensemble makes a timely statement with an eclectic program featuring George Crumb’s Black Angels, the iconic work that inspired the founding of the ensemble. The piece is a powerful parable written in response to the Vietnam War, scored for amplified string quartet with percussive sounds, spoken-word passages, and other special effects.

Gounod’s overture introduces ROMEO AND JULIET with a prophetic mix of lyrical romance and tragedy. Yves Abel, the Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera, is an expert in French opera and made sure that resonant brass and lush strings produced the mood a Parisian composer of the time would have favored. The quick pace was especially important in a five-act opera some productions turn into a turgid ordeal. No chance of that with Abel leading the San Diego Symphony.

On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 9:30pm, Carnegie Hall presents the renowned Kronos Quartet at Zankel Hall. Their program features George Crumb's Black Angels, the iconic work that inspired the founding of the ensemble, and the New York premiere of a suite from composer Jonathan Berger and librettist Harriet Scott Chessman's opera Mỹ Lai – both written as responses to injustices that occurred during the Vietnam War.

On Friday, April 23, 2022 at 9:30pm, Carnegie Hall presents the renowned Kronos Quartet at Zankel Hall.

On Friday, May 20, 2022, the renowned Kronos Quartet releases the world premiere recording of Mỹ Lai, the acclaimed opera composed by Jonathan Berger with libretto by Harriet Scott Chessman, on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

San Diego Opera's 2021 2022 will close with the West Coast Premiere of Aging Magician a hybrid opera/theatre piece that combines singing, choral work, puppetry, and performance art to create an incredibly unique theatrical experience.

San Diego Opera's 2021-2022 will close with the West Coast Premiere of Aging Magician a hybrid opera/theatre piece that combines singing, choral work, puppetry, and performance art to create an incredibly unique theatrical experience. Originally scheduled for our 2019-2020 season, and postponed because of COVID-19, San Diego Opera is delighted to finally be able to reschedule this opera for this season.

The San Francisco–based Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association presents Kronos Festival, Kronos’ seventh annual music festival, at SFJAZZ Center on April 7–9, 2022. 

Following a four-week workshop production last September, legendary performance artist John Fleck's latest work will get a full, world premiere production in 2022. it's alive, IT'S ALIVE, an outrageous musical satire that reflects on our national panic in the face of the pandemic, opens at the Odyssey Theatre on February 19, with performances continuing through March 20.

Brimming with wit, festive costumes, madcap characters and the perfect amount of holiday cheer, this year's The Velveteen Rabbit will be more meaningful than ever as the curtain rises again. The Velveteen Rabbit explores themes of loss and resilience, and its message of love, loyalty, and friendship is timeless. Audiences of all ages will be enthralled.

Peter Benjamin Foley died at home on August 27, 2021, after surviving ocular (uveal) melanoma, a rare cancer, for more than 10 years. He was 54.

David Bennett is now six years into his job as general director of the San Diego Opera Association. When hired, he faced shaky finances, a loss of major donors, and huge turnover in the membership of the board of directors. The new board hired him with the understanding that downsizing and reinvention of the organization were his priorities. Then, after getting off to a surprisingly good start, Bennett had the forced restrictions of COVID-19 to contend with. Perhaps a biblical plague of locusts is next?

We're deconstructing again. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents an entertaining and provoking musical cabaret-style special event, conceived and performed by legendary performance artist John Fleck (Blacktop Highway, Mad Women, NEA Four).

San Diego Opera has announced its 2021-2022 season, which returns to theatres indoors, after a reduced 2020-2021 season that saw the Company perform innovative drive-in productions during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Theatre for a New Audience will present a new virtual production of The Oresteia, the New York premiere of Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptation and translation of Aeschylus’ trilogy, featuring music composed by Kamala Sankaram, directed by Andrew Watkins (TFANA, as Assistant Director: The Winter's Tale, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Father, A Doll's House).

Kicking it all off is the brand-new Plaza Players Series with Tony-Nominated writer and composer Joe Iconis (Be More Chill, Love in Hate Nation) joined by Lauren Marcus (Be More Chill, Love in Hate Nation) and other special guests.

Building upon Play On Shakespeare’s mission to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays, Play On Podcasts bring timeless tales directly to modern audiences. Following the success of Macbeth, the series – presented by Play On in partnership with Next Chapter Podcasts –continues today with the release of Ellen McLaughlin’s Pericles.

The Marsh partners with Remote Studios will present a reading of Caridad Svich's new drama, The Book of Magdalene, as part of a newly launched month web show of readings on its digital platform, MarshStream.