Samuel Barber News

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues the 2013-14 Bach, Revisited series with Tower + Bach tonight, April 17, 2014. Joan Tower intersperses her chamber music with movements of the 5th Brandenburg featuring the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) announced its 2014-15 Philharmonics and Pops concerts in February, but today reveals the remainder of its 92nd season, presented by Dawn & Jacques Lipson. Subscriptions to OrKIDStra and Sunday Matinees are available today to new and renewing subscribers, and tickets for Specials are now available as add-ons to all 14/15 subscribers. Single tickets for all 14/15 concerts go on sale to the general public on Friday, August 1, 2014.

Music Director and Conductor Michael Morgan and the Oakland East Bay Symphony continue to set a high standard of innovative and engaging programming as they announce details of their 2014—2015 season. The six-concert, 26th season—Maestro Morgan's 25th with the Orchestra-- will feature the world premiere of a new work for violin and orchestra by Grammy Award-winning composer/violinist Mads Tolling, the West Coast premiere of Chris Brubeck and Guillaume Saint-James'Brothers in Arts for jazz quintet and orchestra, a semi-staged performance of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, pianists Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner and Richard Glazier, Notes from Mexico, a holiday tribute to Pete Seeger and more. A pre-concert talk will begin one hour before each performance, and the 2014-2015 season at the Paramount Theatre runs November 7, 2014 through May 15, 2015. Sponsors of the 2014-15 season include Bell Investment Advisors, Mueller Nicholls Builders and Chevron. For details, information and tickets, visit www.oebs.org .

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan, American Composers Orchestra's (ACO) 2014-2015 season strengthens the orchestra's commitment to serve as a catalyst for the creation of new orchestral music, providing unprecedented opportunities for American composers to create new work and for audiences to discover it. Now in its 11th year at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Orchestra Underground continues as ACO's subversive and entrepreneurial redefinition of the orchestra as an elastic ensemble, and this year features the rarely performed orchestral music of pioneering composer and performer Meredith Monk, holder of the 2014-2015 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall (Monk's Sphere, November 21). Orchestra Underground brings cabaret, pop, and jazz traditions into the concert hall in a program featuring Kurt Weill's cabaret cult classic The Seven Deadly Sins sung by Shara Worden (Sin & Songs, February 27). For the first time in several seasons, ACO returns to performing with full symphonic forces outside of Carnegie Hall - the orchestra's April concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center will showcase the New York premiere ofWynton Marsalis' Blues Symphony.

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues the 2013-14 Bach, Revisited series with Tower + Bach on Thursday, April 17, 2014. Joan Tower intersperses her chamber music with movements of the 5th Brandenburg featuring the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble.

'I'm not a warhorse kind of singer,' mezzo Susan Graham states matter-of-factly. 'A. I'm a mezzo. B. I'm not a character mezzo. C. I'm not a contralto. The iconic opera repertoire for mezzos, Amneris (AIDA), Azucena (IL TROVATORE), even Eboli (DON CARLO)--those kinds of roles aren't my stock and trade because my voice sits high and has a different timbre.' Well, what then is her milieu? It's the likes of Handel, who composed several of the arias she has been singing this winter at the Met, as one of the stars of THE ENCHANTED ISLAND, a kind of Baroque 'jukebox opera.' But it's also Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING & I, which she is doing this June at the Chatelet in Paris.

The UW World Series brings Seattle audiences some of the most exciting artists and companies from around the globe. The tradition continues into the 2014-15 season with a stellar line-up of living masters and emerging talents curated by Artistic Director Michelle Witt in her third year of programming the Series. 23 artists and companies from over 21 countries will be represented, including Israel, Mali, Ukraine, Great Britain, Spain, France, Canada, Russia, Hungary, the USA, and the eleven countries that make up the Nile basin.

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will perform Mozart's OVERTURE TO THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Barber's VIOLIN CONCERTO featuring Max Tan on violin, and Mahler's SYMPHONY NO. 5, tonight, March 7, 2014 at 8 p.m. in Symphony Hall.

The dynamic violinist Hye-Jin Kim will perform Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto with the Greenwich Village Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Barbara Yahr on Sunday afternoon, March 30th at 3:00 p.m. at the Washington Irving Auditorium, 40 Irving Place, New York, NY.

New York City has lots of big attractions that people around the world are well aware of. But New York City also has smaller gems that don't get the same attention but still shine just as brightly. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony is one such gem. Last Sunday afternoon, this superb ensemble led ably by Maestro David Bernard delivered an impressive performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, which many, more well-known and well-funded, orchestras would be jealous of. Maestro Bernard, who worked without benefit of a score, brought a brilliant and bright quality to the first Allegro movement. The Larghetto that followed was mannered and precisely shaped. The Scherzo, usually performed as a light and merry dance, felt a bit wayward, as the playing got a bit loose. But a strong, majestic and fiery Finale brought the first half to a satisfying conclusion. The Second Symphony was composed during the summer and fall of 1802 and it signaled the end of Beethoven's 'early period.' For the composer, this was a time of great despair because he was finally realizing that his deafness could not be cured and would indeed be a permanent affliction. That despair is deeply engrained in the work, and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony dug deep and tapped into that despair and communicated it amiably to the audience.

The winners of the 43rd annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of a capacity audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by music director David Bernard will be performing a stimulating and provocative program of works by Beethoven, Barber and Bartok featuring American Soprano Tamra Paselk at All Saints Church in New York City tonight, February 22nd at 8PM and Sunday February 23rd at 3PM.

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will perform Mozart's OVERTURE TO THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Barber's VIOLIN CONCERTO featuring Max Tan on violin, and Mahler's SYMPHONY NO. 5, on Friday, March 7, 2014 at 8 p.m. in Symphony Hall.

Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by music director David Bernard performs Beethoven, Barber and Bartók featuring soprano Tamra Paselk

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by music director David Bernard will be performing a stimulating and provocative program of works by Beethoven, Barber and Bartok featuring American Soprano Tamra Paselk at All Saints Church in New York City on Saturday February 22nd at 8PM and Sunday February 23rd at 3PM.

The Howard County Arts Council, in its 33rd year of service to the public of Howard County, presents the 17th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, Howard Community College (HCC), Columbia, MD. Dr. Kathleen Hetherington, President of HCC, will serve as Honorary Chair. Richard W. Story, Senior Vice President for Marketing, JPB Enterprises, Inc. will emcee the event. The Celebration is a multi-faceted signature event, showcasing and promoting the arts and raising funds in support of the arts, artists, and arts organizations in Howard County. One of the highlights of the 2014 Celebration is the Rising Star Emerging Performing Artist Award Competition, in which ten finalists will compete for a cash prize of $5,000. In December, individual performing artists - aged 18 to 35 years and currently or recently living, working, performing regularly, or receiving training in Howard County - auditioned before a panel of professionals in their discipline. Review criteria included artistic merit, demonstrated experience in the arts, and commitment to a career in the arts.

Rising young soprano Nadine Sierra, will take the stage at the Michael Schimmel Center For the Arts on Sunday, February 9 at 3pm as part of Pace's concert series VOCE AT PACE: RISING OPERA STARS. Rising Opera Stars in Recital is supported by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in honor of Dr. Agnes Varis. It is curated by Matthew Epstein.

'This broadcast and webcast event was the perfect way to spread the word about Andres' Inaugural Season to an even broader audience and build upon the momentum generated from our Centennial Season,' said Houston Symphony Executive Director and CEO Mark C. Hanson. 'It symbolizes our commitment to innovation, community partnerships, and becoming more relevant to even more Houstonians. We're grateful to Houston Public Media for collaborating on this important and exciting announcement.'

For the third straight season, the brilliant and imaginative conductor Ivan Fischer will lead Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) at Carnegie Hall. Having sold out his past two concerts with OSL, Fischer returns tonight, November 21 at 8:00 PM with a program of works by Schumann, Mozart, Bartok, and Weiner.

For the third straight season, the brilliant and imaginative conductor Ivan Fischer will lead Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) at Carnegie Hall. Having sold out his past two concerts with OSL, Fischer returns November 21 at 8:00 PM with a program of works by Schumann, Mozart, Bartok, and Weiner.