Sebastian Bach News

Internationally-recognized classical pianist David Wheatley takes the stage at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe in June for a genre-defying concert experience, A Useful Life in C Major. Wheatley's repertoire at the Asylum @ McCadden Theatre ranges from classical favorites to original compositions with everything from jazz to country to R&B in between. Visits from friends, surprising storytelling, and stand-up comedy punctuate the musical fare, making A Useful Life in C Major a musical interlude perfectly fit for the Fringe.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents the Paul Taylor Dance Company under the artistic direction of Paul Taylor, May 25-28, 2016 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

Jessica Lang Dance, under the artistic direction of choreographer Jessica Lang, will celebrate its 5th Anniversary season with a week-long engagement at The Joyce Theater on June 14 – 19, 2016, featuring five pieces, including three New York premieres. There will be a post-performance Curtain Chat discussion with Lang and dancers from the company following the performance on June 15.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment have announced their 2016-2017 season of shows.

The Xavier University Music Series will conclude the current season with a solo performance by critically acclaimed classical pianist and X.U. music professor Polina Bespalko on Sunday, May 1, at 2:30 p.m. All proceeds from the concert will benefit the Music Series.

Reinforcing the role of The Music Center as a major hub for dance in Los Angeles, The Music Center's powerful new dance season will engage both dance lovers and those new to the art form by challenging preconceived notions of classical ballet and exploring the realm of contemporary expression. The 2016-2017 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (Dance at The Music Center) will provide the platform for some of the finest U.S. dance companies and artists along with internationally renowned companies who are among the most requested by Music Center audiences. This coming season opens with Celebrate Forsythe (October 21-23, 2016) as three American ballet companies - San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet - perform in one program in a never-before-seen approach to salute one of America's top choreographers, William Forsythe. The season continues with the distinctive contemporary work of Jessica Lang Dance (February 17-19, 2017); the return of the much-in-demand Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (March 8-12, 2017); the west coast premiere of Scottish Ballet's A Streetcar Named Desire (May 19-21, 2017); Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg's exploration of the passions of Tchaikovsky (June 23-25, 2017); and an original program curated by New York City principal ballerina Tiler Peck with the return of The Music Center's BalletNow (July 28-30, 2017). A number of the engagements will be integrated with arts education programs including high school performances and teacher workshops. Center Dance Arts is the founding supporter of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center.

Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity closes its 48th season with a fresh take on a Bach classic, featuring The Bach Choir and Bach Players (Donald R. Meineke, Music Director) and Dark Horse Consort on Sunday, April 17th, 2016 at 5 p.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

The Chicago Philharmonic announces its 2016-17 season: Love. Throughout five concerts, the season explores orchestral favorites and lesser known offerings representing varying expressions of love. Guest performers include conductor Gerhardt Zimmermann, Visceral Dance Chicago, and a range of renowned vocalists and instrumental soloists. Scott Speck leads the orchestra in his fourth season as artistic director.

The Hawaii Youth Symphony (HYS) and the Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra (HSO) have been selected for Midori's Orchestral Residencies Program.

Musical geniuses of yesteryear like Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart or Bach ... ah, a chosen few who left an unparalleled legacy...but not without bitter resentment and treachery from rivals, some talented, some not... Remember Amadeus by Peter Schaeffer? Salieri stopped at nothing to thwart Mozart's success. Well, now Itamar Moses pits not one, but seven musicians against one another for the coveted position of choirmaster/organist after Johann Kunau dies literally at the organ at Thomaskirche, Leipzig in 1722. There's a flurry of fanciful farce amongst the competitiveness currently onstage in Moses's Bach at Leipzig at Group rep, directed by the brilliant Calvin Remsberg and boasting a devilishly versatile cast, through May 1.

On March 15, 2016, Hong Kong Ballet opened its debut at the Joyce Theater, NYC. I felt fortunate to be there, from the moment the curtain opened, to see Program A. On the program were three works by three choreographers, from three different countries: China, Spain, and Poland. Artistic Director, Madeleine Onne, one of Sweden's leading ballerinas, leads the Company's artistic team of more than forty dancers of nine different nationalities.

Vancouver Bach Choir concludes its monumental 85th anniversary season with J. S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, tonight, March 19, 7:30pm at The Orpheum. Celebrated as a pinnacle accomplishment in music history, 'The Great Passion' will be gloriously illuminated by the venerable symphonic choir alongside the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and a cast of internationally acclaimed soloists.

On May 14, Marcus Roberts & The Modern Jazz Generation close out the "Katrina -10 Years On" concert series, dedicated to the spirit of the people who suffered from one of the worst hurricanes in history. In this concert Roberts, famous for his dazzling, virtuosic playing that taps the full range of the jazz piano tradition, unveils The Modern Jazz Generation, an ensemble that features his trio mates - Jason Marsalis on drums and Rodney Jordan on bass - and a number of next generation jazz greats. The musicians are joined by special guest Wycliffe Gordon (tuba), who returns to Koerner Hall after recently appearing with Rene Marie.

FirstWorks' 2015/16 Frontier Series concludes with the world premiere of an arresting new work by the Rhode Island-based Aurea Ensemble, a performance group with a superb string quartet at its heart. Aurea's 'CHROMATIC FANTASY: THE WORLD OF CIURLIONIS' will debut on Sunday, April 24 at 4 p.m. at the RISD Auditorium (7 Canal Walk, Providence River Greenway). Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door and are available online at first-works.org and by phone at 401-421-4281.

Enthusiastic audiences and brisk CD sales surrounding the INNER PASSION Record Release Tour boosted first-time collaborators Peter Kater and Tina Guo into the #4 spot this week on the Billboard New Age Chart

Houston Ballet offers up its Winter Mixed Repertory Program which introduces three masterpieces into the company's repertory in a thrilling evening of dance. 

Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet under the artistic direction of Peter Boal returned to New York City Center in February 2016 with an 'All Balanchine' program on the 24th and 25th followed by a triple bill, 'Contemporary Innovations', on the 26th and 27th. The latter, which I saw on the 26th, featured works by two choreographers who had at one time worked with William Forsythe as members of Ballett Frankfurt and a third piece by Forsythe himself. Forsythe's protegees created pieces that harked back to his own reinvention of classical ballet, yet went further in that direction with strikingly individual styles. The PNB dancers, superbly trained and impeccably rehearsed, gave world-class performances in all three of the evening's offerings. In particular, Angelica Generosa was a shining presence with superb technique. She is currently a member of the corps de ballet, but I see a promotion in her future.

Gulfshore Opera will present Johann Sebastian Bach's Saint Matthew Passion for three performances on March 18-20, at venues in Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties during Lent, in anticipation of the Easter season. The production is in collaboration with the Florida Gulf Coast University Chamber Choir, The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers Chamber Chorus, a core ensemble of eight soloists, and the Gulfshore Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announces the programming for the 2016-2017 season at the Boston Opera House, to begin in October. The 53rd season will launch with Le Corsaire, a historically significant work in the world of ballet that originally premiered in Paris in 1856, followed by Mikko Nissinen's "dazzling, dreamy" The Nutcracker (Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe). The season continues with the North American Company premiere of William Forsythe's ARTIFACT, "a work that definitely shows this choreographer as the most influential practitioner of the art form since Balanchine" (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times). In April 2017, Marius Petipa's quintessential The Sleeping Beauty will return with soaring music by Tchaikovsky. The season will also include two mixed repertory programs with works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Ji?i Kylian, and Alexander Ekman, as well as a world premiere by Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo. Additionally, Le Corsaire, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty will offer Boston Ballet School students the unique opportunity to appear in Company productions.