Spoleto Festival USA News

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth has announced the programming, initial casting, and creative teams for the company's 2019-20 season, which comprises four opera productions at the newly renovated Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre. Featuring improved seating and sightlines on the orchestra level, the theatre reopens after a six-month closure for the company's season-opening production of Verdi's La traviata in October 2019. The season continues with composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell's Silent Night in January 2020, Rossini's The Barber of Seville in March 2020, and Massenet's Tha s in May 2020. Silent Night is presented as part of Utah Opera's American Opera Initiative, through which the company champions and commissions American contributions to the art form. Both Silent Night and Tha s are Utah Opera premieres.

Pittsburgh Festival Opera has announced the selection of Christopher M. Powell as its new Executive Director, effective March 12th, 2019. Mr. Powell comes to the organization after four years serving as Director of Artistic Initiatives for the world-renowned Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, and will lead the Pittsburgh Festival Opera into its 42nd season alongside Artistic Director Jonathan Eaton.

The American Theatre Wing announced today that the 2019 Jonathan Larson Grants recipients are Julia Gytri & Avi Amon (book, music and lyrics), Emily Gardner Xu Hall (book, music and lyrics), Andy Roninson (music and lyrics), and Ben Wexler (music and lyrics). Four prestigious grants of $10,000 each, as well as additional support in the form of residencies, concerts, and recording grants, totaling over $50,000, will be presented on Monday, March 19, 2018 at a private event at the WNYC Greene Space. The event will feature special performances of the recipients' work.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) features prolific composer/conductor Matthias Pintscher leading his own work, Transir for Flute & Orchestra, with noted flutist Henrik Heide, on Saturday, March 2, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre, and Sunday, March 3, 2019, 7 pm, at Royce Hall.

This Spring marks the start of the 36th season of the Verdi Chorus, who will present their Spring Concert, L'Amore e la Vita (Love and Life) for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 6 and 7. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, which Ketchum humorously calls the Rom-Com of opera, will feature selections from two Verdi operas I vespri siciliani and Ernani, three Donizetti operas - Don Pasquale, La fille du r giment and L'elisir d'amore, as well as operatic sequences from Bizet's Les p cheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), Delibes' Lakm , and Puccini's La rondine.

Festival General Director Nigel Redden announces the program for the 43rd annual Spoleto Festival USA, taking place May 24 through June 9, 2019. For 17 days and nights, a variety of artists converge in Charleston, South Carolina, filling the city's theaters, churches, and outdoor spaces with wide-ranging performances and concerts.

Concertmaster Joanna Frankel makes her solo debut with the Columbus Symphony, performing Beethoven's spiritual Violin Concerto. The epic Eroica Symphony completes this program devoted to the great German composer.

Queens-based Rude Grooms (www.rudegrooms.com) announced details for their production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, led by actor-manager Montgomery Sutton (Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe; Much Ado About Nothing with Rude Grooms), produced in partnership with Long Island City Artists at the Plaxall Gallery and sponsored by Mikkeller Brewing NYC. The show runs January 4-6 at the Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46th Avenue, LIC) at 7:30pm, with a Twelfth Night Party beginning at 6:30pm each night for VIP ticket holders featuring a variety of musical guests to be announced in the coming days. Tickets are limited and on sale now at rudegrooms.com.

James Bundy, Dean of Yale School of Drama and Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, announced today the appointment of Narda E. Alcorn as Chair of the School's Stage Management Department and Stage Management Advisor at Yale Rep, for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2019.

"What could be better than a play that asks you to shout? Well, one that asks you to sing. All this fun is part of an updated version of "The Brave Little Tailor"...My son also thought of another reason that Seven in One Blow is the greatest play ever: the actors pass out candy at the end."-The New York Times

David Herskovits is the Founding Artistic Director of Target Margin Theater currently remounting Pay No Attention to the Girl. Herskovits took a moment to speak with BroadwayWorld about his powerful project.

With three sailors on shore leave, a carnival of fantastics seeking to console a disconsolate janitor, and the oddest choreography for Bellini's 'Casta Diva' you'll ever see, FALL WORKS launched Charlotte Ballet's 2018-19 season with wit and style.

Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is proud to present a remount of its acclaimed production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, for a limited three week run (October 25-November 11). The production brings to life interwoven stories about the sexes - their conflicts, their love, their tricks -from various translations / transmissions of The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian tales.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces that its 2019 Gala will honor Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner; Broadway press agent, and President of DKC/O&M, Rick Miramontez; and arts philanthropist, and Chairman Emerita of Ingram Industries, Inc., Martha R. Ingram.

Axis Company today announces the remount of High Noon, their adaptation of the screenplay for the 1952 Western film, devised by an ensemble led by Artistic Director Randy Sharp. The play returns October 3-27, following an acclaimed first run in January of this year.

The Hunter Theater Project at Hunter College (President, Jennifer J. Raab) announced a two-week extension today for the critically acclaimed New York premiere of Anton Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA, directed by Richard Nelson, at the Frederick Loewe Theater (E. 68th Street between Lexington and Park Ave). Translated by Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky, and directed by Nelson, UNCLE VANYA began performances on Friday, September 7 and was originally scheduled to run through October 14.

Symphony's OPENING NIGHT GALA, spotlighting violinist Joshua Bell, boded well for the 2018-19 season to come and the orchestra's celebration of Charlotte's 250th anniversary.

This October, 1,000 singers from across New York City's five boroughs will come together on the High Line for the premiere performances of The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o'clock. Due to overwhelming demand for tickets to the previously announced performances (October 3-7), an encore performance will be added on October 8.Tickets for this additional night will be made available first to members of the public currently on the waitlist, on a first come, first served basis, beginning Thursday, September 27, at noon. Those interested in accessing these tickets may join the waitlist at milelongopera.com. Tickets for The Mile-Long Opera are free, but advance registration is required. A standby line will open 30 minutes prior to the 7:00pm time slot on all performance dates.

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) today announced a new initiative, a three-week, multi-disciplinary Bach Festival featuring 15 concerts across three venues in Manhattan, June 6-22, 2019. The programmatic centerpieces include performances by Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Goldberg Variations, which receives two interpretations - including the U.S. premiere of Bernard Labadie's orchestral setting - and provides the Festival theme: 'Transformation.'

Misty Copeland will open the 61st annual Dance Magazine Awards. The evening will honor Ronald K. Brown, Lourdes Lopez(presented by Darren Walker), Crystal Pite, and Michael Trusnovec (presented by Patrick Corbin). A special Leadership Award will be presented to Nigel Redden. Since 1954 the Dance Magazine Awards have recognized outstanding men and women whose contributions have left a lasting impact on dance. This year's Awards will take place on Monday December 3, 2018 at The Ailey Citigroup Theater at 7:30pm.