Spoleto Festival USA News

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.

Pushcart Players, New Jersey's renowned touring theater for young audiences presents "Ellis Island: Gateway to America" at Premiere Stages at Kean University on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at 10:30 am.

Ravinia Festival has announced casting for its July 28 production of Leonard Bernstein'sMass. Conductor Marin Alsop has resurrected this overlooked work with performances around the world. This production reunites her with director Kevin Newbury (who recently won raves for directing the opera Fellow Travelers and the spectaculars as New York's Park Avenue Armory) after earning a Grammy nomination for their recording of Mass, which the New York Times praised as 'one of the best events of the year.'

 Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab announced today the inaugural production of the Hunter Theater Project, the New York premiere of Anton Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA at the Frederick Loewe Theater at Hunter College (E. 68th Street and Lexington Avenue), directed by Richard Nelson. Translated byRichard Nelson, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky. This production is the first time renowned Russian literature translators Pevear and Volokhonsky will have a work premiere in New York City, following the show's world premiere at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. Previews for UNCLE VANYA begin Friday, September 7. The production runs through Sunday, October 14, with an official press opening on Sunday, September 16. Tickets are on sale now.

The Steinway & Sons grand piano that has long been used by artists during Spoleto Festival USA has gained a second life: The South Carolina Governor's School Foundation purchased the instrument for use by students and visiting artists of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, South Carolina. The piano was delivered to the school earlier this week. Students will have access to it at the start of the 2018-2019 school year, and the piano will find its permanent home in the Music Department's forthcoming 10,000-square-foot building that is currently under construction on campus and set to open in 2019.

With THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART and BORDERS, Spoleto Festival USA took advantage of the funky and guerilla potentials of the Woolfe Street Playhouse, but the best theatre this year was THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK, which brought a little cabaret ambiance to storied Dock Street Theatre.

At a meeting of the Abbey Theatre's Board of Directors on 5 June 2018, actor Bosco Hogan was appointed to the Board of the Abbey Theatre for a term of three years. Bosco was appointed to the Board on a recommendation from the Selection Committee [Dr. Frances Ruane (Chair of the Abbey Theatre), Sheila Pratschke (Chair of the Arts Council) and Prof. Chris Morash (Vice-Provost of Trinity College Dublin)] and he will take up his appointment later this month.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) invites high schools students to register for Young Company, a professional theatre training program and one of MRT's signature education initiatives. Will Rogers, a creative producer, director, and performer, will become the new director for the 2018-19 session. Guest teaching artists this year include MRT alums-playwright, director, and actor Vichet Chum (KNYUM) and fight choreographer Angie Jepson (The Villains' Supper Club)-as well as Los Angeles-based acting teacher Richard Liccardo.

Under the direction of National Philharmonic Concertmaster Colin Sorgi, the National Philharmonic Chamber Players perform the works of Schubert and Mendelssohn on April 22 at 3pm at the John Kendall Recital Hall, Potter Violins in Takoma Park, MD. Entitled "Next Generation," the concert showcases gifted students from the Philharmonic's Summer String Institutes performing the Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat Major alongside members of the Philharmonic Chamber Players. The concert also features Schubert's String Quartet in C Major. Potter's intimate hall seats only 90, allowing concert goers to experience chamber music as it was originally intended, up close and personal. Kids 7-17 are Free; adult tickets are $20 and can be purchased here: http://classicalmusicconcert.org/event/national-philharmonic-chamber-players-5/

Southern Living announced today the winners of its 2018 South's Best Awards, including Spoleto Festival USA. The 17-day performing arts celebration, held each year in Charleston, SC, was voted by Southern Living readers as the "South's Best Festival," a new category for 2018. The feature-found in Southern Living's April issue, on newsstands and online at southernliving.com-was compiled after editors "pored through more than 32,000 responses" to a digitally crowd-sourced survey surrounding favorite towns, beaches, barbecues, festivals, restaurants, breweries, and accommodations.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present an afternoon of magnificent orchestral works and one of the most gifted pianists in classical music today.  American pianist Andrew von Oeyen and The Dallas Opera Orchestra will perform a genuinely exciting twentieth-century masterworks: Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor.

Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) announces an exciting concert and reception featuring internationally acclaimed countertenor John Holiday on Sunday, April 8 at 7:00pm. Featuring an eclectic mix of opera, jazz and gospel selections, the concert will be held in the sanctuary at Plymouth Church in Des Moines. Scott Arens, DMMO's director of marketing and public relations, will be joining Mr. Holiday at the piano for the performance.

Miami City Ballet's Program Four features the company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's acclaimed Concerto DSCH. In addition, the Program presents two of George Balanchine's classic ballets, including his first great masterwork, Apollo, as well as the haunting La Valse. In the wake of his triumphant The Fairy's Kiss, comes the company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, the amazingly inventive ballet, set to a seething Dmitri Shostakovich piano concerto.

Cellist Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), releases her debut solo album, For this from that will be filled, worldwide on Miasmah Recordings on April 6, 2018. She celebrates the release with a concert featuring music from the album presented by the Ambient Church Series on April 7, 2018 at 8pm (doors 7pm), at Bushwick Methodist Church (1139 Bushwick Ave.). The Ambient Church concert also celebrates the release of electronic artist Christina Vantzou's new album, No. 4, and includes the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Steve Hauschildt, Deradoorian, John Also Bennett, and C. Lavender.

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will host Druid, Ireland's most celebrated theatre company, and their critically acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot. Directed by Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes, Druid's production of Samuel Beckett's absurd, anarchic masterpiece will make its regional premiere at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street, NW) from April 17 through May 20, 2018 before it travels on to Chicago.

The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY), in collaboration with New York based period ensemble New Vintage Baroque,presents the New York City Premiere of Piramo e Tisbe at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, NYC, from March 22-25, 2018, with performances on Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $35 and are available at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/35006. Based upon the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid's Metamorphoses with a libretto by Marco Coltellini, Piramo e Tisbe is byJohann Adolph Hasse, a pivotal opera composer of the 18th Century celebrated for his sweet and tender melodies. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

The Pasadena Symphony continues its 90th season on Saturday, March 24th with Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at Ambassador Auditorium with performances at 2pm and 8pm.  Music Director David Lockington will lead this mesmerizing program filled with mystery and intrigue, opening with Alexander Miller's contemporary puzzle overture Scherzo Crypto, and closing with an even more cryptic work - the Enigma Variations of Elgar. The program centers around a classic Rachmaninoff melody, with his virtuosic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini performed by brilliant pianist Andrew von Oeyen.

Cellist Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), releases her debut solo album, For this from that will be filled, worldwide on Miasmah Recordings on April 6, 2018. Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of solo cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds.

Miami City Ballet, one of the country's premier ballet companies, has received an Art Works grant of $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, as part of the NEA's first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. The Art Works category is the NEA's largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts. Miami City Ballet received the Art Works grant to support the presentation of a centennial celebration of American Choreographer Jerome Robbins.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced the date and partial casting for its 2018 WNO Gala, which takes place on Sunday, May 20 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. The annual Gala concert features a world-class cast  starring Tony and GRAMMY Award-winning actor Patti LuPone; Emmy-nominated singer and actor Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, 30 Rock); and stars from WNO's current season—mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (Rosina in The Barber of Seville) and soprano Kathryn Lewek (Cunegonde in Candide)—as well as members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program and other special guests to be announced at a later date. Renowned baritone Nathan Gunn will host and perform, alongside his wife, pianist Julie Gunn.   Conductor John DeMain leads the WNO Orchestra in this event honoring the centennial of iconic composer, conductor, educator, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein's birth. The WNO Gala is the culminating event in this season's Center-wide celebration of the musical genius, and Jamie Bernstein, the composer's eldest daughter, will also participate in the festivities.   Gala packages for the full evening include a cocktail reception on the Kennedy Center's River Terrace at 4:30 p.m., followed by the 6 p.m. performance. The event concludes with elegant dinners hosted by Ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at embassies and residences throughout Washington.