Spoleto Festival USA News

Boston, MA – February 16, 2016 – Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) unleashes Jules Massenet's melodic, romantic French opera Werther from its late 18th Century German source material, bringing it to an early-20th-Century arrondissement outside Paris as part of BLO's French-inspired season. This new production of Werther opens March 11 for a five-performance run at Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Shubert Theatre in Boston.

Music director Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, guest vocalists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiere of Bach's St. John Passion oratorio tonight, March 4, and March 6 at Heinz Hall.

Music director Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, guest vocalists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiere of Bach's St. John Passion oratorio on March 4 and 6 at Heinz Hall.

Festival General Director Nigel Redden announces the program for the 40th annual Spoleto Festival USA, taking place May 27 through June 12, 2016 in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) celebrates the 2015 holiday season with a wide variety of concert programming, from the traditional annual performances of Handel's Messiah with the Concert Artists of Baltimore to a one-of-a-kind experience that pairs world-class acrobats and gymnasts with music by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, in an exciting program titled Cirque de la Symphonie.

This December, the acclaimed Off-Broadway Axis Theatre Company will present its 14th annual beloved family holiday show, Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid. Adapted from the classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm, this festive, interactive winter play is written and directed by Axis Artistic Director Randy Sharp.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Beethoven's iconic Ninth Symphony and Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral, November 5-8 in Newark and New Brunswick.

Sylvia Milo's award-winning THE OTHER MOZART, directed by Isaac James Byrne, is the true, untold story of Nannerl Mozart, the sister of Amadeus -- a prodigy, keyboard virtuoso and composer, who performed throughout Europe with her brother to equal acclaim, but her work and her story faded away, lost to history. Due to popular demand, THE OTHER MOZART will continue its limited engagement, with the rotating cast of Sylvia Milo and Samantha Hoefer, at Off-Broadway's The Players Theatre (115 MacDougal Street, NYC -- Third floor - no elevator) through Monday, January 18.

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Youth Orchestras (CSOYO) open their 2015/16 season on November 9 at 7:30pm at Ringgold High School with a concert performed by the Symphony Orchestra with Gary Wilkes conducting. Also featured in the program is CSOYO alumna Dr. Shannon Thomas (Professor of Violin at Florida State University), and 2nd place winner of the 2015 Concerto Competition, Sasha Hitachi-Kizziah. Other selections to be performed by the Symphony include the final movement of Dvorak's 8th Symphony and the Suite No. 2 from Carmen.

Today, October 24th, Samantha Hoefer will premiere in the role of Nannerl Mozart, then continue, alternating performances with Sylva Milo.

On October 23 & 24, Persona, a new opera from composer Keeril Makan and adaptor / librettist / director Jay Scheib, will make its world premiere at National Sawdust. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust, and adapted by Scheib from Ingmar Bergman's film of the same name, Persona is a provocative, highly cerebral, and artistically complex depiction of human frailty, cruelty and identity. These world premiere performances—which represent the first opera staged at National Sawdust—feature music direction by Evan Ziporyn and music by the ensemble Either/Or.

Los Angeles Children's Chorus, continuing its 30th Anniversary Season and building upon its long history of presenting other children's choirs from the U.S. and abroad, presents the illustrious American Boychoir, led by Music Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, tonight, October 21, 2015, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. 

Sylvia Milo's award-winning THE OTHER MOZART, directed by Isaac James Byrne, is the true, untold story of Nannerl Mozart, the sister of Amadeus -- a prodigy, keyboard virtuoso and composer, who performed throughout Europe with her brother to equal acclaim, but her work and her story faded away, lost to history. On Saturday, October 24th, Samantha Hoefer will premiere in the role of Nannerl Mozart, then continue, alternating performances with Sylva Milo.

On October 23 & 24, Persona, a new opera from composer Keeril Makan and adaptor / librettist / director Jay Scheib, will make its world premiere at National Sawdust. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust, and adapted by Scheib from Ingmar Bergman's film of the same name, Persona is a provocative, highly cerebral, and artistically complex depiction of human frailty, cruelty and identity. These world premiere performances-which represent the first opera staged at National Sawdust-feature music direction by Evan Ziporyn and music by the ensemble Either/Or.

On October 23 & 24, Persona, a new opera from composer Keeril Makan and adaptor / librettist / director Jay Scheib, will make its world premiere at National Sawdust. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust, and adapted by Scheib from Ingmar Bergman's film of the same name, Persona is a provocative, highly cerebral, and artistically complex depiction of human frailty, cruelty and identity. These world premiere performances—which represent the first opera staged at National Sawdust—feature music direction by Evan Ziporyn and music by the ensemble Either/Or.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 58th season with a Lyric Opera Premiere production of Anton Dvo?ák's rarely performed opera Rusalka, November 7, 11, 13 and 15  at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in Czech with English titles. This is not only the first Dvo?ák opera produced by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City but the first Czech opera for the Company and Kansas City audiences.The production, directed by Academy-Award winning director Eric Simonson, will feature members of the Kansas City Symphony under the baton of Alexander Polianichko and a unique partnership with members of the Kansas City Ballet. One of the highlights of this lush production will be the spectacular lighting and video projections. 

Axis Theatre will present the world premiere of The Vast Machine, a new play written and directed by Randy Sharp about the dilemmas facing the crew of a slave ship at sea in the Middle Passage. Performances will take place now through November 7 at Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square) in the West Village.

Los Angeles Children's Chorus, continuing its 30th Anniversary Season and building upon its long history of presenting other children's choirs from the U.S. and abroad, presents the illustrious American Boychoir, led by Music Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, on Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. 

Axis Theatre will present the world premiere of The Vast Machine, a new play written and directed by Randy Sharp about the dilemmas facing the crew of a slave ship at sea in the Middle Passage. Performances will take place tonight, October 1, through October 24 at Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square) in the West Village.

Axis Theatre will present the world premiere of The Vast Machine, a new play written and directed by Randy Sharp about the dilemmas facing the crew of a slave ship at sea in the Middle Passage. Performances will take place October 1- November 7 at Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square) in the West Village.