Renowned conductor Lorin Maazel will make a rare appearance at the Metropolitan Opera-conducting his first Verdi opera with the company-when he leads a revival of Don Carlo, opening February 22. Ramon Vargas sings his first Met performances of the title role, opposite Barbara Frittoli, also in her house role debut, as the tragic Elisabeth de Valois. Reprising their roles from previous Met seasons are Anna Smirnova as the mysterious Princess Eboli; Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the revolutionary Rodrigo, Count of Posa; Ferruccio Furlanetto as the tormented King Philip II; and Eric Halfvarson as the Grand Inquisitor. This season's performances are the first revival of Nicholas Hytner's production, which opened to critical acclaim in the Met's 2010-11 season.
Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates Black History Month, with the third production in their 2012 - 2013 season, Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, tonight, February 2 - March 10, 2013, starring Alexis Rogers as Billie Holiday and directed by Porchlight Artistic Associate Rob Lindley with music direction by Jaret Landon, at Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
The Orion Ensemble, winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, celebrates Women's History Month by welcoming guest soprano Patrice Michaels for "A Voice from Heaven," the third concert series of its 20th Anniversary Season. Performances take place March 10 at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church in Geneva, March 13 at the PianoForte Salon at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and March 17 at Music Institute of Chicago's Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.
Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates Black History Month, with the third production in their 2012 - 2013 season, Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, February 2 - March 10, 2013, starring Alexis Rogers as Billie Holiday and directed by Porchlight Artistic Associate Rob Lindley with music direction by Jaret Landon, at Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
The 2013 Sarasota Opera Winter Festival will open with the Sarasota Opera premiere of Giacomo Puccini's vocally extravagant final opera Turandot on
Saturday, February 9, 2013, which features some of the composers most glorious music including the famous tenor aria "Nessun Dorma" (None shall sleep).
New York City Opera opens its spring 2013 season with a new production of Powder Her Face (1995), composed by Thomas Adès (b.1971) to a libretto by Philip Hensher (b. 1965).
Concern Worldwide hosts its annual Women of Concern Awards Luncheon on Friday, February 22, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park, 200 North Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL. The event, now in its 15th year, honors women who have demonstrated the qualities of justice, generosity and compassion in their work and daily lives. The 2013 Women of Concern Awards will be presented to Mari Gallagher, Principal of Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting, and Shirley Welsh Ryan, Co-Founder of Pathways Center. The event will recognize their significant accomplishments and exceptional achievements. The funds raised by the luncheon will support Concern's most needed programs in 25 developing countries. Annually, more than 600 guests attend the event. The co-chairs of the event are Cherryl Thomas and Peg Lombardo, who are both residents of Chicago.
The New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Carnegie Hall under the baton of David Hayes, making his debut as Music Director tonight, December 18th at 8pm for a presentation of two choral works.
The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced today that the cast of the acclaimed epic musical GIANT will enter the recording studio in January to create an original cast album, which will be released by Ghostlight Records in spring 2013. GIANT officially opened at The Public on November 15 and features a book by Sybille Pearson, music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa, and direction by Michael Greif. The show will end its limited run at The Public Theater at Astor Place on Sunday, December 16 following a final two-week extension.
Anthony Dean Griffey, a tenor internationally renowned for his portray of the title role of Britten's Peter Grimes, and Emalie Savoy, a 2011 George London Award winner who is one of New York's fastest rising young sopranos, perform the second George London Foundation Recital of the season with pianist Ken Noda on Sunday, January 13, 2013, at 4:30 PM at The Morgan Library & Museum. The George London Foundation Recital Series presents pairs of outstanding opera singers, many of whom were winners of a George London prize early in their careers or are recent George London Award recipients.
Festival General Director Nigel Redden today announced the 2013 artistic lineup for Spoleto Festival USA, which showcases nationally and internationally acclaimed artists in a celebration of opera, theater, dance, physical theater, music, and visual arts. The 37th annual Festival, to be held in historic Charleston, South Carolina, from May 24 through June 9, will feature one of Spoleto's largest lineups in recent history, with expanded dance and theater offerings and two original opera productions, as well as a wide range of classical and contemporary music.
The Broadway at Birdland concert series presented Ashley Brown in concert on Monday, November 19 at 7pm. The show - Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible - featured many of Ms. Brown's favorite songs from Broadway and the American Songbook, including selections from her PBS Special, which received a Telly Award. Yaron Gershovsky (Manhattan Transfer) was Music Director, and her special guests were Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins), Brad Haak and Emily Jones Ryan. Check out photos from the concert below!
The X Factor's pint-sized powerhouse Carly Rose Sonenclar made the leap to the $5 million singing competition this fall with her audition to Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good,' which has skyrocketed to over 15 million views on YouTube in just over a month.
Ashley Brown, Broadway and Symphony Pops star, will be making her debut at Birdland tonight, November 19th at 7pm. Ashley's show Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible will feature many of her favorite songs from Broadway and the American Songbook including selections from her PBS Special, which received a Telly Award. Yaron Gershovsky (Manhattan Transfer) will be her Music Director. Ashley's special guests will be Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins), Brad Haak & Emily Jones Ryan.
Ashley Brown, Broadway and Symphony Pops star, will be making her debut at Birdland on Monday, November 19th at 7pm. Ashley's show Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible will feature many of her favorite songs from Broadway and the American Songbook including selections from her PBS Special, which received a Telly Award. Yaron Gershovsky (Manhattan Transfer) will be her Music Director. Ashley's special guests will be Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins), Brad Haak & Emily Jones Ryan.
The New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Carnegie Hall under the baton of David Hayes, making his debut as Music Director on Tuesday, December 18th at 8pm for a presentation of two choral works. The concert will open with O magnum mysterium by Pulitzer-prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Written for chorus accompanied by a small, novel musical ensemble, O magnum mysterium is an innovative, harmonically rich work that marvels at the mystery of Jesus' birth, setting the stage perfectly for the Berlioz oratorio that follows. In L'Enfance du Christ, Berlioz tells a dramatic and moving story of Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Jesus in the days following his birth. It's a story about their flight to save their baby from King Herod's murderous plot, the rejection they meet with along their way, and the kind but unlikely stranger who finally offers them a refuge in his home. Berlioz masterfully combines soloists, orchestra and chorus in this composition. Soloists are Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; William Burden, tenor; Alan Held, bass-baritone, and Richard Bernstein, bass. This concert will be presented with English supertitles.
Baritone Thomas Hampson - fresh from induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - looks forward to a blockbuster October in the US. The singer joins the Collegiate Chorale and the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta at Carnegie Hall tonight, October 25th, for a concert featuring Schoenberg's Kol Nidre and the New York premiere of Noam Sheriff's MECHAYE HAMETIM - a program that was greeted rapturously when Hampson performed it with the same forces at the Salzburg Festival this summer.
OPERATHON 2012, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 33rd anniversary by raising $482,465 during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 20, exceeding the $450,000 goal.
Thomas Ades will conduct the Metropolitan Opera premiere of his opera The Tempest in a series of performances beginning October 23. Robert Lepage directs a new production of the critically heralded English-language opera, with a libretto by Meredith Oakes based on Shakespeare's play. Simon Keenlyside stars as Prospero, with Audrey Luna in the stratospheric coloratura role of Ariel; Isabel Leonard as Prospero's daughter Miranda;Iestyn Davies as the jester Trinculo; Alek Shrader in his Met debut as the shipwrecked nobleman Ferdinand; Alan Oke as the gentle-hearted monster Caliban; William Burden as the King of Naples; and Toby Spence as Prospero's usurper brother, Antonio.
