Virgil Thomson News

The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) is proud to announce its first worldwide release on New World Records, JOSEPH BYRD: NYC 1960-1963, available today, February 5, 2013.

The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) is proud to announce its first worldwide release on New World Records, JOSEPH BYRD: NYC 1960-1963, available February 5, 2013.

A vital part of New York City's choral and new music communities, the Manhattan Choral Ensemble (MCE) enters into its 13th season with an ambitious series of programs that span the 16th century to the present day. In each of its four programs, the MCE will focus on works written by New York City-based artists.

New York City Opera is proud to announce the six selections that will appear in this year's VOX Festival, the company's workshop for new American operas.

North/South Consonance, Inc. continues its 32nd consecutive season of free-admission concerts this evening, June 12, 2012 when acclaimed soprano Martha Herr, bass Israel Pessoa, and pianist Max Lifchitz join forces for an evening featuring exclusively art songs by Brazilian composers in 'O Coração Canta.'

North/South Consonance, Inc. continues its 32nd consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 12, 2012 when acclaimed soprano Martha Herr, bass Israel Pessoa, and pianist Max Lifchitz join forces for an evening featuring exclusively art songs by Brazilian composers in 'O Coração Canta.'

Music-Theatre Group previously announced a special interview with Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner, to be moderated by Thomas Schumacher (Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Group) tonight, June 7th at the Dimenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th Street between 9th and 10th) at 7:30 p.m.

Music-Theatre Group has announced a special interview with Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner, to be moderated by Thomas Schumacher (Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Group) on Thursday, June 7th at the Dimenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th Street between 9th and 10th) at 7:30 p.m.

Encompass New Opera Theatre presents an evening of the music of Gertrude Stein, featuring CAPITAL CAPITALS and THREE SISTERS WHO ARE NOT SISTERS tonight, April 27th. The evening will be directed by Nancy Rhodes and conducted by Mara Waldman.

Symphony Space's Gertrude Stein's Paris, a month-long, multi-disciplinary festival devoted to the vibrant cultural milieu of Gertrude Stein's Paris, continues tonight, April 27 with two fully staged productions devoted to the inspiration Stein's work had on vocal and operatic repertoire. Encompass New Opera Theatre will present two one-act operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's Capital Capitals and Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. Directed by Nancy Rhodes, this salute to Stein's work through American opera is a fresh examination of the influence Stein has had throughout the arts.

Encompass New Opera Theatre will present an evening of the music of Gertrude Stein, featuring CAPITAL CAPITALS and THREE SISTERS WHO ARE NOT SISTERS on April 27th.

Symphony Space's Gertrude Stein's Paris, a month-long, multi-disciplinary festival devoted to the vibrant cultural milieu of Gertrude Stein's Paris, continues on Friday, April 27 with two fully staged productions devoted to the inspiration Stein's work had on vocal and operatic repertoire. Encompass New Opera Theatre will present two one-act operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's Capital Capitals and Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters.

Symphony Space's Gertrude Stein's Paris, a month-long, multi-disciplinary festival devoted to the vibrant cultural milieu of Gertrude Stein's Paris, continues on Friday, April 27 with two fully staged productions devoted to the inspiration Stein's work had on vocal and operatic repertoire. Encompass New Opera Theatre will present two one-act operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's Capital Capitals and Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. Directed by Nancy Rhodes, this salute to Stein's work through American opera is a fresh examination of the influence Stein has had throughout the arts.

New York City Opera announces that VOX, the company's workshop for new American operas, will be presented in conjunction with OPERA America's New Works Forum for New York City Opera's 2012-13 season. Composers are invited to submit works-in-progress or completed, previously unproduced works to this year's showcase, which will have a public performance on November 8 (eligibility requirements are listed below, with further details still to be announced). Since 1999, composers Mark Adamo, Charles Wuorinen, Richard Danielpour, John Zorn, and Stephen Schwartz are among those who have had pieces presented in VOX that have gone on to redefine the American opera genre. VOX, described by the New York Times as an "invaluable showcase," gives American composers and audiences the opportunity to hear professional performances of excerpts of new operatic works, unstaged and read by members of the New York City Opera orchestra and soloists. As the only program in the country that gives composers the opportunity to hear their new works and works-in-progress with full instrumental ensembles and professional soloists, VOX continues to be a vital part of the fabric of American opera.

Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble, Inc. (MCCE) announces its Composer Search 2012, the second year of its energizing initiative.

American Opera Projects (AOP) announces that composer Huang Ruo's The Weeping Camel and composer Gregory Spears's Paul's Case are awarded $10,000 each from the National Endowment of the Arts's ART WORKS initiative to support developmental workshop productions with AOP and producing partners. Both operas will be developed through AOP's First Chance series that presents concert readings of new operas in an intimate format that allows for direct conversation between audience and artist. Operas that receive fully-staged premieres after passing through First Chance include Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness (London's Royal Opera House), Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls (Fort Worth Opera), and Stephen Schwartz's Séance on a Wet Afternoon (New York City Opera, Opera Santa Barbara), among many others.

Dominant as ever in the concert hall this winter, Christine Brewer - styled "the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano" by the Los Angeles Times - joins the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen for three concert performances of excerpts from Gotterdammerung, the closing chapter of Wagner's monumental Ring cycle (Dec 8-10). Following her recent account of the German composer's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, "a performance that was a model of vocal allure and musical intelligence" (South Florida Classical Review), Brewer reprises the work - coupled with Beethoven's "Ah! perfido" - with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Ward Stare (Jan 20 & 21). She returns to Beethoven for four performances of the Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony led by Kurt Masur, first at the orchestra's Boston home (Feb 23-25) and then at New York's Carnegie Hall (March 6). Early in the new year, the "superlative Strauss singer" (New York Times) assays the great late Romantic's Four Last Songs with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Jan 13 & 14).

Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble, Inc. (MCCE) announces its Composer Search 2012, the second year of its energizing initiative.

Dominant as ever in the concert hall this winter, Christine Brewer - styled "the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano" by the Los Angeles Times - joins the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen for three concert performances of excerpts from Gotterdammerung, the closing chapter of Wagner's monumental Ring cycle (Dec 8-10). Following her recent account of the German composer's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, "a performance that was a model of vocal allure and musical intelligence" (South Florida Classical Review), Brewer reprises the work - coupled with Beethoven's "Ah! perfido" - with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Ward Stare (Jan 20 & 21). She returns to Beethoven for four performances of the Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony led by Kurt Masur, first at the orchestra's Boston home (Feb 23-25) and then at New York's Carnegie Hall (March 6). Early in the new year, the "superlative Strauss singer" (New York Times) assays the great late Romantic's Four Last Songs with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Jan 13 & 14).

The 2011-2012 season of Metropolitan Museum Concerts combines the return of acclaimed ensemble series - Pacifica Quartet, New York Philharmonic CONTACT!, and Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert - with unique programs conceived to complement the Met's collection and galleries by a distinguished roster of world-renowned artists.