Virgil Thomson News

The Orchestra Now (TŌN) will perform the final concert in its Carnegie Hall season on Thursday, May 2 at 7 pm. The performance will showcase the New York City premieres of Joachim Raff's Psalm 130: De Profundis and Lera Auerbach's De Profundis (Violin Concerto No. 3) with internationally acclaimed violinist Vadim Repin, as well as EMI recording artist, soprano Elizabeth de Trejo. The U.S. premieres of these works will be performed by TŌN at Bard College's Fisher Center on April 27, and the program will be repeated on April 28.

The Orchestra Now begins its spring season at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 pm. The concert will present works by Brahms and Grieg with pianist Alessandro Taverna led by distinguished guest conductor Fabio Luisi, music director of the Zurich Opera and principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The season continues through May 19, 2019.

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)

The Orchestra Now (TON) begins its spring season at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 pm. The concert will present works by Brahms and Grieg with pianist Alessandro Taverna led by distinguished guest conductor Fabio Luisi, music director of the Zurich Opera and principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The season continues through May 19, 2019.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the Center debut performance of the Grammy®-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion on April 5, 2019 at 8:00pm in a program that will feature the West Coast Premiere of a new work composed by Philip Glass. Quartet members include percussionists David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and Sean Connors.

Hailed by The New Yorker as bold, adventurous, and superb, Music from Copland House is the widely-acclaimed ensemble-in-residence based at the award-winning creative center for American music at Aaron Copland's National Historic Landmark home in Westchester County. Founding and Principal Artists featured at this concert are Derek Bermel, clarinet; Curtis Macomber, violin; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; and Michael Boriskin, piano.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Guggenheim fellow, and Radcliffe alum, Kate Soper's music has been described as 'exquisitely quirky' (The New York Times) and 'epic' (WQXR). As a performer, she has been praised as a 'dazzling vocalist' (The New Yorker) and likened to 'Lucille Ball reinterpreted by Linda Blair' (Pitchfork). 

The little OPERA theatre of ny(LOTNY) presents the New York Premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera in two acts, OWEN WINGRAVE, with libretto by Myfanwy Piper, at GK Arts Center, 29 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY, from May 9-12, 2019, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $20-$45 and are available at www.ticketcentral.com.

Chamber music comes to the mythical land of the centaurs this June 14-24th, 2019!

Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times),” The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)

January 9, 2019: The program for the 2019 Thessaly Chamber Music Festival was announced today by Chamber Music Hellas President Vasos Papagapitos, and Artistic Director, Lowell Liebermann. Set in the mythical land of the gods in central Greece, the Thessaly Chamber Music Festival, now in its second year, will take place June 14-24, 2019 and will offer seven concerts of iconic masterpieces of the chamber music literature alongside compositions of Greek classical composers, as well as other neglected and unusual masterworks. The performances will be offered free of charge to the residents of the region and Master Classes are planned at the music conservatories in Larissa and Volos.

Recent Grammy Award-winners Third Coast Percussion return to Liquid Music with new works by two incredible musical minds: the iconic American composer Philip Glass and the pop polymath Devonte Hynes, a.k.a. Blood Orange. Glass's new work, written for Third Coast Percussion and co-commissioned by Liquid Music, is his first ever for percussion ensemble. Hynes, who has also become a Glass collaborator in recent years, brings his "dense modern pop with roots in hip-hop, R&B and NYC culture" (The Guardian) to an entirely new sound world in his piece for Third Coast Percussion.

The legacy of music icons - including Aaron Copland, Johnny Mathis and Joni Mitchell - continues to inspire award-worthy creative works. These artists are among the subjects of recently named winners of the 50th annualASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music.

The 'sublimely exploratory' (The Chicago Reader) Wet Ink Ensemble continues its 20th anniversary season today, October 27, 2018 at 8:00pm with a staged production of Wet Ink-member Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT, part of Miller Theatre at Columbia University's Composer Portrait: Kate Soper.

Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times),” The Dessoff Choirs today announced its annual holiday concert series. Now in its 94th year, The Dessoff Choirs continues to wow audiences with its seasonal repertoire performed in some of New York City's most beautiful churches. This season's offerings include a sing-in of Handel's Messiah, contemporary arrangement of carols, and a rare performance of the nine-movement Christmas cantata The Ballad of the Brown King with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes. (Program details are below.)

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs today announced its annual holiday concert series. Now in its 94th year, The Dessoff Choirs continues to wow audiences with its seasonal repertoire performed in some of New York City's most beautiful churches. This season's offerings include a sing-in of Handel's Messiah, contemporary arrangement of carols, and a rare performance of the nine-movement Christmas cantata The Ballad of the Brown King with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes. (Program details are below.)

From October 31 - November 4 at The Harman Center for the Arts in the heart of the nation's capital, The Washington Ballet will showcase its range of abilities and depth of versatility in an extraordinary program that pays tribute to the 20th century's most accomplished American modern choreographers. Contemporary Masters will include iconic works by three of the greatest influencers of modern American dance, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.  

Encompass New Opera Theatre will present the World Premiere of Anna Christie with music by Edward Thomas, set to a libretto by Joseph Masteroff, with 12 performances beginning today, October 4, 2018 at 8pm and running through Sunday, October 21, 2018, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (at 55 Lexington Avenue, entrance on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues) in Manhattan.

The 'sublimely exploratory' (The Chicago Reader) Wet Ink Ensemble continues its 20th anniversary season on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 8:00pm with a staged production of Wet Ink-member Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT, part of Miller Theatre at Columbia University's Composer Portrait: Kate Soper.