Warren Jones News

Opera Exposures  (http://www.operaexposures.org), the not-for-profit opera company founded by Edna Greenwich in 2004, will present  a special recital celebrating  Elizabeth Taylor Browning, the first African American opera singer to gain recognition in Europe and the United States in the mid to late 19th century, on Sunday, September 18, at 3:00 PM at the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, 1466 Manor Road.  Tickets, available at the door, are $25. Children under ten will be admitted free of charge.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the details of its 2016-17 season. Continuing the trend set in recent years by SFCM's intrepid approach to programming and curricular focus, this season offers events devoted to interlinking themes that stretch from academics to performance. The fall semester covers music, politics, and social justice, investigating aspects of social and political change in musical commentary from Beethoven's political influences to nineteenth-century French opera to the activism of Lou Harrison. The spring semester concentrates on folk elements and regional traditions in music and literature throughout the repertoire. These domains are explored in the contexts of history, theory, the humanities, and performance.

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe returns to Carnegie Hall with pianist Alan Louis Smith to lead an audience sing-slong concert, Sing, America!, on Saturday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage as part of Carnegie Hall's annual series The Song Continues. Audience members have the opportunity to join in and sing along to some of America's most popular songs from the early 1900s including "Oh, You Beautiful Doll," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "By the Beautiful Sea," and many more.

From January 19 to 23, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) presents The Song Continues, an annual series led by renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, exploring song repertoire through master classes and concerts with the goal of encouraging, supporting, and preserving the art of the vocal recital. The series concludes with the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration, a recital featuring special guest artist soprano Nina Stemme on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. The evening's concert also features performances by soprano Julia Bullock, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, tenor Andrew Haji, bass-baritone Evan Hughes, and pianists John Arida, Keun-A Lee, Ken Noda, and Jennifer Szeto. Complete program information is listed below.

IlluminArts presents immersive musical performance in conjunction with LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING: A collaboration by Exile Books, the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, and the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. Called SONGS OF THE CITY, SONGS IN THE DARK, the concert is set for tonight, October 1, 2015 from 6:30PM to 8:30 PM at the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, 100 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33132.

IlluminArts presents immersive musical performance in conjunction with LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING: A collaboration by Exile Books, the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, and the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. Called SONGS OF THE CITY, SONGS IN THE DARK, the concert is set for October 1, 2015 from 6:30PM to 8:30 PM at the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, 100 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33132.

The Merola Opera Program presents Donizetti's Don Pasquale, led by conductor Warren Jones and director Nic Muni, in two performances tonight, August 6 at 7:30pm and Saturday, August 8 at 2pm at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco.

The Merola Opera Program presents Donizetti's Don Pasquale, led by conductor Warren Jones and director Nic Muni, in two performances Thursday, August 6 at 7:30pm and Saturday, August 8 at 2pm at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 1, 2015 – The Merola Opera Program presents Donizetti's Don Pasquale, led by conductor Warren Jones and director Nic Muni, in two performances Thursday, August 6 at 7:30pm and Saturday, August 8 at 2pm at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco. 

Carnegie Hall's 125th anniversary season is fast approaching, and we are looking forward to an exciting variety of new projects and exceptional programming! Listed below are classical music highlights at Carnegie Hall for the 2015-2016 season.

The New York Philharmonic will present the U.S. Premiere of director Co?me de Bellescize's staging of Honegger's dramatic oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake in season-finale performances conducted by Alan Gilbert and starring Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard as Joan of Arc.

Stephanie Blythe--who's at the Met these days singing Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS--“abhors labels.” That's why, despite a cavernous voice that has become even deeper with age and could easily be termed mezzo or contralto, she tells me to call her “a girl singer.”

On Friday, May 15 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall presents celebrated mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe in recital with pianist Warren Jones in a program of popular songs by Poulenc, Ferré, Brel, Britten, and Coward. One of the most respected and versatile artists of her generation, Ms. Blythe recently starred as Gertrude Stein in the world premiere production of Ricky Ian Gordon's Twenty-Seven, an opera commissioned for her by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In 2013, Innova Records released Ms. Blythe's first crossover album As Long as There are Songs, featuring selections from the Great American Songbook arranged together with pianist Craig Terry. Together Ms. Blythe and Mr. Jones have performed recitals in major concert halls across the United States.

The New York Philharmonic will present the U.S. Premiere of director Co?me de Bellescize's staging of Honegger's dramatic oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake in season-finale performances conducted by Alan Gilbert and starring Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard as Joan of Arc.

Award-winning architect Frederick Fisher, who has earned international recognition for his work with spaces such as Bergamot Station & Galleries, Santa Monica's Annenberg Beach House and Descanso Gardens' Sturt Haaga Gallery of Art, joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) for its acclaimed Westside Connections series, which this season pairs LACO's virtuosic musicians with leading artists to explore connections between music and architecture, tonight, March 19, 2015, 7:30 pm, at the Moss Theater, located at The Herb Alpert Educational Village at New Roads School.

Award-winning architect Frederick Fisher, who has earned international recognition for his work with spaces such as Bergamot Station & Galleries, Santa Monica's Annenberg Beach House and Descanso Gardens' Sturt Haaga Gallery of Art, joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) for its acclaimed Westside Connections series, which this season pairs LACO's virtuosic musicians with leading artists to explore connections between music and architecture, on Thursday, March 19, 2015, 7:30 pm, at the Moss Theater, located at The Herb Alpert Educational Village at New Roads School. During the program, Fisher reflects upon his collaborative approach to architecture, in conversation with special guest, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. A performance of Brahms' breathtaking String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111, showcases the close collaboration among LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, who curates and hosts the series, LACO Principals Sarah Thornblade, violin, Roland Kato, viola, Victoria Miskolczy, viola, and Andrew Shulman, cello. Batjer is also featured in Kevin Puts' Arches for solo violin, and Thornblade and Kato join forces for Donald Crockett's To Be Sung on the Water. The series, which began in February with a guest appearance by Frank Gehry, continues in April with Hawthorne. Fisher has been described as a “maverick architect…with a broad aesthetic” (KCET). His innovative style, and his residential, museum galleries and other buildings reflect his keen interpretation of space, light and material.

SAN FRANCISCO, February 4, 2015 – Twenty-three singers, five apprentice coaches, and one apprentice stage director, representing seven countries, will participate in the 58th season of the Merola Opera Program from June 8 to August 22, San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald announced today. More than 800 artists vied this year for the 29 coveted spots in the highly selective summer opera training program. Nearly one third of this season's artists come from countries outside the United States, including artists from Australia, China, Italy, New Zealand, Russia and South Korea, and the US artists hail from 15 states, including California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Idaho.

Soprano Michelle Bradley and pianist Michael Gaertner, winners of the 2014 Music Academy of the West Marilyn Horne Song Competition, will perform a program of lieder, spirituals, and other works by Beethoven, Strauss, Duparc, Faure, Poulenc, Bachelet, and H.T. Burleigh in recital appearances this May in Santa Barbara, Dallas, and New York City.

Our interviewee is the beloved British actor and Dickens authority Simon Callow. He has mastered the stage but also appeared in Dr. Who (fittingly as Charles Dickens). In his lengthy acting career, he has acted in television, theatre, and film. At the moment, he is the librettist and director for Houston Grand Opera's A CHRISTMAS CAROL and the best person to we can discuss this fresh, modern take on the beloved Christmas story with.