Yo-Yo Ma News

Lincoln Center Out of Doors one of the country's longest-running, free, summer outdoor festivals opens its 45th season on July 22, 2015. A range of concerts, dance performances, family events, related film screenings, talks, and an exhibition will be presented across three weeks, from July 22 - August 9.

Great cast and amazing vocals from the fine folks at Mad Theatre; too bad the script and the score are not worthy of their talent.

CHICAGO - American mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges is one of 20 international finalists for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015 competition. Bridges, a third-year member of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, is currently portraying Vlasta in Lyric's mainstage premiere of Mieczys?aw Weinberg's The Passenger.

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.

America's biggest-selling jazz instrumentalist, virtuosic trumpeter Chris Botti, is set to join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra next month for two performances at the Sydney Opera House.

The final recording and complete box set of The Nielsen Project - the New York Philharmonic's acclaimed multi-season survey of the six symphonies and three concertos by Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) - will be released today, June 9, 2015, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth.

?Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, described by Rolling Stone as a music "hero," makes his Auditorium Theatre debut with The City Lights Orchestra, conducted by Rich Daniels, Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30 p.m., concluding the Auditorium's inaugural "Made in Chicago" performance series.

Robert T. Stroker, Dean and Vice Provost for the Arts at Temple University announced today that Andreas Delfs has been appointed to the position of Artistic Director and Conductor of the Temple University Symphony Orchestra (TUSO).

Jeffrey Kahane will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct and perform an all-Mozart program featuring Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21 and Symphony No. 38, Prague, tonight, June 3, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, June 5 at 11:00 a.m.; and Saturday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m.

American Symphony Orchestra's AMERICAN VARIATIONS concert will celebrate the centenary of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer George Perle in a special program.

One of America's most versatile and prolific living composers, Andre Previn, joins Pacific Symphony as the honored guest and focus of the 15th American Composers Festival (ACF). Previn, who has been called one of America's least easily categorized musicians, began his remarkable career as a Hollywood "wunderkind" and a best-selling jazz pianist. Now 86, Previn has received four Academy Awards for his work in film, 10 Grammy Awards for his recordings (plus one more for his Lifetime Achievement), and he is also an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He's held a series of major conducting posts, including the L.A. Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, but now exclusively composes. The concert is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, whose great admiration for the legend shaped this year's ACF to reveal the scope of Previn's prowess as a composer. 

Following the conclusion of a successful 2014-15 Severance Hall season on May 3, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) will make a nine-day, four-concert tour to China June 15-24, 2015.

?More than 400 guests dressed in their finest gathered on Saturday, May 16, to participate in one of Pacific Symphony's most heartwarming galas to date, “Celebrating Carl St.Clair's 25 Years in Orange County.” Honoring the beloved music director's 25 years with the orchestra, the 2015 gala took place at the Hotel Irvine, where the sights, tastes and aromas of Orange County were center stage. Thanks to the vision of co-chairs Lynn Freeman and Ellie Gordon, the focus was also on fun and celebration, as guests arrived to revel in an OC classic: a beach party! Donning sunglasses and flip–flops, attendees engaged in friendly competition, playing games such as ultimate Frisbee and “Hang 10,” while sipping cocktails and enjoying a surf band rocking Beach Boys tunes. The evening transitioned into a memorable tribute to Maestro St.Clair as guests feasted in an enchanting orange grove. After an exciting live auction and generous “Fund-A-Dream,” Symphony musicians surprised the audience with a “flash mob” performance of Beethoven's Ninth with a rock overlay, which led straight into the party tunes of JT & Friends. 

CHICAGO—Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti and President Jeff Alexander announce the appointment of Keith Buncke as the new Principal Bassoon of the CSO, effective July 6, 2015.

New York Arts Executive Jean Davidson, who has been affiliated with some of the country's most innovative and successful arts organizations, has been named President & CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), the nation's largest professional chorus and Walt Disney Concert Hall resident chorus led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and heralded around the globe for its unparalleled artistry, announces LAMC Chair David Gindler. She assumes the post on August 31, 2015. Davidson has served since 2011 as Executive Director & CEO of New York Live Arts, an internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary performing arts center under the artistic direction of Bill T. Jones. Guiding its phenomenal growth and success since its inception, she was instrumental in leading the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company through its merger with Dance Theater Workshop to create New York Live Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing and presenting arts organization unique in the United States. Today New York Live Arts, noted for commissioning cutting-edge new works, its vibrant community partnerships and as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, presents more than 100 performances annually in its theater and studios inside its 20,000-square-foot facility in Chelsea, operating with a $5.8 million budget. Davidson is cited for her forward-thinking management style, fostering artistic innovation, developing and expanding creative partnerships with disparate educational and cultural organizations, and overseeing tremendous revenue development and programmatic growth. She previously served as Executive Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in New York City for six years prior to the merger, when the company launched two successful initiatives entitled Partners in Creation and Partners in Education; Managing Director of The Silk Road Project, Inc., a non-profit arts and cultural organization founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma which during her tenure commissioned 25 chamber works, launched a worldwide tour, released three recordings; and Production Administrator for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Davidson replaces LAMC President & CEO Terry Knowles, who steps down at the end of the season following a tremendously successful 15-year tenure with the chorus, during which time the Chorale experienced unsurpassed financial and artistic growth, toured around the world to critical acclaim, released six commercial CDs, created a recording partnership with Decca Classics, and twice received the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the nation's highest choral music award. Davidson's appointment comes at a critical time in the Chorale's history, as it is poised to launch its 52nd season and a new period of strategic growth. The national executive search for Knowles' successor was led by Arts Consulting Group, the leading provider of executive search and other services for the arts and culture industry.

NEW YORK, NY — Tonight, May 21, 2015 at 7:30pm, violinist and artistic director Gil Morgenstern's acclaimed Reflections Series International will present its final concert of the 2014-2015 season, “Nature's Bounty,” at Avenues: The World School (259 Tenth Ave.). The program will feature Morgenstern with violinist Harumi Rhodes, violist Kathryn Lockwood, cellist Astrid Schween, and percussionist Yousif Sheronick, performing music and text inspired by composers' personal encounters with both natural and man-made landscapes; immortalizing them through works of unparalleled beauty and drama. This artistic journey, from flowing crystalline streams in China to the haunting terrain of the Middle East to the wide-open prairies of the American Great Plains, includes music by Antonin Dvo?ák, Zhou Long, and Riyad El-Soumbati, along with text from the works of Mary Shelly, Naguib Mahfouz, and Gaetano Cipolla, narrated by Obie Award-winning actor Bill Camp.

The final recording and complete box set of The Nielsen Project - the New York Philharmonic's acclaimed multi-season survey of the six symphonies and three concertos by Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) - will be released June 9, 2015, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. The final recording features Nielsen's complete concertos: the Flute Concerto with Principal Flute Robert Langevin, Clarinet Concerto with Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill, and Violin Concerto with Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider.

The New York Philharmonic's Spring Gala will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, featuring a concert of music from iconic moments throughout the history of the free concert series, tonight, May 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.

Starbucks Coffee Company (SBUX) today announced that it has entered into a letter of intent with leading music streaming service, Spotify, to establish a multi-year relationship that will link its 7,000 company-operated stores in the U.S. and 10 Million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members with Spotify's more than 60 Million global users to offer a first-of-its-kind music ecosystem. This interconnectivity will allow Starbucks MSR members unique access to Starbucks music on Spotify, the ability to influence in-store playlists as well as opportunities for Starbucks MSR members to earn 'Stars as Currency.'

BAYOU CITY CONCERT MUSICALS continues its popular cabaret series with RIDIN' HIGH: Cole Porter in the 1930s, at 7:30 p.m., Today, May 16; 4:00 p.m., Sunday, May 17; and 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 18, 2015. The evening of song will again be presented at the Performance Centre of the Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main between Holman and Berry Street, in the heart of Midtown. (Entrance to The Centre is located on the corner of Fannin and Berry directly behind the theatre and has convenient free parking, courtesy of Houston Community College.)