Yo-Yo Ma News

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), considered one of the nation's premier orchestras as well as a leader in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions, announces its 2013-14 season, its 45th, featuring a compelling mix of beloved masterpieces and genre-defying premieres from firmly established and notable up-and-coming composers programmed by Jeffrey Kahane, one of the world's foremost conductors and pianists, who marks his 17th season as the Orchestra's music director.

This week at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, April 29 through May 5, 2013, performances will feature: The New Yorker, Leslie Kritzer, Paris Combo, Pen World Voices: McSweeney's, Pen World Voices: Monkey Business, Pen World Voices: Languages on the Edge, Lady Rizo, Pen World Voices: An Evening with Cabinet, Talavya, Jay Brannan, Pen World Voices: Watching the Meter, Pen World Voices: Lapham's Quarterly, Gianmaria Testa, Pen World Voices: Granta 2013, and Villalobos Brothers.

Renowned soprano Renee Fleming completes her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series with two concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, tonight, April 26 and May 4.

Acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman will take center stage as violinist and the podium as guest conductor to lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a program including 'Summer' and 'Winter' from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Mahler's Symphony No. 1, 'Titan.' The performances will take place April 25 and 27, at 8:00 p.m., and April 28, 2013, at 3:00 p.m., in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Chicago Opera Theater's Chicago Stage Premiere production of Astor Piazzolla's MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES evokes Argentina's 'Dirty War', the period between 1976 and 1983 when the country was governed by military juntas which controlled the populace through state-sponsored terrorism. This 'tango operita' is of stunning originality, pulsing to the passion and beat of Astor Piazzolla's revolutionary 'nuevo tango' and Horacio Ferrer's mesmerizing, imaginative poetry. Chicago Opera Theater's production is a collaboration with Chicago's Luna Negra Dance Theater at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive, and runs for four performances only: tonight, April 20; Wednesday, April 24; Friday, April 26; and Sunday, April 28.

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone headlines the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 NJSO POPS season finale in Newark and New Brunswick, June 1-2. The legendary diva, who last appeared with the NJSO in 2009, will perform songs from her latest album, 'Far Away Places,' backed for the first time by full orchestra. The star of Broadway's Gypsy will also sing signature songs from her illustrious career on stage and screen. Rob Fisher conducts.

Tonight, April 6 at 9:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall, the innovative contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound gives the world premiere of Fly By Wire by former Battles singer and guitarist, composer Tyondai Braxton, a work commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Artistic Director Alan Pierson conducts the program of music written expressly for Alarm Will Sound, which also includes New York premieres by Charles Wuorinen and John Orfe-the ensemble's pianist- as well as Dublin-based composer Donnacha Dennehy, whose scenes from The Hunger will be performed with mezzo-soprano soloist Rachel Calloway. David Lang's 2002 work, increase, completes the program.

Badi Assad is one of the most innovative, passionate and talented artists of her generation and listed by Rolling Stone as a top guitarist from Brazil. She transcends traditional styles of her native Brazilian music with a mixture of pop, jazz and ethnic sounds from around the world. As a result, the singer, guitarist and songwriter is successfully forging an exhilarating genre of music that quite literally defies categorization. 'Between Love and Luck' is her first CD of all original material and sung in both English and Portuguese. It also debuts QuatroVentos her new independent label and first U.S. release in 6 years.

Helio Alves Quartet will play the Shapeshifter Lab tonight, April 3rd at 8:15pm. The quartet features Helio Alves: Piano; Mike Moreno: Guitar; Peter Slavov: Bass; and Alex Kautz: Drums.

Renowned soprano Renee Fleming completes her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series with two concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, April 26 and May 4. Appearing on Friday, April 26 at 8:00 p.m. with the New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert, Ms. Fleming performs the world premiere of a song cycle The Strand Settings by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic.

New York Philharmonic Principal Cello Carter Brey will perform Bach's Complete Cello Suites at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church tonight, March 27, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. This program marks Carter Brey's first time performing Bach's Cello Suites as a complete set. Both concerts are sold out, but names are being taken for a waiting list.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater has confirmed eight bands for the Joe's Pub Stage at the just-announced and second annual Great GoogaMooga. The three-day outdoor food, drink and music festival is produced by Superfly Presents and will take place Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19, 2013 in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The Joe's Pub Stage will host eight performances on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19.

The Mark Morris Dance Group was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. The company's touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world's leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals.

Carolina Performing Arts at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) presents The Rite of Spring at 100 (Rite 100), an unprecedented nine-month festival which began in September 2012 and continues through May 2013. Spring season performances include three world premieres commissioned for Rite 100 including new works from Vijay Iyer, Basil Twist and Nacho Duato; a U.S. premiere from Nederlands Dans Theater 1; and a rare chance to see Martha Graham's groundbreaking version of The Rite of Spring.

Bobby McFerrin surprises us by bringing it all back home with his new album, spirityouall, available on May 14, 2013 from Sony Masterworks.

Acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman will take center stage as violinist and the podium as guest conductor to lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a program including 'Summer' and 'Winter' from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Mahler's Symphony No. 1, 'Titan.' The performances will take place April 25 and 27, at 8:00 p.m., and April 28, 2013, at 3:00 p.m., in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Emory University's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts announces the 2013-14 Candler Concert Series, featuring preeminent artists such as influential composer and musician Philip Glass and superstar pianist Lang Lang, referred to as 'the hottest artist on the classical music planet' ('New York Times').

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues the 2012-13 season of its Composer Portraits series with the works of Russian composer SOFIA GUBAIDULINA, featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Rebekah Heller, bassoon and Christian Knapp, conductor.

The Music Institute of Chicago, now in its 83rd year, hosts its annual gala Monday, May 13 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, 120 East Delaware Place. The oldest community music school in Illinois and one of the three largest community music schools in the nation, the Music Institute is planning a celebratory evening highlighted by the presentation of the Dushkin Award to internationally acclaimed pianist, cultural ambassador and educator Lang Lang.

Helio Alves Quartet will play the Shapeshifter Lab on Wednesday, April 3rd at 8:15pm. The quartet features Helio Alves: Piano; Mike Moreno: Guitar; Peter Slavov: Bass; and Alex Kautz: Drums.