Yo-Yo Ma News

Feinstein's at Leows Regency continues its 10th Anniversary season with the return engagement of Tony Award winning Broadway legend and 2011 Kennedy Center Honoree Barbara Cook from tonight, April 10, through the to 21st.

Poway Center for the Performing Arts Foundation's Fall 2012 Season will feature an array of artists continuing the POW! Foundation's eclectic programming. The Season begins in September with O Berkley, Where Hart Thou? featuring a line-up of San Diego folk, country and bluegrass musicians recreating the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro takes the stage in October followed by an encore performance from Natalie MacMaster. The Fall 2012 offerings come to a conclusion with Vicki Lawrence: A Two Woman Show in December. Four more shows will be offered in the 2013 Professional Performance Season.

World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Kathryn Stott and South American guitarists The Assad Brothers bring a night of unconventional classical music to the Mesa Arts Center, Sunday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Tony-nominated actor Brian Lane Green (Starmites) joins the lineup of Broadway talent performing in the March 30th concert with John Bucchino. In addition to Lane is Broadway funnyman Todd Buonopane (…Spelling Bee) and renowned singer/songwriter Lindy Robbins.

Classical tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 8 PM, as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's 2011/12 World Music Series. Hussain is joined by Masters of Percussion, an ensemble of leading percussion artists, the Meitei Pung Cholom Performing Troupe which combines dance, drumming and martial arts, and special guest, kathak dancer, Antonia Minnecola.

Hundreds of lunchtime diners in downtown Chicago were treated to a surprise performance 12:30-1 p.m. today by soprano Renée Fleming, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a Lyric Opera of Chicago pianist, and 100 high-school chorus members from Lake View High School, Chicago High School for the Arts, and Merit School of Music.

A scholarship in the name of Isaac Stern, the violinist, educator, humanitarian, and savior of Carnegie Hall, will soon be presented to a violin student at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The scholarship has been funded by a generous grant from the Linda and Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation. Usdan's faculty will hold auditions throughout the spring in order to identify the winning student.

Feinstein's at Leows Regency continues its 10th Anniversary season with the return engagement of Tony Award winning Broadway legend and 2011 Kennedy Center Honoree Barbara Cook from April 10 to 21.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre will present its newest edition on Thursday, March 15 at 9:30 PM.

Joe's Pub has announced the following upcoming events.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts will launch its Design Your Own series on Sunday, September 25.

The Hartt School, the comprehensive performing arts school of the University of Hartford, today announced that the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has renewed its support for School's Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series through 2014. The Fund, which has been the principal underwriter of the Series since its inception, will provide Hartt with $53,000 for each of the next two seasons.

Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman announced the festival's 2012 season, which offers more than 100 separate events exemplifying most musical genres, including the 77th residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The summer boasts a variety of music's legends from Philip Glass to James Taylor, along with 43 debuts, including Glee and Wicked star Idina Menzel, reggae master Jimmy Cliff, classic rocker Santana, Grammy-and-Oscar sensation Esperanza Spalding, and Musical America's "conductor of the year" Jaap van Zweden. Ravinia Music Director James Conlon celebrates the 35th anniversary of his own festival debut as his contract is extended through 2014.

Contra Costa County's only professional orchestra, California Symphony, presents its spring concert Novacek Plays Rach 3, featuring guest conductor Alastair Willis, whowill conduct a program including Ruslan und Ludmilla Overture by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra,and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring internationally renowned pianist John Novacek. Novacek Plays Rach 3will take place at 4pm Sunday, March 4, 2012 at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Center Drive, Walnut Creek). Tickets ($39-$69) can be purchased by calling the Lesher Center ticket office at 925-943-7469 or by visiting www.californiasymphony.org.

Classical tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 8 PM, as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's 2011/12 World Music Series. Hussain is joined by Masters of Percussion, an ensemble of leading percussion artists, the Meitei Pung Cholom Performing Troupe which combines dance, drumming and martial arts, and special guest, kathak dancer, Antonia Minnecola.

Singer-songwriter Howard Fishman stars in a developmental reading of Dead Author Songs, at the 2012 Emerging Artists Theatre New Work series. Written by Zac Kline (Messed Up Here Tonight, Big Star California), directed by Christopher Carter Sanderson (founding artistic and producing director of New York's Gorilla Rep) and Produced by NYC's Missing Bolts Productions.

Joe's Pub has announced the following upcoming events. For more information, follow the links below, or go to www.joespub.com.

David Hallberg, Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the first American star to join the fabled Bolshoi Ballet, will join Damian Woetzel in an informal discussion on Monday, February 27 at 6:30 pm, as part of New York City Center's Studio 5 Series.

Ten-time Grammy® Award winning vocalist, Bobby McFerrin, comes to the Historic Balboa Theatre in "An Evening with Bobby McFerrin" on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 7:30PM, with special guest Jeff Carney.

Porchlight Music Theatre will present the Chicago premiere of John Bucchino and Harvey Fierstein's A Catered Affair, directed by Nick Bowling with music direction by Doug Peck, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.