e. e. cummings News

The remarkable Upstream Theater is approaching its twentieth season.  This unfailingly excellent little company was founded by Philip Boehm as a vehicle for bringing to America plays from around the world—plays that, for the most part, make their very first American appearance at Upstream.  We so need that!

George Gershwin's long-lost first musical has been unearthed by a Michigan researcher after almost a century.

92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center celebrates the ninth annual International Dylan Thomas Day (on May 14) by sharing video of an acclaimed 2014 performance of Thomas’ timeless “play for voices” - Under Milk Wood – starring actor Michael Sheen and an all-Welsh cast.  

Quintet of the Americas will be in concert on Tuesday, May 23 at 7:00 PM at Marc A. Scorca Hall of The National Opera Center.

MasterVoices continues its eclectic 2022-23 season on March 23 at Central Synagogue with Ted Sperling leading O How Good, a performance of Jewish sacred music. The program includes two beloved works of traditional Jewish liturgy set by master composers – Ernest Bloch's Sacred Service and Kurt Weill's Kiddush – as well as the world premiere of And the Sun Goes Up, a new work by Israeli-American composer Daniel Rein, commissioned by MasterVoices.  

American composer and writer Ned Rorem passed away at age 99 on November 18, 2022 in New York City, in his home on the Upper West Side, surrounded by family and friends. He is survived by six nieces and nephews and eleven grand nieces and nephews.

MasterVoices has announced details of the chorus’ 81st season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect since 1941. The 2022-23 season opens on October 25 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Mr. Sperling leading a concert staging of Bizet’s Carmen in its original Opéra Comique version.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts presents the regional premiere of Los Angeles playwright Liza Powel O’Brien’s Apostrophe. Developed at the 2020 Ojai Playwrights Conference, the play runs June 10-25, 2022 on the WICA Mainstage.

KMFA Classical 89.5 announces KMFA Day on Saturday, April 23, 2022 from 2:00pm – 6:00pm at KMFA’s new home, 41 Navasota Street, Austin TX 78702. The entire event will be free and open to the public.

On Sunday, March 20th at 3pm, at the historic St. Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery, Composers Concordance will present a concert program that propels an age-old compositional form into the 21st Century.

Led by Music Director Clara Longstreth, New Amsterdam Singers continues its return to live performances with “American Voices: Classic and New.”

Based on a personal experience she describes as 'the intersection of grief and rejection,' Amanda experienced a difficult break-up that wasn't her choice. 'Knowing that someone you love(d) is out there in the world, happier without you, is a complicated pain,' she shares. 'I kept thinking, 'does it get easier?'

Los Angeles Opera’s presentation of Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky is available online from June 17 to July 18, 2021. The libretto is by Jean Cocteau. The cast includes: Oedipus, Russell Thomas; Jocasta, J’nai Bridges; Creon, John Relyea; Tiresias, Morris Robinson; Narrator, Stephen Fry; Conductor, James Conlon.

Reaching into its archival treasure trove of rarely seen recordings of past events, The American Dance Guild continues their virtual offering 10 Years Over 10 Weeks, a rich collection of video performances of honorees and guest artists over the last ten years of ADG Performance Festivals.

Nettwerk is excited to announce the signing of Toronto-based “city songwriter” Ten Kills The Pack (aka Sean Sroka). 

On Friday, May 22, 2020, GRAMMY-winning choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, releases CARTHAGE, an album featuring six striking pieces by composer James Primosch, on Navona Records. Internationally recognized and prolific, Primosch is the 2020 winner of The Virgil Thomson Award for Vocal Music from The American Academy of Arts and Letters.

92Y's Unterberg Poetry Center continues its celebration of National Poetry Month with archival recordings of readings by many of the best-known poets, including Maya Angelou, W.H. Auden (pictured above), e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda (his first U.S. reading), Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver , Tracy K. Smith and Seamus Heaney, among many others.  All of the poets mentioned have appeared at 92Y as part of the Poetry Center's main reading series; the Poetry Center began in 1939.

Poetic Theater Productions announces their tenth annual Love Redefined showcase, Love Redefined: RENEW to take place Wednesday, February 19th, 2020 at 8:00pm at Judson Memorial Church, presented with Judson Arts. Love Redefined is a celebration of radical love of self and others with a night of poetic, theatrical, and musical remixes, re-imaginings and riffs.

The ASCAP Foundation announces that multi-platinum recording artist, songwriter and social justice activist Natalie Merchant will be recognized with The ASCAP Foundation Champion Award and composer, conductor, artistic director and founder of the Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) Francisco Núñez will accept The ASCAP Foundation Life in Music Award at The ASCAP Foundation Honors on Wednesday, December 11 in New York City.

11-27 October, Pontine Theatre's co-directors, Greg Gathers & Marguerite Mathews, bring their unique approach to literary adaptation to Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 Gothic Romance, The House of the Seven Gables. Performances are Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 2pm.