Songs for a New World 1995 - Articles Page 12

Jason Robert Brown was just 25 years old when his SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD took the stage of Off-Broadway's intimate WPA Theatre. As he played piano and led the handful of musicians in director Daisy Prince's production, a quartet of actors who all had big things ahead of them (Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter) revealed the vivid collection of complex and approachable emotions expressed by the extraordinarily relatable collection of characters created by this young man's music and lyrics.

How We React and How We Recover, the new album from three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, will be released by Ghostlight Records this month. His first solo recording in over a decade is a politically-charged, far-reaching rumination on love, family and music. The album will be available in digital and streaming formats on Friday, June 29, with a physical CD planned for later this year. The release will coincide with New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center production of Brown's landmark New York debut show Songs for a New World, which runs from June 27-30.

Composer and prodigy Jason Robert Brown made his mark in the theatre world with his debut song cycle, SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, which played Off-Broadway in 1995 and continues to be produced by/for theatre enthusiasts. And, although he's since had a handful of celebrated, yet unsuccessful Broadway attempts (THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, 13, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS), it's his two-person musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS that is most often seen onstage across the globe. But does the small show survive when stripped of its intimate nature, as in the production currently playing at WaterTower Theatre? The tough answer is both yes and no.

A Red Orchid Theatre presents a special summer engagement of Victims of Duty by Eugene Ionesco and directed by Shira Piven. Victims of Duty runs July 11 - August 5, 2018 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N Wells in Chicago. Press performances are scheduled for Saturday, July 14 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Musical Theatre West will present a new and revised production of Yankee Doodle Dandy, directed and choreographed by James A. Rocco.

Encores! Off-Center Co-Artistic Directors Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori today announced casting for New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series Encores! Off-Center.

One evening. Two amazing artists! Jeff Kashiwa is one of the most compelling young saxophonists in contemporary jazz. Having established himself in the 1990's as one of the most diverse saxmen during his decade long tenure with The Rippingtons, Kashiwa's instincts led him to more dynamic endeavors through his solo career. It surprised many when Jeff left the group to venture out on his own, but he had things to say through his own music. Kashiwa now has nine CDs released under his own name and has continued to record as a guest artist with many other artists as well. In 2004, Kashiwa founded The Sax Pack, a trio of saxophone headliners, featuring himself, Steve Cole and Kim Waters. The group released two CDs together and charmed audiences with their Rat Pack style repartee' in tours across the U.S. and abroad. His newest CD, Let It Ride, features a host of the greatest musicians in the world of Contemporary Jazz, including Russ Freeman, David Benoit, Chuck Loeb and Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra.

Arizona Broadway Theatre (ABT) announces Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown will hold a concert and conversation talk-back on Monday, May 7, at 6pm in the Theatre's newly removed 6,000 sq. ft. Encore Room.

San Francisco International Arts Festival is delighted to present the world premiere of DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE Requiem for a King composed by Anthony Brown with original spoken word by Angela Davis performed by the Asian American Orchestra and vocal ensemble Voices Of A Dream.

The Bach Choir is making history by performing at the historic State Theatre Center for the Arts for very first time.

Known for presenting rarely-done, diversely cast shows, Fabulist Theatre is back again this year with its own production of Once On This Island.

Jason Robert Brown has just announced an additional concert at SubCulture where he will be joined by Broadway superstar Sutton Foster. 

Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) is proud to announce the fourth group of composers for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Launched in 2015, Kronos' Fifty for the Future is an exciting partnership with Carnegie Hall and others to create 50 new works - by 25 women and 25 men - expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. Each year, ten composers are announced. As ever, scores, parts, recordings, videos, and other learning materials for the compositions will be offered free of charge online at kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future. 

The Winnipeg New Music Festival's (WNMF) unique relationship with Iceland its innovative composers and their uniquely evocative music has evolved over a number of seasons. This year is the 100th anniversary of an important milestone in Icelandic history: the Danish Icelandic Act, a pivotal point in Iceland's history and journey to independence. In celebration of that event, the 2018 Festival (running Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2018) presents multiple world premieres by Icelandic composers including a major new work for orchestra and choir by Hilmar rn Hilmarsson on January 31.

MIRIAM HOFFMAN, author, scholar, playwright & survivor will be reading selections from her new book A Breed Apart: Reflections of a Young Refugee, on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, at 8pm at the Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave Coral Gables, Florida. She will be joined by her son, Avi Hoffman, the award-winning actor & performer, with special musical guest, Randi Fishenfeld. The evening will include a multi-media presentation, discussion, Q&A & book signing. The event, which is co-sponsored by the University of Miami/Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, will be FREE & open to the public.

Encores! Off-Center Co-Artistic Directors Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori today announced programming for the 2018 season of New York City Center's acclaimed summer musical theater series. The season will open, June 27through 30, with Jason Robert Brown's breakout musical Songs for a New World and close with Micki Grant and Vinnette Carroll's vibrant, radical 1971 work Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, July 25 through 28. The centerpiece of the season will be a special two-night-only engagement (July 11 & 12) of Gone Missing, honoring composer and Off-Center Artistic Director Michael Friedman, whose life was tragically cut short last summer.

Razorhurst, a new musical commissioned by Luna Stage, will begin performances February 1 and run through March 4, as the second show in Luna's 25th anniversary season. The show is directed by Luna's Artistic Director Cheryl Katz with book and lyrics by Kate Mulley and music composed by Andy Peterson. The two person cast features Catherine Fries Vaughn as Kate Leigh and Claire McClanahan Tilly Devine, both are New Jersey based performers.

Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program pairing the New York Premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams's Dark Waves with Act I of Wagner's Die Walk re (in concert), with soprano Heidi Melton as Sieglinde, tenor Simon O'Neill as Siegmund (in his New York Philharmonic debut), and bass John Relyea as Hunding.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers, announces its Top Holiday Songs for 2017. According to an ASCAP analysis of streaming and terrestrial radio data, 1994's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You,' written by Walter Afanasieff and Mariah Carey, moves to #1, joining enduring Christmas classics like 'A Holly Jolly Christmas'(written by Johnny Marks, 1962) and 'Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow'(written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, 1945), at the top of the charts. (Check out ASCAP's interview with Afanaseiff about writing 'All I Want' at http://bit.ly/2k8S9E0)

Today, Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square, New York's largest holiday festival presented by the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District (BID), revealed the fantastic family-friendly lineup of children's entertainment and activities for its 18th annual event.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre presents its 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, set for today, October 19, and tomorrow, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival kicked off yesterday, October 18, with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre announces additional casting for the 29th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival kicks off on Wednesday, October 18 with its celebrated concert, The 46th Minute.

Ardea Arts announces the World Premiere of BOUNCE The Basketball Opera. Performances will take place at Calvary Baptist Church Recreation Center, 150 E. High Street, Lexington, KY, on Friday and Saturday, November 10 & 11 at 7:30pm, and Sunday, November 12at 2pm. General Admission, $18, Students $9. For more information, visit www.ardeaarts.com/bounce/.

The State Theatre Center for the Arts welcomes The Bach Choir of Bethlehem to its stage for the first time on March 17, 7:30 PM, for A Celebration of the Choral Art.

In Miller's 2017-18 Season Opener, the acclaimed pianist and Bach specialist Simone Dinnerstein and Boston's self-conducted chamber orchestra A Far Cry (in its Miller debut) will perform the New York premiere of a new piano concerto that Glass has written especially for them. As a follow up to Bach + Glass, Simone Dinnerstein will perform a recital that pairs Glass with Schubert at Miller Theatre on January 18, 2018.