A Second String - 1960 - Broadway Articles Page 3

Pacific Symphony's initial December concert hints at holiday celebrations to come with a program entitled Holiday Classics: Nutcracker Sweet, (Dec. 6, 7 and 8). Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with Markus Groh as soloist opens the program. The rest of the program includes Vaughan Williams' majestic work for string orchestra, 'Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis' and selections from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker alongside arrangements of Tchaikovsky's music by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. These concerts include image magnification for audiences to get a closer look at the music making projected onto big screens in the concert hall. Concerts begin at 8 p.m., with a preview talk hosted by Alan Chapman at 7 p.m. This program, sponsored by Michelle F. Rohe Distinguished Piano Fund, is presented by the Hal & Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation, The Westin South Coast Plaza Costa Meza, PBS SoCal and Classical KUSC. Tickets start at $25. For more information or to purchase tickets call the box office at (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

The Stratford Festival lost one of its pioneers today. Douglas Rain died of natural causes early this morning at the age of 90 at St. Marys Memorial Hospital, just outside of Stratford, Ontario, the city in which he established his career, becoming one of the world's great classical actors.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Center's Principal Dance Company, returns to the theater's stage from November 28 - December 30, 2018 for a milestone season. During the Company's Ailey Ascending 60th Anniversary celebration, Artistic Director Robert Battle leads Ailey's 32 extraordinary dancers during this five-week holiday engagement that will elevate a legacy of excellence in artistry with premieres by some of today's most revered and prolific choreographers, including world premieres by Rennie Harris and Ronald K. Brown; a company premiere by Wayne McGregor; a new production of by Robert Battle; the return of a recent premiere by Jessica Lang, and special performances of rarely seen works by Alvin Ailey himself.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (COP) explores the sound of the pipa alongside familiar European repertoire with works of Mozart and Dvo?ak. These works for strings by master composers are followed by a traditional Chinese tune arranged by COP's own Dirk Brosse. The Pipa is showcased alongside the Chamber Orchestra's sound in Lou Harrison's Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra. Wu Man will also first introduce us to the instrument by playing a solo piece for the Pipa in the intimate setting of the Perelman Theater.

The City of Rancho Mirage and the McCallum Theatre present Best of Doo Wop - Volume II on Sunday, November 18, at 3:00pm. This year's Doo Wop lineup features Danny & The Juniors, Remember When: A Tribute to the Platters, Johnny Tillotson, The Safaris, The Alley Cats, Comedy Host John Wing and The American Gold Band.

Sarasota Opera will open its 11th fall season on October 26th with the return of Gioachino Rossini's comic opera The Barber of Seville, last seen in 2014. Dr. Bartolo plans to marry his ward Rosina, but she has other plans for her future. Figaro, the barber, comes to the rescue and assists Rosina in sneaking, scheming, and plotting to marry her beloved Lindoro. With a comic plot and Rossini's most recognizable melodies, The Barber of Seville is one of the most performed operas in the world. Here in Sarasota, the opera was first performed at the Historic Asolo Theater in 1963, and has been a mainstay in the repertoire over the past 60 years. 

Monday evening, November 12, 2018, 8 p.m., The New York Choral Society and Orchestra (NYCHORAL) will present its first program of the season, MY SHADOW AND MY LIGHT, under the baton of Music Director David Hayes at the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. In honor of Veterans Day and in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Maestro Hayes has chosen a program that explores how three early 20th-century composers, two British and one American, created works expressing their deeply personal reactions to these profound moments in human history.

“In the heyday of George Szell's tenure as its chief conductor,” declared Gramophone, “The Cleveland Orchestra had few if any peers among the world's great orchestras.” Coinciding with the orchestra's Centennial birthday in December 2018, Sony Classical is excited to announce one of the most ambitious reissue projects of recent times, a comprehensive collection of the Clevelanders' recordings made under the baton of their iconic fourth music director. These span the period between 1947 – a year after Szell inherited a rising national ensemble from Erich Leinsdorf and began transforming it into the elite ensemble it remains to this day – and 1969, a year before his sudden death shocked the musical world. Born in Budapest in 1897, Szell's dream was to create an ensemble that combined “the Americans' purity and beauty of sound and their virtuosity of execution with the European sense of tradition, warmth of expression and sense of style,” in the words of his biographer Michael Charry. That he fulfilled that dream is amply documented in the huge discography that fills Sony's new edition of 106 CDs, “recordings that are prized for their stylistic rightness, clarity of structure, rhythmic tension, and transparency of texture” (The New Yorker).

Following the successful concert held in May at the 2018 NCPA May Festival in Beijing, China, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), with the tremendous support of the Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in Beijing, bring the same amazing programme to Hong Kong on 27 June in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. This will help strengthen cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Mainland China, and also share the excitement with Hong Kong audience.

Sandra Dickinson has had a long and diverse career, spanning stage and screen. An American who has lived in the UK for over four decades, she was recently seen in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One and as Lucille Ball in I Loved Lucy at the Arts Theatre. She is currently starring opposite Jonathan Chambers in the European premiere of The Unbuilt City at the King's Head Theatre.

“It's been 24 years since Jellyfish last harmonized, 22 since Imperial Drag last rocked, 21 since The Moog Cookbook synthesized, 15 since TV Eyes electrified, 11 since Malibu computerized, and 10 since my last solo album, CATNIP DYNAMITE, had you all singing and drumming along unashamedly behind the steering wheel of your car. And still, my fans are right here with me, waiting patiently in support of my next move.” – ROGER JOSEPH MANNING JR.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the Music Mondays summer concert series on Monday nights in July and August, with all shows at 8 pm. This year's lineup includes performances by Jackie Hoffman (Hairspray, Feud: Bette and Joan) on July 2, Norm Lewis (Jesus Christ Superstar - Live in Concert!, Porgy and Bess) on July 9, Lucie Arnaz (The Lucy Show, Pippin) on July 16, Isaac Mizrahi (Project Runway: All-Stars, Unzipped) on August 6, Charles Busch (The Divine Sister, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom) on August 13, Bobby Conte Thornton (A Bronx Tale: The Musical, Bay Street Theater's My Fair Lady) on August 20, and Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, Wicked) on August 27.

He was a boy from Tupelo who grew up to become the biggest star in music. Along the way, he absorbed a staggering range of influences, creating a revolutionary sound in his lifelong search for self-expression.

He was a boy from Tupelo who grew up to become the biggest star in music. Along the way, he absorbed a staggering range of influences, creating a revolutionary sound in his lifelong search for self-expression.

“It's been 24 years since Jellyfish last harmonized, 22 since Imperial Drag last rocked, 21 since The Moog Cookbook synthesized, 15 since TV Eyes electrified, 11 since Malibu computerized, and 10 since my last solo album, CATNIP DYNAMITE, had you all singing and drumming along unashamedly behind the steering wheel of your car. And still, my fans are right here with me, waiting patiently in support of my next move.” – ROGER JOSEPH MANNING JR.

Carnegie Hall's The '60s: The Years that Changed America, a citywide festival from January 14-March 24, 2018, concludes this month with a vast array of events presented at Carnegie Hall and at more than 35 leading partner cultural institutions throughout New York City. This special exploration of the '60s invites audiences to explore this turbulent decade through the lens of arts and culture, including music's role as a meaningful vehicle to inspire social change.

Nicholas Hytner will direct the world premiere of Alan Bennett's Allejujah!, previewing at the Bridge Theatre from 11 July 2018 with opening night on 18 July and running to 28 September 2018. Designed by Bob Crowley, Allelujah! will have lighting by Natasha Chivers and music by George Fenton. Tickets will go on sale at 10am today for priority members with public booking opening on Friday 2 March 2018 at 10am. Casting for Allelujah! will be announced shortly.

92nd Street Y inaugurates three engaging new series - Chamber Orchestras, a Vocal Series, and Garrick Ohlsson: Brahms Exploration - ushering in a host of original concepts, artists, compositions, and collaborations, in keeping with 92Y's enduring traditions of cultural discovery, intellectual curiosity, and artistic experimentation.  Additionally, 92Y commences Inflection, its first interdisciplinary festival, a six-concert exploration of music in relation to other art forms, including spoken word, photography, sculpture, and dance.  This season also features the World Premieres of Phyllis's Portrait by Sergio Assad and Jonathan Berger's new opera Leonardo, the US premiere of a symphony by Hans Rott, the New York premieres of Wynton Marsalis's new work for solo violin, a new string quartet by Martin Bresnick, and Andreia Pinto Correia's String Quartet No. 1 "Unvanquished Space"; five major international artists making their 92Y performance debuts: Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov, German cellist Alban Gerhardt, Bulgarian violinist Gergana Gergova, the Danish String Quartet, and the Artemis String Quartet; several young musicians also give their 92Y debut performances in the pristine acoustics of Buttenwieser Hall for the Soundspace Series: Jessica Xylina Osborne, Einav Yarden, Conrad Tao (with violinist Stefan Jackiw), the Horszowski Trio, Juho Pohjonen, and Orion Weiss.

Irish Arts Center presents Masters in Collaboration XII: Rhiannon Giddens Meets Dirk Powell (February 9-11), the next chapter in a series that, since its launch in 2008, has consistently served as a risk-rewarding incubator and platform for the merging of musical talents outside the dynamics of the commercial marketplace. Last season, the collaboration between Cassandra Wilson and Liam Maonla fostered at IAC blossomed into an international tour to Dublin, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, with an ensemble of top jazz, folk and Irish musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, in a performance where their innate musicality allowed their distinct vocabularies to speak as one (Chicago Tribune).

As previously announced, Feinstein's/54 Below will present the rarely heard musical A Pound in Your Pocket as part of its popular Second Act Series on Wednesday, January 24th at 7:00pm. The very first collaboration from acclaimed songwriters Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, best known for Bye Bye Birdie, A Pound In Your Pocket is a delightful, Dickensian story about friendship and redemption. Strouse will be on hand at the one-night-only concert to greet fans and sign copies of his memoir, Put On A Happy Face.

Sundance Institute showcases bold, independent storytelling at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, beginning with today's announcement of feature films selected across all categories. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort, from January 18 28.

From January 14-March 24, 2018, Carnegie Hall presents The '60s: The Years that Changed America, a citywide festival exploring the turbulent decade that was the 1960s through the lens of arts and culture, including music's role as a meaningful vehicle to inspire social change.

Citadel Theatre's will open its 2017-18 season with a revival of Moss Hart's 1948 comedy set behind the scenes of a Broadway-bound play during its Boston tryout.

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC; David Ivers, Artistic Director; Billy Russo, Managing Director) is pleased to welcome back four-time Academy Award-nominee Marsha Mason, who will direct Neil Simon's autobiographical romantic comedy Chapter Two to open ATC's 51st season, Oct. 5-22 at the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe in Phoenix.

The New York Philharmonic will present Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival, October 25-November 14, 2017,celebrating the former Philharmonic Music Director and Laureate Conductor on the centennial of his birth. The festival - which is part of the worldwide salute to the legacy of the renowned composer, conductor, pianist, and educator - will center on Bernstein's symphonic cycle, conducted by Alan Gilbert and Leonard Slatkin, complemented by other Bernstein works as well as by music by composers he admired and championed. In addition, the Philharmonic will present a Young People's Concert - the series that Bernstein famously brought to national attention through the television broadcasts - titled Inspirations and Tributes: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein," conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring pianist Makoto Ozone on November 11. A number of other events - ranging from a marathon of Bernstein's Mahler recordings to a partnership with Harvard and University of Michigan to explore Bernstein as an educator and conductor - complement the concerts throughout the centennial season. Bernstein served as the Philharmonic's Music Director from 1958 to 1969, when he was named Laureate Conductor, a title he held until his death in 1990.