John the Baptist 1907

A scandalous dance and a shocking kiss. Madison Opera opens its 62nd season with Richard Strauss' Salome on Friday, November 4 at 8pm and Sunday, November 6 at 2:30pm in Overture Hall at the Overture Center for the Arts.

Reflecting the gallery’s commitment to cross-category presentations and collecting, the selection encompasses a rare marble head from Magna Graecia, a significant Renaissance sculpture in terracotta, and an important example of post-Impressionism painting.

Very few works of art retain the power to shock and disturb that they showed on their opening night decades earlier. One of those is Richard Strauss's 1905 operaSalome. When it first appeared, this steamy brew of eroticism and religion so unnerved audiences that it was banned in Vienna and London. The opera's troubles didn't end there. In 1907, at New York's Metropolitan Opera, it was yanked from the company's repertoire just days after its premiere. At a semipublic dress rehearsal, the way in which the company's Salome, soprano Olive Fremstad, planted a passionate kiss on the severed head of John the Baptist, proved too disturbing for many of the timid Met patrons. The board revolted, demanding that General Manager Heinrich Conried bring Salome'srun to a halt. A statement was issued declaring that the work itself was objectionable and detrimental to the best interests of the Metropolitan Opera House.

Florida's Capital City has some of the state's most significant African American historical sites, from early homes, schools and churches with roots in the era of slavery to the Civil Rights Heritage Walk commemorating sit-ins and bus boycotts that helped end segregation policies.

Despite some fine singing from soprano Patricia Racette (who also went the Full Monty in the title role), the Met's revival of Richard Strauss's SALOME was a little tame--something that it should never be.

If you like your Halloween entertainment a little on the wacky-creepy side, you will love Broadway in Detroit's “A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER” now on stage at the beautiful Fisher Theatre. A musical about a serial killer could never be more funny. This show won four Tonys at the 68th Tony Awards in June 2014, including Best Musical. It is based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman and its screen adaptation, the 1949 British film Kind Hearts and Coronets. Characters in the play are penned after real-life English aristocrats, primarily a frivolous British Prime Minister.

The Orion Ensemble, winner of the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, is pleased to welcome the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras' Quartet Bolero for the final performance of 'Harp Fantasy,' its second concert program of the 2015-16 season. The high school-age performers join Orion as its Janet's Stage Artist Partners Wednesday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. at PianoForte Studios, 1335 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

The Orion Ensemble, winner of the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, welcomes guest harp virtuoso Ben Melsky, a member of the highly acclaimed Ensemble Dal Niente and principal harpist for the Joffrey Ballet and Ann Arbor Symphony, for his Orion debut on a program of 20th century music, 'Harp Fantasy.' Performances take place at First Baptist Church of Geneva November 22; the Music Institute of Chicago's Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston November 29; and the PianoForte Studios in downtown Chicago December 2.

The Orion Ensemble, winner of the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, announces its 23rd season, Fantasies and Enchantments, welcoming guest artists and featuring a range of compositions from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

The Dallas Opera's explosive second production of the 2014-2015 'Heights of Passion' Season is SALOME by Richard Strauss (whose libretto was based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of Oscar Wilde's play). SALOME, generally regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Late Romantic Era, opens tonight, October 30, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in theMargot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center located in the Dallas Arts District.

The Dallas Opera's explosive second production of the 2014-2015 "Heights of Passion" Season is SALOME by Richard Strauss (whose libretto was based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of Oscar Wilde's play). SALOME, generally regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Late Romantic Era, opens on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in theMargot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center located in the Dallas Arts District.

The Public Theater and Theatre for a New Audience have announced a two-week extension today for the American premiere of GRASSES OF A THOUSAND COLORS, part of The Wallace Shawn-Andre Gregory Project, written by Wallace Shawn. Directed by Andre Gregory, GRASSES OF A THOUSAND COLORSbegins previews tonight and was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, November 10. It will now run an additional two weeks through Sunday, November 24, with an official press opening on Monday, October 28.

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