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  • Barrington Stage Announces Two Musicals for 2018

    World Premiere of The Royal Family of Broadway & West Side Story

    By: Charles Giuliano - Oct 05th, 2017

    It's not yet Holiday season and Barrington Stage is first out of the get with booking for the 2018 season It annouices. the world premiere of The Royal Family of Broadway, a new musical comedy based on The Royal Family by George S. Kaufman & Edna Ferber, by the Tony Award winning creators of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; and West Side Story, in honor of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbin’s 100th birthdays.

  • Rev.23 Farce of an Opera

    Comedy Based on Book of Revelations Nothing to Laugh Over

    By: David Bonetti - Oct 03rd, 2017

    Cerise Lim Jacobs, whose "Ouroboros Trilogy" was so engaging last season returns with "Rev. 23," subtitled "A Farcial Hellish Opera!" that was less successful both thematically and musically. Is end-times and rebirth an appropriate subject for farce? The production was good to look at and the music-making was fine, but still.....

  • Bounce Opens in Lexington, Kentucky

    Basketball Opera Comes to Basketball's Home

    By: Susan Hall - Oct 03rd, 2017

    Artists committed to the continuing attraction of opera as a form that draws an audience are experimenting. A workshop of Bounce, an opera conceived by Grete Holby and her Ardea Arts in conjunction with the University of Kentucky, is performed in a park in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. With dribbles as drumming and heros like Flight and Future, the future of opera itself is secured. Now this opera goes to the University of Kentucky, collaborators on its creation.

  • Don Pasquale Composed by Gaetano Donizetti

    California's Livermore Valley Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Oct 03rd, 2017

    Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale has only three things going for it – a sparkling score; a charming story of young love and old foolishness; and more humor than a barrel full of monkeys.

  • New York Philharmonic Continues Star Wars

    Sometimes the Bad Guys Win

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Oct 03rd, 2017

    Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is generally considered to be the best Star Wars film ever made. The dark middle chapter of the original trilogy came out in 1980 as the second movie released, and remains a firm fan favorite. It boasts an expanded universe, a complicated storyline alternating between the flight of Han Solo and Princess Leia from the evil and remorseless Darth Vader, and the Jedi training of Luke Skywalker at the hands of the diminutive but wise Yoda.

  • The Carnegie Hall Season

    Brave, Bold, Consummate Art

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Oct 03rd, 2017

    The science of time travel is not normally associated with the classical music business. And yet, one might argue that the finest time travel device in New York City stands not in some hidden laboratory but on the corner of 57th St. and Seventh Avenue. That's right, it's Carnegie Hall, whose 2017-18 season offers the intrepid listener a chance to travel between centuries and musical worlds.

  • Principles of Uncertainty at BAM

    John Heginbotham and Maira Kalman

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 29th, 2017

    John Heginbotham of DH Dance wanted to work with Maira Kalman after he read her books. They walked together, drank coffee, talked and decided they'd like to do something. They had no idea what. Jacob's Pillow premiered the result in August. Now it is playing at BAM in Brooklyn.

  • Composer Librettists Development Program

    Lawrence Edelson Celebrates Opera

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 28th, 2017

    American Lyric Theater was founded in 2005. Lawrence Edelson, a tenor and stage director, wondered how best to develop national operas. When opera was first introduced to the US was intentionally European and elitist. That formula no longer works. New works are springing up all over the country, and the ALT and its composer librettist programs has trained and launched the careers of many of this generations' composers and librettists. At the heart of their program is a kind of master's degree in opera. It is based on mentorship, which subtly differs from teaching.

  • Food For Thought

    Dar Williams Talks About Her New Book

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Sep 27th, 2017

    Dar Williams talks about her new book, 'What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities One Coffee Shop, Dog Run and Open-Mike Night at a Time.' BBQ, Bourbon and beer are on the menu at Hancock Shaker Village.

  • In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda

    Hip Hop Musical in Rochester

    By: Herbert Simpson - Sep 26th, 2017

    On opening night, everyone in the theater – from old, expected attendees to first-time youngsters – seemed involved and excited throughout. We are looking at a neighborhood — a single block of New York’s Washington Heights – and we simultaneously observe separate families, shops, households.

  • Blank Out by Michel Van Der Aa

    Miah Persson and Roderick Williams Excel

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 26th, 2017

    Under the canopy formed by the dome of the Drill Hall in the Park Avenue Armory, Michel Van der Aa’s brilliant chamber opera, Blank Out, unfolds. In this gargantuan space, we seemed small and so did elements of the opera.

  • On Site Opera Focuses on Dinosaurs

    Natural History Museum Setting

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 24th, 2017

    If you are asked what’s the most exciting character you can think of and answer is 'dinosaurs', it’s just a short leap to the creation of an opera about them if you want a audience that says opera, next, then make an opera about dinosaurs. On Site Opera has done just this.

  • Van Zweden Intrigues with Glass and Mahler

    New NY Philharmonic Conductor a Marvel

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 24th, 2017

    Jaap Van Sweden, the music director designate of the New York Philharmonic has swept the city up in his magic. Katia & Marielle Labèque performed a Philip Glass duo piano concerto under his baton. They have often performed Glass. The acoustics of Geffen Hall caused problems in this piece and the Mahler that followed. Yet the new conductor made clear his chemistry with his orchestra and the audience.

  • Jaap Van Zweden at NY Philharmonic

    Another Openin', Another Maestro

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Sep 20th, 2017

    The changing of the guard at any major symphony orchestra is a long and complicated challenge. For the New York Philharmonic, who are in the process of installing the Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden as its new music director, that took another turn on Tueday night. Van Zweden is not quite "here" yet. He will start his first official season with the orchestra in 2018.

  • New York Philharmonic Opens Its Season

    Jaap Van Zweden at the Helm

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Sep 19th, 2017

    The New York Philharmonic throws open its doors with a concert they are dubbing the Gala of 106 All-Stars. The program is unusual and heavy for an opening night: Gustav Mahler's burly five-movement Symphony No. 5. The real star of the show will be on the podium: Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden who is one year away from beginning his tenure as the orchestra's newest Music Director.

  • War Stories from Opera Philadelphia

    Philadelphia Museum of Art Provides Dramatic Setting

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 18th, 2017

    Inaugurating your season with a festival is setting the entertainment bar a notch higher. One after another as this festival week unfolds, dramas of high intensity, great variety set in unusual locations proceed to both jar and move. It is a mind-blowing experience.

  • Sondra Radvanovsky at Opera Philadelphia

    Celeste Radvanovsky Forma Divina

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 18th, 2017

    Sondra Radvanovsky is a sublime dramatic singing artist. She has never performed in Philadelphia, and a packed Perlman Theater greeted her arrival. She did not disappoint. Dressed in a smashing deep blue strapless gown and bedecked in juicy rhinestones she sang her heart out. She explained that she was going to show us who she was..

  • Star Wars Begins at New York Philharmonic

    A Splendid Start to the Series

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Sep 18th, 2017

    There would be no Star Wars without the music of John Williams. On Friday night, the composer's stirring opening music sent hairs standing on end as the New York Philharmonic gave its second performance of the complete orchestral score of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Their task: accompanying George Lucas' 1997 remastered "Special Edition" of the beloved 1977 science fiction classic.

  • We Shall Not Be Moved Premieres

    A Moving Hip-Opera at Opera Philadelphia

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 17th, 2017

    Years of work between the Philadelphia community and Opera Philadelphia were realized in a Hip-opera by Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Bill T. Jones, a maker, came in for the finishing touches.

  • Opera Philadelphia Launches a Festival

    Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell Strike Again

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 17th, 2017

    Opera Philadelphia is the 'it' opera company in the United States. No one has been more successful in developing new opera, honing talent and developing audiences. The festival displays many facets of their work.

  • Shanghai Opera at the Metropolitan Museum

    Farewell My Concubine

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 15th, 2017

    The Metropolitan Museum uses it galleries and collections to present events. The Shanghai Opera's production of Farewell My Concubine, based on a 3rd century BC story, fit perfectly in the Chinese Courtyard modelled on the Ming Dynasty Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets.

  • 'Fresh Grass' Festival Day One At Mass MoCa

    Be There Or Be Square

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Sep 15th, 2017

    The Annual 'Fresh Grass' Festival of Bluegrass Music opens its doors at 5:30 pm, today, at Mass MoCa in North Adams, Massachusetts. It will be a fun filled three day weekend.

  • Japan Society Presents Osada Opera

    East Meets West in Four Nights of Dream

    By: Susan Hall - Sep 14th, 2017

    Moto Osada’s first opera, Four Nights of Dream, is, like the composer, a cross over between East and West. Osada composed the music and libretto. The flexibility that gave him has yielded a work of exquisite sensibility.

  • Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte

    Produced by Opera San Jose

    By: Victor Cordell - Sep 13th, 2017

    Opera San Jose opened its 34th season with a handsome production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular opera buffa, Cosi Fan Tutte. A winsome cast of strong singers with fine acting chops yields a highly entertaining outcome.

  • Star Wars Comes to New York Philharmonic

    Magical Combination, Fillm and Live Music

    By: Paul J. Pelkonen - Sep 12th, 2017

    The reason for doing live performances of the Star Wars films goes far beyond their place in popular culture. Each of these films features a magnificent score by John Williams, the Boston-based composer who rose to national prominence with his 1975 score for Jaws.

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