LSM Newswire

Le calendrier 2010 de The Music Scene

noreply@blogger.com (Wah Keung Chan) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:03:00 +0000

La Scène Musicale/The Music Scene annonce le calendrier 2010 de The Music Scene, publication trimestrielle sur la musique pour l’Ontario et l’Ouest du Canada

Le 15 mars 2010, Montréal (Québec) – La Scena Musicale a le plaisir d'annoncer le calendrier 2010 de sa publication trimestrielle conçue pour les mélomanes de l'Ontario et de l'Ouest du Canada, The Music Scene.

Les quatre numéros qui paraîtront donneront à leurs lecteurs des nouvelles fraîches et complètes sur les activités musicales et les personnalités du monde de la musique, ainsi que des recensions de disques, de DVD et de livres, des guides et beaucoup d’autres choses. The Music Scene parlera également des activités éducatives et des festivals s'adressant aux résidents de l'Ontario et de l'Ouest du Canada.

Le prochain numéro de The Music Scene sera en kiosque le 26 mars 2010. Il donnera la vedette à un nouvel opéra, Giiwedin, une coproduction de Native Earth Performing Arts et An Indie(n) Rights Reserve, sur un livret du dramaturge algonquin Spy Dénommé-Welch, qui a également composé la musique en collaboration avec Catherine Magowan. Giiwedin raconte l'histoire de Noodin-Kwe, une autochtone de 150 ans qui lutte pour sa terre. C’est un événement, car il est rare pour un artiste autochtone du Canada de choisir l’opéra comme moyen d’expression.
Dans le même numéro, on trouvera également des répertoires des festivals nationaux et des camps d'été, ainsi que des articles sur la pianiste Yuja Wang et sur l’administrateur d'orchestre et agent d'artistes Walter Homburger, lauréat d’un prix du Gouverneur général 2010 pour les arts du spectacle.

En 2010, The Music Scene continuera de remplir sa mission de diffuser des informations pertinentes sur les artistes, les événements et les enjeux de la communauté anglophone du Canada. L'an passé, elle a consacré de longs articles à des sujets tels que El Sistema, le St. Lawrence String Quartet et Peter Simon, du Conservatoire royal de musique.

Les annonceurs de The Music Scene pourront bénéficier d’un rabais 50 % s’ils insèrent la même annonce dans la publication nationale mensuelle bilingue La Scena Musicale, et vice versa.

Trousse médias 2010 – The Music SceneQuatre numéros en 2010 axés sur l’éducation et les festivals desservant l’Ontario (Toronto et Ottawa) et l’ouest du Canada.

TMS Printemps 2010

Thème : camps d’été et festivals de musique internationaux
Sortie : le 26 mars 2010
Tombée annonces : 22 mars 2010 • Maquettes : 22 mars 2010
Distribution : sud de l’Ontario (15 000 exemplaires), Ottawa-Gatineau (5000 exemplaires), écoles de musique (3000 exemplaires), poste (2000 exemplaires)
Public cible : musiciens amateurs, aux études et professionnels, amateurs de musique et d’art

TMS Été 2010 Jazz

Thème : numéro national annuel sur le jazz
Guides : festivals canadiens de jazz, de musique du monde et de musique folklorique et festivals de jazz internationaux
Sortie : le 7 mai 2010
Tombée annonces : 23 avril 2010 • Maquettes : 26 avril 2010
Distribution : sud de l’Ontario (12 000 exemplaires), Ottawa-Gatineau (3000 exemplaires), C.-B. (6000 exemplaires), Alberta (4000 exemplaires)
Public cible : musiciens amateurs, aux études et professionnels, amateurs de musique et d’art

TMS Été 2010 Classique

Thème : numéro national annuel sur les festivals de musique classique et d’art
Guides : festivals de musique classique et d’art au Canada
Sortie : 7 juin 2010
Tombée annonces : 24 mai 2010 • Maquettes : 24 mai 2010
Distribution : sud de l’Ontario (12 000 exemplaires), Ottawa-Gatineau (3000 exemplaires), C.-B. (6000 exemplaires), Alberta (4000 exemplaires)
Public cible : musiciens amateurs, aux études et professionnels, amateurs de musique et d’art

TMS Hiver 2010

Thème : Études supérieures en musique
Sortie : 10 novembre 2010
Tombée annonces : 1^er novembre 2010 • Maquettes : 2 novembre 2010
Distribution : sud de l’Ontario (15 000 exemplaires), Ottawa-Gatineau (5000 exemplaires), écoles de musique (3000 exemplaires), poste (2000 exemplaires)
Public cible : musiciens amateurs, aux études et professionnels, amateurs de musique et d’art

– 30 –

Contact médias : Wah Keung Chan, rédacteur en chef
wkchan@lascena.org
514-400-0882

Contact annonceurs :
Morgan Gregory, Wah Keung Chan
514-948-0509
sales@scena.org
http://ads.scena.org

Information : http://tms.scena.org

Announcing 2010 Schedule of The Music Scene

noreply@blogger.com (Wah Keung Chan) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:19:00 +0000

La Scène Musicale/The Music Scene Announces 2010 Schedule of The Music Scene

Quarter-annual Music Magazine is Geared to Serve Ontario and Western Canada

March 15, 2010, Montreal, QC – La Scena Musicale is pleased to announce the 2010 schedule of The Music Scene, its quarter-annual publication tailored specifically for Ontario and Western Canada music lovers.
The four upcoming issues will provide readers with the latest and most comprehensive coverage of music events and personalities, as well as CD, DVD and book reviews, guides and much more. The Music Scene will focus on education and festivals serving Ontario and Western Canada residents.

The next issue of The Music Scene hits news stands on March 26, 2010 and will have as feature story the making of a new opera, Giiwedin, a co-production of the Native Earth Performing Arts and An Indie(n) Rights Reserve, with a libretto by Algonquin playwright Spy Dénommé-Welch, who also co-composed it with Catherine Magowan. Giiwedin tells the story of Noodin-Kwe, a 150-year old Aboriginal woman, fighting for her land. This opera is unique in that it is the first time Canadian First Nations artists have chosen opera as a medium for their story-telling. The issue will also feature international festival and summer camp guides as well as profiles on pianist Yuja Wang and 2010 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award winner Walter Homburger, the great orchestra and artist manager.

In 2010, The Music Scene will continue to uphold its mandate of providing up-to-date coverage of artists, events and issues relevant to English Canada. Last year, The Music Scene was proud to offer cover profiles on El Sistema, The St. Lawrence String Quartet and Peter Simon of the Royal Conservatory of Music. The Music Scene is also complimented on the Internet by Joseph So’s This Week in Toronto blog post at http://www.scena.org/blog.

Advertisers in The Music Scene will have access to the exclusive offer of 50% off the same advertisement in La Scena Musicale, a monthly and bilingual national publication, and vice-versa.

TMS Spring 2010

Theme: Summer Camps and International Music Festivals
Appearance: March 26, 2010
Ad Deadline: March 19, 2010 • Artwork: March 22, 2010
Distribution: Southern Ontario (15,000 copies), Ottawa-Gatineau (5000 copies), Music Schools (3000 copies), mailing (2000 copies)
Target audience: amateur, student and professional musicians, music and arts lovers

TMS Summer Jazz 2010

Theme: Annual Jazz National Issue
Guides: Canadian Jazz, World and Folk Festivals and International Jazz Festivals
Appearance: May 7, 2010
Ad Deadline: April 23, 2010 • Artwork: April 26, 2010
Distribution: Southern Ontario (12,000 copies), Ottawa-Gatineau (3000 copies), BC (6000 copies), Alberta (4000 copies)
Target audience: amateur, student and professional musicians, music and arts lovers

TMS Summer Classical 2010

Theme: Annual Classical Music and Arts Festivals National Issue
Guides: Canadian Classical Music and Arts Festivals
Appearance: June 7, 2010
Ad Deadline: May 24, 2010 • Artwork: May 24, 2010
Distribution: Southern Ontario (12,000 copies), Ottawa-Gatineau (3000 copies), BC (6000 copies), Alberta (4000 copies)
Target audience: amateur, student and professional musicians, music and arts lovers

TMS Winter 2010

Theme: Higher Music Education
Appearance: November 10, 2010
Ad Deadline: November 1, 2010 • Artwork: November 2, 2010
Distribution: Southern Ontario (15,000 copies), Ottawa-Gatineau (5000 copies), Music Schools (3000 copies), mailing (2000 copies)
Target audience: amateur, student and professional musicians, music and arts lovers

– 30 –

Media contact:
Wah Keung Chan, editor
wkchan@lascena.org
514-400-0882

Advertising contact:
Morgan Gregory, Wah Keung Chan
514-948-0509
sales@scena.org
http://ads.scena.org

Information:
http://tms.scena.org

Ensemble Transmission à New York

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:54:00 +0000

Montréal, le lundi 8 mars 2010 – Transmission fera ses débuts à New York le 16 mars prochain, en rendant hommage au compositeur Iannis Xenakis dans le cadre de l’exposition Iannis Xenakis : architecte, compositeur, visionnaire organisée conjointement par le Drawing Center et le Xenakis Project of the Americas of the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation.

Avec l’aide du CALQ, Transmission présentera son programme intitulé French Transmission à la salle Elebash du CUNY Graduate Center de New York.

French Transmission (œuvres de Boulez, Murail, Leroux, Vivier et Xenakis) sera précédé d`une présentation sur Xenakis au Canada du compositeur canadien James Harley, élève de Xenakis et auteur de Xenakis, His Life in Music.

Cette exposition sera d`ailleurs présentée à Montréal de juin à octobre 2010 par le Centre d`Architecture Canadien. Transmission participera à cet évènement en donnant deux concerts : It`s all Xenakis : œuvres de Xenakis et Xtc : œuvres de Xenakis, Aperghis et Harley.

Le collectif Transmission se compose de six artistes/musiciens, penseurs et producteurs indépendants: Guy Pelletier, flûte; Lori Freedman, clarinette; Alain Giguère, violon; Julie Trudeau, violoncelle; Julien Grégoire, percussion; Brigitte Poulin, piano. Transmission travaille sans chef la musique moderne et contemporaine du solo au sextuor.

Transmission est une énergie fraîche et essentielle, un refuge artistique, en constante recherche d’œuvres et de performances nouvelles.

Principal Oboe Lidia Khaner showcases musicality and precision in a concert featuring Mozart’s Oboe Concerto

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:49:00 +0000

Midweek Classics

Principal Oboe Lidia Khaner showcases musicality and precision in a concert featuring

Mozart’s Oboe Concerto

Wednesday, March 17^th– 7:30 pm

Edmonton, AB … Your Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) and Resident Conductor Lucas Waldin bring a supernatural element, stark emotionality, and mysticism to their upcoming Midweek Classics concert at the Francis Winspear Centre for Music. Featuring Principal Oboe Lidia Khaner in Mozart’s elegant Oboe Concerto, significant works by Weber, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky complete this midweek program of music.

Tuneful and powerful, and a staple in concert halls around the world, Weber's groundbreaking overture to Der Freischütz dawned a new era in German music. With its daring innovations, this piece is considered the precursor to Wagner’s great music dramas. Mozart’s only Oboe Concerto offers a light and transparent musical texture that highlights the soloist’s shining presence, and ebullient exchanges between the soloist and orchestra add touches of rhythmic challenge. “The concerto may not be one of the hardest pieces in the oboe repertoire, but it can easily show an oboist’s musicality, technique, and precision,” explains Lidia Khaner.

On the contrary, Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music is dark and serious – a melancholic tune of mystery as opposed to fear or dread. Though written following the deaths of two members of the same Masonic lodge to which Mozart belonged, Mozart viewed this chilling piece as a meditation upon death. Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Orchestral Suite, “Mozartiana” – adapted from some of Mozart’s lesser known works – quickly won acclaim for its elaboration on graceful simplicity to create tone pictures full of charm and colour. Vivaldi's variations on “La Folia”, a popular Spanish tune which has inspired dozens of composers including Corelli, will also be performed.

Ticket prices for Mozart’s Oboe Concerto range from $20 – $65 (agency fees apply), and are available through the Winspear Centre Box Office. Call (780) 428-1414, toll-free 1-800-563-5081, or purchase online at www.EdmontonSymphony.com.

The next and final performance of the Midweek Classics series this season takes place on March 26^th, 2010. Edmonton’s Jeremy Spurgeon performs Handel’s dramatic concerto on the Davis Concert Organ in Echoes from the Baroque – a concert also featuring substantial orchestral works by Bach, Bizet, and Poulenc.

Thank you to our series media sponsor Espace Musique, and our season media sponsors CBC and the Edmonton Journal.

Sponsorship inquiries can be directed to Marc Carnes, Director of Development, at (780) 401-2518.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, marking its 58^th season in 2009-2010, has taken its place as one of Canada's foremost orchestral ensemble. Its current roster includes 56 musicians from Canada and around the world, performing a wide-ranging repertoire from the great classical masterworks to pops and children's concerts. The presence of the orchestra and its enrichment of the community's quality of life are key elements in the stature and profile of Edmonton on the national and international scene.

Messe brève La Stella et Stabat Mater à 10 voix

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Domenico Scarlatti

Messe brève La Stella et Stabat Mater à 10 voix

Le vendredi 19 mars 2010, 20 h 00

Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, 400, rue Saint-Paul Est, Vieux-Montréal

Prix des billets :

Entrée simple 28 $ / Aîné (65 ans et +) 25 $

Étudiant, temps plein, 25 ans et moins 10 $

15 ans et moins accompagné d’un adulte : gratuit

Renseignements et réservations : 514-748-8625 – www.clavecinenconcert.org

Montréal, 4 mars 2010 – Lors de son prochain concert, Clavecin en concert vous proposera d’entendre deux œuvres de musique sacrée de Domenico Scarlatti : la messe brève La Stella et le Stabat Mater à 10 voix. Dix chanteurs et trois musiciens seront dirigés par Luc Beauséjour. Quatre sonates pour orgue de Domenico Scarlatti complèteront le programme.

« Vin bénéfice » à la crypte au profit de Clavecin en concert

Après le concert, tous ceux qui désirent participer à un « Vin bénéfice » pourront se rendre à la crypte de la chapelle où des vins et fromages seront servis. Luc Beauséjour jouera d’une épinette en aile d’oiseau du facteur Yves Beaupré.

Prix des billets :

Concert seulement (20 h) : régulier 28 $, aîné 25 $, étudiant 10 $

Concert et vin bénéfice : aîné et régulier 75 $, étudiant 60 $.

Vin bénéfice : 50 $ (21 h)

Réservations : Gisèle Pelletier 514-748-8625 / gpelletier@vif.com / clavecinenconcert.org

Clavecin en concert remercie le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, le Conseil des Arts du Canada et le Conseil des arts de Montréal de leur soutien.

Renseignements : Louis Allard, 514-805-9904

Art of Time Ensemble presents The Kreutzer Sonata

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Inspired by and featuring Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata

featuring Ted Dykstra in his adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novella of the same name

and the choreography of James Kudelka danced by Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie to Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, performed by

Andrew Burashko on piano and violinist Marie Bérard

Toronto, February 24, 2010 - Capitalizing on the tremendous sold-out success of The Kreutzer Sonata last season, the Art of Time Ensemble, under the artistic direction of founder Andrew Burashko, re-stages this outstanding concert evening inspired by and featuring Ludwig Van Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Sonata for violin and piano No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47) at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre from March 18-21, 2010.

Sponsored by BMO Financial, this unique evening moves in a bold direction with a collage of theatre, dance and music that features a dramatic adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's passionate novella, The Kreutzer Sonata, written and performed by award-winning actor/director Ted Dykstra.

The second half features James Kudelka's 15 Heterosexual Duets: a virtuosic work choreographed by one of Canada's most eminent choreographers to Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, and danced by the acclaimed Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie to the accompaniment of Andrew Burashko on piano and Marie Bérard on violin. Like the Tolstoy story, it explores the male/female relationship.

Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie is led by Bill Coleman and Laurence Lemieux, who are also life partners. 15 Heterosexual Duets features some of the most talented dancers in the country:

Kate Alton

Valerie Calam
Michael Caldwell
Lauren Chin
Bill Coleman
Luke Garwood
Andrew Giday

Jones Henry
Sylvain Lafortune
Laurence Lemieux

Graham McKelvie

Christianne Ullmark

Founded by Artistic Director Andrew Burashko, the Art of Time Ensemble is now in its 11th season. Art of Time provides a unique musical experience that breaks down barriers between artistic and musical disciplines, and reveals the vibrancy of classical music as a contemporary artistic expression, appealing to a range of audiences. Its concerts are provocative, engaging and accessible to people unfamiliar with classical music, but also immensely fulfilling to aficionados. Currently, Art of Time is on tour with singer Steven Page in support of the release this month of its latest CD, A Singer Must Die.

The 2009/2010 season features performances by Emilie-Claire Barlow, Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie, Guinga, Kevin Hearn, Gregory Hoskins, Raine Maida, Andy Maize, Peter Mettler, Andrea Nann, Steven Page, Alejandra Ribera, Sarah Slean, John Southworth and R.H. Thomson, plus some of the finest classical and jazz musicians in the country.

Art of Time Ensemble

-Andrew Burashko, Artistic Director-

presents The Kreutzer Sonata

Inspired by and featuring Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata

Featuring Ted Dykstra and the choreography of James Kudelka danced by Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie, accompanied by Andrew Burashko on piano and violinist Marie Bérard

Thursday March 18 - Sunday March 21, 2010

Thursday-Saturday at 8 PM with a Sunday matinee at 2 PM

Enwave Theatre | 231 Queens Quay West

Tickets: $19-$49 ; Box Office: 416-973-4000 AND www.artoftimeensemble.com

Opera Kitchener presents Madama Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:55:00 +0000

Sunday March 14^th 2010 ~ 3pm

The most performed OPERA of all TIME

Opera’s most epic and exotic tale of passion and betrayal comes to THE HUMANITIES THEATRE; a young woman must decide between living without dignity or dying with honour in the opera most performed throughout the world.

This fully staged performance will be sung in Italian, with English Surtitles, accompanied by orchestra, soloists and chorus conducted by Maestro Sabatino Vacca.

Puccini’s soaring melodies and iconic orchestration bring to life the tale of a young geisha girl, Cio-Cio San, also know as Madama Butterfly, who at the opening of the opera has been arranged to marry a U.S. Navel Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton. However, the carefree young officer tells his friend, the American Counsel Sharpless, that although he likes Butterfly and will proceed with the ceremony, he won’t think much of it when he returns to America. With the arrival of all her guests and relatives, Butterfly reveals to Pinkerton that she has renounced her faith to be with him. As Pinkerton then realizes what Butterfly has given up for him, the gravity of this action climaxes: suddenly Butterfly’s Uncle, a high priest, arrives and curses the girl for forsaking the ancient religion of her ancestors. All the wedding guests leave, denouncing Cio-Cio San, and leave her to be comforted solely in the arms of her new husband. Can the two lovers overcome the ancient curse as cultures collide ?

As famous as the actual tale itself is the magnificent and memorable music that pours forth from the score; familiar arias such as the heart wrenching “Un bel Di” and “Addio, fiorito asil”, the duet of the young lovers “Vieni la sera”, and the hauntingly beautiful “Humming Chorus” all depict overwhelming emotions via of the power of the human voice soaring above an orchestra. Premiering an all-Canadian cast, this period production features the vocal talents of Suzanne Kilgore as the heroine Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), Romulo Delgado as Pinkerton, Louisa Cowie as Suzuki and Mark Gardner as Sharpless.

Don’t miss this performance of the world’s most beloved opera: “Madama Butterfly” by G.Puccini will be for only one performance only ~ Sunday March 14^th 2010 at 3pm. Call the Humanities Theatre Box Office at 519.888.4908 and book your tickets today!

OPERA KITCHENER is owned and operated by husband and wife team Emilio and Jennifer Fina. Their mandate is to present traditional, fully-staged professional operatic productions on a yearly basis, to provide the experience only opera can bestow to the public with affordable ticket prices and to employ the talents of resident musicians and artists of the community.

OPERA KITCHENER’s “MADAMA BUTTERFLY” – an opera by G.Puccini –

Sunday March 14^th 2010 at 3pm

The Humanities Theatre, University of Waterloo

200 University Avenue West, Waterloo Ontario

Fully staged with sets, costumes, orchestra, chorus and soloists

Sung in Italian with English Surtitles

For Tickets call the Humanities Theatre Box Office at 519.888.4908

Visit us at www.operakitchener.com for more information on this performance or our 2009/2010 season.

Exposition - Parle-moi d'amour

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:45:00 +0000

L’exposition-encan

Nouvelle formule pour la 12^e édition

Montréal, le lundi 1^er mars 2010 - Jean-Bernard Trudeau, président du conseil d’administration, Michel Dallaire, coprésident, artiste, Tina Sealy, coprésidente, Impatiente et Clémence DesRochers, porte-parole, ont le plaisir d’inviter le grand public à la 12^e édition de l’exposition-encan Parle-moi d’amour. L’exposition se tiendra jusqu’au 23 mars 2010 dans la salle RONA du Centre Les Impatients (100, rue Sherbrooke Est, 4^e étage).

L’exposition-encan Parle-moi d’amour, qui se déroule chaque année durant la période de la Saint-Valentin, connaîtra cette année sa 12^e édition. Cet événement unique en arts visuels réunit des artistes professionnels et des Impatients. Plus d’une cinquantaine d’artistes s’impliquent généreusement dans cette cause et offrent une œuvre qui est vendue lors de l’encan. Parmi eux, Madeleine Arbour, Elmyna Bouchard, Laurence Cardinal, Janine Carreau, René Derouin, Clémence DesRochers, Michèle Drouin, Jean-Louis Émond, Éliane Excoffier, Pierre Gauvreau, Raymonde Godin, Yves Louis-Seize, Jaber Lutfi, Léo Rosshandler et Serge Roy.

À l'occasion de cette 12^eédition, l'événement prend un nouveau virage :

· Du côté des Impatients

Pour la première fois dans l’histoire des Impatients, une cinquantaine d’œuvres provenant des archives seront présentées, accompagnées des « Délirantes » et des « Tenaces », des poupées réalisées en atelier qui seront mises en vente lors de cette fête.

· Du côté des artistes

Une plus grande variété de format est proposé cette année aux artistes professionnels.

· Lors de soirée de clôture

Cette année, la soirée se terminera par un encan crié, animé par Pierre Paquet lors de laquelle une cinquantaine d’œuvres seront mises en vente. Mis à part la soirée de clôture, le fonctionnement de l'encan demeure le même. Les œuvres réalisées sont offertes aux collectionneurs par le biais d'un encan silencieux dès l’ouverture de l'exposition, et ce, jusqu'à la soirée de clôture. La mise de départ demeure à 50 $.

Cette exposition-encan a pour but de recueillir des fonds pour permettre aux Impatients de poursuivre leur double mission : offrir un lieu d’expression artistique et thérapeutique aux personnes souffrant de problèmes de santé mentale et de favoriser les échanges avec la communauté par la diffusion de leurs réalisations. Au-delà de l’impact financier de l’événement, il s’agit pour Les Impatients de sensibiliser le grand public aux réalités des personnes connaissant des problèmes de santé mentale, problèmes qui touchent une personne sur cinq au Québec.

Le centre Les Impatients est un organisme à but non lucratif dont la mission est d’aider les personnes atteintes de maladie mentale en leur offrant des ateliers d’expression artistiques, et ce, dans cinq lieux différents : au Centre Wellington (Institut Douglas), à l’Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, à Montréal-Est et dans le centre-ville de Montréal.

Heures d’ouverture

Mardi au vendredi de 10 h à 17 h, jeudi jusqu'à 19 h

Samedi et dimanche de 13 h à 17 h

Pour plus d’information : 514-842-1043

Cet événement est réalisé grâce au ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, Postes Canada, Prologue, Transcontinental, Lundbeck Canada inc., Gestion Phila, Fondation du Grand Montréal, Hydro-Québec, Le Curateur public du Québec, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Pélican International Inc, Fondation des maladies mentales, Communications Voir, SAQ, DeSerres et RONA.

The Hudson Music Club performs Disney's Beauty and the Beast: The Broadway Musical

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:43:00 +0000

Join The Hudson Music Club for its performance of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, happening at Le Grand Theatre in Vaudreuil (Cité des Jeunes) starting February 28^th till March 14^th, 2010. Proceeds of the show go towards La Passerelle, a shelter to help victims of domestic violence.

In this beloved tale, we meet a spoiled prince, who has been turned into a Beast after being placed under a spell. Meanwhile, a young Beauty in a nearby village might be the only hope in breaking the spell and setting all those who reside in the castle, free.

The Hudson Music Club is a non-profit organisation, dedicated to producing quality musical entertainment to benefit the community. Through annual productions and events, the Club raises funds for charities for the Hudson/St-Lazare/Vaudreuil area.

Matinees are playing Feb. 28^th, March 6^th, 7^th, 13^th and 14^th. Evening shows are March 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, 12^th and 13^th. Call 514-848-9696 for tickets today! Group rates available.

Bravo Yannick!

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:38:00 +0000

Montréal, le mardi 23 février 2010 -L’Administration et les musiciens de l’Orchestre Métropolitain félicitent leur chef, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, lauréat du Prix du Gouverneur général pour les arts du spectacle (PGGAS) 2010 (Prix du Centre National des Arts).

Les PGGAS constituent la plus haute distinction accordée aux artistes canadiens.

« Il est touchant pour nous, qui avons soumis le dossier de Yannick aux PGGAS, de voir combien Yannick fait l’unanimité parmi ses pairs. Il est un chef et un homme d’une sensibilité et d’une intelligence remarquables. C’est un artiste ambassadeur de choix pour le Canada », a exprimé Luce Moreau, présidente-directrice générale de l’Orchestre Métropolitain.

Pour de plus amples renseignements: http://www.canadacouncil.ca/nouvelles/communiques/2010/fm129114250566215078.htm

Toronto Pictures Puts a Lens on Social Issues

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:37:00 +0000

SocialWorkersSpeak.org Talks to VP Daria Trifu About Studio’s Causes

WASHINGTON— Toronto Pictures is a movie studio on a mission.

The Canadian company is dedicated to making Hollywood quality films that explore different cultures and educate about social issues, including child abuse, modern-day slavery, eating disorders and prostitution.

The studio also listens to social workers and covers issues that interest them. In January Toronto Pictures appointed social worker and National Association of Social Workers (NASW) member Silvio Orlando, MSW, and his wife Adriana Hellinger Orlando, to their advisory board. Mrs. Orlando is a former social worker.

SocialWorkersSpeak.org sat down with Toronto Pictures vice president Daria Trifu to talk about the company and its projects. SocialWorkersSpeak.org is a NASW Web site that lets social workers comment on and influence how they and issues they care about are portrayed in film, on television and the news.

Here is the interview:

Q: How long have you been involved with Toronto Pictures and what can you tell us about the company?

A: I moved to Canada in 1999 (Trifu is Romanian) and became involved with Toronto Pictures in 2000. Toronto Pictures is an independent film studio which develops, produces and distributes Hollywood standard, 35-mm feature films around the world. Maestro Bruno Pischiutta is the founder, president and chief executive officer of the company. He is the one who had the vision of using mainstream filmmaking to address issues of our world, thereby bringing them forth to the general public, reaching a large audience with films produced according to top production standards. Bruno Pischiutta is an internationally celebrated writer, director and producer who is known for his lifelong commitment to fostering the art of filmmaking.

Q: Tell us more about your latest project “Punctured Hope.”

A: “Punctured Hope: A Story About Trokosi and Young Girls’ Slavery in Today’s West Africa,” is the first mainstream feature film which is based on an African story interpreted by an all African cast of professional actors and shot in Africa under the direction of Bruno. ”Punctured Hope” is inspired by the true life story of an African “trokosi” slave. Trokosi is one of the most widespread forms of women’s slavery that exists in the world today. In fact, today there are 25,000 trokosi slaves and two million women who are genitally mutilated every year. “Punctured Hope” was an official Selection at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2009 and it has recently been nominated by the Political Film Society as Best Film Exposé and Best Film on Human Rights of 2009. The film has now qualified for consideration for the Academy Awards as “Best Picture.”

Q: Where is the film being shown and how has it been received?

A: “Punctured Hope” has been screened in Los Angeles since November. Each screening of the film has evolved into an event. The audience included members of Amnesty International, the Green Party, Women in Film (WIF), Films4Change, Veterans for Peace and film professionals. Together with the general public present, they have all chosen to join the movement behind the film and Pischiutta’s cause. Viewers’ reactions have actually created a grassroots movement that identifies with this cause. Future event screenings will follow the film as it opens commercially in New York City beginning in June. When we decided to produce “Punctured Hope” we made the commitment to donate 10 percent of the net profit of the film from the first three years after the commercial release to develop the infrastructure of an African village.

Q: What other projects are you working on?

A: This year, we are producing the film “A Party Girl for the Rat Pack” which originates from the novel “Breaking My Silence: Confessions of a Rat Pack Party Girl and Sex-Trade Survivor” by Jane McCormick. For many years, Jane was very close to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The film will deal with the relationship between child abuse and prostitution. It will be non-graphic and it will constitute a new genre due to the fact that the structure of this new feature will be something that has never been seen before. This film has a budget of $3.5 million and it will be filmed in Brazil and in the United States.

Q: You recently formed an advisory board that includes social worker and NASW member Silvio Orlando. What is the importance of having a social worker involved with your film work?

A: Education is a big component of our films and, as I have stated before, most of our films’ topics consist of a social nature. The presence of Silvio Orlando and his wife Adriana Hellinger Orlando (who was herself a social worker for many years) on the advisory board is absolutely necessary for us and we are happy and honored to be able to count on their advice. As a matter of fact, when we were following the screenings of “Punctured Hope” in Los Angeles a month ago, we took the time to visit Optimist Youth Home and Family Services, a treatment center for young offenders in Pasadena. We were invited by Silvio Orlando, who has been executive director of the center since 1999. What we saw was amazing; we had the chance to speak with members of the staff and with young residents who were sent there by the courts instead of being sent to jail. OYHFS, rather than a detention center, resembles a resort. We did a walk-through of the entire facility: the chapel, the sport facilities, the art and music classrooms, the high school, the dining and social rooms and, of course, the residential apartments. OYHFS has a rehabilitation ratio record of 80 percent. We were very impressed by the attachment that the young offenders developed to the center, which they communicated to us. We were impressed by the staff’s dedication and we were particularly impressed by Silvio Orlando’s enthusiasm and complete devotion to his mission of rehabilitating these young men and women through his center. The new morality that our cause is aiming to achieve means not only exposing problems to our films’ viewers but also doing something about them. We are aware that the recent California budget cut to OYHFS funds result in a necessity for Silvio to look for private sponsors. Taking all this into consideration, we have decided to donate 10 percent of the net profit worldwide (including theater, TV, DVD, etc.) for the first three years from the commercial release date of the film “A Party Girl for the Rat Pack” to the center. This percentage will come from our producers’ share and it will not affect the profit share of film investors.

Social workers are dedicated to ensuring equal rights for all in the United States and abroad. To learn more, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ Human Rights and International Affairs Division Web page by clicking here.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members. It promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families, and communities through its advocacy.

Infinithéâtre presents Write-On-Q winner

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:32:00 +0000

Infinitheatre Presents Third premiere of the 2009-2010 Season

Infinithéâtre presents the world premiere of Arthur Holden’s FATHER LAND directed by Guy Sprung and playing at the Bain St-Michel, March 9 to 28.

Sunday morning in Westmount. Fifteen-year-old Eric Brook is writing a history essay about Uday and Qusay, the sons of Saddam Hussein. His father Joe, a successful accountant, is about to take Eric’s reformed drug-addict uncle Victor to see their elderly father at the seniors residence. It’s a quiet, uneventful day that turns suddenly menacing when Victor reveals that he owes money to a local mobster – money he doesn’t have – and the mobster is on his way over to collect. The irresistible force of Victor’s desperation confronts the immoveable object of Joe’s outrage as young Eric, excluded from the conflict by his father, finds himself drawn to the bright flame of his uncle’s recklessness. In the boy’s imagination his uncle and father become Uday and Qusay Hussein in the fateful aftermath of the American invasion: two men trapped in a sumptuous house as a mortal enemy approaches. Alternating between the Brook home and the Iraqi villa in which the Hussein brothers have taken refuge, Father Land advances toward twin resolutions: one decreed by history, both by loyalty shot through with spite. It is a story of the debt owed by sons to fathers, by fathers to sons, by blood to blood.

Father Land was chosen from nearly forty submissions by a jury of Kent Stetson (Order of Canada recipient and Governor General award-winning playwright), Emma Tibaldo (Artistic Director of Playwrights Workshop Montreal) and Carolyn Guillet (playwright, actor and Associate Artist at Infinithéâtre) as the winner of Infinithéâtre’s first Write-On-Q playwriting competition and received a public reading in The Pipeline in 2008. The audience was so involved in the play, the heated post-reading discussion threatened to go on longer than the play itself.

Arthur Holden is a Montréal native, currently residing in Westmount, who has worked as an actor and writer in this city since the 1980’s. Acting credits include Battlefield Quebec, a TV docudrama written and directed by Brian McKenna, and Four Minutes If You Bleed, a stage play by Alex Haber and Ned Cox, directed by Alain Goulem. Arthur’s latest submission to the Write-On-Q contest, Kennedy: The Musical was chosen as one of the top three of 2009 and received a public reading using Arthur’s original compositions in The Pipeline reading series last fall. Arthur garnered rave reviews for his character Marty in the recent Infinithéâtre smash hit, The Daily Miracle.

With
Dylan Gouze

Neil Napier

Howard Rosenstein

Set and Costume Design by James Lavoie
Lighting Design by Sarah Yaffe
Sound Design by Keith Thomas
Stage Managed by Sarah-Marie Langlois

MEDI Dates & Times March 9 – 28/10

Previews March 9 & 10 Pay-What-You-Can

Opening March 11

Tues. through Sat. 20:00

Sunday Matinée 14:00

Monday DARK

Tickets

General Admission $20

Seniors & Students $15

Groups (6 or more) $10

Venue

Bain St-Michel

5300, St-Dominique

Box Office Web Site

(514) 987 – 1774 www.infinitheatre.com

box-office@infinitheatre.com

Talks between Shaw Festival and Union Break Down

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, February 23, 2010 . . . The Shaw Festival announced today talks between management and IATSE Local 461 regarding the collective agreements for the Facilities, Production and Audience Sales and Services departments has broken down.

The Union acquired bargaining rights over the Facilities department on July 25, 2008. Collective agreements in both the Audience Sales and Services and Production departments expired on November 30, 2008.

Numerous negotiation sessions have taken place regarding the Facilities bargaining unit. The Shaw has also made repeated efforts to try and negotiate the renewal of Audience Sales and Services and Production contracts without success.

The parties met with a mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour on February 18 and reached a tentative agreement on the Facilities contract at approximately 9 pm. At approximately 12:45 am on February 19, that agreement fell apart.

The parties agreed to return to the bargaining table on February 22 to revisit the Facilities contract. Those talks were again unsuccessful. The Shaw remains willing to return to the bargaining table as it continues to prepare to launch its 49^th season with previews beginning April 1.

Jonas Kaufmann sings great German arias on two new releases available April 6th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:26:00 +0000

Opera Arias by
Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Claudio Abbado
Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist Helmut Deutsch
“He has burst upon the international scene as a fully mature, major artist. And "artist" with Kaufmann means the full deal.” Gramophone

“It’s Kaufmann’s gift that his immensely seductive and secure voice can encompass nearly anything the tenor repertoire throws at him.” The Times of London on Romantic Arias
NEW YORK, NY – February 2010 – Jonas Kaufmann is now established as one of the most successful and versatile tenor of his generation, attracting rave reviews for his live performances and recordings. With a velvety rich and dark, almost baritonal timbre unique among tenors performing today, Jonas Kaufmann lends an exquisite sound and unique artistic outlook to a wide variety of repertoire.

Following the international success of Romantic Arias, Jonas Kaufmann returns with two new albums available on Decca on April 6th, 2010. These recordings are released simultaneously just as Kaufmann arrives in the Unites States to perform the role of Cavarodossi in Puccini’s Tosca at New York’s Metropolitan Opera (April 14th-24th).

One album features outstanding German tenor arias from the great operas of Wagner, as well as the challenging leading role of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, favorite arias by Mozart, and rarely heard opera arias by Schubert. Jonas Kaufmann has already sung most of these roles on the world's great opera stages. Claudio Abbado directs the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in his first ever vocal recital recording for Decca, and his first Decca recording for almost 40 years.

This album was released in Europe to coincide with his role debut as Wagner's Lohengrin in a new production at the Munich Festival last summer. “Quite simply,” Opera News wrote of that performance, “tenor Jonas Kaufmann sang a Lohengrin for the ages. Not one minute of his performance was less than extraordinary.”
The album cover shows Jonas Kaufmann as Wanderer - inspired by the much-loved painting by German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.

Tracklisting for Opera Arias

RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883) In fernem Land ... bin Lohengrin genannt (Lohengrin); Mein lieber Schwan ... Leb wohl! (Lohengrin)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1991) Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön ... Ware sie dann mein (Die Zauberflöte); Die Weisheitslehre ... führt mich der Ton zu ihr (Die Zauberflöte)

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) Was quälst du mich ... In tiefbewegter Brust (Fierrabras); Schon, wenn es beginnt zu tragen ... und mein Herze will ihm nach (Alfonso und Estrella)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Gott, Welch Dunkel ... In des lebens Frühlingstagen (Fidelio)
RICHARD WAGNER Wintererstürme wichen dem Wonnemond (Die Walküre); Amfortas! Die Wunde! ... Ewig von mir (Parsifal); Nur eine Waffe taugt ... (Parsifal)

SCHUBERT: Die Schöne MullerinJonas Kaufmann with Helmut Deutsch, piano

Also in stores on April 6th is Jonas Kaufmann’s interpretation of Schubert’s devastating song cycle Die schöne Müllerin. This is a work Kaufmann wanted to record before he got much older (he recently turned 40) as the piece, he says, “calls for a young voice as well as a young soul. It is about a young man who goes out into the world bright and happy and utterly carefree — and then his life is completely shattered. His ill-fated love for the miller’s daughter is his first painful experience. And for this ‘innocence’ to be reasonably believable, the interpreter should not sound overly mature.”

“For me, the first songs are purest expressions of joie de vivre,” Kaufmann goes on to say, “and that’s how they should be presented. The fellow who sets off on his wanderings is bursting with energy and self-confidence. The better you convey this mood, the greater the build-up of tension, the harder the fall.”

As with the best of German Lieder, Die schöne Müllerin is not music for the singer only but an equal duet between pianist and voice. Helmut Deutsch, a renowned collaborative pianist, brings his intelligence and sensitive artistry to bear in these heart-rending performances.

For more information on Jonas Kaufmann’s Opera Arias and Die schöne Müllerin recordings, including exclusive videos and interviews with the artists, please visit www.jonas-kaufmann.com.

Violinist Scott St. John appointed New Artistic Director of Piano Plus

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:22:00 +0000

TORONTO, ON…Scott St. John, one of Canada’s best-known musicians and violinist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, has been appointed Artistic Director of Piano Plus, effective immediately. Founded by pianist Janina Fialkowska in 1993, Piano Plus is the only national not-for-profit dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in small and remote communities across the country, by presenting Canada’s internationally renowned classical musicians in affordable concerts and workshops. St. John succeeds pianist Angela Cheng, who has led the organization since 2006.

Born in London, Ontario, Scott St. John is a highly sought-after soloist, teacher and a consummate chamber musician. He made his Carnegie debut in 1988 after winning First Prize in the Alexander Schneider Competition. He won the 1989 Young Concert Artists Award, and has since played an enormous variety of concerts across North America, including solo appearances with the Boston Pops, Vancouver Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. From 1999 - 2006, St. John served as Associate Professor of Violin at University of Toronto and in 2003 he received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since 2006, he has been a member of the prestigious St. Lawrence String Quartet, performing over 100 concerts a year with them world-wide. His solo recordings include an all-Dvorak CD, and 2 volumes of Paganini works for violin and guitar. St. John resides and teaches in the Bay Area of California and will be in Toronto this week to perform on the Music Toronto series, Thursday, March 25 at 8 pm.

“I believe strongly that every community should have access to the live concert performance, and the opportunity to experience great artistry in front of their eyes and ears - and feel thegoose bumps,” enthused Scott St. John. “Piano Plus artists are world-famous musicians who know their roots and have made commitments to play every corner of Canada. I want to help them realize that goal.”

The Piano Plus artist roster is comprised exclusively of world-class Canadian pianists, vocalists and instrumentalists with exceptional performance and teaching expertise. Motivated by a desire to give back to their country, this select group of artists waive their usual fees to ensure Piano Plus events are affordable to small communities. Over the last 12 months, James Ehnes, Janina Fialkowska, Jon Kimura Parker, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Jens Lindemann, Heather Schmidt, and David Jalbert have toured from Newfoundland to Bella Bella, BC; and Snow Lake, Manitoba to Owen Sound, ON. Currently, both Andre Laplante and Katherine Chi are touring, in New Brunswick and northern Ontario, respectively.

A cultural pioneer, Piano Plus has created a huge impact on hundreds of small and remote communities across Canada. Since 1993, more than 100,000 children, youth and adults have enjoyed Piano Plus recitals, school workshops, master classes, concerts, and individual teaching sessions. The majority of these audiences have never experienced a live classical music performance before Piano Plus visited their community. For more information about Piano Plus, or to download photos and a complete biography of Artistic Director Scott St. John, visit www.pianoplus.ca.

BBC brings Planet Earth live TO U.S. with Emmy-winning composer George Fenton

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:21:00 +0000

Monday, March 1, 2010 - New York, NY - The Emmy Award winning documentary series, Planet Earth caught the imagination of audiences around the world and now the BBC is bringing the awe-inspiring beauty of the series to live audiences across the U.S. Planet Earth Live is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the series’ most spectacular moments on the big screen. Planet Earth composer and Emmy-winning George Fenton will conduct a full orchestra at each event.

Planet Earth Live kicks off in early summer with the world premiere at Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Other venues and orchestras confirmed include Atlanta’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park on Friday, July 16 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival in Millennium Park on Wednesday, July 21 with the Grant Park Symphony and two dates at LA’s Hollywood Bowl, Friday, July 23 and Saturday, July 24 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Possible further dates and cities to be announced. Each show, which runs 90 minutes plus an intermission, features the best moments from Planet Earth in full High Definition on the big screen with live orchestra and narration.

Composer George Fenton says: “Planet Earth made a very special connection with the American audience and we are all very excited at the opportunity of coming to North America this summer to work with some of the greatest orchestras and together recreate the Planet Earth experience live."

Planet Earth, a BBC/Discovery co-production, aired on the Discovery Channel in 2007. The BBC’s Alastair Fothergill was the series producer and he and his team spent four years in production, with over 2000 days in the field, using 71 film crews, across 204 locations in 62 countries to capture the ultimate portrait of the planet. It has garnered legions of fans and universal critical acclaim with Oprah Magazine saying “It is the most beautiful, wondrous and truly majestic series - the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV.”

It has sold over 5 million DVDs, with one in every 30 households in the U.S. owning the series and is the U.S.’s top selling documentary DVD of all time.

Alastair Fothergill says: “I’m delighted the incredible HD footage from Planet Earth will be experienced in a whole new way by Americans this summer. With George’s amazing score and the wonder of the animals on our planet on a big screen, fans of Planet Earth are in for a fantastic treat.”

The BBC is the world’s largest producer of natural history programs and for over 50 years, has produced such notable titles as Life on Earth and The Blue Planet as well as the upcoming Life – airing on Discovery, March 2010. BBC Earth is the global brand for all of this natural history content available on television, digital, DVD and merchandise.

Planet Earth Live is produced by IMG Artists in cooperation with The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency.

Notes to editors:

PLANET EARTH LIVE DATES:
June 25, 2010 Meyerson Symphony Center Dallas, TX

ticket info: www.dallassymphony.com

June 26, 2010 Meyerson Symphony Center Dallas, TX

ticket info: www.dallassymphony.com

July 16, 2010 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park Atlanta, GA

ticket info: www.vzwamp.com

July 21, 2010 Grant Park Music Festival in Millennium Park Chicago, IL

ticket info: www.grantparkmusicfestival.com

July 23, 2010 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA

ticket info: www.hollywoodbowl.com

July 24, 2010 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA

ticket info: www.hollywoodbowl.com

ABOUT GEORGE FENTON

George Fenton began writing music for the theatre in 1974 working on productions for The Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre and Riverside Studios. His television scores include the major documentary series The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, Beyond the Clouds, Shanghai Vice, The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and most recently, Life.

Following the broadcast of The Blue Planet in 2001 for which he won a BAFTA and Emmy award for Best Television Score, he created the show, The Blue Planet Live! which toured in the UK and worldwide, performed by many of the world’s leading orchestras.

He has composed for a wide variety of feature films, receiving Academy Award nominations for The Fisher King, Dangerous Liaisons, Gandhi and Cry Freedom (for both score and song). Other scores include The Madness of King George, Groundhog Day, Shadowlands, Ever After, Anna and the King, Mrs Henderson Presents, Hitch, and Fool’s Gold.

Recently the Royal Television Society awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award and he was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.

ABOUT ALASTAIR FOTHERGILL

Alastair Fothergill’s BBC career began at the world-renowned Natural History Unit in 1983 where he worked on a wide range of award-winning programs including Wildlife on One and the innovative Reefwatch - he was one of the team that developed live broadcasting from beneath the ocean. His first project with Sir David Attenborough was The Trials of Life followed in 1993 by Life in the Freezer.

He was Head of the Natural History Unit from 1992 to 1998 at which point he stood down to concentrate on his role as Series Producer of multi award-winning The Blue Planet, a landmark series on the natural history of the world’s oceans. His portfolio of work has included roles as producer and presenter on a diverse range of high quality natural history programs including Going Ape, a film that took him to the Ivory Coast and Deep Blue, a cinematic view of the world’s oceans and the innovative live broadcast Live from the Abyss.

Alastair was Series Producer for the Emmy-winning, global hit Planet Earth. Currently he’s working as the Executive Producer on the BBC/Discovery co-production Frozen Planet, a major six part series, due to premiere in the U.S. in 2011. He is also directing two movies for Disney’s new Disney Nature label. Alastair has Honorary Degrees from Durham and Hull Universities.

ABOUT BBC EARTH

BBC Earth is the global brand for all the BBC’s natural history content spanning the last 50 years. The BBC is the largest producer of natural history programming in the world and the brand highlights the vast scale of incredible content which is produced in this genre. Visible across all platforms - TV, digital and merchandising as well as expanding across TV stings, DVDs and digital products, BBC Earth encourages engagement with current as well as classic programs such as Planet Earth and The Blue Planet in addition to future commissions.

ABOUT BBC WORLDWIDE, AMERICA

BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). BBC Worldwide, America, with headquarters in New York and Los Angeles, brings together all of BBC Worldwide’s businesses in the U.S. The company exists to maximize the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the UK license payer, and invests in public service programming in return for rights. BBC Worldwide has seven core businesses: Channels, Sales and Distribution, Content and Production, Home Entertainment, Digital Media, Global Brands and Magazines. Under these businesses fall two key brands in the U.S. – digital cable channel BBC America and a bi-coastal production arm responsible for the smash hit Dancing with the Stars for ABC.

Crow, Solo Violin is Season

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:18:00 +0000

CROW CAPS OFF SEASON WITH SOLO FINALE

WINNIPEG — On Saturday, March 20, 2010 Jonathan Crow will bring to an end another critically acclaimed season with Virtuosi Concerts. The violin virtuoso has attracted a capacity audience for his unaccompanied performance which will undoubtedly showcase the extraordinary talent that has become synonymous with the series.

Born in Prince George in 1977, Crow began the Suzuki violin method at age six and continued studies first at the Prince George Music School, then at the Victoria Conservatory of Music before earning his Bachelor of Music in Honors Performance from McGill University.

Upon graduation from McGill University, Crow joined the Montreal Symphony at the age of 19 as Associate Principal Second Violin, and won the Associate Concertmaster chair 5 months later. He was appointed Concertmaster in 2002, a position he held until 2006, and was the youngest Concertmaster to lead a major North American orchestra. He is currently Head of Strings and Assistant Professor of Violin at McGill University.

Crow has been featured as soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montreal, Kingston, London, National Arts Centre, Victoria and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras. In 2009 he performed two world premiere concerti performances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Programme: J.S. BACH Partita No. 3 in E Major; PROKOFIEFF Sonata for Solo Violin, Op 115; ECKHARDT-GRAMATTÉ Selected Caprices; BEN-HAIM Sonata in G for Solo Violin; YSAYE Sonata No. 3 “Ballade”

Clavecin en concert : Communiqué concert 19 mars 2010

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Domenico Scarlatti

Messe brève La Stella et Stabat Mater à 10 voix

Le vendredi 19 mars 2010, 20 h 00

Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, 400, rue Saint-Paul Est, Vieux-Montréal

Prix des billets :

Entrée simple 28 $ / Aîné (65 ans et +) 25 $

Étudiant, temps plein, 25 ans et moins 10 $

15 ans et moins accompagné d’un adulte : gratuit

Renseignements et réservations : 514-748-8625 – www.clavecinenconcert.org

« Vin bénéfice » à la crypte au profit de Clavecin en concert

Prix des billets :

Concert seulement (20 h) : régulier 28 $, aîné 25 $, étudiant 10 $

Concert et vin bénéfice : aîné et régulier 75 $, étudiant 60 $.

Vin bénéfice : 50 $ (21 h)

Réservations : Gisèle Pelletier 514-748-8625 / gpelletier@vif.com / clavecinenconcert.org

Clavecin en concert remercie le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, le Conseil des Arts du Canada et le Conseil des arts de Montréal de leur soutien.

Renseignements : Louis Allard, 514-805-9904

The Cleveland Orchestra showcases timeless masterpieces, world music, and popular American music to welcome new audiences to the 2010 Blossom Festiva

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:15:00 +0000

The Orchestra will perform symphonic masterpieces by Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, and more; Music Director Franz Welser-Möst to conduct Brahms and Schubert

Continuing a renewed tradition of ballet at Blossom, The Joffrey Ballet returns

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma makes its Blossom debut – Yo-Yo Ma’s first appearance at Blossom in more than 20 years

Pops programs offer family-friendly programs: American Spectacular, Broadway Swings, DISNEY IN CONCERT: Magical Music of the Movies, Music of the ’40s, and the Canadian Brass

Children 12 and under are admitted free to the Lawn with an adult Lawn ticket purchase; 1,500 Pavilion seats offered at Lawn ticket admission prices; New Create-Your-Own Subscriptions

CLEVELAND, March 1, 2010 – The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2010 Blossom Festival at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls begins Friday, July 2, with an American Spectacular Cleveland Orchestra concert and continues through Sunday, September 5, with performances by The Cleveland Orchestra and The Joffrey Ballet on Labor Day weekend. This season’s programming offers symphonic masterpieces, ballet, world music, popular music, and film music, to attract new fans to Blossom.

Masterworks Galore

The Cleveland Orchestra will perform 12 concert programs at the Blossom Festival, including many of the symphonic literature’s most popular Baroque, Classical, and Romantic works. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will lead two programs, featuring Brahms’s Second Symphony, Schubert’s Fourth Symphony, and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, or A Hero’s Life.

The music of Tchaikovsky figures prominently in the Festival, including the “1812” Overture, the Violin Concerto with guest artist Giora Schmidt in his Cleveland Orchestra debut, and the First Piano Concerto with Arnaldo Cohen. Additional audience favorites throughout the season include Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, and Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Guest conductor Nicholas McGegan returns for a program featuring Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto in his first Blossom Festival appearance as soloist, and Karen Gomyo will make her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, led by former Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Conductor Andrew Grams. Returning guest conductors include Jahja Ling and Stéphane Denève (in his Blossom Festival debut), as well as Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Robert Porco. Violinist Gil Shaham will perform Barber’s Violin Concerto led by Pablo Heras-Casado (in his Cleveland Orchestra debut), and David Zinman will conduct Brahms’s First Piano Concerto with Stephen Hough as soloist.

The Joffrey Ballet Returns to Blossom

The 2010 Blossom Festival season will conclude on Labor Day weekend with two performances featuring The Joffrey Ballet in repertoire to be announced. Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Conductor Tito Muñoz will lead the performances.

The Joffrey Ballet’s appearances renew a long-standing tradition of ballet at Blossom. Ballet companies appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra in the pit at Blossom annually from 1968 through 1984. Last season, the Joffrey collaborated with the Orchestra for the first time since 1988, for an audience of 10,000 people over two evenings.

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

Making their Blossom Festival debut, the Silk Road Ensemble will perform with Yo-Yo Ma, artistic founder and director. Yo-Yo Ma last appeared at Blossom in 1989. Musicians from multiple nations collaborate in a multi-media experience to present music from the Silk Road, a series of land and sea trade routes that crisscrossed Eurasia from the first millennium B.C.E. through the middle of the second millennium C.E. The intersections among people from diverse cultures along the way promoted an unprecedented sharing of commodities, ideas, arts, sciences, and innovations.

The Silk Road Ensemble is a collective of internationally renowned performers and composers from more than 20 countries. Each Ensemble member’s career illustrates a unique response to what is one of the artistic challenges of our times: nourishing global connections while maintaining the integrity of art rooted in an authentic tradition.

Many of the musicians first came together under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma at a workshop at Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 2000. The ensemble has since made five recordings. Several musicians in the Silk Road Ensemble performed with Yo-Yo Ma on his 2010 Grammy Award-winning recording, Songs of Joy & Peace. The Silk Road Ensemble performs around the world in such venues as the Hollywood Bowl, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Chicago’s Millennium Park, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and the Shanghai Stadium.

Pops Concerts Include The Cleveland Orchestra, Blossom Festival Band,

Blossom Festival Orchestra, and Canadian Brass

The Blossom Festival Band and conductor Loras John Schissel appear in traditional Fourth-of-July Band Concerts on July 3 and 4. The concerts will feature a salute to the U.S. Armed Forces, Sousa marches, Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture, and fireworks (weather permitting).

Broadway Swings will be led by pops conductor Jack Everly, who returns to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in a program of music by Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, and others, with vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway. Ms. Callaway is a New York cabaret star, appearing frequently at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the Algonquin Room, and the Blue Note in New York City and at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, and is known for her orchestral appearances, including concerts with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops.

The DISNEY IN CONCERT: Magical Music of the Movies program with the Blossom Festival Orchestra takes place on Saturday, August 21, under the direction of Richard Kaufman, in his Blossom Festival debut. Mr. Kaufman, a former music supervisor at MGM Studios, has led The Cleveland Orchestra in two popular concerts of film scores at Severance Hall. The program includes music from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, among other classic Disney hits. Excerpts of the films will be projected on giant screens above the stage and in front of the Lawn.

Loras John Schissel will conduct a program of American popular music of the 1940s on Sunday, August 29, with the Blossom Festival Orchestra. From the music of Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, this concert will celebrate the era of the Greatest Generation.

The Canadian Brass will make their ninth appearance at Blossom this summer. The “fabulous five” brass players entertain with music ranging from baroque to jazz and pop, served up with lively dialogue and theatrical effects. Seen by millions on The Tonight Show, Today, and Entertainment Tonight, their time-honored tradition of excellence over the past 40 years never ceases to amaze audiences around the world.

Kids Free on the Lawn and General Admission Tickets Continue

Continuing last year’s new policy, children 12 and under are admitted free to the Lawn with an adult Lawn ticket purchase. The Kids Lawn Passes are available at the Severance Hall Ticket Office and the Blossom Box Office.

Blossom patrons holding Lawn tickets may sit on the Lawn or can choose from among 1,500 seats at the rear of the Pavilion that are general admission – first come, first seated – and are priced individually at $19 and $21 for most concerts. This change was welcomed last season by thousands of concertgoers who value Blossom’s low Lawn prices but also enjoy the comfort and shelter of the Blossom Pavilion.

New Lawn Ticket Book Discounts and Create-Your-Own Series

An affordable way to enjoy Blossom Festival concerts, Lawn Ticket Books of ten tickets and two free Pavilion upgrade coupons, which can be used at any concert, are now available at an advance discount of $130. As of June 1, the price will be $139.

A Create-Your-Own Series package is being offered this season for the first time. When purchasing 4 or more concerts, there is a savings of 10% off the single-ticket price. There is no limit to the number of Create-Your-Own Series purchases.

2010 Series, Ticket, and Sponsor Information

Individual concert Pavilion tickets range in price from $19 to $93. Lawn tickets for the Lawn and the rear Pavilion for most Blossom Festival concerts are priced at $19 or $21. Individual tickets go on sale by telephone, in person at the Severance Hall Ticket Office, and online at www.clevelandorchestra.com on Tuesday, June 1. The Blossom Box Office opens for the season on Friday, June 4, and will be open throughout the summer on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. through intermission on concert days.

Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Call the Cleveland Orchestra Group Sales Office at Severance Hall at (216) 231-7463 for more information.

The 2010 Blossom Festival features a five-concert Saturday evening “Classics A” subscription and a five-concert “Classics B” series Sunday evening subscription; a four-concert “Celebrations” subscription; and a four-concert “Pops” subscription. Subscription package prices, which are not increasing this season, represent approximately 20% savings from single-ticket prices. Subscription prices range from $88 to $185. Box-seat subscriptions are priced at $272 and $340. The renewal deadline for returning subscribers is Monday, April 12, 2010. New subscription inquiries should be directed to the Cleveland Orchestra Subscription Office at (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141. New subscriptions also can be purchased online at www.clevelandorchestra.com.

VIP subscriber benefits are offered at Box-seat-level pricing and include the closest available parking in Lot A and access to Kulas Plaza, adjacent to the Pavilion, with pre-concert dining, intermission refreshments, and dedicated restrooms.

The Blossom Festival is supported only in part through ticket sales. For more information about contributing to support the Blossom Festival, please call (216) 231-7521. The Cleveland Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following generous organizations whose sponsorship makes possible the summer’s Blossom Festival concerts and presentations:

Akron Community Foundation

Baker Hostetler

Blossom Women’s Committee

The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation

Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust

Dix & Eaton

Eaton Corporation

Ernst & Young LLP

Ferro Foundation

Fifth Third Bank

FirstMerit Bank

Forest City Enterprises, Inc.

Frantz Ward LLP

GAR Foundation

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Hudson Blossom Women’s Committee

The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation

NACCO Industries, Inc.

Ohio Arts Council

Parker Hannifin Corporation

PNC

The Charles E. & Mabel M. Ritchie Memorial Foundation

The Sherwin-Williams Company

Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Memorial Foundation

The J.M. Smucker Company

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.

* * *

Blossom Music Center, which opened in 1968 as the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra, is located 25 miles south of Cleveland just north of Akron, Ohio. The Center’s name honors the Dudley S. Blossom family, major supporters of The Cleveland Orchestra throughout its history. Blossom is situated on 800 acres of rolling hills adjacent to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which protects 33,000 acres along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland. Blossom lies within the city limits of Cuyahoga Falls, an Ohio community first settled in the early 1800s, at 1145 West Steels Corners Road. Blossom reopened in 2003 following the completion of the Blossom Redevelopment Project, which featured a highly-acclaimed renovation of the facility and improved patron amenities. The Blossom Redevelopment Project was the first major capital improvements project in the history of the facility, which serves more than 400,000 visitors each summer. The Blossom Festival is a smoke-free environment. Smoking is not permitted at concerts and other events during the Blossom Festival.

___________________________________________________________________________

Contact:
Ana Papakhian, (216) 231-7476/ Email: anp@clevelandorchestra.com
Jennifer Schlosser, (216) 231-7518/ Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com

2010 Blossom Festival Calendar

Friday, July 2, 2010, at 8:30 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Robert Porco, conductor

Blossom Festival Chorus

American Spectacular

Bernstein: Overture to Candide

Copland: Suite from Appalachian Spring

Grofé: “On the Trail” from Grand Canyon Suite

Traditional: Three Spirituals

Steffe: Battle Hymn of the Republic

Ward: America the Beautiful

Tchaikovsky: “1812” Overture

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83. Pavilion tickets for children ages 12 and under are half the adult price.

Lawn Tickets: $19; Children ages 12 and under are admitted free to the Lawn. Kids’ Lawn Passes are available at the Blossom Box Office and the Severance Hall Ticket Office with the purchase of an Adult Ticket.

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Saturday, July 3, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. *

Sunday, July 4, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. *

Blossom Festival Band

Loras John Schissel, conductor

Salute to the USA

The Blossom Festival Band performs patriotic holiday favorites, including a salute to the U.S. Armed Forces, Sousa marches, and Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture.

Pavilion Tickets: $19, $27, $32; Box Seats: $43. Pavilion tickets for children ages 12 and under are half the adult price.

* Fireworks follow the concerts, weather permitting.

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Saturday, July 10, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Stéphane Denève, conductor – Blossom Festival debut

Franklin Cohen, clarinet

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

Debussy: First Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra

Ravel: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis and Chloe

Berlioz: “Love Scene” from Romeo and Juliet

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83. Pavilion tickets for children ages 12 and under are half the adult price.

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Sunday, July 11, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Tito Muñoz, conductor

Giora Schmidt, violin – Cleveland Orchestra debut

Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto

Elgar: “Enigma” Variations

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83. Pavilion tickets for children ages 12 and under are half the adult price.

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Saturday, July 17, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Peter Otto, violin – Blossom Festival debut

Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 1

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Handel: Suite from Music for the Royal Fireworks

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83. Pavilion tickets for children ages 12 and under are half the adult price.

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Sunday, July 18, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Andrew Grams, conductor

James Feddeck, conductor

Karen Gomyo, violin – Cleveland Orchestra debut

Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra

Program includes:

Rossini: Overture to William Tell

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto

Respighi: The Fountains of Rome

Respighi: The Pines of Rome

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Saturday, July 24, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor – Cleveland Orchestra debut

Gil Shaham, violin

Beethoven: Symphony No. 2

Barber: Violin Concerto

Falla: Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Sunday, July 25, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Jahja Ling, conductor

Arnaldo Cohen, piano

Schnittke: (Not) a Midsummer Night’s Dream

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Saturday, July 31, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

David Zinman, conductor

Stephen Hough, piano

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Prokofiev: Suite from Lieutenant Kijé

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Sunday, August 1, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra

Jack Everly, conductor

Ann Hampton Callaway, vocalist – Cleveland Orchestra debu

Broadway Swings

New York cabaret star Ann Hampton Callaway joins The Cleveland Orchestra in Broadway favorites by Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, and others including “From This Moment On,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Embraceable You,” “Mack the Knife,” and “Sing, Sing, Sing.” The Orchestra shines in music from Wonderful Town, Chicago, and West Side Story.

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Saturday, August 7, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Ives: From the Steeples and the Mountains

Berg: Suite from Lulu

Brahms: Symphony No. 2

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Schubert: Symphony No. 4

R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (“A Hero’s Life”)

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83.

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Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma, artistic director

Yo-Yo Ma, founder and artistic director of the Silk Road Ensemble, returns to perform at Blossom for the first time in more than 20 years. Musicians from multiple nations collaborate in a multi-media experience to present music from the Silk Road, a series of land and sea trade routes that crisscrossed Eurasia from the first millennium B.C.E. through the middle of the second millennium C.E. The intersections among people from diverse cultures along the way promoted an unprecedented sharing of commodities, ideas, arts, sciences, and innovations.

Pavilion Tickets: $32, $37, $48 Box Seats: $88.

Lawn Tickets: $21; Children ages 12 and under are admitted free to the Lawn. Kids’ Lawn Passes are available at the Blossom Box Office and the Severance Hall Ticket Office with the purchase of an Adult Ticket.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010, at 8:30 p.m.*

Blossom Festival Orchestra

Richard Kaufman, conductor – Blossom Festival debut

DISNEY IN CONCERT: Magical Music of the Movies

Bring the whole family to see and hear excerpts from Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, and more – this musical program explores many of Walt Disney’s stories and characters through memorable melodies. Plus, sing along to songs from Mary Poppins! Video from these classic films will be projected on giant screens under the stars.

Pavilion Tickets: $32, $37, $48 Box Seats: $88.

* Fireworks follow the concerts, weather permitting.

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Saturday, August 28, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Canadian Brass

These “fabulous five” brass players entertain with music ranging from baroque to jazz and pop, served up with lively dialogue and theatrical effects.

Pavilion Tickets: $27, $32, $43; Box Seats: $83

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Sunday, August 29, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.

Blossom Festival Orchestra

Loras John Schissel, conductor

The Greatest Generation –

Music of the ’40s

Relive the music that defined an era with the Blossom Festival Orchestra under the direction of Loras John Schissel. When Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington were on the radio, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific debuted on Broadway, our country’s heroes made us proud. John Williams’s soundtrack to Saving Private Ryan will be featured in this evening celebrating history.

Pavilion Tickets: $32, $37, $48; Box Seats: $88.

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Saturday, September 4, 2010, at 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 5, 2010, at 8:30 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra

The Joffrey Ballet

Tito Muñoz, conductor

Continuing a renewed tradition of ballet at Blossom, The Joffrey Ballet returns.

Pavilion Tickets: $37, $42, $53; Box Seats: $93.

Lawn Tickets: $23; Children ages 12 and under are admitted free to the Lawn. Kids’ Lawn Passes are available at the Blossom Box Office and the Severance Hall Ticket Office with the purchase of an Adult Ticket.

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All artists and programs are subject to change.

Opéra de Montréal - Simon Boccanegra dès le 13 mars

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:02:00 +0000

30 ANS ET LE MÊME ENCHANTEMENT !

simon boccanegra

de Giuseppe Verdi

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts

13, 17, 20, 22, 25 mars 2010 à 20 h

NOUVELLE PRODUCTION

EN PREMIÈRE AU QUÉBEC

Montréal, le 1^er mars 2010 — L’Opéra de Montréal invite le public à découvrir une œuvre maîtresse de Giuseppe Verdi présentée en première au Québec : Simon Boccanegra. Cette nouvelle production du San Diego Opera nous plonge dans un mélodrame amoureux sur fond d’intrigues politiques dans l’Italie médiévale et donne à entendre une œuvre musicale forte et puissante, un pied dans le Trouvère et l’autre dans Otello. Cette découverte sera également le théâtre d’un retour, notre sublime Butterfly de 2008, la soprano Hiromi Omura dans le rôle exigeant d’Amelia, la fille du Doge. Elle partagera la scène avec le baryton italien Alberto Gazale (Simon Boccanegra), la basse turque Burak Bilgili (Fiesco), et le ténor italien Roberto De Biasio (Gabriele Adorno) - qui font tous trois leurs débuts à la compagnie, - ainsi que le baryton américain Daniel Sutin dans le rôle de Paolo Albiani.

Pour mettre en lumière le drame intense de Simon Boccanegra, l’Opéra de Montréal a confié la mise en scène de David Gately (à la compagnie : Le barbier de Séville en 2000, Don Pasquale en 2005 et Lucia di Lammermoor en 2009). Les décors sont signés John Coyne et les éclairages, Guy Simard. La chef Keri-Lynn Wilson dirigera l’Orchestre Métropolitain et le Chœur de l’Opéra de Montréal.

Sur un livret de Francesco Maria Piave, Simon Boccanegra a d’abord connu un échec lors de sa création à Venise en 1857 : on épilogue sur l’œuvre trop sévère et avare d’effets, que «l’écriture vocale standardisée et la science orchestrale de Verdi encore sommaire ». Verdi lui-même parle d’une partition triste et désolante… 25 ans plus tard, Giuseppe Verdi accepte de revoir son œuvre avec Arrigo Boito, maître de la dramaturgie. En six semaines, affinant les personnages (notamment ceux de Fiesco et Paolo) et donnant du relief au rôle de Simon, ainsi que certaines scènes-clé, Verdi se fait orfèvre. La création de la version révisée est un triomphe le 24 mars 1881 à La Scala de Milan.

Avec cette ampleur nouvelle et ce souci d’une plus grande subtilité, l’accent est mis sur la noblesse du héros plus que sur le mélodrame amoureux plus que sur l’intrigue politique. Avec des caractérisations plus nettes des personnages aux destins sombres et retors, et notamment l’ajout de la grande scène du Conseil à la fin du premier acte à l’orchestration audacieuse, Simon Boccanegra s’avère une des œuvres les plus fortes et mûres du compositeur italien et une réussite majeure du Verdi de la maturité. Ainsi retravaillée, l’oeuvre communique pleinement le nationalisme cher à Verdi de même que sa vigueur artistique.

A R G U M E N T

On est en 1339 alors que Gênes est déchirée par des luttes entre patriciens et plébéiens. Simon Boccanegra, corsaire au service de Gênes, a eu une fille illégitime avec Maria, fille de son ennemi Fiesco. Mais l’enfant est enlevée et Maria est retrouvée morte. Simon est cependant élu doge par le peuple avec le soutien du conspirateur Paolo Albiani. Vingt cinq ans plus tard, Simon Boccanegra se trouve au cœur d’une intrique complexe : Amelia Grimaldi (qui s’avèrera être la fille du Doge) et Gabriel Adorno s’aiment. Une conspiration redoutable est menée par Paolo Albiani pour pousser les Fiescho et Adorno à se révolter contre Simon, Paolo ne supportant pas que le doge ne lui ait pas accordé la main d’Amélia. Si le soulèvement échoue, Paolo Albiani réussit cependant à empoisonner Simon qui le condamnera à mort mais pardonnera à tous les autres révoltés. C’est l’heure de la réconciliation entre Fiesco et Simon avant que ce dernier ne meure, laissant la succession à Gabriel Adorno.

Opéra : Simon Boccanegra

Musique : Giuseppe Verdi

Genre : Mélodrame

Structure : En un prologue et trois actes

Livret : Francesco Maria Piave et Arrigo Boito (d’après une pièce d’Antonio García Gutiérrez)

Langue : En italien avec surtitres français et anglais

Création : 1^ere version – Venise, La Fenice, le 12 mars 1857 ; version définitive – complétée par Arrigo Boito (livret) et Verdi : créée à La Scala de Milan le 24 mars 1881

Production : San Diego Opera – nouvelle production en première au Québec

Opéra de Montréal | Saison 0910

Tous les opéras sont présentés en langue originelle, avec surtitres bilingues projetés au-dessus de la scène.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts (PDA)

Massenet – Cendrillon | 22, 26, 29, 31 mai 2010 & 3 juin 2010 à 20 h

Vente de Billets

Abonnement pour les 18 à 30 ans : La banque td t’emmène à l’opéra

Grâce au soutien de TD Canada Trust, l’Opéra de Montréal poursuit son offre spéciale d’abonnement destinée aux jeunes de 18 à 30 ans : 30 $ le billet avec l’abonnement ! Achat minimal requis de deux opéras de la saison régulière.

Billets À la Pièce

Billetterie de la Place des Arts : 514-842-2112 • 1 866 842-2112

À partir de 46 $.

operademontreal.com

Pour obtenir plus de renseignements sur les productions, les événements spéciaux et les programmes éducatifs, les formules d’abonnement, le prix des billets simples et de groupe, les forfaits PRIMA et corporatifs.

Oberlin Opera Theater Presents Candide, March 17-21, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Oberlin Opera Theater Presents Candide
by Legendary American Composer Leonard Bernstein;
Performances Dedicated to Relief Effort in Haiti

On Stage at Hall Auditorium, March 17-21, 2010

OBERLIN, OHIO (March 1, 2010) — Oberlin Opera Theater will take audiences on a blisteringly funny, two-hour romp around the world in its spring production of Candide. With the legendary American composer Leonard Bernstein’s irresistible score and Hugh Wheeler’s witty libretto, the two-act operetta commandeers Voltaire’s 18th-century satirical masterpiece to follow the coming-of-age of four sheltered young people who were taught that “all is for the best” as they venture out into the world. Rising star and Oberlin alumnus Joseph Mechavich ’02 will be guest conductor. Stage direction is by Jonathon Field, associate professor of opera theater and director of opera theater productions at Oberlin.
The production opens on Wednesday, March 17, at 8 p.m. in Hall Auditorium, with additional performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students; $8 for Oberlin College faculty, staff, alumni, parents, area educators, and seniors; and $12 for the general public.
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music will dedicate each performance of Candide to the relief effort in Haiti; representatives from the American Red Cross of Lorain County will be present at all performances to accept donations.
Young Candide, torn by war from his true love, Mademoiselle Cunegonde, is thrown into a world of greed, hypocrisy, and the cruelty of men toward their fellow creatures. Holding tight to his belief in the basic goodness of the human spirit, Candide is tossed by circumstance into raucous misadventures on several continents, finding his love only to lose her again—and again. An array of zany characters and absurdly comic situations punctuate his journey (as well as some delicious musical turns), until Candide returns home to piece together a new philosophy—a hopeful compromise between his blind faith and the bleak lessons he’s learned in the world.
Arguably the most successful native-born figure in the history of classical music in America, Leonard Bernstein shaped a legacy by bridging the worlds of the classical concert hall and musical theater. Candide, one of only a handful of operatic works by Bernstein, is a characteristic example of his compositional versatility. The score ranges from darkly comic musical theater (“The Best of All Possible Worlds”) to virtuosic coloratura arias (“Glitter and Be Gay”) to orchestral gems, such as the beloved overture. “The American culture is complex and disparate, and the music reflects that,” says Field.
“What unites Candide is the sound of Bernstein,” adds Mechavich. “I try to immerse myself in the historical world and musical language of the composer. I feel it is my duty as an interpreter to embrace and highlight the style of each piece. For me, as always, the text guides music.”
In 1956, playwright Lillian Hellman had a first go at the adaptation, which originated from Voltaire’s scathing 1759 political satire of the same name. Since 1974, however, Hugh Wheeler’s book has been the standard, with a version more faithful to Voltaire’s original work. A who’s who of the literary world has also contributed to the piece, with primary lyrics by former Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur and additional contributions by, among others, Stephen Sondheim and Dorothy Parker.
Field insists that while amalgamating many different literary and musical styles, the structure of the piece enhances the portrayal of its message. “The styles don't come together and that has to be the strength,” says Field. “It needs to create a world that is constantly changing and corrupt, and the only thing that stays the same is Candide's belief that he and Cunegonde will be reunited and all will be well. We, as Americans, have embedded in our cultural makeup the innocence of Candide, and the idea that we are allowed a second chance.”

Performers and Production Team
The cast for this production of Candide is comprised entirely of Oberlin Conservatory students. Principal roles are double cast—one cast appears on Wednesday and Saturday and the other on Friday and Sunday. Principal roles will be played by:

Adrienne Sereta ’11 and Sydney Mancasola ’11 (Cunegonde), Sara Casey ’12 and Caitlin Bell ’10 (Paquette), Alexandra Roth ’10 and Katherine Jannakos ’13 (Old Lady), Roy Hage ’11 and Lucas Levy ’12 (Candide), Corey Arnold ’12 (Governor), Austin Bradley ’12 (Maximillian/Captain), Alex Boyd ’12 (Pangloss/Martin/Voltaire/ Cacmbo).
The opera’s production team of professional Oberlin staff members includes Alan Montgomery, assistant music director; Hugh Floyd, chorus master; Howard Lubin, musical preparation; Michael Louis Grube, managing director and set designer; Victoria Vaughan, assistant director and stage manager; Jeremy K. Benjamin, lighting designer; Chris Flaharty, costume designer; JoEllen Cuthbertson, costumer; Joseph P. Natt, technical director; Andrew Kaletta, master electrician; and David Bugher, assistant technical director.

About the Conductor: Joseph Mechavich
Known for his thoughtful and idiomatic interpretations, Joseph Mechavich is considered one of North America’s foremost young conductors. Recently Maestro Mechavich was named Principal Conductor and Music Director for Kentucky Opera where he has led past productions of Werther, Of Mice and Men, Il trovatore and The Pearl Fishers. He has conducted Madama Butterfly for New York City Opera, Porgy and Bess for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Il barbiere di Siviglia for The Washington National Opera, and Cendrillon for the Aspen Music Festival. Maestro Mechavich has also paced productions for Utah Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Birmingham, Tulsa Opera, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Lake George Opera Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Fargo-Moorhead Opera and Virginia Opera. Equally at home on the concert stage as in the opera pit, Maestro Mechavich has appeared with the Orlando Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Waterbury Symphony, Virginia Symphony and Sarasota Orchestra. Future engagements include Susannah for Des Moines Metro Opera, L’elisir d’amore and Madama Butterfly for Kentucky Opera and Aida for Calgary Opera.
A native of Long Lake, Minnesota, Joseph Mechavich studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music. Maestro Mechavich has held a variety of positions such as serving as Principal Conductor of Opera Birmingham for six seasons, cover conductor for The Santa Fe Opera for four seasons as well as Director of Music for Orlando Opera and Assistant Conductor for The Minnesota Opera.

About the Director: Jonathon Field
Stage Director Jonathon Field has become one of America’s more versatile and popular stage directors. A trailblazer in the world of opera, Mr. Field is fascinated with traditional as well as modern stage techniques. He has developed and used video-projected scenery for over twenty-five years in productions that have been called “brilliant”, “dazzling” and “riveting”. Mr. Field is currently the Director of the Oberlin Opera Theater and an Associate Professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Field directed the American premiere of Lost Highway, an opera based on the David Lynch film, that played to sold-out performances at the Miller Theater in New York. He directed the world premiere of the jazz opera Leave Me Alone in a partnership between Oberlin Conservatory and Real Time Opera, which was one of the first operas to broadcast live on the internet. His productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago of Trouble in Tahiti, Gianni Schicchi, The Old Maid and the Thief and The Spanish Hour were successfully revived at the Illinois Humanities Festival. He directed touring productions of La Cenerentola and Die Fledermaus for San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theatre, which played in over twenty states. Over the past eight years Mr. Field directed ten productions with Arizona Opera, being deemed by the press “their most perceptive stage director.” From 2000 through 2006 he served as Artistic Director of Lyric Opera Cleveland, where he presented the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and the Ohio premieres of works by John Adams, Mark Adamo and Philip Glass. Mr. Field received a Northern Ohio Live Award for his work on Don Giovanni in Cleveland, which was called, “An electrifying production that has come to be the hallmark of Field’s tenure.”

Mr. Field has been praised for his international work as well, having directed The Riverboat Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Suor Angelica and Menotti’s Amalia al Ballo at the Urbania Festival in Italy. He has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Teresa Zylis-Gara, Jerome Hines, Pablo Elvira, Giorgio Tozzi and Angelina Reux.

Mr. Field’s expertise extends from the avant garde to musical comedy. In 1996, he introduced computer-generated scenery to the opera world in a production of Candide at West Bay Opera in Silicon Valley, CA, with assistance from Apple, Inc. The press called the show, “virtual Voltaire - the backgrounds are as varied as the story.” He pioneered the use of video-projected scenery in productions of The Turn of the Screw, Tales of Hoffmann and Der Freischütz. In the realm of operetta and musical theatre, Mr. Field staged H.M.S. PinaforeTrial by Jury for Lake George Opera, Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in Chicago, and Merry Widow and Countess Maritza in San Francisco. For the Oakland Symphony he translated and choreographed Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, using members of the Oakland Ballet. for Opera Omaha, Tickets for Candide at Oberlin Opera Theater are $5 for all students; $8 for Oberlin College faculty, staff, alumni, parents, area educators, and seniors; and $12 for the general public. Season subscriptions are also available. All seats are reserved. Tickets may be purchased online at www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets; by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service (CTS) 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178; or by visiting the box office, located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium. CTS hours are from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and select Saturdays. Tickets are $3 more when purchased at the door. Hall Auditorium is wheelchair accessible, and hearing enhancement is available upon request. Free parking is available throughout the campus.  

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Awarded the 2009 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber. Praised as a “national treasure” by the Washington Post, the conservatory, founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Oberlin’s alumni enjoy illustrious careers in all aspects of the music world. They have achieved prominence as solo performers; chamber, orchestral, and jazz musicians; composers; conductors; and music educators, scholars, and administrators. For more information visit www.oberlin.edu.

CALENDAR LISTINGS
Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 19, 2010, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 21, 2010, 2 p.m.
Oberlin Opera Theater presents
Candide
By Leonard Bernstein
Libretto by Hugh Wheeler, after Voltaire
Joseph Mechavich, conductor
Jonathon Field, director

Hall Auditorium
67 N. Main Street
Oberlin, Ohio

Reserved seats: $12; seniors $8; students $5
All tickets are $3 more when purchased at the door.
Online: www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets
Phone: 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178
Central Ticket Service is located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium.
Open Noon to 5 p.m., Monday–Friday

San Francisco Symphony Announces 2010-11 Season

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:30:00 +0000

Orchestra’s 99th Season Offers Trademark Mix of Engaging and Adventurous Programs, Award-Winning Media Projects, International Touring, and Community and Education Initiatives. Project San Francisco Artist and Composer Residencies Feature Composer John Adams and Pianist Yuja Wang.

Season Includes World-Premiere SFS Commissions by Avner Dorman and Rufus Wainwright.

SFS Celebrates 2010-11 Mahler Anniversaries with Keeping Score PBS Broadcasts, Release of Orchestral Songs CD on SFS Media & Performances of Mahler Symphonies in SF and European Musical Capitals.

Michael Tilson Thomas Opens the Season Tuesday, September 7 with Gala Concert Featuring

Soprano Jessye Norman and Leads Orchestra in 17 Weeks During Season.

Orchestra to Perform Twenty Concerts on Two European Tours in Twelve Cities, including Residencies at the Lucerne Festival and Four-Concert Vienna Residency.

Distinguished Roster of Artists and Conductors Includes the SFS Debuts of Pablo Heras-Casado, Ton Koopman, Kirill Karabits, Carlos Kalmar and Rufus Wainwright, and the Return of James Conlon, Kurt Masur, Joshua Bell, Hélène Grimaud, Anne Sofie von Otter and Leonidas Kavakos.

Orchestra to Perform 20 SF Symphony Premieres and 14 Works by American Composers.

Great Performers Series and Special Concerts Feature Visits by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta, Lang Lang, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov, Dmitri Hvorostovsky,

and the Mutter-Bashmet-Harrell Trio.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, March 1, 2010 – Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) today announced programs and details of the San Francisco Symphony’s (SFS) 2010-11 season. Engaging local and global audiences with its exciting and innovative brand of music-making, the Orchestra’s 99th season features its trademark blend of adventurous programs, residencies by acclaimed artists and composers, international tours of Europe’s most prestigious festivals and musical capitals, and reaching new audiences with award-winning media and education projects.

The Orchestra’s 2010-11 Project San Francisco composer and artist residencies celebrate the work of composer John Adams and pianist Yuja Wang in a variety of performances and educational settings. The Orchestra will celebrate the 2010-11 Gustav Mahler anniversaries in performances both at home and abroad, on PBS Television through a new season of Keeping Score, and on disc in the final release of its Grammy Award-winning Mahler cycle. Highlights of the SF Symphony’s 99th season also include two European tours, with residencies at the Lucerne Festival and a rare four-concert appearance in Vienna; two world-premiere commissions and 18 SFS premieres; and a 33-week season of exciting programming reaching audiences in new and creative ways. Continuing one of the orchestral scene’s most successful and inspired artistic partnerships, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony in seventeen weeks of concerts at home and abroad, in programs pairing works of the core classical repertoire with works new to or rarely heard by Davies Symphony Hall audiences.

Subscription ticket packages for the San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season go on sale to renewing subscribers and the general public starting today, Monday, March 1, at 10 a.m. Ticket information is available through the San Francisco Symphony Web site at www.sfsymphony.org, through the SFS Patron Services Office at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.

PROJECT SAN FRANCISCO, SFS COMPOSER AND ARTIST RESIDENCY

Project San Francisco, the SFS’ multi-faceted composer and artist residency program, brings some of today’s most acclaimed musicians and composers to San Francisco to collaborate with the SFS in concerts, chamber music, lectures, and in education and community events. In the 2010-11 season, composer John Adams and pianist Yuja Wang, two artists with significant ties to the San Francisco Symphony, join the SFS for the second season of Project San Francisco. Part of the Orchestra’s Centennial Initiatives, Project San Francisco celebrates the creative spirit while deepening connections between SFS guest artists, the Orchestra, and its community.

JOHN ADAMS: PROJECT SAN FRANCISCO

For two weeks in December 2010, Project San Francisco spotlights the work of renowned American composer and Bay Area resident John Adams, continuing his strong relationship with the Orchestra that innovated the composer-in-residence model with his appointment nearly three decades ago. Project San Francisco will present two of John Adams’ SFS commissions and an all-Adams chamber music concert featuring members of the SFS. As Phyllis C. Wattis Composer-in-Residence, Adams will conduct the Orchestra in his San Francisco Symphony commission El Niño, a multilingual retelling of the Nativity story composed for the celebration of the millennium, at Davies Symphony Hall December 2-4. These concerts will feature sopranos Dawn Upshaw and Jessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards, bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu, and the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The San Francisco Girls Chorus also performs. The SFS performed the 2001 U.S. premiere of El Niño, which it co-commissioned, in a staged performance under the baton of Kent Nagano.

During the second week of Adams’ Project San Francisco residency, December 8-11, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas will lead the Orchestra in Adams’ 1985 SFS commission Harmonielehre. The composition was inspired by a dream Adams had in which he was driving across the Bay Bridge and saw an oil tanker on the surface of the water abruptly turn upright and take off like a rocket. The SFS performed the world premiere of Harmonielehre in March 1985 under the direction of then-Music Director Edo de Waart, who conducted it again in October 1988. Michael Tilson Thomas led the Orchestra in Harmonielehre during his first season as SFS Music Director in December 1995, and then again in February 2000, both at home at Davies Symphony Hall and on tour with the Orchestra in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.

One of America’s most admired and respected composers, John Adams was appointed contemporary music adviser to the San Francisco Symphony in 1979. He was the Orchestra’s composer-in-residence between 1982 and 1985, and his tenure helped set the precedent for composer residencies at orchestras around the world. The creative relationship between the SF Symphony and John Adams has been extraordinarily productive: since 1981 the SFS has performed 21 of his works, six of which were SFS commissions. The Orchestra has performed six world premieres of Adams’ music and four U.S. premieres, including the March 2007 U.S. premiere of his opera A Flowering Tree, a San Francisco Symphony co-commission. The Orchestra has commissioned Adams to write a work for its centennial season in 2011-12.

YUJA WANG: PROJECT SAN FRANCISCO

In June 2011, as part of Project San Francisco’s 2010-11 Artist-in-Residence program, 23-year-old Yuja Wang joins MTT and the SFS for a series of performances with orchestra and in chamber music settings, and educational activities for music students. Led by MTT, Wang will perform Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Orchestra June 16-19. As part of the residency, Wang also performs a June 14 chamber music concert with musicians of the Orchestra and a recital June 21 at Davies Symphony Hall.

In the few short years since her 2006 debut with the SF Symphony in the annual Chinese New Year concert, Yuja Wang has established herself as a star on the international stage. She has already performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, as well as in recital, chamber music, and festival settings around the globe. An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon, Wang’s 2009 debut recording, Sonatas & Etudes, was nominated for a Grammy® Award in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) and was named Best Debut Album of 2009 by International Piano magazine. Gramophone magazine named Wang the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009 Young Artist of the Year. Her second album, Transformation, which includes works by Stravinsky, Scarlatti, Brahms, and Ravel, will be released in April 2010. During the 2009-10 season she performed on an 11-city U.S. tour with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra led by Long Yu, and also performed with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers during the orchestra’s 20th Anniversary U.S. tour. Wang also performs with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Beijing, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and in London, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. In the summer of 2010, Wang returns to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Verbier Festival.

After her 2006 SFS debut, Yuja Wang returned later in the year to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major under the baton of Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas in the SFS’s All San Francisco Community Concert. Since then, she has performed with the Orchestra each year, most recently with MTT in May 2009, performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. She was also a soloist in the April 2009 performance by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, led by Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall.

A MAHLER CELEBRATION 2010-2011

The 2010-11 season encompasses two anniversary years sparking worldwide retrospectives of the music of Mahler: 2010 is the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth, and 2011 marks the 100th year of Mahler’s death. The SFS and Michael Tilson Thomas, among the world’s leading interpreters of Mahler’s music, will play a significant role in the global commemoration of Mahler, through concerts, extensive media projects, and prominent international tour performances.

MTT/SFS – Mahler in San Francisco

Beginning May 5, MTT conducts the Orchestra in three all-Mahler programs featuring Mahler Symphonies No. 9, 2, and 6. Soprano Karina Gauvin and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke are soloists with the SF Symphony Chorus for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection.

INTERNATIONAL TOURS – Mahler in Europe

As acclaimed interpreters of the music of Mahler, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have been invited to perform Mahler in some of Europe’s leading music capitals for their anniversary celebrations. The Orchestra will give performances of Mahler Symphonies Nos. 2, 5, 6, and 9 in two tours throughout Europe, including the centerpiece: a rare four-concert engagement at the famed Vienna Konzerthaus, as part of the city’s commemoration of the Mahler anniversaries. For complete tour details, see page 12.

KEEPING SCORE - Mahler on PBS

Keeping Score, the San Francisco Symphony’s acclaimed national media project designed to make classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds, launches its third television season on PBS in the spring of 2011 with a focus on the life and music of Gustav Mahler. In addition to PBS documentaries and live performance videos, the third season of Keeping Score includes an interactive online experience at www.keepingscore.org, a new series of national radio programs, and an education program that provides professional development for K-12 teachers, enabling them to integrate classical music into core subjects. To date, over six million people in the U.S. have seen the Keeping Score television series, with international broadcasts across Europe and Asia. The Peabody Award-winning Keeping Score radio series has been broadcast on almost 100 stations nationally. Full details of Season Three of Keeping Score will be announced at a later date.

THE MAHLER RECORDING PROJECT – Mahler on CD

The San Francisco Symphony’s acclaimed Mahler recording cycle, launched in 2001 on its own SFS Media label, comes to a close this season with the release of Mahler’s Songs for Orchestra in September 2010. Songs for Orchestra features the SFS performing Rückert Lieder with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, led by Michael Tilson Thomas. Baritone Thomas Hampson and the Orchestra contribute performances of Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) and selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn to the release. Rückert Lieder and Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) were both recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall during the September 2009 Mahler Festival. Thomas Hampson recorded songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with MTT and the Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall in May 2007.

The SFS Media Mahler cycle has won seven Grammy Awards, including three for Best Classical Album. Most recently, in January, its September 2009 release of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10 garnered three Grammys in the categories of Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Engineered Classical Album. The cycle has sold over 130,000 recordings. All SFS Media recordings are available on hybrid SACD from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at sfsymphony.org/store as well as other major retailers. The recordings can also be purchased as MP3s from iTunes, Emusic, Rhapsody, and other digital outlets. SFS Media recordings are distributed by Harmonia Mundi in the U.S. and Avie internationally.

SFS COMMISSIONS AND PREMIERES

As an integral part of the Orchestra’s Centennial Initiatives, the SFS in 2010-11 offers two world premiere performances of new works commissioned by the SFS. Vocalist and composer Rufus Wainwright will perform his new Five Shakespeare Sonnets with the Orchestra November 11-13. Jeffrey Kahane conducts Wainwright’s SFS debut.

Canadian-American singer-songwriter Wainwright, born in New York to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III in 1973, has had a diverse career in pop music as well as on screen, appearing as an actor and singer, scoring films, and writing music for ballet and dance. Wainwright’s first opera, Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2009 and opens in London in April 2010. Wainwright’s new recording All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, a reference to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43, is set for an April 5 release. The record contains three Shakespeare sonnets, selected from 24 pieces of music that Wainwright wrote for a Berliner Ensemble production directed by Robert Wilson in Berlin last year. Also included is Les Feux D’Artifice T’Appellant, the final aria from Prima Donna.

The world premiere of Israeli composer Avner Dorman’s work Uriah, an SFS commission, will be led by conductor David Robertson January 26-28. At 25, Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel’s prestigious Prime Minister’s Award. The same year, he won the Golden Feather Award from ACUM (the Israeli Society of Composers and Publishers). Dorman’s work has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. He holds a doctorate in music composition from The Juilliard School.

In addition to the two world premieres, the 2010-11 season features 18 works never before performed by the SFS. Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Orchestra in compositions by American composers Morton Feldman (Rothko Chapel) and Duke Ellington (“Come Sunday,” “Heaven,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”). Tilson Thomas will also lead first performances of works by two Latin American composers, Revueltas’ Sensemayá and Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas, the latter featuring Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson. The Orchestra also performs Berg’s Three Pieces from Lyric Suite and Debussy’s Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra with pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger.

In his SFS debut, Pablo Heras-Casado leads the Orchestra in its first performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, The Year 1917, and its first performances ever of the music of Hungarian composer György Kurtág, his Grabstein für Stephan. Jeffrey Kahane leads the SFS in its first performances of Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2. Peter Oundjian leads the first SF Symphony performances of Christopher Rouse’s The Infernal Machine, and pianist David Greilsammer performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto Nos. 5 and 8 with the Orchestra, led by Bernard Labadie. Kirill Karabits conducts the Orchestra in Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Elegie, written in 2002. These are the first SFS performances of Silvestrov’s music. Carlos Kalmar conducts the Orchestra in its first performances of Schnittke’s Moz-Art à la Haydn, and Ton Koopman leads from the podium in C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in G major. Yan Pascal Tortelier leads the Orchestra and violinist Vadim Gluzman in the first SFS performances of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto.

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS’ 2010-11 PROGRAMS

The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas open the 2010-11 season on Tuesday, September 7 with their 99th Season Opening Gala concert, featuring soprano Jessye Norman performing Copland’s In the Beginning with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and songs by Duke Ellington, including “Come Sunday,” “Heaven,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing”). The gala program also includes Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, and Suite No. 2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.

Other highlights of MTT’s sixteenth season as Music Director include:

· MTT leads the Orchestra in three weeks of concerts highlighting SFS musicians as featured soloists. From September 22-25, English horn player Russ deLuna and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye are soloists in Aaron Copland’s Quiet City. Also on the program is Lou Harrison’s Parade, written for and dedicated to Michael Tilson Thomas, and Copland’s Organ Symphony with Paul Jacobs. The week of September 29, MTT and the Orchestra perform an all-French program, including the first SF Symphony performances of Debussy’s Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra. Principal Clarinet Carey Bell is the soloist in Debussy’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet. The Orchestra also performs Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and scenes from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette. The music of Latin American composers and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 highlight the week of October 7. Led by MTT, Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson is featured soloist with the Orchestra in the first SFS performances of Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas. These are also the Orchestra’s first performances of Revueltas’ Sensemayá. Edgar Varèse’s Amériques (revised version) completes the program.

· Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are featured in Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel, for viola, celesta, percussion, soprano, alto and choir, which the Orchestra will perform under MTT the week of February 23. The Orchestra and Chorus also perform Mozart’s Requiem in D minor for the first time during the regular season since 1991.

· Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Orchestra the week of December 8 in Project San Francisco concerts. Project San Francisco composer John Adams’ Harmonielehre, Henry Cowell’s Synchrony, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (featuring Gil Shaham) are on the program. For more on Project San Francisco, see p. 2.

· Beginning May 5, MTT conducts the Orchestra in three all-Mahler programs featuring Symphonies No. 9, 2, and 6. Soprano Karina Gauvin and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke are the soloists, and the SF Symphony Chorus also performs in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection.

· Pianist Yuja Wang, the featured Project San Francisco artist for 2010-11, joins the Orchestra and MTT to perform Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 June 16-19.

· Tilson Thomas conducts the Orchestra in their first performances together of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis June 23-26. The soloists are soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus, tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Ain Anger, with the SF Symphony Chorus.

· In November, MTT leads two concert weeks featuring the music of Brahms, Strauss, Schubert, and Berg. Beginning November 17, MTT conducts Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Four Last Songs (Vier letzte Lieder), with soprano Elza van den Heever. Schubert’s Music from Rosamunde opens the program. The week of November 24, Thanksgiving week, Yefim Bronfman joins the Orchestra for performances of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Orchestra performs his Academic Festival Overture. The first SFS performances of Berg’s Three Pieces from Lyric Suite complete the program.

· Mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter joins the Orchestra beginning March 3 for selected songs by Grieg and Nielsen. MTT and the Orchestra also perform Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass together for the first time.

· Other major works of the standard repertoire MTT will conduct include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, the subject of the Symphony’s Keeping Score television series pilot, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, and Brahms’ Serenade No. 1.

BEETHOVEN FOCUS

The San Francisco Symphony offers an in-depth exploration this season of the music of Beethoven, presenting and performing a wide selection of the composer’s symphonies, concertos, and chamber music. Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Orchestra and SF Symphony Chorus in their first performances together of Missa solemnis in June, with soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus, tenor Gregory Kunde, and bass Ain Anger. In October, the Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 under MTT’s baton. Visiting conductor Marek Janowski conducts two all-Beethoven weeks, in January and February, including the composer’s Symphonies No. 1, 2 and 4; the Triple Concerto with violinist Chee-Yun, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and pianist Jeremy Denk; and his Piano Concerto No. 3, with Juho Pohjonen in his San Francisco Symphony debut. The Orchestra also performs the Leonore Overture No. 3 under Janowski.

In April, conductor Peter Oundjian leads Jonathan Biss and the Orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor. With the Dresden Staatskapelle in October, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The Mutter-Bashmet-Harrell Trio, with violinist Anne Sophie Mutter, violist Yuri Bashmet, and cellist Lynn Harrell, in November performs an all-Beethoven program, including the String Trio in C minor, the Serenade in D major for Violin, Viola and Cello, and the String Trio in E-flat major.

The Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in Europe this season, in Lucerne in September 2010 and in Vienna, Paris, and Prague in May 2011.

2010-11 GUEST CONDUCTORS

The San Francisco Symphony welcomes several of today’s most distinguished and accomplished conductors to its podium as guests with the Orchestra. Among them:

John Adams [see John Adams: Project San Francisco, p. 2].

October 21-24 the SFS welcomes back the Music Director of Los Angeles Opera and the Ravinia Festival James Conlon, to conduct Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and three works by Dvořák: Carnival Overture, In Nature’s Realm, and the Othello Overture. Joshua Bell will join Conlon and the SFS to perform Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at these concerts.

Canadian conductor and Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, Peter Oundjian returns to the SFS April 28-30 to lead the Orchestra in its first performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse’s The Infernal Machine. Jonathan Biss will be soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 rounds out the concert program.

32-year-old Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado makes his SFS debut October 28-30, leading the Orchestra in its first performances of both György Kurtág’s Grabstein für Stephan and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, The Year 1917. Alice Sara Ott makes her debut with the Orchestra to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Orchestra also performs Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture during these concerts.

Acclaimed for his interpretations of Beethoven, Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Marek Janowski leads the Orchestra in two all-Beethoven programs. January 20-23 he conducts the Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and his Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring the SFS debut of Juho Pohjonen. Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 is also on the program. Janowski returns February 2-5 with Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 1 and 2 and his Triple Concerto in C major, featuring Chee-Yun on violin, Alisa Weilerstein on cello and pianist Jeremy Denk.

November 11-13 Jeffrey Kahane leads the Orchestra and vocalist Rufus Wainwright in the world premiere of Wainwright’s SFS-commissioned work Five Shakespeare Sonnets. Kahane is currently the Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Renowned as both a pianist and a conductor, Kahane will perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major in these concerts. The Orchestra will also perform Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2 for the first time.

Conductor Carlos Kalmar makes his SFS debut November 3-5, leading the Orchestra in Orff’s Carmina burana featuring soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Nicholas Phan, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Also performing are the Crowden School Chorus and the Pacific Boychoir. Kalmar will also lead the Orchestra in its first performances of Schnittke’s Moz-Art á la Haydn. Haydn’s Symphony No. 97 completes the program. The Uruguayan-born Austrian is the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony and of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.

Ukrainian-born conductor Kirill Karabits makes his SFS debut January 6-9 at age 34, leading the Orchestra in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor featuring Hélène Grimaud and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. The Orchestra will also perform Valentin Silvestrov’s Elegie for the first time.

Dutch conductor Ton Koopman returns to Davies Symphony Hall for the first time since 1996, when, as part of the Symphony’s Great Performers Series, he led the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which he founded in 1979. He makes his debut with the SFS February 9-12 leading performances of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 featuring Mario Brunello, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, and the first SFS performances of C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in G major.

Kurt Masur returns to the SFS podium March 10-12 to lead an all-Mendelssohn performance of the composer’s Symphony No. 4 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Soloists include soprano Susannah Biller and narrator Itay Tiran, both making their SFS debuts, as well as the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

January 13-15 Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts the SFS in Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Khovanschina, and Prokofiev’s Scenes from Romeo and Juliet. Vadim Gluzman joins the Orchestra in these concerts for its first performances of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto. Tortelier is Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Charles Dutoit returns to the SFS April 14-17 to lead the Orchestra in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain, featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon. Swiss conductor Dutoit is the Chief Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

April 7-9 Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä directs the Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor featuring SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik. Vänskä is the Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra.

David Robertson returns to the SFS podium January 26-28 for a program that features the world premiere of Avner Dorman’s SFS commission Uriah. Also at these concerts, Leonidas Kavakos performs Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the Orchestra performs his Symphony No. 1 and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

· Russian-American conductor Semyon Bychkov returns to the SFS October 14-17 to lead performances of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and British composer Sir William Walton’s Symphony No. 1. Pianist Kirill Gerstein performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at these concerts.

· Bernard Labadie leads the SFS in all-Mozart concerts February 17-19. These performances will include Symphonies Nos. 25 and 33 and the first SFS performances of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 5 and 8 featuring David Grielsammer, who makes his SFS debut in these concerts. Israeli pianist and conductor Greilsammer won the Young Musician of the Year prize at the French Music Awards in 2008, and followed it by performing the complete Mozart Sonatas in a one-day marathon in Paris. Labadie founded and is Music Director of the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy and the choir La Chapelle de Québec.

2009-10 GUEST SOLOISTS

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season features 15 guest soloists making their SFS debuts, including pianists David Greilsammer, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Alice Sara Ott, and Juho Pohjonen; violinist Arabella Steinbacher; cellist Mario Brunello; sopranos Susannah Biller, Ingela Bohlin, and Karina Gauvin; mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims; bass Ain Anger; bass-baritones Jonathan Lemalu and Shenyang; vocalist Rufus Wainwright; and narrator Itay Tiran.

The 31 guest artists returning to perform with the SFS during the 2010-11 season include: pianists Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Yundi Li, and Yuja Wang; violinists Joshua Bell, Vadim Gluzman, Leonidas Kavakos, Gil Shaham, and Chee-Yun; cellists Gautier Capuçon and Alisa Weilerstein; organist Paul Jacobs; sopranos Christine Brewer, Joélle Harvey, Elza van den Heever, Jessye Norman, Jessica Rivera, and Dawn Upshaw; mezzo-sopranos Sasha Cooke, Michelle DeYoung, Katarina Karnéus, Kelley O’Connor, and Anne Sofie von Otter; and countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards; and tenors Gregory Kunde and Nicholas Phan.

2010-11 SFS CONDUCTORS AND MUSICIANS

SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt leads the Orchestra for two weeks in March 2011, in Dvořák’s New World Symphony and with soloist Arabella Steinbacher in her SFS debut in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 March 24-26. From March 30 through April 2 Yundi Li joins Blomstedt and the Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Orchestra also performs Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in these concerts.

March 16-20 SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin leads the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in Bach’s Mass in B minor featuring soprano Ingela Bohlin, mezzo-sopranos Abigail Nims and Kelley O’Connor, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Shenyang. Bohlin, the Orchestra, Chorus, and soloists perform the same program March 17 at the University of California-Davis’ Mondavi Center.

A number of San Francisco Symphony musicians will be featured soloists when MTT conducts in the 2010-11 season. From September 22-25, English horn player Russ deLuna and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye solo in Copland’s Quiet City. SFS Principal Clarinet Carey Bell will be featured in Debussy’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet September 29-October 3, and Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson is soloist in the first SFS performances of Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas October 7-9. SFS Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour will be featured in Feldman’s Rothko Chapel when MTT conducts the Orchestra’s first performances of the work February 23-26. SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik will perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with guest conductor Osmo Vänskä leading the Orchestra April 7-9.

SFS musicians will also appear in the 2010-11 Chamber Music Series, with six Sunday matinee concerts in Davies Symphony Hall and four at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Music Director Donato Cabrera leads the Youth Orchestra in six concerts, including three concerts of diverse orchestral repertoire in Davies Symphony Hall, and three December concerts of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, two at Davies Symphony Hall and one at Flint Center in Cupertino.

THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS

The San Francisco Symphony Chorus, in its fourth season under SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, performs in seven SFS concert weeks and one special choral concert. Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the Chorus in three programs, with repertoire including Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. Michael Tilson Thomas also leads the group in Copland’s In the Beginning at the Opening Gala. Guest conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the ensemble in Orff’s Carmina burana, John Adams leads the group in his El Niño, and Ragnar Bohlin conducts the Chorus in Bach’s Mass in B minor. Bohlin will also conduct the spring chorus concert in May, with repertoire to be announced.

EUROPEAN TOURS

The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas perform two European tours during the 2010-11 season, with residencies at some of Europe’s most prestigious festivals and in music capitals around the Continent. In September 2010, the Orchestra returns to the acclaimed Lucerne Festival for a three-concert residency. These Orchestra concerts with MTT cap its three-year Lucerne Festival residency and include performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été (with soprano Susan Graham) and Roman Carnival Overture; Copland’s Organ Symphony, featuring organist Paul Jacobs; Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales and Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2; Berg’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff; and the Overture to Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. The Orchestra’s Lucerne Festival residency began in 2006 with three concerts and continued with three more in September 2007, including performances of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 7 and 8. The SFS also performs two concerts in Italy. In Milan, Susan Graham joins MTT and the Orchestra for Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, and the Orchestra performs his Roman Carnival Overture, as well as Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales and Daphnis et Chloé, Suite 2. In Turin, MTT leads the Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Wagner’s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer.

In May 2011, the Orchestra and MTT return to Europe for three weeks, their longest tour of the Continent since 2003. The primary musical focus is the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. MTT and the Orchestra perform 15 concerts in nine cities, beginning May 19 in Prague. A historic highlight of the tour is a rare four-concert engagement in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, with Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra in performances of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2, 6, and 9. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff once again performs on tour with the Orchestra, in the violin concertos of Berg and Mendelssohn. The Orchestra performs two concerts each at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional de Musica, and Smetana Hall in Prague. MTT and the Orchestra also perform in Brussels; Luxembourg; Essen, Germany; Barcelona; and Lisbon. In addition to the Mahler symphonies, and the Berg and Mendelssohn violin concertos, tour repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Henry Cowell’s Synchrony.

For its performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, the Orchestra is joined by some of Europe’s outstanding choral groups. In Vienna, the Orchestra is accompanied by the Wiener Singakademie chorus, and in Paris, by the Choeur de Radio France. The Gulbenkian Choir performs with the Orchestra in Lisbon. The Orféon Donostiarra performs in Madrid, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno performs with the Orchestra in Prague.

2010-11 GREAT PERFORMERS SERIES AND SPECIAL CONCERTS

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2010-11 season offers a twelve-concert Great Performers Series and several special concerts with some of the world’s most lauded and accomplished musicians, orchestras and conductors. The series begins on October 24 with the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder in a concert featuring music by Beethoven and Brahms. In November, the SFS presents pianist Murray Perahia in recital. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, violist Yuri Bashmet, and cellist Lynn Harrell perform an all-Beethoven recital as the Mutter-Bashmet-Harrell Trio in November. In January, pianist Lang Lang returns to Davies Symphony Hall to perform in recital. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and pianist Ivari Ilja are featured in a recital in February. Later that month, conductor Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra visit San Francisco to perform two concerts featuring music by Beethoven, Haydn, Mahler, and Webern. Pianist Yefim Bronfman performs a recital with music by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Chopin in March. Later that month, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and conductor Yuri Temirkanov perform two concerts of works by Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, and Brahms. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins the ensemble for one performance and pianist Nikolai Lugansky for the other. In April, conductor Josep Pons leads The National Orchestra of Spain and pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque in a concert featuring music by Falla, Joan Albert Amargós, Stravinsky, and Ravel. The Great Performers Series concludes on June 21 with a recital featuring pianist Yuja Wang.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman performs a recital in January. In addition, the San Francisco Symphony presents several special concerts, including a Halloween night screening of the 1920 silent classic film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with organist Dennis James providing haunting accompaniment; a celebration of Mexican music and culture at the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Family Concert in November, conducted by SFS Assistant Conductor Donato Cabrera; and the annual Chinese New Year Concert & Celebration in January. The SFS also presents several holiday concerts, including the Colors of Christmas pop/R&B concerts with guest vocalists and the Orchestra, and the return of the New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball. Complete details of the Orchestra’s holiday concerts will be announced at a later date.

2010-11 SOUTH BAY CLASSICAL SERIES

The San Francisco Symphony continues its performances for patrons in the South Bay during the 2010-11 season, with a five-concert subscription series at the Flint Center in Cupertino. The acclaimed SFS Youth Orchestra will also perform its annual holiday concert Peter and the Wolf at the Flint Center in December. Conductor Semyon Bychkov, the SFS, and pianist Kirill Gerstein open the South Bay Classical Series on October 14 with a program of Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Walton. Other conductors featured in the series include David Robertson and Osmo Vänskä, and the SF Symphony debut of Ton Koopman. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Mario Brunello, and SFS Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik also appear. The SFS has performed at Cupertino’s Flint Center since 1971.

SACRAMENTO AREA PERFORMANCES

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony perform two concerts at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis this season. The first concert is an all-French program on September 30, featuring pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger as soloist in Debussy’s Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra, and SF Symphony Principal Clarinet Carey Bell in the composer’s Première Rapsodie for Clarinet. Also on the program are Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and selected scenes from Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette. The Orchestra and the SF Symphony Chorus return March 17 to perform Bach’s Mass in B minor under the baton of conductor Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director. Soloists include soprano Ingela Bohlin, mezzo-sopranos Abigail Nims and Kelley O’Connor, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Shenyang. The San Francisco Symphony had the honor of performing the inaugural concert at the Mondavi Center when it opened in 2002, in a program of Strauss, Bartók, Wagner, and Michael Tilson Thomas’ Urban Legend, and has performed there four times since.

2010-11 SUNDAY ORGAN SERIES

The San Francisco Symphony continues its Sunday Organ Series during the 2010-11 season, featuring the mighty Ruffatti organ in Davies Symphony Hall. The three-concert series features organists Olivier Latry in November, Paul Jacobs in January, and Jane Parker-Smith in April. The Ruffatti organ is the largest concert-hall organ in North America and was handcrafted in Padua, Italy. This customized concert pipe organ boasts 8,264 pipes ranging in size from a ballpoint pen to over 32 feet tall, with a façade measuring 1600 square feet.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO), led by Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera, celebrates its 30th anniversary season in 2010-11. The Youth Orchestra, beginning its second season with Cabrera on the podium, performs three Sunday matinee concerts on October 31, March 13, and a 30th anniversary concert on May 22. The Youth Orchestra will also perform its annual Peter and the Wolf holiday concerts in Davies Symphony Hall and at the Flint Center in Cupertino. Members of the SFSYO range between the ages of 12 and 20. The Orchestra is internationally acclaimed as one of the world’s finest ensembles of young musicians.

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Praised by The New York Times as “a music education powerhouse” and by The Wall Street Journal as “the industry standard,” the San Francisco Symphony’s education programs offer a vital cultural resource in the Bay Area. Committed to serving its community in meaningful and lasting ways, the SFS reaches thousands of people of all ages throughout Northern California with its educational and community programs, touching a broad economic and cultural cross-section of the population. The Adventures in Music program, which serves as a national model for music education, provides in-school music experiences to every child in grades 1-5 in San Francisco’s public elementary schools, as well as a special concert by the Orchestra in Davies Symphony Hall. The SFS Youth Orchestra, celebrating its 30th

Cocktails des stars - 22 avril prochain

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:55:00 +0000

Une soirée extraordinaire vous attend!
Cocktail dînatoire bénéfice

Venez rencontrer vos stars!

Québec, le 1er mars 2010 - La Fondation de l’Opéra de Québec est heureuse d’annoncer sa deuxième édition de son cocktail dînatoire bénéfice, Cocktail des stars, le jeudi 22 avril 2010, de 18 h à 21 h, à la Chapelle du Musée de l’Amérique française.

Cette magnifique soirée mettra en vedette

Marc Hervieux, ténor

Marianne Lambert, soprano

Geneviève Lévesque, mezzo
Patrick Mallette, baryton

Le récital sera d’une durée de 45 minutes

Mélodies et airs variés : opéra, napolitains, populaires, Broadway

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Un encan silencieux se tiendra au cours de la soirée

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Traiteur : 47e Parallèle

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Billets en vente au bureau de l’Opéra de Québec : 418 529.0688

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Coût du billet : 195 $

Reçu pour usage fiscal au montant éligible
Tenue de ville

La saison 2010-2011 de l'Orchestre Métropolitain est dévoilée !

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:18:00 +0000

Montréal, le lundi 22 février 2010 – C’est avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme que Yannick Nézet-Séguin dévoile la 30^e saison de l’Orchestre Métropolitain. Une saison festive qui promet de grandes célébrations !

Plus vivant que jamais et présent dans les petites comme dans les grandes salles à la grandeur du territoire de l’île de Montréal, l’Orchestre Métropolitain vibre et rayonne grâce au talent et à la passion de ses musiciens. L’Orchestre se réjouit de passer le cap des 30 saisons avec autant de succès et de fidèles mélomanes, et se tourne vers l’avenir en se souhaitant encore 30 belles saisons de haute tenue artistique, marquées par toutes les qualités qui lui permettent de se distinguer.

La nouvelle saison de l’Orchestre Métropolitain assurera la continuité des grands cycles particulièrement affectionnés des mélomanes de l’Orchestre, et qui ont fait sa marque au cours des 30 dernières saisons : Haydn, Mahler et Bruckner seront à l’honneur, de même qu’une pléiade d’artistes invités, nouveaux venus et visages bien connus.

La 30^e saison de l’Orchestre MÉtropolitain – CÉlÉbrons la musique !

L’intensité et l’émotion du premier concert donneront le ton à cette 30^e saison grandiose. Les voix de deux chanteuses canadiennes, Karina Gauvin, soprano, et Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano, seront mises à l’honneur avec la bouleversante 2^e symphonie de Mahler.

Un retour attendu à l’Orchestre Métropolitain, le chef Fabien Gabel poursuivra cette saison avec un concert qui promet d’être étincelant, où Stravinski et Falla visiteront Freitas Branco, un compositeur portugais dont le Concerto pour violon sera joué par un Québécois d’origine portugaise, Alexandre da Costa.

Pour le début du mois décembre l’Orchestre prépare un concert vivant où des membres de l’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal uniront leurs voix à celles du Chœur de l’Orchestre Métropolitain. Le Magnificat de Bach et Daphnis et Chloé de Ravel illumineront la soirée par leur éclat et leur chaleur.

Puis, place à un programme irrésistible, tout français, au cours duquel le chef invité Benoît Fromanger et la flûtiste Juliette Hurel nous livreront entre autres le Concerto pour flûte d’Ibert et la Symphonie de Chausson, chefs-d’œuvre de la musique symphonique française.

Keri-Lynn Wilson, chef invitée, et Nareh Arghamanyan, pianiste gagnante du Concours musical international de Montréal en 2008, seront également de la partie en cette 30^e saison. Pour célébrer le 200^e anniversaire de naissance de Liszt, elles présenteront son 2^e concerto pour piano et sa tonitruante Totentanz dans le cadre d’un concert électrisant et inoubliable !

On retrouvera ensuite la violoncelliste Denise Djokic et l’altiste Brian Bacon, alto solo de l’Orchestre, dans une interprétation vertigineuse du poème symphonique Don Quichotte de Richard Strauss. Un programme qui se distingue par son côté héroïque. Une aventure à ne pas manquer !

Enfin, la saison sera clôturée par un triptyque musical bien québécois : Orion de Claude Vivier sera joué avec des créations, commandes de l’Orchestre, de Denys Bouliane et d’Éric Champagne. Aussi au programme, la Romantique 4^e symphonie de Bruckner. Un concert jubilatoire ; une façon magistrale de terminer en grandes pompes le 30^e !

Fondé en 1981 par des musiciens diplômés des conservatoires et facultés de musique du Québec, l’Orchestre Métropolitain s’est rapidement inscrit au cœur de la vie culturelle Montréalaise. La 30^e saison c’est un gage de 30 ans de présence de l’Orchestre dans la collectivité, c’est la poursuite de son désir de promouvoir la musique classique et les interprètes canadiens. Cette 30^e saison est le synonyme d’une qualité artistique reconnue partout.

2010 - 2011, c’est donc un rendez-vous incontournable pour célébrer avec l’Orchestre Métropolitain, alors que Yannick Nézet-Séguin entame sa deuxième décennie à la tête de l’Orchestre !

L’Orchestre Métropolitain est fier de porter la musique classique aux Montréalais et de diffuser celle-ci aux quatre coins de l’Île, à Saint-Laurent, Verdun, Outremont, en passant par Ahuntsic, Pierrefonds, Pointe-Claire, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Rivière-des-Prairies et Saint-Léonard. Pour tous les détails du Conseil des Arts de Montréal en tournée, consultez la brochure de saison ou le www.orchestremetropolitain.com.

1 – CONCERT PRESTIGE - MAHLER : TOUT UN EVENEMENT POUR NOTRE 30^E SAISON !

Le jeudi 16 septembre 2010, 19 h 30, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

2 – BALLETS RUSSES, FANTAISIES ET CASTAGNETTES !

Le lundi 18 octobre 2010, 19 h 30, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

3 – BACH ET RAVEL : UNIVERS MAGNIFIES

Le jeudi 2 décembre 2010, 19 h 30, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

4 – BIZET, IBERT ET CHAUSSON : FLÛTE & FRANCE

Le lundi 10 janvier 2011, 19 h 30, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

5 – CHOSTAKOVITCH ET LISZT : TOURBILLON ORCHESTRAL

Le lundi 31 janvier 2011, 19 h 30, Théâtre Maisonneuve de la Place des Arts

6 – DON QUICHOTTE : L’AVENTURE C’EST L’AVENTURE !

Le lundi 21 mars 2011, 19 h 30, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

7 – 30^E SAISON : CHAPEAU BAS !

Le dimanche 17 avril 2011, 16 h, salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

The Collegiate Chorale Presents World Premiere Two Act Concert Version - The Grapes of Wrath

noreply@blogger.com (LSM Newswire) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:43:00 +0000

The Collegiate Chorale, led by Music Director James Bagwell, presents the World Premiere Two Act Concert Version of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's musical version of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, on March 22, 2010 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Ted Sperling with Jane Fonda as the narrator. Tickets are $25-$160 and are available through CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, or online at www.carnegiehall.org. For more information visit www.collegiatechorale.org.

An all-star cast from Broadway and the classical world comes together to present a rare mingling of opera and theatre in The Grapes of Wrath. Originally commissioned and produced by the Minnesota Opera and called "The great American opera" by Musical America, Gordon and Korie's new work melds popular musical styles of the '20s and '30s (song-and-dance, soaring love songs, banjo ballads, jazz choruses, and a barbershop quartet) with the classic drama of grand opera, all to a heart-wrenching yet uplifting effect. The composer (Gordon) and librettist (Korie) have crafted a special concert version of their original opera with narration written especially for this presentation. The starry cast includes Jane Fonda (narrator), Victoria Clark, Christine Ebersole, Nathan Gunn, Elizabeth Futral, Anthony Dean Griffey, Peter Halverson, Steven Pasquale, Stephen Powell, Andrew Wilkowske and Matthew Worth and the role of Tom Joad's young sister, Ruthie, will be sung by Nathan Gunn's daughter Madelyn Gunn. Music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Michael Korie. Featuring the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ted Sperling. Directed by Eric Simonson with lighting design by Frances Aronson and projection design by Wendall Harrington.

"In this concert version, we convey the story of the Joad family's journey across America in approximately two hours. We have retained many of the big musical set pieces, arias and choral ensembles, and we have eliminated much of the recitative, replacing it with a narrator who reads sections from the novel, allowing segues from those powerful passages seamlessly into music that continues the drama without loss of suspense or momentum. In addition, this version will feature music never heard in the original full staging of the opera. This is not only a concert version of the full opera, but a different version," said Michael Korie.

"We are honored to be presenting this richly textured work of soaring passion and devastating beauty. Inherent in its mission is The Chorale's commitment to premiering or showcasing exceptional American works such as Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath. Gordon and librettist Michael Korie have given a musical voice to this quintessentially American novel in a lyrical language which draws from opera and American musical theater idioms. The choral writing and casting of soloists reflect this cross-over nature. I think both opera and Broadway lovers alike will be moved by this remarkable work," said James Bagwell, music director of The Collegiate Chorale.

The Collegiate Chorale, among New York's foremost vocal ensembles, has added to the richness of the city's cultural fabric for more than 65 years. Founded in 1941 by the legendary conductor Robert Shaw, The Chorale achieved national and international prominence under the leadership of Robert Bass. The Chorale has established a preeminent reputation for its interpretations of the traditional choral repertoire, vocal works by American composers, and rarely heard operas-in-concert, as well as commissions and premieres of new works by today's most exciting creative artists. In the summer of 2009, The Chorale performed for the fourth season at Switzerland's Verbier Music Festival. In July 2008, The Chorale toured with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem.

The mission of The Collegiate Chorale is to enrich its audiences through innovative programming and exceptional performances of a broad range of vocal music featuring a premier choral ensemble. Inherent in its mission is The Chorale's belief that choral music is a compelling collaboration that creates a powerful, shared experience unifying listeners and musicians of all backgrounds, beliefs and ages.

Music Director James Bagwell maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and orchestral music. He has recently been named Principal Guest Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York. Since 2003, he has been Director of Choruses for the Bard Music Festival, conducting and preparing choral works during the summer festival at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. He has also prepared The Concert Chorale of New York for performances with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Mostly Mozart Festival (broadcast nationally in 2006 on Live from Lincoln Center), all in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. He was Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs for the past five season, and in 2009 he prepared the Dessoff Symphonic Choir for the New York Philharmonic performances of both Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Britten's War Requiem for Lorin Maazel's final concerts as Music Director.

James Bagwell has trained choruses for a number of major American and International orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Japan), St. Petersburg Symphony, The American Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with noted conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Louis Langrée, Leon Botstein, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Raymond Leppard, James Conlon, Jesús López-Cobos, Erich Kunzel, Leon Fleischer, and Robert Shaw.

For eleven seasons, he has been Music Director for the May Festival Youth Choir in Cincinnati, which was recently featured on the radio program From the Top. He has conducted some 25 productions as Music Director of Light Opera Oklahoma, including Candide, Sweeney Todd, and The Merry Widow, among others. At Bard SummerScape he has led numerous theatrical works, most notably Copland's The Tender Land, which received unanimous praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Opera News. He frequently appears as guest conductor for orchestras around the country and abroad, including the Jerusalem Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. For three seasons he was Artistic Director of The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. He holds degrees from Birmingham-Southern College, Florida State University, and Indiana University. He has taught since 2000 at Bard College, where he is Director of the Music Program.

For more information, visit www.collegiatechorale.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Ricky Ian Gordon's (Music) credits include Dream True; States of Independence; and Stonewall/Night Variations with Tina Landau; The Tibetan Book of the Dead with Jean Claude Van Itallie; Only Heaven with Langston Hughes and Nancy Rhodes; Autumn Valentine; Sweet Song; and Morning Star with William Hoffman. He was part of the American Songbook Series in Bright Eyed Joy/The Music of Ricky Ian Gordon at Lincoln Center and at The Guggenheim. Recordings include Audra McDonald's Way Back to Paradise, Bright-Eyed Joy, Of Eternal Light (Water Music), Only Heaven and Genius Child (a song cycle for Harolyn Blackwell). Awards: The National Institute for Music Theater Award, The Stephen Sondheim Award, The Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Music Theatre Foundation Award, The Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, The Constance Klinsky Award, The Richard Rodgers Award.

Michael Korie (Libretto) was nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Grey Gardens. He and composer Scott Frankel received the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award. Also with Frankel are two musicals in development, Doll and Meet Mister Future. With composer Ricky Ian Gordon, his libretto to The Grapes of Wrath premiered to acclaim at Minnesota Opera, with upcoming productions at Utah Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. His librettos for operas composed by Stewart Wallace include Harvey Milk (San Francisco Opera) and Hopper's Wife (Long Beach Opera), both directed by Christopher Alden; Kabbalah (Next Wave Festival); and Where's Dick?, directed by Richard Foreman (Houston Grand Opera). He co-wrote lyrics with Amy Powers to composer Lucy Simon's Zhivago, book by Michael Weller, directed by Des McAnuff (La Jolla Playhouse).

Jane Fonda's (Narrator) work on stage and screen has earned her numerous nominations and awards, including Oscar Awards (Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home) and an Emmy Award for her performance in "The Dollmaker." Her credits include Monster-in-Law, Georgia Rule, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, Julia, Barefoot in the Park, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, "The Dollmaker" and four Broadway plays including Invitation to a March and There Was a Little Girl (Theatre World Award). In May 2005, Random House published Fonda's memoirs, My Life So Far. She has long been known for activism and advocacy on environmental issues, human rights and the empowerment of women and girls.

Nathan Gunn (Tom Joad) recently created the roles of Alec Harvey in André Previn's Brief Encounter at the Houston Grand Opera and Father Delura in Peter Eötvös' Love and Other Demons at the 2008 Glyndebourne Opera Festival. Other engagements this season include his returns to the Metropolitan Opera for Die Zauberflöte, the Dallas Opera for Malatesta in Don Pasquale and the Los Angles Opera for Il Barbiere di Siviglia and L'Elisir d'Amore. He also makes his debut in Bilbao as the title role in Billy Budd. Mr. Gunn has appeared in internationally renowned opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Victoria Clark (Ma Joad) received the 2005 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as a Drama League honor for her luminous portrayal of protective but domineering mother Margaret Johnson in the critically-acclaimed Craig Lucas-Adam Guettel musical The Light in the Piazza directed by Bartlett Sher at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. Her virtuoso performance in the Tony Award-winning musical has made her a favorite among audiences and critics, including The New York Times' Ben Brantley, who called Clark's work in Piazza "the best musical performance by an actress this season." She garnered equally enthusiastic reviews for her performance at Chicago's Goodman Theater in 2004, earning the prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award. Last season, Clark was reunited with her colleagues Craig Lucas and Bartlett Sher for the Playwrights Horizons production of A Prayer for My Enemy.

Christine Ebersole (Mae / Waitress) received the Tony Award, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Special Citation from NY Drama Critics and the Drama League Award for Performance of the Year for her dual roles as Edith and Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. Her Broadway credits include Steel Magnolias, Dinner at Eight (Tony and Outer Critics Circle noms.), 42nd Street (2001 Tony and Outer Critics Circle awards), The Best Man, Getting Away With Murder, Harrigan 'n Hart, Camelot (opposite Richard Burton and Richard Harris), Oklahoma!, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife and Angel Street. Off-Broadway credits include Alan Bennett's Talking Heads (2003 Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards, Drama Desk nom.), Three Sisters, Geniuses and four Encores! concerts. Regional credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Old Globe), Mame, Evita, My Fair Lady, The Marriage of Bette and Boo and Laughing Wild. Films include Tootsie, Amadeus, Dead Again, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, Folks!, True Crime, Till There Was You, My Favorite Martian, Thief of Hearts and My Girl 2.

Elizabeth Futral (Rosasharn) has established herself as one of the major coloratura sopranos in the world today, with a diverse repertoire that includes Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, Glass, and Previn. Ms. Futral has garnered raves at the world's greatest opera houses in such roles as Gilda, Juliette, Lakmé, Lucia, Nanetta, Mélisande, Romilda, and Violetta. She dazzled audiences and critics with her debut at the Los Angeles Opera as Cleopatra in Francisco Negrin's acclaimed production of Handel's Giulio Cesare. This was followed by her highly anticipated return to the New York City Opera, where she starred in the title role of the company's new production of Douglas Moore's classic American opera, The Ballad of Baby Doe.

Two-time Grammy Award-winning American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey (Jim Casy) has captured critical and popular acclaim on opera, concert and recital stages around the world. He has performed leading roles at the great international opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glyndebourne, the Opera National de Paris, and the Teatro Comunale di Firenze. A regular guest of the world's orchestras, Mr. Griffey has collaborated with many of today's pre-eminent conductors, including James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Andrew Davis, Esa Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Kurt Masur, Donald Runnicles, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, James Conlon, and Charles Dutoit.

Baritone Peter Halverson (Pa Joad) has performed throughout the United States, distinguishing himself on the dramatic stage and in concert. A versatile performer, he has more than fifty roles to his credit including the title roles in Pelléas et Mélisande, Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville, Gianni Schicchi, The Man of La Mancha and Phantom. He has been a frequent guest artist with the Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, North Star Opera, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center Mozart Festival, Oregon Bach Festival and San Luis Osbispo Mozart Festival. In addition, he has sung with the Florentine Opera, Berkshire Opera, Madison Opera, Tacoma Opera, Chattanooga Opera, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony and New Mexico Symphony.

American baritone Stephen Powell (Uncle John) brings his handsome voice, elegant musicianship, and robust stage presence to a wide range of music, from Monteverdi and Handel through Verdi and Puccini to Sondheim and John Adams. In 2009-10, Stephen Powell appears as Ford in Verdi's Falstaff with Pittsburgh Opera; sings as soloist in Szymanowski's Stabat Mater with Rome's Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Christoph Eschenbach conducting; in Messiah with the Huddersfield Choral Society in England; in the Brahms Requiem with Baltimore Symphony, as well as the Dutch Radio Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Holland, both with Marin Alsop conducting; in Carmina Burana with Cincinnati Symphony, Paavo Jarvi conducting; appears in recital with wife Barbara Shirvis in Dallas, Texas; and sings 2 gala concerts with the North Carolina Symphony, Grant Llewellyn conducting. He also makes his Asian debut in La Traviata at the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China, Lorin Maazel conducting.

Andrew Wilkowske (Noah) whose voice has been described as "nimble," with an "impressively open top," is one of the most versatile performers on the stage today. A gifted actor as well as singer, Wilkowske's Papageno in The Magic Flute "stole the show" according to the Washington Post, and was a "lusty-voiced fellow," according to Opera News. Engagements this season include a series of Figaros, making his debut as Rossini's Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Skylight Opera. He returns to Skylight later this season in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro to complete Skylight's Figaro Cycle. In addition, Wilkowske reprises Mozart's Figaro with the Green Mountain Opera Festival (under the baton of Maestro Jacques Lacombe), Ashlawn Opera, and the Acadiana Symphony. Wilkowske's experiences are documented in his award-winning 'a year of figaro' blog.

Steven Pasquale

(Al) most recently starred on Broadway in Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty. A regular on the theater scene, Pasquale's credits include Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden (World AIDS Day Concert), Henrik in A Little Night Music (opposite Victor Garber, Natasha Richardson and Venessa Redgrave), Captain Taylor in A Soldier's Play (Second Stage, opposite Taye Diggs), Tom in the Neil LaBute off-Broadway hit, Fat Pig, Robbie in the Ahrens/Flahrety/McNally musical A Man of No Importance (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Beautiful Child, The Spitfire Grill, Spinning Into Butter, Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party and he created the role of Fabrizio in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' The Light in the Piazza. Television audiences have followed him for five seasons as Sean Garrity on the FX hit show "Rescue Me." His other television credits include a recurring role on HBO's Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning drama "Six Feet Under" and Sofia Coppola's "Platinum."

Hailed by the Dallas Morning News for his "dashing, fine bright baritone" and the New York Times for a voice that is "fully powered and persuasively expressive," Matthew Worth (Ragged Man / Connie Rivers / Truck Driver) was recently the featured "Sound Bites" artist in Opera News, and is enjoying successes on both the operatic and concert stages, in all styles from the Renaissance to new repertoire. Matthew Worth's engagements in 2009-10 include a return to Chicago Opera Theater as Charlie in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with New Orleans Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni with Virginia Opera, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld with Central City Opera, Messiah at University of Richmond, in concert performances of The Grapes of Wrath with New York's Collegiate Chorale, as soloist in a holiday concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles.

Ted Sperling (Conductor) won the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, for which he was also music director. Broadway credits as music director/conductor/pianist: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Angels in America, My Favorite Year, Falsettos, Drood, Les Miserables, Roza and Sunday In the Park With George. Mr. Sperling was also an original cast member of the Broadway musical Titanic. Off-Broadway credits as music director: A Man of No Importance, Wise Guys, A New Brain, Saturn Returns, Floyd Collins, Falsettoland, and Romance in Hard Times. As a stage director Charlotte: Life? Or Theater? and Striking 12, as well as a revival of Lady in the Dark starring Andrea Marcovicci. Mr. Sperling conducted the musical scores for the films The Manchurian Candidate, Everything Is Illuminated, and directed the short musical film Love, Mom, starring Tonya Pinkins.

Eric Simonson's (Director)plays and adaptations at Steppenwolf, where he is a member of the ensemble, include Nomathemba (written with Ntozake Shange and Joseph Shabalala), Carter's Way and, most recently, Honest (for First Look). Other plays include The Last Hurrah, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright (with Jeffrey Hatcher), Edge of the World, Lombardi: The Only Thing and Speak American. His work has been produced in Japan and throughout the United States at theaters including The Huntington Theatre Company, L.A. Theatre Works, City Theatre of Pittsburgh, The Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Madison Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Crossroads Theatre Company. His adaptation of Moby Dick at Milwaukee Repertory was chosen as one of Time Magazine's top ten productions of 2002. Eric is also an accomplished theatre, film and opera director. His production of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu received six Tony® Award nominations, including one for best direction. He received the 2006 Academy Award for his documentary short A Note of Triumph, as well as the 2005 Princess Grace Statue Award for sustained artistic achievement. His adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (originally produced at Steppenwolf) recently received its Off-Broadway premiere at New York's 59E59 Theater.

The American Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski. Under the music direction of Leon Botstein since 1992, the American Symphony has pioneered the performance of thematically organized concerts, linking music to the visual arts, literature, politics, and history. In addition, the American Symphony Orchestra performs in a lecture/concert series with audience interaction called Classics Declassified at Peter Norton Symphony Space. It is also the resident orchestra of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where it performs an annual concert series as well as in Bard's annual SummerScape Festival and the Bard Music Festival. ASO maintains an award-winning music education program which is presented at numerous high schools through New York, New Jersey, and Long Island. Among the American Symphony's recent recordings are music by Copland, Sessions, Perle, and Rands for New World Records, and music of Ernst von Dohnányi for Bridge Records. Its recording of Richard Strauss's opera Die ägyptische Helena with Deborah Voigt and of Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae were made for Telarc. Other recordings with Leon Botstein include Franz Schubert: Orchestrated on the Koch International label, with works by Joachim, Mottl, and Webern, and, on the Vanguard Classics label, Johannes Brahms's Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 (1860). The American Symphony inaugurated São Paolo's new concert hall and has made several tours of Asia and Europe. It has performed with the Peer Gynt Theater Company of Norway in Central Park, and has a long history of appearing in charitable and public benefits for such organizations as Sha'are Zedek Hospital, the Jerusalem Foundation, and PBS. The American Symphony Orchestra has had an illustrious history of music directors and guest conductors. Succeeding Leopold Stokowski, who directed the Orchestra from 1962 to 1972, were Kazuyoshi Akiyama (1973-1978), Sergiu Comissiona (1978-1982), Moshe Atzmon and Guiseppe Patane (co-directors 1982-1984), John Mauceri (1985-1987), and Catherine Comet (1990-1992). Notable guest conductors have included Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Aaron Copland, Morton Gould, Aram Khachaturian, James Levine, André Previn, Yehudi Menuhin, James de Priest, Gunther Schuller, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Sir William Walton.

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE CHORALE'S 2009-10 SEASON

For season subscriptions please contact The Chorale office at 646.202.9623 or visit www.collegiatechorale.org.

CHORAL CLASSIC

Israel in Egypt at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 8pm

Music by George F. Handel

featuring

Sari Gruber, soprano

Brian Asawa, alto

Rufus Muller, tenor

The American Symphony Orchestra

James Bagwell, Conductor