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Orchestral

'Shift: A Festival of American Orchestras' Announced in DC by The Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts: Reimagining of New York's 'Spring for Music' Fest

A reimagining of the “Spring for Music” festival has been announced by The Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts. The new festival, which will take place in Washington, D.C., will be called “Shift: A Festival of American Orchestras,” and will showcase ensembles from around the country in performance and community events.The new festival is initially scheduled for a three-year run starting in spring 2017. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $900,000 grant for the collaboration, of which $700,000 will be leveraged as matching funds for new gifts to support the program. Each participating orchestra will have a community outreach component, and the festival hopes to focus on not only performances and community events, but also symposia and workshops.“Shift” hopes to fill the void left by “Spring for Music,” a festival that ran in New York from 2010-14 at Carnegie Hall. Though critics and musicians praised the festival for its innovative programing, ticket sales were low and funding stopped after the initial grants from the Mellon Foundation ran out.
By Jaime Prisco

  • Live Broadcast of The Metropolitan Opera's 'The Merry Widow' Starring Renée Fleming and Kelli O'Hara to Be Shown in Movie Theaters Around the Nation

    Select theaters around the nation will be participating in a live, high-definition broadcast of "The Merry Widow" starring opera singer Renée Fleming."The Merry Widow" is a Metropolitan Opera operetta by Franz Lehár featuring Fleming as the beguiling femme fatale Hanna, who captivates the Paris social seen.Susan Stroman, known for her Broadway productions including the Tony Award-winning musicals "Crazy for You," "Contact" and "The Producers," directs and choreographs the show.Other performers featured include baritone Nathan Gunn as Hanna’s lover Danilo, tenor Alek Shrader as the young nobleman Camille de Rosillon and baritone Sir Thomas Allen as the Baron Zeta. Broadway star Kelli O’Hara, best known for her acclaimed performances in "South Pacific" and "The Light in the Piazza," makes her Met debut as the Baron’s coquettish wife Valencienne.
    By Jaime Prisco

  • Lincoln Center, New York Phil Staging George Benjamin's 'Written on Skin' in August

    An exciting new collaboration is on the horizon for New York. Now Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic announced that they would combine forces to bring concertgoers several fully assembled opera productions, the first coming from George Benjamin.Beginning this August, the companies will put on the first American stagings of Benjamin's "Written on Skin," which, according to "The New York Times," is "one of the most highly praised new operas of recent years."The production will premiere at the David H. Koch Theater as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival and will be followed in 2016 with Gerald Barry's "The Importance of Being Earnest" at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater.A third opera is being planned for 2017 but, unfortunately, has not been announced.
    By Ian Holubiak