Adam Larsen News

The New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS), will perform its sixth annual New Work program-dedicated to commissioning and premiering new pieces from high-profile and developing artists across a range of genres, intersecting music with theater, dance, poetry, video, lighting, and other art forms-on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. at the New World Center. The program will include a new Michael Tilson Thomas-led and -conceived stage production of Niccolo Castiglioni's Inverno In-Ver, the premiere performance of an orchestral version of Oscar Bettison's Lights in Ashes led by NWS Conducting Fellow Dean Whiteside, and the world premiere of a New World Symphony commission from John Supko, composed for viola and electronics.

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) honors John Adams's 70th birthday in a special three-weekend celebration of his music, February 10-25.

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) honors John Adams's 70th birthday in a special three-weekend celebration of his music, February 10-25.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center announces the third annual Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP). The film festival will take place on Thursday, March 2; Friday, March 3; and Monday, March 6 at The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, located at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, NYC, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street.

When I saw that New York City Opera was doing Leonard Bernstein's CANDIDE at the same time as New York's Prototype Festival--with Missy Mazzoli's BREAKING THE WAVES opening the festival of opera-theatre and music-theatre on the same night—I thought that it was great counter-programming. After all, what could be further from Mazzoli's brilliant but grim gem than Bernstein's comic masterpiece--proving there's more than one way to skin a music theatre piece?

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) honors John Adams's 70th birthday in a special three-weekend celebration of his music, February 10-25.

Beth Morrison Projects and HERE's fifth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival begins this week, running January 5-15!

For a new opera to have its second major showing less than four months after its premiere is unheard of—but then BREAKING THE WAVES, based on the Lars Von Trier film of the same name, isn't just any opera. This triumph by composer Missy Mazzoli, librettist Royce Vavrek, and direction by James Darrah—with a star-making turn by soprano Kiera Duffy in the central role of Bess—debuted at Opera Philadelphia last September and is having its New York premiere on January 6-9, 2017, over the first weekend of the Prototype Festival at NYU's Skirball Center.

Like a morsel of Proust's madeleine soaking in a cup of tea, the setting of Juilliard Opera's new production of Jonathan Dove's opera FLIGHT took me back to another age, and Eero Saarinen's modernistic TWA (now Jet Blue) Terminal at Kennedy Airport in New York. But the only thing retro about the evening itself is a return to a golden age, with the excellent performance of the cast and orchestra, under conductor Steven Osgood and the direction of James Darrah.

The Juilliard Opera season opens with Jonathan Dove's Flight on November 16, 18, and 20, conducted by Steven Osgood and directed by James Darrah. The opera features singers from Juilliard's Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts with the Juilliard Orchestra. 

BREAKING THE WAVES, the stark, brutal new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, had its premiere last week at Opera Philadelphia, with a thrilling score and a star-making turn by soprano Kiera Duffy. Directed by James Darrah, the gripping production doesn't let anyone off easy, including the audience.

Opera Philadelphia looks forward to launching the 2016-17 season with the world premiere of a new company co-commission, Breaking the Waves (Sep 22-Oct 1).

Quick: What film won the Golden Globe for Best Movie in 1997? It was THE ENGLISH PATIENT. But more important for composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, the question is “What film didn't win the Golden Globe in 1997?” The answer (for them, at least) is Lars von Trier's BREAKING THE WAVES, which they've transformed into an opera of the same name, premiering at Opera Philadelphia, September 22.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Music Director Louis Langree are pleased to announce details of the second installment of a three-year exploration of Maurice Maeterlinck's 1893 symbolist play, Pelleas et Melisande, a collaboration with director, production designer and visual artist James Darrah. This artistic undertaking utilizes groundbreaking visual elements, complementing orchestral works by Schoenberg, Faure and Debussy, performed by the CSO.

It probably would have been worth the trip to Bard SummerScape's production of Pietro Mascagni's IRIS—last heard at the Met in 1931--simply to make the acquaintance of soprano Talise Trevigne. Through much suffering and indignity, Trevigne sang the title role in a luxurious, plush-voiced, physical performance that made the most of the score by the composer who will always be known for CAVALLERIA RUSTIANA, that signpost of verismo opera. She's a find, and I hope to hear her again.

Opera Philadelphia looks forward to launching the 2016-17 season with the world premiere of a new company co-commission, Breaking the Waves (Sep 22-Oct 1).

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) today announce their 2016-17 season.

-This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights.

This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera,theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights. These include a rare, fully staged production of Iris, a forerunner of Madama Butterfly by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni; the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, four newly unearthed puppet plays from leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as reimagined by Dan Hurlin;the world premiere of Fantasque, a new ballet set to the music of Respighi and Rossini by John Heginbotham and Amy Trompetter; a film series on "Puccini and the Operatic Impulse in Cinema"; and the return of Bard's authentic and sensationally popularSpiegeltent,hosted by the inimitable Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. Taking place between July 1 and August 14 in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's stunning Hudson River campus, SummerScape's 2016 offerings provide new opportunities to discover that, as Time Out New York puts it, "the experience of entering the Fisher Center and encountering something totally new is unforgettable and enriching." Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 15; click here for more information.

Every season the Los Angeles Philharmonic, though its cutting edge Green Umbrella new music series, provides patrons with its most intellectually daring forays into the works of living composers and musicians. Overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams, the Green Umbrella series consists of five concerts during the 2015/16 season performed by the LA Phil New Music Group and guest ensembles and presents eight new commissions, seven world premieres, three U.S. premieres, and five West Coast premieres.