"Downton Abbey" Star Hugh Bonneville Opens ESO's New
Storytelling Series
Hugh Bonneville, star of the beloved 'Paddington' films
and hit series "Downton Abbey," joins the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO)
under the baton of Principal Conductor and Artistic Director Kenneth Woods for
the first in a series of brand-new works for narrator and orchestra as part of
the ESO's Music from Wyastone Virtual Concert Series. Bonneville narrates
Woods' powerful setting of the Hans Christian Andersen classic, 'The Ugly
Duckling', which premieres on the ESO's digital portal, ESO Digital, on Friday,
27 November 2020, at 6.00 p.m.
In keeping with the ESO's longstanding commitments to
engaging with young people and promoting new music, the first series includes
world premieres of five new works embracing classic children's tales by
Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, playful Klezmer tales and one of the oldest
surviving folk stories from ancient Egypt.
"Bonneville's involvement is key to getting the
project off to a strong start," says Woods. "I knew Hugh would be
ideal for Duckling because his understanding of character is so nuanced. But
also, I've seen through my own children watching him, repeatedly, in things like 'Muppets Most Wanted' and 'Paddington,' that children really connect with him -
he doesn't condescend to them, as many do. His work for young viewers is just
as sharp and deep as that for the older crowd."
The performance of 'The Ugly Duckling' will be available at
https://www.eso.co.uk/ugly-duckling/;
a trailer will be available from Friday 20 November.
--Melanne Mueller, Music Company International
Upcoming SOLI Events
“Beethoven Reimagined” - December 8, 7:30 pm - A SOLI
digital event.
Thank you for making our first concert at the San Antonio
Botanical Garden such a great success! We are thrilled with the many wonderful
comments we have received and look forward to our future live performances.
SOLI is moving "indoors" for our next event and
invites you to reserve time on December 8 to watch “Beethoven Reimagined” from
the comfort and safety of your home.
For complete information, visit
https://www.solichamberensemble.com/eyes-lens/
--Anne Schellenge, SOLI Chamber Ensemble
New Century Appears in “Hope@Home” on ARTE Television
Network
New Century Chamber Orchestra joins Music Director Daniel
Hope for the new installment of his internationally acclaimed television series
“Hope@Home – Next Generation,” with six delayed-live episodes to stream daily
from San Francisco from November 18 through 23.
Professionally produced by Kobalt Productions for Europe’s
ARTE television network, these six episodes will be filmed in San Francisco and
comprise six half-hour live solo and chamber music performances that also feature
special guest artists from the Bay Area including percussionist Zakir Hussain,
pianist Garrick Ohlsson and composer Jake Heggie. The first episode from San
Francisco streams on Wednesday, November 18 at 10:00 a.m. PST on the ARTE
website with subsequent episodes running at the same time daily through Monday,
November 23. The streams are free for audiences all over the world and will be
available for viewing for 30 days after the air date.
Visit “Hope@Home - Next Generation” at
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/100560-008-A/hope-home-next-generation/
--Brenden Guy Media
St. Charles Singers to Present “Candlelight Carols”
Free Online December 6
The St. Charles Singers, led by founder and music director
Jeffrey Hunt, will present their 2020 Candlelight Carols program as a
free-to-view webcast on Sunday, December 6. The 45-minute concert will stream
at 4 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. CST. The viewing link will be posted on the
choir’s website, stcharlessingers.com.
Thirty-five singers from the mixed-voice ensemble, hailed
by
American Record Guide as “a national treasure,” took part in the
video recording, which features 13 seasonal songs by composers and arrangers
from the Renaissance to the 20th-century era, most sung a cappella.
The professional chamber choir’s 37th annual holiday
program was recorded November 8 at St. Michael Catholic Church, Wheaton,
Illinois, without an audience and in accordance with public health regulations
and safety precautions, Hunt says. The COVID-19 situation “has been such a huge
loss to the singing world,” he says, because of concerns over airborne spread
of the virus. “All the singers expressed immense gratitude for the opportunity
to perform in some way and to be with each other again,” the choirmaster says.
For complete information, visit
https://stcharlessingers.com/
--Nathan J. Silverman Co. PR
Berkshire Opera Festival Returns to the Stage with an
Xxpanded Summer 2021 Season
The young and ambitious Berkshire Opera Festival has the
opera world abuzz. The only company of its kind in the Berkshire region, BOF
produces opera at the highest level under the vision of esteemed co-founders
Brian Garman (Artistic Director) and Jonathon Loy (Director of Production).
From 2016-2019, the Festival witnessed wild ovations and glowing praise from
locals to operaphiles and national critics.
Opera News declared
"destination status" on the Festival, and
Berkshire On Stage
wrote "No longer need we confine our opera-going to HD films—now we have
the highest quality productions and performers in our own backyard." The
New
York Times called BOF's
Ariadne auf Naxos "one of those
productions that change the way you think about things."
For complete information, visit
https://www.berkshireoperafestival.org/
Aleba Gartner, Aleba & Co.
What's Streaming: Classical (Week of November 23–29)
Tuesday, November 24 at 6:00 p.m. ET (available for 72
hours)
Jonathan Biss Performs Beethoven for Philadelphia Chamber
Music Society.
https://www.pcmsconcerts.org/concerts/jonathan-biss-piano-2020/
Saturday, November 28
NPR Music’s AMPLIFY with Lara Downes features Julia
Bullock.
https://www.youtube.com/user/nprmusic
Sunday, November 29 at 4:00 p.m. ET (available for 30
days)
The Gilmore presents “Rising Star” Dominic Cheli
performing a variety of works--from Beethoven to Clara Schumann to Carl Vine.
https://www.thegilmore.org/event/dominic-cheli/
All Week (Available until Nov. 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT)
James Conlon leads LA Opera virtual production of
pioneering Black composer Joseph Bologne’s
The Anonymous Lover.
https://www.laopera.org/performances/updated-2021-season/the-anonymous-lover/
--Shuman Associates News
An Evening with Kelli O'Hara
Tony Award-winning stage and screen star Kelli O'Hara
returns to the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing
Arts for a virtual live performance streaming Saturday, December 5. The evening
will include a generous collection of holiday favorites as well as classics
from the
Great White Way and the
American Songbook.
Immediately following the performance, Jorgensen’s
director Rodney Rock will interview Ms. O’Hara, and she will engage in a live
Q&A with the audience. The concert is presented through Jorgensen Digital
Stage, produced by OurConcerts.live, with support from the Jorgensen CoStars
and Circle of Friends, and media sponsors CT Public, Connecticut Magazine,
Radio.com, and Lite 100.5 WRCH.
More information here:
https://jorgensen.uconn.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=80C8C3D5-345E-4F83-B4F9-E54BA7491129
--Allison Van Etten, Ravenscroft PR
Free Directories of Classical Music Written by Black
Composers
The not-for-profit Rachel Barton Pine (RBP) Foundation’s
Music by Black Composers (MBC) project has launched its first free online
directories of classical music written by Black composers: “Repertoire for
Violin and Orchestra,” and “Repertoire for Unaccompanied Solo Violin.” MBC
works to rectify historic and ongoing racial injustices in the classical music
sphere.
MBC’s repertoire directories establish a central location
for existing music by Black classical composers. They are a free resource for
performers, conductors, concert programmers, students, and teachers seeking
existing music, as well as for researchers and scholars of classical music.
View The Repertoire Directories:
https://www.musicbyblackcomposers.org/sheet-music/repertoire-directories/
--Allison Van Etten, Ravenscroft PR
2020 Closes Out with Virtual Celebrations
In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, pianist
Yael Weiss presents an all-day marathon concert that features performances of
Beethoven Sonatas and newly commissioned pieces written for her project, “32
Bright Clouds: Beethoven Conversations Around the World,” as well as interviews
and conversations with the composers and special guests. Along with world
premieres by composers from Cambodia and Hong Kong, Weiss also performs works
by composers from South Africa, Myanmar, Philippines, Hong Kong, Turkey, and
Colombia; all are paired with a Beethoven Sonata (December 16).
View here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp3xnv2ey10&feature=youtu.be
Silicon Valley’s all girlchoir, iSing, presents its eighth
annual holiday concert with special guests Angel Blue, the Amaranth Quartet, and
members of One Found Sound and the San Francisco Symphony.
Holidays@Homefeatures contemporary works, arrangements of traditional carols,
and popular holiday songs (December 19).
View here:
https://isingsv.com/whatson
The King’s Singers close their Idagio Global Concert
series with the annual fan favorite, Christmas with the King’s Singers.
Recorded at composer John Rutter’s church, All Saints in Chrishall, UK the
concert will feature traditional carols, seasonal songs, and festive cheer
(December 22).
Purchase tickets here:
https://app.idagio.com/live/event/global-concert-hall-the-kings-singers-christmas-with-the-kings-singers?utm_medium=social&utm_source=artist&utm_campaign=GlobalConcertHall&utm_content=%5bkingssingers%5d&utm_term=external
--Amy Killion, Bucklesweet
Eureka Chamber Music Series Announces New Co-Artistic
Directors
Eureka Chamber Music Series (ECMS) has appointed Tom Stone
and Maggee VanSpeybroeck as Co-Artistic Directors. The EMCS board of directors
has also added new members Julie Fulkerson and George Ponnay. Founded by Pearl
and Bob Micheli, ECMS has presented renowned classical musicians in live
concerts to Humboldt County since 1993, and is committed to continue presenting
diverse, world-class musicians in intimate concerts while expanding its
audience and serving the community in innovative ways.
ECMS made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020-2021
season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be spending the coming year on a
thorough planning process and a re-launch of the series in the fall of 2021,
including favorites from the past such as the Pacifica Quartet, the Arianna
Quartet, pianist Tian Ying, and the San Francisco Opera Singers. The fall 2021
season will open with a performance by Stone’s newly formed piano trio, Duende,
with pianist Awadagin Pratt and cellist Sophie Shao.
For more information, visit
https://www.eurekachambermusic.org/
--Christina Jensen, Jensen Artists
Stephen Hough’s Book Rough Ideas Wins 2020 Royal
Philharmonic Society Award
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards, widely
considered the most prestigious music awards in the UK, have named pianist
Stephen Hough’s book
Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More as the
2020 award winner in the “Storytelling” category, which focuses on writings, spoken
word, radio, television, film, and digital / online projects, among other
media, that further the understanding of classical music.
The awarding jury of the Royal Philharmonic Society, which
was founded in 1813, praised
Rough Ideas as “a colourful and compelling
document of a maverick musical mind. It vividly charts vast terrain,
illustrating how a virtuoso musician is not divorced from the rest of the
world.”
For more information about the RPS and RPS Awards, visit
https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/
--Shuman Associates News
Neave Trio Performs in Livestream Concert
The Neave Trio, Alumni Artists, Faculty
Ensemble-in-Residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, presents
“Finding What is Lost,” a livestream performance on Saturday, December 12, 2020
at 7:30pm EST. The trio will perform live in Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall and
the stream will be available to watch online with advance registration.
Registrants will receive the link to the event in the order confirmation email,
and in a reminder email before the event begins. There will not be an in-person
audience for this event.
“Finding What is Lost” pairs contemporary works by Eric
Nathan and Dale Trumbore, both composed in 2018 and premiered by the Neave
Trio, with Glinka’s
Trio pathetique (1832). In a search for lost love,
he composed this trio right after the end of a relationship and wrote on the
score, “The only way I know love is by the pain it causes.” Though it was
originally scored for clarinet, bassoon, and piano, it is commonly performed
with the piano trio’s instrumentation.
For more information, visit
https://longy.edu/event/finding-what-is-lost-neave-trio/
--Maggie Stapleton, Jensen Artists
Happening at YPC
A Sneak Peek at
The Making of Our Winter Concert.
Young People’s Chorus of New York City choristers had the
opportunity to do something very exciting: film video, in a COVID-19 compliant
environment, for our 2020 winter concert, “Once Upon the Holidays.” This
two-part event will stream virtually on December 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET, and
December 20th at 5:30 p.m. ET. Save the dates with more details to be
announced!
At the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Hearst Plaza
and at Seret Studios, small groups of choristers and staff gathered for the
first time in months to choreograph holiday classics.
Great measures were taken to make our sets safe, including
following the guidelines of the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television
Producers, socially distancing, and having a COVID-19 compliance officer on
set. Choristers arrived with a bottled up energy that they could not help but
release through dancing, laughter, and smiles. It was hard to tell who was more
excited–the choristers or the YPC team!
As we share our music with the entire world through our
dynamic new platform, “In the Key of Love,” we ask for your support to keep our
choristers on the global stage.
Please visit us at
https://ypc.org/
--Young People’s Chorus of New York City