James Agee News

The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO) announces its 2018-2019 season concerts, led by Music Director Barbara Yahr. Now in its 32nd season, the GVO is committed to making music at the highest possible level and enriching the lives of both players and audience through emotionally charged, exhilarating performances. All concerts of the 2018-2019 season will take place at All Saints Church, 230 East 60th Street, Manhattan, unless otherwise noted.

Georgia Shreve, composer and writer, announced the release of her first album entitled “Paradise” featuring the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble on May 17th worldwide. The album is made up of three original compositions by the New York composer: Dante's Paradise, Portraits of the 20thCentury, and Fantasia on Celtic Themes. A digital release of the album is now available on iTunes, Spotify,GooglePlay, and Amazon.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art announce the complete lineup for the 47th annual New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), March 28-April 8. Throughout its rich, nearly half-century history, the festival celebrates filmmakers who represent the present and anticipate the future of cinema, daring artists whose work pushes the envelope in unexpected ways. This year's festival will introduce 25 features and 10 short films to New York audiences.

TACT/ The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Artistic Executive Director; Nora Chester & Jeffrey C. Hawkins, Associate Artistic Directors), the award-winning Off-Broadway company celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season, today announced the cast for Three Wise Guys, the World Premiere of a new comedy by Scott Alan Evans & Jeffrey Couchman, based on Damon Runyon's short stories, 'Dancing Dan's Christmas' and 'The Three Wise Guys.'

The New School's College of Performing Arts presents the sixth edition of (Un)Silent Film Night, a performance series in which The College of Performing Arts Theater Orchestra performs live music to classic silent films. Previous events in the series hosted by Matthew Broderick, Bill Irwin, Rob Bartlett, and Ed Rothstein, have drawn capacity crowds to the 400-seat Tishman Auditorium at The New School.

The beautiful suite prepared by William Dawson Jr. and the poetry of Florida's Poet Laureate Peter Meinke came together like a beautiful, strong cocktail- waves of the fused art forms crashed audiences note after note in unforgettable fashion.

Classic and contemporary, opera and orchestral, the music doesn't stop when the temperatures climb in New York, whether you're in New York City, or ready to travel to one of the festivals that dot the landscape of the Northeast. Musical life doesn't stop when the Met closes its doors: Here's a look “from here to eternity”…in the first part of our series on summertime's opera/vocal venues, covering New York City and Westchester.

THREE WISE GUYS by Scott Alan Evans & Jeffrey Couchman, directed by Scott Alan Evans+, is up next as part of TACT's newTACTics Festival.

TACT concludes its 2016 - '17 season with its 7th annual newTACTics New Play Festival, a fresh collection of four unpredictable and engaging new works. The original plays at newTACTics always invite you to expect the unexpected, and this year's offerings are no exception.

A common but lamentable occurrence in classical music is the disappearance or mishandling of certain composers and works. For example, Johann Sebastian Bach's music was not in circulation at his death in 1750, and his local legacy was headed toward obscurity.

Hartford Opera Theater is pleased to present THE TENDER LAND with music by Aaron Copland, libretto by Horace Everett, as its main stage production. Directed by Kristy Chambrelli with music direction by Joseph Hodge, THE TENDER LAND tells the story of a young girl, who finds herself on the cusp of adulthood and must choose whether to remain in her small town or experience what the world has to offer.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra (LO) under the direction of Music Director Christopher Wilkins, and Executive Director Jo Frances Meyer,  announces its 2017 season of free concerts at the DCR's Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade. Concerts will be held every Wednesday evening (7 p.m.) from July 19 through August 23, 2017. For more information visit landmarksorchestra.org.

The Chicago Artists Chorale, a group of 60 singers drawn together from across Chicago's professional arts communities, wraps up its second season on May 10 with SONGS OF LOVE AND LIGHT, a concert of resonant, powerful choral music spanning from the late Romantic period through the present day. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, at 1010 W. Webster Ave. in Chicago.

The Chicago Artists Chorale, a group of 60 singers drawn together from across Chicago's professional arts communities, wraps up its second season on May 10 with SONGS OF LOVE AND LIGHT, a concert of resonant, powerful choral music spanning from the late Romantic period through the present day. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, at 1010 W. Webster Ave. in Chicago.

Abrons Arts Center and 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. are pleased to present the world premiere of Sibyl Kempson's Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag (tonight, April 28-May 17), a musical meditation on the slippery nature of the photographic image.

Abrons Arts Center and 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. are pleased to present the world premiere of Sibyl Kempson's Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag (April 28-May 17), a musical meditation on the slippery nature of the photographic image.

The New Amsterdam Singers (NAS), led by music director Clara Longstreth, will present New American Romantics, a program of American music featuring poems of Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, James Agee, Robert Graves, and Thomas Hardy written by living composers. They include Dominick Argento, Donald Grantham, Matthew Harris, Morten Lauridsen, Elizabeth Lim, Ben Moore, and Ronald Perera. The two performances will take place tonight, March 6, 2015, at 8:00 P.M., and Sunday, March 8, 2015, at 4:00 P.M., at The Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th Street.

The New Amsterdam Singers (NAS), led by music director Clara Longstreth, will present New American Romantics, a program of American music featuring poems of Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, James Agee, Robert Graves, and Thomas Hardy written by living composers. They include Dominick Argento, Donald Grantham, Matthew Harris, Morten Lauridsen, Elizabeth Lim, Ben Moore, and Ronald Perera. The two performances will take place Friday, March 6, 2015, at 8:00 P.M., and Sunday, March 8, 2015, at 4:00 P.M., at The Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th Street.

Just in time for Halloween, Hagerstown Hub Opera will present the classic children's fairy tale Hansel and Gretel on October 4 and 5, featuring an enchanted forest, magical creatures and, of course, a wicked witch!

New York City has lots of big attractions that people around the world are well aware of. But New York City also has smaller gems that don't get the same attention but still shine just as brightly. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony is one such gem. Last Sunday afternoon, this superb ensemble led ably by Maestro David Bernard delivered an impressive performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, which many, more well-known and well-funded, orchestras would be jealous of. Maestro Bernard, who worked without benefit of a score, brought a brilliant and bright quality to the first Allegro movement. The Larghetto that followed was mannered and precisely shaped. The Scherzo, usually performed as a light and merry dance, felt a bit wayward, as the playing got a bit loose. But a strong, majestic and fiery Finale brought the first half to a satisfying conclusion. The Second Symphony was composed during the summer and fall of 1802 and it signaled the end of Beethoven's 'early period.' For the composer, this was a time of great despair because he was finally realizing that his deafness could not be cured and would indeed be a permanent affliction. That despair is deeply engrained in the work, and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony dug deep and tapped into that despair and communicated it amiably to the audience.