by Mark G. Auerbach
Adam Schoenberg, composer. Photo by Elisa Ferrari
WMass Native Adam Schoenberg Releases New CD with The Kansas City Symphony
The Kansas City Symphony, and conductor Michael Stern, have released a CD with three new orchestral works composed by WMass native Adam Schoenberg on the Reference Recordings label.. Schoenberg, who grew up in New Salem, MA and graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon, is the son of composer Steven Schoenberg and author Jane Schaffer Scheonberg, both Longmeadow natives.
He got his music training at Oberlin and Juilliard, and now Los Angeles based, Schoenberg has written works performed at The Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and the Hollywood Bowl .
Schoenberg has carved a niche in composing works for symphony orchestras. This CD features three new works, American Symphony, Finding Rothko, and Picture Studies. Two of these works were specifically commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony, which is nationally known.
Schoenberg has also written for film. He co-wrote the score to Graceland with his father, Steven, and that ilm premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival before being nationally released the following year.
Adam Schoenberg is released on Reference Recordings. For details: www.referencerecordings.com. For details on Adam Schoenberg: http://adamschoenberg.com/
Nobe Barker, dancer and choreographer at the former Hartford Ballet and Connecticut Ballet in New Haven, part of Connecticut’s dance legacy. Photo by Thomas Giroir
Road Trip: Connecticut Dances: A Visual History Exhibition
The Connecticut Dance Alliance in partnership with the Connecticut Historical Society presents Connecticut Dances- A Visual History through March 4, at The Connecticut Historical Society in downtown Hartford.. This photographic exhibition brings to life the valuable contribution that dance has played in the cultural vitality of Connecticut.
Connecticut Dances- A Visual History exhibition is the culmination of an unprecedented crowd-sourcing initiative “All About Dance in Connecticut” that documents the many facets of the history of dance in Connecticut through an on- line gallery collection of over two thousand photographic images submitted by members of the CT dance community over the past two years.
Connecticut Dances- A Visual History includes images ranging from the early years of the
Kathryn Sullivan, dancer at the former Connecticut Ballet in New Haven, part of Connecticut’s dance legacy. Photo by Jennifer Lester.
Shakers, Connecticut’s first ballerinas, historic performances, and the study of dance in colleges and universities to the acclaimed American Dance Festival. The exhibition also highlights the numerous dance luminaries such as Ernestine Stodelle, Alwin Nikolais, Angela Bowen, and José Limón among others, plus the late Hartford Ballet and Connecticut Ballet in New Haven, two troupes which brought the state national renown. Connecticut’s dance history includes Pilobolous, and a ballet school started by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine in Hartford, which predated the School of American Ballet in New York.
Connecticut Dances- A Visual History exhibition will travel throughout Connecticut accompanied by a compendium of over 70 scholarly essays, articles, memoirs, and associated photographs. Following two months at the Connecticut Historical Society, the exhibition will move to the Handel Performing Arts Center at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, then to Playhouse on Park and followed by a tour of the state as an educational resource at major dance events, performances, conferences, festivals, schools and various other community sites including libraries and museums.For details: www.ctdanceall.com.
Puppets at The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Storrs: (Left) Brad Shur in Cardboard Explosion!; (Right) Good Hearted Entertainment in Word Play
Road Trip With The Kids: Puppets and Ice Cream
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, hosts its Spring Puppet Performance Series, featuring outstanding works for puppet theater by professional puppeteers from across the Northeast and beyond. Each show will be performed twice, at 11AM. and 2PM at the Ballard Institute Theater. Productions and dates include: February 11: Cardboard Explosion! by Brad Shur; March 25: Word Play by Good Hearted Entertainment; April 22: Hansel and Gretel by National Marionette Theatre; and May 13: The Legend of the Banana Kid by Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. For details: 860.486.8580 or bimp.uconn.edu
One of the “musts” of a visit to UConn is a stop at the UConn Dairy Bar on the Storrs campus. Check their website for available flavors before you go. http://dining.uconn.edu/uconn-dairy-bar/
Of Note
Silverthorne Theater has announced its 2017 season to be performed at The Arts Block in downtown Greenfield. The musical Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris brings a hint of April in Paris to town April 20-29. Aaron Posner’s “soirt of adaptation” of Chekhov’s The Sea Gull, dubbed Stupid F***ing Bird, runs June 22-July 1. Christopher O’Reilly’s Chapatti,,the tale of a dog who keeps his owner from committing suicide, plays July 20-29, and the hilarious Greater Tuna, a portrait of a small rural Texas town, runs October 5-14. For details: 413-768-7514 or www.silverthornetheater.org
Graham Rowat, who starred opposite wife Kate Baldwin in Berkshire Theatre Group productions of A Little Night Music, Bells Are Ringing, and Constellations, will co-star in Sunset Boulevard opposite Glenn Close on Broadway. Baldwin is currently co-starring with Bette Midler in Hello Dolly on Broadway.
Keep in Mind
Solomiya Ivakhiv
Barrington Stage Company ipresents its sixth annual running 10X10 New Play Festival, running February 16 through March 5, at BSC’s newly renovated St. Germain Stage in Pittsfield, MA Julianne Boyd and Matthew Penn stage the evening of ten playlets, encompassing comedy and drama, each no longer than ten minutes in duration. Boyd is Artistic Director of Barrington Stage. An Emmy nominated director (Law & Order), Penn is the co-Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab in Great Barrington. For details: 413-236-8888 or www.barringtonstageco.org.
The Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, with Paul Phillips conducting and guest violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, performs at Greenfield High School on February 11. The program includes: Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute; Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor; Dvorak’s The Noon Witch, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9. For details: http://pvsoc.org/
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Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
