Kurt Weill News

WEDNESDAY 9.45AM: Set in London just prior to Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838, The Threepenny Opera focuses on a tale of the working class and gangland London where life is cheap and crime usually pays.

STRANGE noises and writhing and knifings are afoot in the deconsecrated aisles of the Franciscan Church.

BFT has staged over 200 productions-involving more than 50 directors and nearly 1,000 actors and 500 crew people-that have been seen by almost 100,000 audience members.

Who would have thought that the story of infamous criminal Mack the Knife - yes, the guy from that crooner classic - would foster cooperation across two hemispheres? After a successful "West Side Story" in 2007, students and faculty from Binghamton University have teamed up again with counterparts at Duoc Universidad Catolica of Santiago, Chile, ...

" The sounds of Weimar Berlin snake their way into Victorian London as a mysterious man known only as "the Captain" arranges a secret marriage to an innocent young girl.

If you only know "Mack the Knife" as some kind of easy-listening tune, prepare yourself for a jolt.

Auditions for First Coast Opera's production of "The Threepenny Opera" will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct.

With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's annual Ravinia Festival residency heading into its closing weeks, two special events are on tap this weekend: an all-Kurt Weill concert featuring longtime Ravinia favorite Patti LuPone on Saturday and a 70th birthday tribute to legendary Irish flutist Sir James Galway on Sunday.

Patti LuPone, just back from a long tour in Australia and New Zealand -- where she performed a joint program with Mandy Patinkin, an old pal and fellow Broadway veteran -- is not one to kick back, smell the roses and take a break from work.

Since James Conlon took over as music director at Ravinia, he has shown his skill with opera and has brought us infrequently heard works by composers murdered or otherwise sidelined during the Holocaust.

At this year's MusicFest Vancouver, chanteuse Ute Lemper revives the spicy songs of old Berlin for a new generation Ute Lemper, the flaxen-haired, smoky-voiced cabaret chanteuse renowned for her interpretations of the Weimar Republic songbook, does not exactly wax nostalgic about the West Germany of her Cold War - "era childhood.

At this year's MusicFest Vancouver, chanteuse Ute Lemper revives the spicy songs of old Berlin for a new generation Ute Lemper, the flaxen-haired, smoky-voiced cabaret chanteuse renowned for her interpretations of the Weimar Republic songbook, does not exactly wax nostalgic about the West Germany of her Cold War - "era childhood.

A soprano who has sung the silver-voiced role of Nannetta in Giuseppe Verdi's "Falstaff" at the prestigious Santa Fe Opera is one of three young singers to join Portland Opera's Studio Artists program next month.

Knickerbocker Holiday By Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson York Theatre The Dutch arrived here 400 years ago, and the last weekend in June, York Theatre Company commemorated the quadricentennial by presenting, in its minimally rehearsed Musicals in Mufti series, a concert staging of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson 's rarely performed 1938 musical, ...

"Istanbul Biennial announces list of artists 11th International Istanbul Biennial is curated by What, How and for Whom/WHW. The exhibition is entitled 'What Keeps Mankind Alive?', the English translation of the song 'Denn wovon lebt der Mensch?' from The Threepenny Opera, written in 1928 by Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann ...

A former Head Chorister of Westminster Abbey singing solo in Hebrew with Britain's leading Jewish mixed voice choir ? A South London Church Choir interpreting Jewish liturgical music? A Jewish Children Choir performing Bill Withers' 70s hit Lean on Me ? These were but some of the refreshing surprises and highlights of Celebrate with Song 2009 , the ...

Contriva frontwoman Masha Qrella has been a fave since " Don't stop the dance " graced our ears more than 2 years ago.

Tenor Ian Bostridge fell in love with The Threepenny Opera as a student. Now he's finally staging his dream production Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper in The Threepenny Opera.

This week we listen to the 1976 Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera , the Off-Broadway musical The Last Sweet Days of Isaac , and the unconventional but arresting "Alphabet City Cycle." THE THREEPENNY OPERA [Arkiv SONY 51520] Every time I see or hear another English-language Threepenny Opera , my preference for Marc Blitzstein's 1954 ...

Ravinia music director James Conlon will continue his "Breaking the Silence" series by focusing on the music of German composer Kurt Weill.