Peter Martin News

The new artistic director and co-director of the New York City Ballet looked a little nervous Tuesday as they awkwardly welcomed the Kennedy Center audience to their annual week-long residency.

Steeped in old-school swing, Latin jazz, funk and Ray Charlesian soul-blues, bristling with hotshot soloists, the Christian McBride Big Band has redefined the sound of big band music for the 21st Century.  Now, iconic jazz bassist, composer and arranger, Christian McBride, brings to The Soraya stage his 17-piece nsemble for one-night only on Friday, April 26 at 8pm. 

Christian McBride, Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis Investment Managers, today announced the Second Wave of artists. With more than half of these groups making their NJF debut as headliners, the 2019 festival takes place August 2-4 at Fort Adams State Park and the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the Center debut performance of the Grammy®-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion on April 5, 2019 at 8:00pm in a program that will feature the West Coast Premiere of a new work composed by Philip Glass. Quartet members include percussionists David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and Sean Connors.

Seven of the world's leading ballet talents, all dancers with the New York City Ballet, will grace the Township Auditorium stage March 31, as the University of South Carolina Department of Theatre and Dance presents the14th Annual Ballet Stars of New York Gala Performance.

Tony Award Winner (JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY), Debbie Gravitte is one of Broadway's biggest personalities and she is coming to downtown Milford, CT on Saturday, March 2nd at 8pm for the MAC's Nite Spot Night series in Debbie Gravitte: Live and In Person. This series is produced  in partnership with Pantochino Productions, and all performances are presented at The MAC, located at 40 Railroad Avenue South, Milford, CT. Debbie Gravitte: Live and In Person features Russ Kassoff, jazz pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and more. The duo will perform a collection of songs from Broadway to Big Band.

The William J. Cooper Foundation with the Department of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College present Hubbard Street Dance Chicago with Third Coast Percussion. The performance will be on Friday, February 8, 2019 at 8 PM in the Pearson-Hall Theatre in the Lang Performing Arts Center on the Swarthmore College campus.

Hubbard Street, a well-established Contemporary Dance Company presents an interesting collage of dance pieces that are demanding technique-wise yet so fluid and rhythmic they make it look effortless and fresh. I say collage because the evening painted a bigger picture through each piece, making it complete by the finish. The sixteen dancers are amazing physical interpreters of a feeling, a mood, an emotion, a vibe. They are strong, versatile and vibrant. The pieces by themselves are each complex, deep, bold, unique; with maximum controlled energy, extreme focus and inner and outer strength required, or rather, mandatory to perform them. That verbiage might seem a bit jumbled, but it's what I felt after seeing these dancers perform... (That's my stream-of-consciousness statement)

Kennedy Holmes, finalist of season 15 on NBC's The Voice, has been added to the entertainment line-up at the Arts and Education Council's St. Louis Arts Awards on January 21. She will perform alongside acclaimed jazz pianist Peter Martin, a 2012 Excellence in the Arts recipient. The performance is a nod to Lifetime Achievement in the Arts recipient Ken Page, with whom Holmes appeared in The Muny's "Aida" in 2016, and Champion of the Arts recipient Sue Greenberg, company manager at The Muny and executive director of St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the highly anticipated West Coast premiere of excerpts from the first collaboration between the acclaimed Chicago-based company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, considered a major force in contemporary dance, and Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion with three performances on Thursday, January 10 through Saturday, January 12, 2019, at 7:30 pm.

LOVE, FACTUALLY's myriad storylines travel at the speed of light, leaving its audience dazed and amused.

Adrienne Haan has most recently been cited as “one of the best cabaret performers in New York City today” by Wolf Entertainment Guide, “an entertainer of the highest caliber” by Cabaret Scenes and “quite original with a large vocal range, electrifying personality and enormous dramatic talent” by the New York Concert Review.

On Nov. 19, 2018, the 46th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre were held at Tribeca Performing Arts Center. On Kentucky Avenue, a new original musical created by Jeree Wade and written by Adam Wade and Ty Stephens, was nominated for 10 AUDELCO Awards, taking home a total of six, the highest number of wins for the evening, including for "Best Musical."

Born on October 11, 1918 in New York City, Robbins was one of the major forces in 20th century performing arts. He received world renown for his choreography for New York City Ballet, where he spent much of his creative life, as well as for his work with American Ballet Theatre, Ballets: U.S.A., and other dance companies around the world. He received equal acclaim for his work as a director and choreographer of Broadway musicals, plays, movies, and television, winning five Tony Awards and two Academy Awards, as well as numerous other honors including the Handel Medallion of the City of New York (1976), the Kennedy Center Honors (1981), and the National Medal of the Arts (1988).

Merrimack Repertory Theatre will present a developmental reading of Sean Daniels' stage adaptation of Jack Kerouac's The Haunted Life at 7 p.m. today, September 29, at the Comley-Lane Theatre at UMass Lowell.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre will present a developmental reading of Sean Daniels' stage adaptation of Jack Kerouac's The Haunted Life at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, at the Comley-Lane Theatre at UMass Lowell.

Legendary actor, director, singer & choreographer Maurice Hines is set to play The Triad (158 West 72nd Street) on Saturday 8/25 at 7pm. Hines is the brother of the late dancer Gregory Hines and best known for starring in Frances Ford Coppola's 'The Cotton Club', Broadway's 'Sophisticated Ladies,' 'Eubie' 'Jelly's Last Jam' & 'Uptown. He will be joined by The Diva Orchestra starring Sherrie Maracle; tickets are $25-$150 and can be purchased online at www.TriadNYC.com. Lee Summers and Peter Martin are producers.

Acclaimed jazz saxophonist Steve Wilson looks forward to an active Fall/Winter, as he confirms headlining concerts at Blues Alley in Washington D.C. and at Jazz Standard in New York City, as well as collaborations with Billy Childs and Chick Corea, and an expansion of his ongoing educational efforts.

New York's funniest show Celebrity Autobiography has an upcoming NYC show on Saturday, August 18 at 7pm at The Triad (158 West 72nd Street) which will feature stars of stage & screen Richard Kind & Lucy DeVito who will join previously announced Mario Cantone (Sex and the City), Alysia Reiner (Better Things, Orange is the New Black), Drama Desk-winners Eugene Pack & Dayle Reyfel, and New York writer Michael Musto.

New York's funniest show Celebrity Autobiography has an upcoming NYC show on Saturday,  August 18 at 7pm at The Triad (158 West 72nd Street) which will feature stars of stage & screen including Mario Cantone (Sex and the City), Emmy-nominee Jackie Hoffman (Feud, current Off-Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof), Alysia Reiner (Better Things, Orange is the New Black), Scott Adsit (30 Rock, Veep), 5-time Emmy-winner Alan Zweibel, Drama Desk-winners Eugene Pack & Dayle Reyfel, and New York writer Michael Musto.