Richard Kessler News

Union Square Incident, a short play by Warren Leight that premiered on November 14 as part of 'The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway,' was published online today at the website of the Arts Integrity Initiative, a program of The New School of Drama at The New School College of Performing Arts.

The New School's College of Performing Arts welcomes the public to the fourth 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 have drawn capacity crowds to the 400-seat Tishman Auditorium at The New School.

The New School's Mannes School of Music is pleased to announce that the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE) will perform on Wednesday, May 11, at The New School's Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall (55 West 13th Street, New York, New York). Conducted by Alan Pierson, the program will feature selections by Steve Reich, Thomas Weaver, and Caleb Burhans. True to the mission of MACE, the program exemplifies the ensemble's commitment to the work of living American composers. The concert will begin at 7:30pm. Admission is free.

On Monday, April 18, the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrated its 90th anniversary with a special Gala performance at New York City Center followed by dinner and dancing for 250 guests at a private venue in Manhattan.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to welcome the public for the third edition of its (Un)Silent Film Night series, in which the College of Performing Arts Theater Orchestra will perform Jazz student Nathan Kamal's original score to Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece The Birds.

The New School's newly formed College of Performing Arts, led by"firebrand" (New York Times) Executive Dean Richard Kessler, is pleased to announce winter-spring public programming highlights for the College's three schools: Mannes School of Music, The School of Jazz and The School of Drama. Performances will take place at the College's new performing arts hub-designed by Deborah Berke Partners at Arnhold Hall (55 West 13th Street)-as well as at The New School's Tishman Auditorium at University Center (63 Fifth Avenue), The Theater at the School of Drama (151 Bank Street) and venues throughout the city. Please see below for a schedule of events for each school.  

To honor Arvo Part, one of the world's most remarkable and frequently performed composers alive today, the New York Choral Society, the Mannes School of Music at the New School, and the Arvo Part Project have designated Sunday, January 24, 2016 as Arvo Part Day.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to announce that the acclaimed Mannes Opera Young Artists, led by Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri, will give two fully-staged performances of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the Mannes Orchestra. Performances will take place December 11 at 7:30 pm and & December 12 at 1:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, New York). Admission is $25, $10 for students/seniors, and can be purchased through ticketcentral.com.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to announce that the acclaimed Mannes Opera Young Artists, led by Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri, will give two fully-staged performances of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the Mannes Orchestra. Performances will take place December 11 at 7:30 pm and & December 12 at 1:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, New York). Admission is $25, $10 for students/seniors, and can be purchased through ticketcentral.com.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to welcome the public for the second edition of its new (Un)Silent Film Night series, in which the College of Performing Arts Theater Orchestra, under the baton ofGary Fagin, will perform contemporary composer Carl Davis' score to Harold Lloyd's classic silent film Speedy (1928). Celebrated actor and comedian Bill Irwin will host the event, a follow-up to the April 2015 debut of (Un)SilentFilm Night, which was hosted by Matthew Broderick and drew a capacity crowd to the 400-plus-seat Tishman Auditorium at University Center.

Visionary director Julie Taymor curates and hosts the first National Sawdust+ concert tonight, November 6 at 7:30pm. MADE IN BROOKLYN, an evening inspired by that artistically fertile corner of New York City, will feature music by Brooklyn-born composers including the great George Gershwin and Oscar-winners Aaron Copland, John Corigliano and Elliot Goldenthal. The concert will feature the world concert premiere of Goldenthal's String Quartet No. 1 'The Stone Cutters' performed by Flux Quartet, the 'Chaconne' from Corigliano's Academy Award-winning score for The Red Violin, performed by Tim Fain & Stephen Gosling, and much more.

Visionary director Julie Taymor will curate and host the first National Sawdust+ concert on Friday, November 6 at 7:30pm. MADE IN BROOKLYN, an evening inspired by that artistically fertile corner of New York City, will feature music by Brooklyn-born composers including the great George Gershwin and Oscar-winners Aaron Copland, John Corigliano and Elliot Goldenthal. The concert will feature the world concert premiere of Goldenthal's String Quartet No. 1 'The Stone Cutters' performed by Flux Quartet, the 'Chaconne' from Corigliano's Academy Award-winning score for The Red Violin, performed by Tim Fain & Stephen Gosling, and much more.

Composer Paola Prestini, the Creative and Executive Director of National Sawdust (NS), today announced programming for the non-profit's inaugural fall season in its new home-a $16 million, 13,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art chamber hall in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The performance and recording venue, designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Bureau V in the shell of century-old former sawdust factory, will provide composers and musicians a setting in which they can flourish, and a place where they are given commissioning support, mentoring and other critical resources essential to create, and then share, their work. For audiences-serious fans and casual listeners alike-the venue will be a place to discover genre-spanning music at accessible ticket prices.

The New School's Mannes School of Music and Parsons School of Design co-present the New York City premiere of Flight, by composer Jonathan Dove. Music students from Mannes Opera and Mannes Orchestrawill perform the three-act opera, in a fully-staged production featuring costume and set design by students from Parsons, The New School's world-renowned art and design school.

The New School's Mannes School of Music and Parsons School of Design co-present the New York City premiere of Flight, by composer Jonathan Dove. Music students from Mannes Opera and Mannes Orchestra will perform the three-act opera, in a fully-staged production featuring costume and set design by students from Parsons, The New School's world-renowned art and design school.

The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable will host MOONSTRUCK MEETS STARSTUCK: A FESTIVE BENEFIT FOR THE YOUNG AT ART on Monday, June 9th at 6:00 pm at the Park Avenue Armory (643 Park Avenue). This year's benefit will honor the artistry of John Patrick Shanley and support the Roundtable's programs for the hundreds of organizations and practitioners who bring arts education to the city's schools and communities.

Students from New York City's Mannes College The New School for Music will have a rare opportunity to gain hands-on conducting experience this season, thanks to a unique collaboration between the college and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the second year of the collaboration.

As the political races throughout New York City reach their peak, candidates, thought leaders, businesses, organizations, and prominent New Yorkers are showing their support for the One Percent for Culture campaign that seeks to increase funding to the city's 1,300-plus non-profit cultural organizations.

Copland House has just announced the six fellows chosen to participate in CULTIVATE, its new, annual emerging composers institute. Launched last year to considerable acclaim, CULTIVATE is a week-long, all-scholarship creative workshop and mentoring program for highly-gifted composers in the earliest stages of their professional careers.

To kick off its third annual Parsons Festival, last evening Parsons The New School for Design and its sister school, Mannes College The New School for Music, presented The Future of Orchestral Garments. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and its Music Director Marin Alsop challenged students to envision the future of orchestral performance, and the resulting event brought together fashion, music and technology in new and innovative ways. Maestra Alsop and the BSO are in New York City this weekend to perform in Carnegie Hall's Spring for Music Festival.