NEWS
By Mary Carole McCauley | November 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - -Cate Blanchett and Liv Ullmann conducted an impromptu lesson over the weekend in the duties, delights, and hierarchies of star power - with the help of the Australian Embassy. Blanchett is starring in, and Ullmann is directing, the production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" running through Nov. 21 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This staging by the Sydney Theatre Company comes to Washington through the efforts of Dennis Richardson, Australia's ambassador to the U.S., before heading off to the Big Apple.
NEWS
By Arin Gencer | October 23, 2009
Two Baltimore County high schools are among five nationwide to receive awards for arts education, school officials announced Thursday. The Carver Center for Arts and Technology, in Towson, and Patapsco High and Center for the Arts, in Dundalk, were named "national schools of distinction in arts education" by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This is the first time multiple schools from one district have been honored the same year, said Darrell M. Ayers, the center's vice president of education.
NEWS
By Tim Smith | April 29, 2008
Shafts of light stream through narrow windows to form angular patterns on gray walls and ceilings. Men in black uniforms of roughly mid-20th- century vintage stand ominously in the background. It's all very film noir-ish on the stage of the Kennedy Center Opera House, an interesting look for a work that dates from 1724. If you go Tamerlano will be performed at 7 p.m. tomorrow, 7:30 p.m. Friday and four more times through May 22 at the Kennedy Center, Virginia and New Hampshire avenues, Northwest, Washington.
NEWS
By Mary Carole McCauley | March 2, 2008
Thirty hours, spread over a minimum of eight days. Six-hundred and fifty dollars. And, a gluteus maximus in tip-top physical condition. All three will be required of theatergoers who plan to take full advantage of the groundbreaking festival of August Wilson's plays being launched this week at the Kennedy Center. The festival will be the first time that all 10 plays in Wilson's century cycle will be performed in the same place and can be seen within a month's time - crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the playwright's contribution to American letters.
NEWS
December 4, 2007
Baltimoreans have long acknowledged the city's good fortune in having pianist Leon Fleisher in residence at the Peabody Conservatory. Though not a native, he has made the city his home for 48 years and has enhanced Baltimore's cultural scene and reputation through teaching, conducting and, most notably, performing over these many years, even as he struggled to overcome a debilitating affliction of his right hand. But his talent has reached far beyond the borders of his adopted city - and his receipt of a Kennedy Center Honors award last weekend confirmed that.
NEWS
By Tim Smith ... | October 25, 2007
It has been a year since Yuri Temirkanov conducted in this region. The Russian conductor's appearance Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center, the start of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra's 20-cities- in-29-days U.S. tour, drove home how much we have been missing. All of Temirkanov's familiar traits that local audiences got to savor during his seven seasons as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra were very much on display. The alternately sweeping, fluttering, slicing arm gestures that fly in the face of how-to-conduct textbooks; the combination of control and spontaneity; the sense of music being not so much made as being lived - it was great encountering all of that magic again.
NEWS
By Tim Smith | May 20, 2007
Macbeth, poisoned by "vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself," remains one of Shakespeare's most arresting characters. Given the size of the bloody Scottish king's ego, and his fears, he's a natural for operatic treatment. Same for his ethically challenged wife. Giuseppe Verdi provided that treatment, resulting in one of his earliest (and often undervalued) masterworks. Washington National Opera's new production of Macbeth at the Kennedy Center - presented in conjunction with the citywide Shakespeare in Washington festival - underlines the theatrical flair and sweeping melodic power of Verdi's faithful homage to the Bard.
NEWS
By Tim Smith | May 12, 2007
Great theater teaches us something about ourselves, maybe more than we really want to know. Great opera does exactly the same, sometimes with even more force, if only because the music touches another, deeper part of us, while the words are burrowing into our brains. If you go Jenufa will be performed at 2 p.m. tomorrow and four more times through May 24 at the Kennedy Center, off New Hampshire and Virginia avenues Northwest, Washington. Tickets are $48-$250. Call 202-295-2400 or go to dc-opera.
NEWS
By J. Wynn Rousuck | April 22, 2007
Just about the only character who comes off well in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Coriolanus is the title character's mother, Volumnia. And in the production at the Kennedy Center - part of the Shakespeare in Washington festival - she comes off better than well. She's a titan. Negotiating for peace on the Washington stage, Janet Suzman's staunch, determined Volumnia is the type of shrewd, relentless diplomat who could broker treaties on any level - from the family dinner table to the Middle East.
NEWS
February 22, 2007
THE SONGS OF IRELAND MUSIC The Irish singing group Celtic Woman performs at the Hippodrome Theatre tomorrow and Saturday. Delivering solos and ensemble numbers, the women present classic Irish songs and standards such as "Danny Boy," contemporary pieces including Enya's "Orinoco Flow," other classical songs such as "Ave Maria," and original songs. ....................... Performances are at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at the Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Tickets $40-$65.