Prima Facie – Golden Theatre – New York, NY

Jodie Comer stars in this play by Suzie Miller that is now playing on Broadway. Miller and Comer won Olivier Awards for Best New Play and Best Actress at this year’s Olivier Awards. Could Tony Awards all come their way?

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Good Night, Oscar – Belasco Theatre – New York, NY Sean Hayes stars in this play about Oscar Levant written by Doug Wright and directed by Lisa Peterson. The show originated in Chicago and received rave reviews for both the play and for Hayes.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

TRADE/Mary Motorhead – LA Opera at REDCAT – Los Angeles, CA – April 27^th – April 30^th

These two one-act operas by composer Emma O’Halloran and her librettist uncle, Mark O’Halloran, debuted at the Prototype Festival in New York earlier this year. Now they are in Los Angeles with original cast members Kyle Bielfield, Mark Kudisch and Naomi Louisa O’Connell in tow.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap – SFJAZZ – San Francisco April 27^th – April 30^th

Rarely have two artists so perfectly melded their talents the way jazz singer Bridgewater and pianist Charlap do in concert. I’ve seen them twice and would go again and again given the opportunity. You have the opportunity to hear how great this duo is even if you don’t live in San Francisco. Their performance on April 28^th will be streaming live at 7:30 PM PT (with an encore showing on April 29^th at 11 AM PT).  

For in-person tickets and more information, please go here. For streaming tickets and information, please go here.

Champion – Met Opera Live in HD – Cinemas Worldwide – April 29^th – 12:55 PM ET/9:55 AM PT

This Saturday the Metropolitan Opera will present Terence Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, in a live transmission from the Met in New York City. Ryan Speedo Green, Eric Owens, Latonia Moore, Stephanie Blythe, Paul Groves and Eric Greene star in this opera based on the true story of boxer Emile Griffith. The production is directed by James Robinson with choreography by Camille A. Brown (both of whom were involved in the world premiere of Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones.) Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

To find a theater near you, please go here.

Photo: Ryan Speedo Green in Champion (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

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Blanchard has scored the upcoming film The Woman King, which marks his first epic film score. Next March the Los Angeles Philharmonic will dedicate an entire evening to his film scores for director Spike Lee.

But wait, there’s more! He begins a tour on August 4th with The E-Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet that will find him performing music from Absence and many of his other albums. They’ll also perform music from Fire Shut Up in My Bones (see more about that below) in San Francisco.

Which means this was a great time to catch up, once again, with Blanchard. We spoke via Zoom last month while he was on the road with Hancock. Blanchard was in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: This is our third conversation over the course of several years. Each conversation we’ve had, we’ve always talked about whether the world is getting to be a better place for jazz music. In 2015 you thought we were in the dirty part of the recovery. In 2019 you said, “I think we recovered a great deal.” Three years later where are we?

I think extremely healthy. You look at all the young people who are making records and doing a lot of great things. I didn’t see that necessarily happening this way when I first got in the business in the eighties, but to see it now, it’s like extremely exciting. Ambrose Akinmusire, the list is endless: Walter Smith, Theo Crocker, there are so many young people who are doing a lot of great things that I’m looking at them to see what’s going to happen next.

I listened to new albums by Tyshawn Sorey or Gerald Clayton or Joel Ross. I’m struck by how there’s so much calm and a quieter approach to their music right now. Even your album, Absence, has a lot of calm music in it. Do you think that’s a coincidence or is that a reaction to the upheaval that we’ve experienced in the last few years? 

I think it’s kind of a reflection of what’s happening with where we are as a society. With everything that’s been going on within the last five to ten years we started to have demonstrations again. Prior to that there was a lot of things going on and we weren’t in the streets like we were in the sixties, you know. But I think once we hit well past the 2000s people started coming out again.

And I think you’ll start to see that in the music. Actually you are seeing it in the music. It’s just that these guys have a different way of approaching it and dealing with it. It’s not about screaming and yelling, it’s about dealing with facts. It’s about dealing with issues and dealing with them head on. So I think that’s something that’s reflected in what’s going on with the music.

You’re working right now with Herbie Hancock, an artist who has had a major impact in the world. Your recent album, Absence, was a tribute to Wayne Shorter. When you have been working with and around these guys who have had incredible careers, do you consider what your own legacy might be when you’re at that age and is that important to you?

I’m not thinking about it now. I’m thinking about how does he do what he does every night? You know what I mean? It’s crazy, man. I can’t pin him down to anything. He plays differently every night. He’s always stretching and he’s always finding new ideas. And it’s pretty miraculous when you think about it, because he’s 82 and he’s had enough hits where he could just sit out and go and play his hits and just be cool. But that’s not what he’s about. He’s a true artist in terms of trying to find new things all the time.

Speaking of trying new things, I wish I lived in San Francisco because I know you’re doing four nights with the Turtle Island Quartet of music from Fire Shut Up in My Bones with vocalists. How are you reimagining some of that music for that configuration of musicians?

I love David Balakrishnan’s writing and arranging, so I hired him to do the arrangements and we sat down and talked about what it is that we want to do. And I told them I’m not trying to mimic what the orchestrations are in the opera. This is a chance for us to show the world what The E Collective and Turtle Island is along with this music so people can re-imagine this music in a different way. And I’m really excited about what he’s coming out with, man, because it’s going to be very unique. It’s going to be very different. 

Is that something that you can foresee recording at some point? 

Definitely. I mean, it’s something we’re talking about for sure. 

I’m sure that would appeal to people who see the word opera and get scared.

I’m trying to demystify that. Look, it’s the same thing used to happen with some of our friends when you said the word jazz. “I don’t know anything about jazz.” I didn’t ask you if you did. I just want you to come and check out the music.

You should just go experience music, whether you think you like it or not, because you never know what you’re going to respond to.

Of course. But in this world that we live in, and especially in the pop culture side of our existence, there’s always these kind of images that people have of whether it’s jazz or whether it’s opera, anything, [they] take a small snippet of an idea and try to portray it as being the entire thing. So people always get the wrong impression about what these things are. A lot of my friends would come to see the opera in New York. [They] got really excited about opera because they’d never been before. And I was trying to tell them, “Listen, man, you have to experience this. It is the highest form of musical theater you could ever experience in the world.“

Fire Shut Up in My Bones was a huge success for the Met. I’m wondering what that says to you about new works and what impact they can have versus the classic repertoire and maybe in particular about works by Black composers? 

Well, I think really what it boils down to is just trying to be as honest as you can in your writing. You know, one of the things Art Blakey used to tell us, “Man, you never want to be too hip when you when you’re composing music”. And he said “Two hips make an ass.” That was always his thing you know. And it’s one of the things that I try to live my life by.

I’m not trying to write music that goes over people’s heads. I’m trying to write music that’s right with them in their souls. I think when you do that the music can have an effect on people and it’s what people are looking for. It’s what we need in this world. We need music that’s not going to intimidate you.

The other thing Art Blakey used to always say was “The easiest thing to do is to write something that nobody can understand – that’s easy to do.” He said the hardest thing to do is to write something that touches people in their soul and still have your own identity within it, you know? That’s what’s been on my mind. The thing that’s been driving me throughout my career is to be right with the public who’s listening to the music and hopefully create something that everybody can enjoy.

When we spoke in 2019, which was which was before Fire was at the Met, you said that you were under no illusion that you were standing on the shoulders of a lot of people who didn’t have the same opportunities that you did. With your first opera, Champion, coming up next season as well, your shoulders are the ones that are now supporting other musicians who perhaps thought the glass ceiling at the Met could never be broken. 

That really hasn’t hit me as of yet. I’m still thinking of William Grant Still. I’m still thinking of people who should have been at the Met, who deserved to be there. I read that ledger that had all of these names of rejected projects. Then to see his name in it three times and listen to some of and read some of the excuses as to why his music was turned away, it’s infuriating. Because you start to think to yourself there’s somebody who doesn’t know anything about opera claiming that he doesn’t know anything about opera when actually he’s revolutionizing opera with what he’s written.

So those things make me really determined to make sure that what we’re doing is going to live up to the legacy of those guys and hopefully open the door for other composers to come through later on. Which we already know is already happening. Peter Gelb has made it his mission to open up the doors to all different races, every gender, to express themselves on the stage. I think this has been a profound thing and it should be an eye-opening thing for everybody across the globe in the opera world to see that people are clamoring to see themselves on a stage.

The Santa Fe Opera has a world premiere of a new opera inspired by the play M. Butterfly. I think it’s incumbent upon institutions to give opportunities, but also not just be one and done and say, well, we’ve done it.

The other thing, too, is not only one and done, but not only be one and done with composers. Writing an opera is a very arduous thing, obviously. As soon as I had written my first one and it premiered, there was a certain amount of clarity that came over me the night of the premiere that went into the development of the second one, you know what I mean? And I look at it and think to myself, had I been one and done, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to make Fire better.

Now with Champion going to the Met, I get a chance to go back and revisit that and even kind of beef that up based on what I did the first time. So I think it’s incumbent upon these companies to really understand that it’s really about trying to develop the talent, not just giving them a chance, but to also help them to develop their craft. 

One of the things I love about about Absence, going back to this album, is that it isn’t a traditional tribute album. You’ve said before in interviews that Wayne Shorter instilled in you the idea that he didn’t want to hear you do what he did. He wanted to hear you do what you do – to paraphrase. Now that you’re going on the road with The E Collective and Turtle Island Quartet, how are you giving new life to the compositions so that you aren’t doing just what you did on the record, but you’re doing what you need to do live?

I mean, it’s one of those things where those guys play it differently every night. And I can’t explain it to you. You have to experience it. There are people who have come to hear us play at a club date when we play a few nights and they come to hear us on different nights and can’t believe that we’re the same band. And that’s what I take from Wayne. That’s what I take from Herbie. You know, I’ve been around those guys where you can’t have any expectations because it’s really about being in the moment.

I know teaching is important to you. How much are you learning from guys like David Ginyard, Charles Altura and David Balakrishnan? [Members of The E-Collective]

You can’t even put it in the words because I feel blessed to be around those guys because they bring in ideas that I never would have thought of. They are so creative in their approach, not only to composition, but improvisation that it becomes a really a big challenge man just to be on a stage with them. If you make a musical statement, they respond to it in a way where now you have to be flexible. You have to be able to just shift on a dime with these guys. And it’s been a learning experience of which I’m grateful for and I feel truly blessed to be experiencing right now.

Is it nice to know at this point in your career that there’s still new stuff to learn and that there always will be or to be reminded of that? 

Of course. I would quit if it weren’t that way. I couldn’t just do the same thing night after night just to make a dollar. No, no, no, no, no. Because this isn’t all about money, but about uplifting my spirit and my soul. What’s going to help other people to hear, you know? So that’s really what it’s about.

I do want to ask you about something that Wayne Shorter said in a 2005 interview with Abstract Logix. He said, “It’s okay to be vulnerable, to open one’s self and take chances and not to be afraid of the unknown. And that goes for the audience wise, too. Because we’re going to have to deal with the unexpected from now on.” How much does the unexpected inform who you are today and the work you do? 

It’s one of those things where you’d like to think that it’s a huge part of it, because you want to be open to what’s going on in the universe. But the reality of it is that we do have a style and a sound. Just by merely having a style means that you’ve already eliminated other things that are possible for you to play because you’re playing within a context and that’s what dictates your style.

It goes back to find a balance between all of those things, you know, allowing yourself to be in the moment and allowing yourself to be free to respond to things that you may not have thought of, but are really a part of what’s going on in music at that time. Because that’s one of the things that we have to do as a community as well.

I always think jazz is probably the best representation of how we should live as a community. We all have ideas about what it is that we want to do, but at a certain point it’s really about the music. So I have to throw away some of my ideas if they’re not relevant to what’s going on at that particular time. That in itself is a thing that excites me because it keeps you on your toes and it keeps you guessing and it makes you quick. You know, it keeps you moving. 

To watch our full interview with Terence Blanchard, please go here.

For tickets and more information about Blanchard’s four shows (August 4th-7th) at SFJAZZ, please go here. For tickets and more information about Blanchard’s August 8th performance at Kuumbwa Jazz in Santa Cruz, please go here. For tickets and more information about the August 9th performance at The Ford in Los Angeles, please go here. For tickets and more information about Blanchard’s August 12th appearance at the Telluride Jazz Festival, please go here. For additional tour dates, please go here.

Photo: Terence Blanchard (Photo by Cedric Angeles/Courtesy Blue Note Records)

The post This Is The Golden Age of Terence Blanchard appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

In June of 2019 we spoke with composer and musician Terence Blanchard about the world premiere of his second opera, Fire Shut Up in my Bones at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. On Monday, September 27th, the opera will have its first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This marks the first opera written by a Black composer to be performed at the famed New York venue. The opera will be performed eight times. The final performance on October 23rd will be streamed into theaters as part of their Met Opera Live in HD series.

The cast for the Metropolitan Opera production features Angel Blue, Will Liverman and Latonia Moore.

This is a great time to re-visit our conversation with Blanchard about Fire Shut Up in my Bones. 

Last week we spoke to Grammy winner Terence Blanchard about his gig with the E-Collective at the Playboy Jazz Festival. We also mentioned in that interview that his second opera, Fire Shut Up in my Bones, is having its world premiere this weekend at Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

The opera is based on Charles M. Blow’s memoir of the same name. Blow is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times. The title comes from a passage in the Bible from Jeremiah 20:9. The King James version has it as:  “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

Collaborating with Blanchard on Fire Shut Up in my Bones is filmmaker Kasi Lemmons. Blanchard scored her films Eve’s Bayou, The Caveman’s Valentine and Talk to Me. He’s also writing the score for her new film, Harriet, about freedom fighter Harriet Tubman.

Fire Up in my Bones is Blanchard’s second opera. His first, Champion, was written with Michael Cristofer and was based on the life of boxer Emile Griffith. Champion had its world premiere in 2013.

In this column we pick up our conversation from last week and focus on Fire Shut Up in my Bones.

You’ve said that writing film requires you to put aside your ego. What does writing opera require of you?

Prayer. [He lets out an enormous laugh.] It’s hard to say. Writing opera is such a different animal. It requires a high level of focus and dedication. With this new opera, that’s two years of my life sitting down writing these melodies and putting this whole show together. It also takes great collaborators. Kasi Lemmons wrote a beautiful libretto. Jim Robinson, the director, is putting together an amazing show. 

Your life and journalist Charles Blow’s would seem to be very different. What resonated about his story and did you find commonality in his life experiences?

Obviously the first thing in the book was being molested by a family member, which is a tragic thing to go through. I’ve never been through that, but that had to be such a traumatic thing for any kid to go through. I did resonate with how his family labeled him a peculiar kid. He was smart, he had different interests. I experienced that growing up, not from my family, but the neighborhood. There weren’t too many kids going to piano lessons on Saturday and who had a father who sang opera. [Joseph Oliver Blanchard] I don’t know how to explain it. I knew those things were different, but it didn’t mean I hated those things. I loved opera. I knew others wouldn’t listen to it. I can see the same thing in Charles, his character. That’s what resonated. When you’re a kid you don’t know which way your life is going to go, but you can look back and look at those as an amalgamation of all those events.

Memoirs cover a lot of ground. How did you as Kasi Lemmons narrow the focus to make a manageable story for the opera?

A lot of that was due to Kasi. We did have a meeting with Charles Blow at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis where we sat down and talked to him and let him talk to us. He was open about major events in his life. Kasi used that session as a springboard to send her in a direction.

This is your second opera. What does writing for that form offer you that your other writing does not?

It’s different in that I have more control of the creative process. When I’m working on a film I’m helping someone else do a story. When it’s the E-Collective, it’s my own thing, but it’s within the confines of that sonic palette. With opera I have words, voices and a full orchestra at my disposal. The wild thing about it is I sit in my room and in my studio and create this music. Then you get to the point where singers are moving about the stage. It’s a phenomenal experience. Every time when we’ve gotten to this stage it blows my mind. I don’t know. It takes so much energy. One of the singers said to me, “For your third opera” and I said “Whoa. Slow your roll. This is a lot of work.”

Charles Blow said, “Trying hard and working hard is its own reward. It feeds the soul. It affirms your will and your power. And it radiates from you, lighting the way for all those who see you.” Do you agree and how does that apply to your career and life to date?

Oh yeah. This is what I try to tell my students. If you have passion for something and you work hard and study hard and put forth the effort, the sky’s the limit. One thing I believe as an artist is when you’re honest about what you are creating, you are creating something that will touch other people who are dealing with the same issues. How many times have you heard, “That songs speak to my soul?” Or “I went to a performance I was swept away and was in tears?” That only comes from people who are honest about what they do. To get there you have to get over the hump of technique and theory. You learn and you refine, but those are just tools to where we can speak clearly in a musical fashion.

Main Photo:  Walter Russell III and Will Liverman in Fire Shut Up in my Bones

Photos from Fire Shut Up in my Bones by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera

The post Fire Shut Up in my Bones – Terence Blanchard’s Second Opera appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, cultural events are picking up now that we’ve entered the traditional fall season. This week proves that point as we have 13 different shows for you to consider. Plus a few reminders, just in case you don’t find something you like. But seriously, what are the odds of that?

So here are our Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th:

Shipwreck – The Public Theater – October 16th – 12:00 PM EDT/9:00 AM PDT

Starting on Friday – for an open-ended run – is a radio play from The Public Theater called Shipwreck. This is a recent work from playwright Anne Washburn who was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009.

The play was scheduled to be part of The Public Theater’s 2020 season and has been recorded and produced for listening at home.

In Shipwreck a group of friends have gathered in upstate New York. What starts out as a glorious day, suddenly turns dark and stormy. That applies to both the weather and to the relationships. It turns out that even close, liberal friends, can find their belief systems challenged in present-day America.

Performing Shipwreck are Mia Barron, Brooke Bloom, Phillip James Brannon, Rob Campbell, Bill Camp, Raúl Esparza, Jenny Jules, Sue Jean Kim, Bruce McKenzie, Joe Morton, Jeremy Shamos and Richard Topol. Saheem Ali directs.

When the Almeida Theatre in London produced Shipwreck in 2019, the play earned strong reviews. Amongst them was this comment from Michael Billington writing in The Guardian: “…this is an important play that not only examines the Trump phenomenon but also asks why he was elected: one character shocks his friends by explaining that he voted for Trump because a failing democracy needs a shock to the system. It is precisely the argument you sometimes hear in Britain about a no-deal Brexit being a catalyst for change.”

Andra Day – Los Angeles Philharmonic Sound/Stage – October 16th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

The fourth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage online series starts running on Friday and it is the first one to feature a solo artist without the orchestra: singer/songwriter Andra Day.

Day is perhaps best known for her hit song, Rise Up. She’ll perform that song along with Gold (both songs are from her 2015 album Cheers to the Fall) and also Nina Simone’s classic song, Mississippi Goddam. She will also appear in an interview as part of the program.

Included in the program as well will be performances from Flypoet Summer Classic that was filmed at The Ford.

For details about the full Sound/Stage series, please check out our full preview here.

Henry IV – St. Ann’s Warehouse – October 16th – October 22nd – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse has partnered with London’s Donmar Warehouse to stream Shakespeare Trilogy on Film, three of his plays performed by all-female casts. They began by streaming the 2013 production of Julius Caesar last week. (Don’t worry, you have another chance to see it).

This week the 2016 production of Henry IV is streaming.

Phyllida Lloyd (who, for better or worse, was the director of Mamma Mia! both on stage and screen) directed all three plays.

In this version of Henry IV, the two Shakespeare plays have been condensed into one 135-minute play. Harriet Walter, who is perhaps best known for her roles in Sense and Sensibility and Atonement, plays Henry.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times, called Walter “one of the great Shakespearean interpreters of her generation” in his review of this production when it played St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2015.

He also said of Lloyd’s Henry IV, which is set in a women’s prison, “It’s a multilayered act of liberation. Prisoners are allowed to roam the wide fields of Shakespeare’s imagination; fine actresses are given the chance to play meaty roles that have been denied them; and we get to climb out of the straitjackets of our traditional perceptions of a venerated play.”

The third play in this trilogy is The Tempest, which will become available on October 23rd – October 29th. But fear not, the entire trilogy (which includes Julius Caesar) will be available for streaming at will October 30th – November 1st. All viewings are free.

Mary Stallings and Bill Charlap Trio – SFJAZZ – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Friday’s at Five concert from SFJAZZ features vocalist Mary Stallings with the Bill Charlap Trio (which includes Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums). The concert is from March, 2018.

If Mary Stallings isn’t familiar to you, let me start by sharing this review from her concert.

“At 78, Stallings has entered territory that’s largely uncharted. Her voice sounds remarkably lithe and strong, and her gift for blues-tinged phrasing links her directly to matriarchs Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.

“The only precedent for a world-class jazz vocalist sounding this good closing in on 80 is Ernestine Anderson (the extraordinary Sheila Jordan is still going strong at 89, but she’s a very different kind of jazz singer). Considering how relatively little Stallings has recorded, her performances feel like precious, ephemeral experiences, and she made the most of her time with Charlap’s trio, a unit that’s been touring and recording together for more than two decades.”

Those were the words of Andrew Gilbert writing in the San Francisco Classical Voice.

Stallings’ most recent album was last year’s Songs Were Made to Sing. She has kept some pretty fine company during her career: Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams and the list goes on. Her best known recording was Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings which came out in 1960.

This collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio should be a great way to start your weekend.

Sticks & Stones – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The story of David versus Goliath gets a new telling in the musical Sticks & Stones which was written by composer John McDaniel and lyricist/bookwriter Scott Logsdon.

A concert performance of Sticks & Stones will stream this weekend as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

Teen bullying is the theme of Sticks & Stones with the Biblical story serving as the setting for the story.

An impressive cast has been assembled for the concert. Audra McDonald plays David’s mother, Nizevet. Javier Muñoz, who was the first actor to take over the title role in Hamilton after Lin-Manuel Miranda left the show, plays David’s father, Jesse. George Salazar, who appeared in Be More Chill, plays King Saul. Joshua Colley (2014 revival of Les Misérables) is David and Mykal Kilgore (Motown: The Musical) is The Prophet Samuel.

The concert will be available for streaming through October 20th. There is no charge to watch Sticks & Stones, but donations are encouraged.

Aaron Diehl Trio – Caramoor – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Because I think he is one of the finest pianists working today, I’ve written about Aaron Diehl a few times and have interviewed him. He plays both jazz and classical music. (You can read the interview here.)

For this concert he’ll be performing standards and some of his own compositions with Aaron Kimmel on drums and Paul Sikivie on bass.

Rather than reiterate his credits or offer more praise, just listen to the music.

This concert is streaming from Caramoor in Katonah, NY which is a bit more than 40 miles from Manhattan. They are presenting the Aaron Diehl Trio in association with Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tickets are free for Caramoor members. If you’re not a member, there is a $10 fee to watch the live stream concert.

Ben Williams Live – Blue Note New York – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

At the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Bass Competition, the musicians had a mightily impressive jury to win over. Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Robert Hurst, Christian McBride and John Patitucci were the judges. They awarded 1st place to Ben Williams.

Williams will be performing live from Blue Note in New York on Friday.

In addition to the live stream listed above, there is an encore showing at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT.

Lest you think his competition victory was a fluke, he’s gone on to work with George Benson, Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Chaka Kahn, Pharrell and many more.

His most recent album is I Am a Man which was released earlier this year. It’s a terrific album. He also released an instrumental-only version called I Am a Man: Mentals.

Tickets for either the live performance or the re-stream are $15.

Los Angeles Dance Festival Week #3 – October 16th – October 18th

The third week of Los Angeles Dance Festival is upon us. The show, which runs two hours, becomes available at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT on October 16th and will remain available until 3:00 AM EDT/12:00 AM PDT on October 19th.

This week’s line-up features Charlotte Katherine & Co (modern dance), Nannette Brodie Dance Theater (modern dance), Kybele Dance (multi-cultural contemporary dance), Poets In Motion, MarieElena Martingano & Camryn Eakes, John Castagna (contemporary ballet), Louise Reichlin & Dancers/Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers (contemporary dance), The Dance Narrative Project, Lula Washington Dance Theatre (modern dance) and SIDFIT South Korean Artists: Lee Jihee, Kim Jubin. 

Atilla – SF Opera – October 17th – October 18th (begins 10:00 AM through 11:59 on 10/18)

This marks the second weekend of opera productions streamed by San Francisco Opera this fall. This weekend finds a rarely performed opera by Giuseppe Verdi: Atilla.

Verdi’s opera, his ninth, had its premiere in Venice in 1846. The libretto was based on Zacharias Werner’s play Attila, König der Hunnen (Attila, King of the Huns) and was written by Temistocle Solera.

Atilla isn’t an easy man to please. Odabella, a prisoner of war, hopes to kill Atilla in retribution for his killing of her father. Ezio, a Roman Envoy, wants to cause havoc in the empire with Atilla’s help. Instead he infuriates him.

Amongst those who have survived the carnage that is dividing the empire is Foresto. He reunites with Odabella who had assumed he was dead.

Meanwhile Attila has a dream where an old man tells him not to enter Rome. He disregards the advice and marches in. In doing so, he sets off a series of events that will ultimately lead to his death.

This 2012 production marked the return of Atilla to San Francisco Opera after 21 years. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings the title role. Ana Lucrecia García sings Odabella. Diego Torre is Foresto and Quinn Kelsey sings the role of Ezio. Gabriele Lavia directed and Nicola Luisotti conducted.

In looking up reviews of this production, my favorite quote comes from Joshua Kosman writing in the San Francisco Gate. He wrote, “…it was a swift, short onslaught marked by ferocity and thunder. The difference was that only the title character died, and everybody else had a grand time.”

Atilla runs 1 hour and 50 minutes. It will become available at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT and ends on Sunday, October 18th at 11:59 PM PDT/2:59 AM EDT on October 19th.

Speaking Truth to Power – Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – October 17th – October 22nd

Most classical music fans are well-acquainted with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Fewer are familiar with the subsequent nine pieces that follow which call for soprano, narrator and orchestra.

In Beethoven’s work (inspired by a play by Johann Wolfgang Goethe) he used the story of Lamoral, Count of Egmont, whose execution prior to the start of the Eighty Years’ War inspired a movement that led to Netherlands’ independence.

The composer was using this work as a statement against Napoleon.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has commissioned a new translation to reflect our present-day world. Egmont was adapted by playwright/translator Philip Boehm.

Joining Orpheus for this performance are Liev Schreiber as the narrator and Karen Slack singing the soprano parts.

Schreiber won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2005 production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. He also starred in the Showtime series Ray Donovan.

Slack made her Metropolitan Opera debut in their 2006 production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. She also sang the role of Emelda Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s Champion at San Francisco Opera. (That production will be streaming next week by SFJAZZ beginning on October 21st.)

The concert was recorded in Beechwood Park in Hillsdale, New Jersey, following social distancing guidelines.

Speaking Truth to Power begins streaming at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on October 17th and remains available through October 22nd. Tickets to watch the performance are $15.

Lizz Wright – Mandolin – October 17th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT $15

I’ve seen singer Lizz Wright several times in concert. From the first time I heard her 2003 record, Salt, I was hooked. She has a beautiful voice and has a unique ability to make each song she sings her own.

Rather inexplicably she has only recorded five other albums since her debut. The most recent was 2017’s Grace. She does appear on No Beginning No End 2 by José James which was released earlier this year.

If you don’t know Lizz Wright, I strongly encourage checking out this concert. If you do, you know how terrific it’ll be.

Ticket are $15.

March – Los Angeles LGBT Center Anita May Rosentein Campus Parking Lot – October 17th – November 15th

Our first live and in-person event (and the reason the title of this column was changed). The venue is the parking lot below the Anita May Rosentein Campus at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Sixteen cars will be admitted per performance. The audio will be broadcast to you through your radio.

The title of this play is March and it was conceived and directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera. The cast has contributed to the writing of the play during exercises and rehearsals.

A pandemic is gripping the world in March. The time could be a quarter century into the future – or not. Three Trans/Gender Non-Confirming women need to find a place where The Military will not find them. Not much is known beyond that. A little mystique never hurt anyone, did it?

The cast of March includes Miss Barbie Q (MJ), Chad Christopher, Matthew Clark, Amir Levi, Marcelino Mendoza, Coretta Monk, and Roland Ruiz.

What makes this so appealing is that Rivera is one of the most interesting and talented writer/directors working in Los Angeles theater. I have no idea what to expect from March, but I have absolutely no doubt that it will be fascinating.

Performances take place only on Saturday and Sunday. There are two performances each night. One at 7:30 PM and one at 9:00 PM. The per car price to attend is $20.

Keala Settle & Seth Rudetsky – October 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Anyone who saw The Greatest Showman knows who Keala Settle is. She introduced the song This Is Me to the world in her role as Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady in the film. She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this week for his conversation/concert show.

If you only know Settle from that film, you’re missing out. She was memorable as Norma Valverde in Hands on a Hardbody. It’s a role that yielded multiple nominations including a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She’s appeared in the musicals Les Misérables, Waitress, Hairspray and South Pacific.

If the Sunday live performance does not work for you, there will be an encore showing of the concert on Monday, October 19th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets for each showing are $25.

That’s the official list of Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. A few reminders before we go:

Donizetti Week at the Metropolitan Opera concludes this weekend with Maria Stuarda on Friday; Roberto Devereux on Saturday and Don Pasquale on Sunday. You can read our full preview here.

Table Top Shakespeare: At Home has the following plays this weekend: Henry VI, Part 2 on Friday; Henry VI, Part 3 on Saturday and Richard III on Sunday. You can read our preview here.

Part 2 of Evelina Fernández’s A Mexican Trilogy is now streaming from Latino Theater Company. The play is called Hope and will be available through October 22nd. For details read our preview here.

That is my complete list of your Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. Whatever you choose to watch, I hope you enjoy!

Photo: Aaron Diehl (Photo by Maria Jarzyna/Courtesy AaronDiehl.com)

Update: Center Theatre Group has changed the dates for Luis Alfaro’s trilogy of plays. Though originally announced to start this week, they have been rescheduled to start November 6th. We have removed “Electricidad” from this weekend’s Best Bets.

The post Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.