'AGT' phenom Jackie Evancho to perform with BSO

In 2010, a blond-haired girl with a sweet smile stood before the "America's Got Talent" studio audience and millions of TV viewers. The 10-year-old proceeded to sing about asking her daddy to grant...

Lyric Opera Baltimore salutes Verdi bicentennial with 'Rigoletto'

The opera world has been giving a little extra attention to a couple of giants born in 1813, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.

Figaro Project gives admirable premiere of 'Camelot Requiem'

Since "Nixon in China," the 1987 masterwork by John Adams that launched what some wag described as a new genre labeled "CNN Opera," contemporary events have been fairer game than ever for composers...

Rep Stage sets 2013-2014 season

Rep Stage, the fine professional company in residence at Howard Community College (the emphasis is on Equity, not college), will explore vintage and contemporary works during its 21st season.

Verdi, Puccini, Poulenc for 2013-2014 season at the Lyric

The 2013-2014 opera season at the Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric will have a lot in common with the 2012-2013 season -- staged works by Verdi and Puccini produced by Lyric Opera Baltimore, with a concert in between.

Stanford University to preserve Walters Art Museum's digital manuscript collection

The Walters Art Museum, a trail-blazer in digitizing its collection and making it available online, has reached an agreement with Stanford University Libraries to give more than 100,000 high-res images of medieval manuscripts what is being called "a second home" in the Stanford Digital Repository.

National tour of 'American Idiot' hits Baltimore

“American Idiot,” the 2010 Broadway hit musical — the first punk rock opera, really — now at the Hippodrome, paints a searing portrait of restless, reckless youth, with all the sex, drugs and violence you’d expect from a disaffected generation.

Washington National Opera presents revelatory 'Show Boat'

Time was when American opera companies considered musicals as suspect artifacts from another planet, hardly worthy of serious attention -- not even on a par with the operettas those companies would occasionally stage when they needed a box office lift.

For Midweek Madness, a prelude to Mother's Day

With Mother's Day approaching, that suggested a motherly, guilt trip-y theme for Midweek Madness. Here's the great comic duo Elaine May and Mike Nichols, presenting a classic case of a mother whose son never calls.

Baltimore Symphony affirms its quality in Carnegie Hall concert

The good news about the Spring For Music festival at Carnegie Hall is that it chooses American orchestras of all sizes to bring off-the-beaten-path programs to the nation's premier classical music showplace, and charges only $25 a seat.

A 'Requiem' for JFK assassination

Figaro Project's 'Camelot Requiem' opera debuts at First & Franklin Presbyterian Church

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, O'Malley make Carnegie Hall appearance

NEW YORK -- Carnegie Hall put out the purple Monday night to welcome the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the opening of Spring For Music, a week-long festival showcasing American orchestras playing adventurous programs. Ravens-colored cloths adorned the seat backs of the musicians’ chairs and the conductor’s podium; more cloths were handed out to audience members to wave on cue in a salute to Baltimore.

Season finales from Choral Arts Society, Shriver Hall

Sunday’s musical splendors, for me, started with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society’s season finale in the afternoon at Grace United Methodist Church. The cleverly constructed program gave audiences a chance to compare different settings of the same texts.

Marin Alsop leads Baltimore Symphony in propulsive program

If it has a good beat, you can count on Marin Alsop to conduct it with infectious energy. That point is being driven home by her latest program with the Baltimore Symphony, which has one more local performance before the orchestra takes it to Carnegie Hall on Monday.

WPAS presents soaring concert by Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra has had its share of troubles over the years, including an embarrassing brush with bankruptcy, but things sure sound like they are looking up, way up, these days.

Baltimore School for the Arts earns first Tony nod, for actress Shalita Grant

The Baltimore School for the Arts can boast its first nomination for a Tony Award -- thanks to graduate Shalita Grant, whose debut Broadway bow has won her a nod for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

For 'American Idiot,' Md. native went behind the music with Green Day

Michael Mayer teamed with punk rock star Billie Joe Armstrong to make hit musical, coming to Hippodrome.

Open Space gallery gets support after Remington fire

The exhibition scheduled to open on Friday has been postponed.

Everyman Theatre offers local premiere of gritty 'Topdog/Underdog'

Booth, the younger of two brothers in Suzan-Lori Parks' cauterizing play “Topdog/Underdog,” being given a trenchant Baltimore premiere by Everyman Theatre, is determined to perfect the old con game, three-card monte.

Midweek Madness remembers the late, great Deanna Durbin

Sad to hear about Deanna Durbin's death this week at the age of 91. The Winnipeg-born Hollywood actress and singer was a terrific talent whose 1930s and '40s movies earned her enormous popularity (my late father was one of her biggest fans).

Over the weekend, memorable music from Concert Artists, Fleishers

Weekends are wonderfully musical around here, offering, more often than not, too many events for any one listener to take in, without benefit of helicopter or cloning. The choices I made last weekend paid handsome dividends.

Musical 'Kinky Boots' leads Tony nominations with 13

The musical "Kinky Boots," with music by pop star Cyndi Lauper, led the nominations of Broadway's highest honors, the Tony awards, with 13, closely followed by the British import "Matilda," which received 12.

Baltimore Symphony welcomes back violinist Midori, conductor Gilbert Varga

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is serving up a meaty program this week and is welcoming back some substantial guest artists to help deliver it.

Moving performance of 'Defiant Requiem' at Peabody Institute

If you don't have a ticket to tonight's repeat of "Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin" at the Peabody Institute, try using all your powers of persuasion and influence to get one, or just consider sneaking in. It's an important event.

Midweek Madness takes a minute to salute Barbra Streisand's 71st birthday

The happy convergence of Midweek Madness time with Barbra Streisand's 71st birthday means a little levity is in order.

Rep Stage revives '60s farce 'Boeing-Boeing'

The only thing missing from “Boeing-Boeing,” the 1960s farce about a man practicing polygamy-before-marriage with three flight attendants from three different countries, is a disembodied voice announcing “severe turbulence ahead.”

A beautiful work in a horrific setting

The most famous, roof-rattling passage in Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem" describes the "day of wrath" for the guilty as they face their eternal fate: "How great will be the terror when the Judge comes who will smash everything completely … Whatever is hidden will be revealed. Nothing shall remain unavenged."

Everyman announces first full season at new home

It might be hard to duplicate the anticipation and publicity that greeted the inaugural season in Everyman Theatre's inviting new home on West Fayette Street, but that hasn't stopped the company from trying.

Center Stage gives Baltimore premiere of 'Clybourne Park'

In Act 1 of “Clybourne Park,” the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play by Bruce Norris receiving a potent Baltimore premiere at Center Stage, civility breaks down as white and black characters in a modest Chicago house start talking about the one thing they’d all rather avoid — race.