All kinds of opportunities
Portland Ovations is providing arts integration resources on their website during the pandemic for students and their families. Please take time and check it out – there are outstanding resources including. Thank you to Portland Ovations for sharing the information below of shows that are available at this time. I especially love the last two!
DANCE PICK – Ovations’ RAISE THE BARRE dance series faves (they’ve been here at least three times during my tenure alone, most recently in our 2018-19 season), the ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER is rolling out full-length videos of their repertoire. From April 9 – 12, Judith Jamison’s Divining (1984) will be available on their website. CLICK HERE!
BROADWAY PICK – Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Universal Music Group are making full-length videos of his classics available on Youtube every Friday for 48 hours. This week, on April 10th, will be JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. While it won’t feature the OG JC Ted Neeley (like our last presentation of JCS back in 2007), this stage version stars multi-hyphenate Australian superstar, Tim Minchin (who wrote the music and lyrics for the hit musical Matilda, in addition to a thriving comedy career) in the role of Judas Iscariot. CLICK HERE!
CLASSICAL PICK – You may remember the METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE for their immersive concert experience BROWNSTONE, which Ovations sited in various rooms of Victoria Mansion back in 2014. The innovative ensemble – led by Maine native Andrew Cyr – has always supported contemporary composers and musicians in the creation and amplification of new work, even now. They’ve just launched an online series called HOUSE MUSIC, which features bite-sized performances of newly commissioned, classical, and contemporary works from musicians sheltering around the country. New content is released Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10 AM ET. CLICK HERE!
MUSIC PICK – Husband and wife bluegrass phenoms, BELA FLECK and ABIGAIL WASHBURN (alums from both our 14-15 and 17-18 seasons), host a BANJO HOUSE LOCKDOWN live on Facebook every Friday night at 7 pm ET. If you can’t make it for the Facebook Live, archived lockdown performances can be accessed. CLICK HERE!
Something from the past at Ovations
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC – Members of the NY PHIL — whose string quartet was to have joined us in Portland last weekend — come together to salute NYC’s medical professionals with this incredible social-distance rendition of Bolero. CLICK HERE!
HAMILTON – The original cast of HAMILTON serenades a young fan on John Krasinski’s new online show “Some Good News”. (Hamilton starts at the 11:39 mark, but since we could all use some good news, you might as well watch the whole thing). CLICK HERE!
Perhaps you were fortunate enough to see the annual Kennedy Center Honors earlier this week. The recipients, selected by the Center’s Board of Trustees, singer-songwriter Carole King, filmmaker George Lucas, actress and singer Rita Moreno, conductor Seiji Ozawa and actress and Broadway star Cicely Tyson were recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence.
Each of the five recipients were saluted by great performers. Aretha Franklin honored her colleague Carole King by playing the piano and singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” in an incredible performance that brought tears to President Obama and absolutely thrilled Carole King.
me arts ed 