Videotaping Robert Battle at Citi Wang Theatre

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director, Robert Battle, was kind enough to tape some personal thoughts before tonight's performance on the Celebrity Series of Boston's 75th Anniversary.

Frederic Franklin (1914-2013)

The renowned dancer and ballet master Frederic Franklin died on May 4 at age 98.

Mr. Franklin made his Boston debut in November 1938 with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo during the first season of the Celebrity Series of Boston. In addition to multiple Celebrity Series performances in Boston with Ballet Russe, his work was also seen by Bostonian's in Celebrity Series presentations of Dance Theatre of Harlem.

The Guardian

PRI's The World

El Pais

The Washington Post

Los Angeles Times

Dance Heritage Coalition

Arts Fuse

Dance/USA Franklin Bio (video)

 

Our 75th Season is now on sale!

Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, March 23, 2014

Subscription sales are now live on celebrityseries.org.

Check out our complete 13-14 Calendar!

The Bernstein Response

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more
beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."  —Leonard Bernstein

 

Masterclass with Spellbound dancers

Spellbound Dance Company dancers Maria Cosso (center) and Giacomo Todeschi (left) lead a masterclass at  Rindge & Latin High School in Cambridge on April 4, 2013. The class was part of Celebrity Series' Arts for All! program.

 

Complete 2013-14 season is now on sale at www.celebrityseries.org - take a look!

Barbara Cook in Vanity Fair

Broadway and cabaret star Barbara Cook did an interview with Vanity Fair's Patrick Monahan back in November. Here's a snippet:

"Is there a standard you feel differently about singing now than when you first heard it?

“I’ve Got You Under My Skin”—I’ve heard that, of course, all my life. Then a few years ago, I heard Katharine McPhee [of American Idol and Smash]
do that on television, and I thought, You know, I think I can do
something with that. So I took my ideas to Lee [Musiker, Ms. Cook’s
musical director and pianist] and we worked it out together." Read the full interview.

Barbara Cook and John Pizzarelli return to the Celebrity Series and Symphony Hall on April 6. Good seats are still available! Get your tickets.

 

Complete season is now on sale at www.celebrityseries.org - take a look!

Musings on Van Cliburn, by Walter Pierce

Musings on Van Cliburn

He was a phenomenon. He was a larger
than life personality. He was a genuine American hero. He was a gifted pianist
who brought world attention to American classical music. He was the
quintessential Southern gentleman -- a tall Texan who conquered the hearts of
the Soviet and American public when both nations stared at each other grimly
across a political divide.

He was the first musician to receive a
New York ticker tape parade when he returned to the US following his winning
the prestigious International Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.

And yet, many musicians and critics felt
he never lived to fulfill the potential that lay before him.

He was a gracious, giving personality
who easily won the hearts of everyone he met.

He had his quirks: he hated being early for
his own concerts, preferring to arrive a few minutes past concert time, doff
his coat, stride on stage, sit down at the piano and begin playing the National
Anthem. When everyone resumed their seats, he began the concert.

I recall being invited with my mentor,
Aaron Richmond, by Van Ciburn's then American concert manager, William Judd of
Columbia Artists, to his apartment to hear a young pianist they had signed with
the hopes that we might book him in recital. This was in the period just before
he left for the Moscow competition. Little did I know what would follow in the
next few months.

Within a year or so, we were presenting
Van Cliburn in recital in Boston to an adoring public which filled every seat
in Symphony Hall with an overflow on the stage, while hundreds of would-be
ticket buyers were turned away.

I feel blessed indeed to have had the
opportunity to share in presenting Van Cliburn in recital in Boston on over a
dozen occasions.

Au revoir, Van -- we loved you dearly.

Walter
Pierce

Walter Pierce was Executive Director of Celebrity Series of Boston from 1965 to 1996. The Celebrity Series presented Van Cliburn 8 times under his leadership.