Platinum-selling country songstress Suzy Bogguss is set to return to The City Winery in downtown DC Friday, May 17 at 8:00pm. Audiences can expect an intimate night of music backed by her new trio Craig Smith (guitar) and Elio Giordano (upright bass), two of Nashville’s finest players. The show will include Suzy’s memorable radio hits such as “Outbound Plane,” “Drive South,” “Hey Cinderella,” and “Aces,” as well as songs from her latest albums Lucky, celebrating the songwriting of Merle Haggard, and American Folk Songbook. Fans can look forward to hearing new material, with Suzy debuting originals for the first time since her top 5 jazz album Sweet Danger.
Bogguss performed in DC March of 2018 and has been looking forward to returning to the East Coast on this run, “I can’t wait to play in DC! I just love performing at The City Winery; it’s such a cool venue with a really intimate space.”
What’s on the horizon? Bogguss is currently writing and preparing for her next album as well as continuing to play with her trio and Chicks with Hits – a new tour with fellow queens of country Pam Tillis and Terri Clark.
Tickets for The City Winery are on sale now with a variety of seating options for $25-$30. “My show is very spontaneous. Each one is unique. The guys in my band say that my set list is just a suggestion,” she laughs. “It’s very fluid. If I feel like the audience wants to hear a particular song or if there’s a request I am happy to shift gears. I’m just loving these intimate rooms and interacting with the crowd.”
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.CityWinery.com/
Tony Award®-Winning Actress
Christine Ebersole to Host
Washington National Opera Gala
Saturday, May 18, 2019, at 6 p.m.
in the Kennedy Center Opera House
Washington National Opera (WNO) announces the addition of Tony Award®-winning actress Christine Ebersole as host and special guest artist for its 2019 Gala on Saturday, May 18, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.
Ebersole, an iconic artist of the stage and screen—who appeared in Francesca Zambello’s 2018 production of Candide at LA Opera—joins the WNO gala cast, along with previously announced headliner Christine Goerke, another iconic American voice who is currently starring as Brunnhilde in the Ring Cycle at the Met. This year’s WNO gala concert program explores the beauty and vitality of the human voice through music ranging from Wagner to Gershwin to Irving Berlin.
Christine Ebersole is known for her wide artistic range and versatility, perhaps most notably for her work on Broadway, where she won the Tony Award® twice for her work in Grey Gardens and 42nd Street. She has a distinguished list of television and film credits to her name, including The Wolf of Wall Street, Amadeus, Tootsie, andRichie Rich on the big screen, as well as Sullivan and Son, Royal Pains, Madame Secretary, and Blue Bloods. Her concert and stage credits have taken her to renowned venues across the country, and she has made numerous recordings.
Also added to the roster of talent for the gala evening are soprano Latonia Moore, who appears in the title role in two performances of WNO’s upcoming run of Tosca.Moore joins Ebersole, Goerke, and Washingtonian bass Soloman Howard.
The Gala is WNO’s largest fundraising event and one of Washington’s most anticipated events of the year. Proceeds from the Gala play a crucial role in advancing WNO’s artistic, educational, and community engagement programs. The 2019 WNO Gala honors local entrepreneur John J. Pohanka for his outstanding contributions to the organization, features Evan Rogister leading the WNO Orchestrain his inaugural performance as WNO’s Principal Conductor.
The Co-Chairs of the WNO Gala are Jacqueline Badger Mars and Camille Biros.
Tickets for the Gala concert only, starting at $45, are on sale now.
Special packages to attend all Gala festivities are available. The Gala evening will begin with a cocktail reception on the Kennedy Center’s River Terrace at 4:30 p.m., followed by the 6 p.m. Gala concert performance. The event concludes with elegant black-tie dinners hosted by Ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at embassies and residences throughout Washington, a longtime tradition of the Opera’s season-ending social gathering.
Gala Ticket Information
Tickets to the WNO Gala concert, which start at $45, are available online, in person at the Kennedy Center Box Office, and by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.
Gala ticket packages start at $500 and include the VIP cocktail party and priority seating for the Gala concert. Packages that also include seating at the private embassy dinners following the performance start at $1,000. Information is available online or by contacting the Special Events office at (202) 416-8496 or operagala@kennedy-center.org.
What happens when you combine a “Trading Spaces” star with a madcap musical about trying to trade one’s identity? Or a “Drag Race” contestant with songs about the larger than life “Mame”? It promises to be an incredible evening of entertainment as The American Pops Orchestra presents “I Am What I Am: The Music of Jerry Herman,” starring some of today’s freshest voices.
Paige Davis (TLC’s “Trading Spaces”), Alexis Michelle (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Mauricio Martinez (“On Your Feet!”), Tracy Lynn Olivera (“Ragtime”), and Paul Roeckell from APO’s NextGen competition, are all set to take center stage Saturday, May 18 beginning at 8 p.m. at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St., SW, Washington, D.C.
“Jerry Herman created earworms before we even started using that word,” says Luke Frazier, conductor, APO. “We love his classics from ‘Hello, Dolly!,’ ‘La Cage aux Folles,’ ‘Mack and Mabel,’ and many others. But no one has ever heard or seen them perform like we will! Most of all, Jerry Herman represents telling your truth through his incredible compositions and lyrics. Those are messages that resonate as strongly today as they did when they were first performed.”
Some of the songs APO will perform include:
- “Before the Parade Passes By”
- “Bosom Buddies”
- “We Need a Little Christmas”
- “Put On Your Sunday Clothes”
Herman has won two Tony Awards, received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, and is a Kennedy Center Honoree.
Tickets are available at http://bit.ly/JHermanAPO.
The Choral Arts Society of Washington will present Gabriel Fauré: Requiem on Sunday, May 19th at 5:00 pm at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall. The program is a stunning example of how, in a span of 25 years, musical styles can seem centuries apart all because of mentors who inspire individuality.
Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Tucker will lead the chorus and 67-person orchestra through these transcendent and rarely-heard compositions. The concert will also feature solos from treasured soprano, Laura Choi Stuart, rising star and Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, Alexandria Shiner (soprano), and critically-acclaimed Trevor Scheunemann (baritone).
Choral Arts’ program features Fauré’s transcendent Requiem alongside the chorus’ first performances of Schmitt’s triumphant Psalm 47 and Boulanger’s exuberant Psalm 24. It has been nearly two decades since the beloved Schmitt composition has been performed in Washington, DC. Camille Saint-Saëns’ Sarabande Op. 93 will complete the evening.
“After recently hearing a recording of Schmitt’s Psalm 47 for the first time, I was so moved by its unbridled joy that I knew we had to build an entire concert around it,” said Tucker. “It was the most thrilling piece I’d heard in years.”
The program invites the audience to follow the musical lineage of four composers whose lives were inextricably linked during the early 20th Century in Paris, France. Schmitt credited Fauré as his greatest influence and Boulanger knew Fauré as a family friend from childhood. Fauré’s influence on Schmitt and Boulanger can be heard in their psalm settings and paved the way for future generations of composers.
More information and tickets ($15 and up) can be found online at https://choralarts.org/events/
WHO: The Choral Arts Society of Washington
WHAT: Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
WHEN: Sunday, May 19th at 5:00 pm
WHERE: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
TICKETS: ($15 and up) https://choralarts.org/events/
Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie are pleased to announce the presentation of the fourth annual Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, with actor and performer Kathleen Turner headlining the 2019 Arena Stage Annual Gala. The Gala will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth Street, SW).
The evening kicks off with a cocktail reception, followed by a performance and a three-course seated dinner. The performance will feature the presentation of the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to Nina Totenberg, in recognition of her ground-breaking reporting in the broadcast world and her continual support of the arts. Totenberg was the first radio journalist to receive the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. The award was first presented to Arena Stage board chair Newburger Schwartz in 2016, Arlene Kogod in 2017 and Muriel Bowser in 2018, and celebrates a female leader who strives to better the community in which she lives through her own unique strengths and talents.
“It’s a thrill to present the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to Nina Totenberg in recognition of her superb work as a reporter,” says Smith. “She has been at the forefront of Supreme Court and history-making news for decades. Our decision to present her with the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award was unanimous—her excellent reporting skills and shrewd intellect are at the top of her field.”
“I have spent decades in Washington partaking of the dramatic feast that Arena Stage offers,” Totenberg shares. “Arena has entertained me and made me think; it has taught me about history, science and the human condition and so it is a special honor to receive this award.”
Kathleen Turner is a Golden Globe Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated and Tony Award-nominated actress who has made her mark on both the film and stage scenes. She has appeared at Arena Stage in The Year of Magical Thinking (2016), Mother Courage and Her Children (2014), Red Hot Patriot (2012) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1989). She debuted her first cabaret performance, Finding My Voice, last year, and her new book, Kathleen Turner on Acting was recently published.
All proceeds will benefit all Arena Stage artistic and educational programs.
Event Schedule
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
5:30 p.m. Cocktail reception
6:30 p.m. Award presentation and one night only performance
8:00 p.m. Seated dinner
For additional event details visit arenastage.org/gala
Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie are pleased to announce Lavern Chatman, vice president of business development at EDJ Associates and Arena Board of Trustees member as the chairwoman, and Annie Simonian Totah, Armenian Assembly of America’s Board of Trustees member and recipient of their 2018 Distinguished Humanitarian Award, as the honorary chairwoman of the 2019 Arena Stage Annual Gala. The Gala will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth Street, SW), and will include the presentation of the fourth annual Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg. Actor and performer Kathleen Turner will headline the Gala, as well as host an intimate reception the evening before for select event sponsors.
“As a trustee of Arena Stage, I am pleased once again to chair this season’s Gala,” says Chatman. “The evening has garnered a reputation for honoring influential women and we are thrilled to continue this tradition, along with our Honorary Chair Annie Simonian Totah, to recognize the extraordinary journalist Nina Totenberg. Gala guests will also have the opportunity to experience the iconic Kathleen Turner in a special one-night only performance at this year’s event.”
The evening kicks off with a cocktail reception, followed by a performance and a three-course seated dinner. The performance will feature the presentation of the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to Nina Totenberg, in recognition of her ground-breaking reporting in the broadcast world and her continuous support of the arts. Totenberg was the first radio journalist to receive the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. The award was first presented to Arena Stage board chair Beth Newburger Schwartz in 2016, Arlene Kogod in 2017 and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2018, and celebrates a female leader who strives to better the community in which she lives through her own unique strengths and talents.
Kathleen Turner is a Golden Globe Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated and Tony Award-nominated actress who has made her mark on both the film and stage scenes. She has appeared at Arena Stage in The Year of Magical Thinking (2016), Mother Courage and Her Children (2014), Red Hot Patriot (2012) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1989). She debuted her first cabaret performance, Finding My Voice, last year, and her new book, Kathleen Turner on Acting was recently published.
All proceeds will benefit all Arena Stage artistic and educational programs.
Event Schedule
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
5:30 p.m. Cocktail reception
6:30 p.m. Award presentation and one night only performance
8:00 p.m. Seated dinner
Event sponsors of $15,000 or more are invited to attend an intimate reception with Kathleen Turner on Monday, May 20.
For additional event details visit arenastage.org/gala.
Lavern Chatman (Gala Chair) A tireless advocate, staunch supporter, dedicated community leader, and firm believer in giving back to others, Ms. Chatman has been involved with philanthropic efforts in the Washington, D.C. region for more than two decades. Ms. Chatman is currently vice president of business development at EDJ, a leading national professional and technical services consulting firm, responsible for guiding EDJ across all markets, further strengthening their growing portfolio of Federal, private, and nonprofit clients. Prior to joining EDJ, Ms. Chatman served in senior leadership positions in marketing and business/fund development for non-profit and community organizations. She worked for decades as an advocate and promoter for minority and small businesses, developing strategic partnerships, fostering community engagement and advancing diversity and inclusionary initiatives. Ms. Chatman was also a former candidate for the United States Congress 8th District of Virginia. Ms. Chatman served as the pulse of the Northern Virginia Urban League (NOVAUL) for almost a decade, first as a volunteer, then as a member of the board of directors, serving as the president and CEO of NOVAUL from 2003 to 2011, leaving a legacy of excellence and empowerment for generations to come. Under Ms. Chatman’s leadership, NOVAUL became one of the preeminent organizations in Northern Virginia, addressing issues of youth empowerment, financial literacy, affordable housing, closing the education achievement gap, and social justice. While there are myriad highlights from her tenure at the NOVAUL, one of her lasting contributions was her steadfast development of the Freedom House Museum. Out of commitment to her community and a dedication to its history, Ms. Chatman spearheaded a development campaign for this two-year project, raising over $400,000 to build, design and create a permanent memorial that tells the story of the domestic slave trade in Alexandria, VA. Today, this historic memorial is the headquarters of NOVAUL. Her efforts have been recognized on the local and national level with a series of awards, including the 2009 National Urban League Woman of Power Award for distinguished leadership. Ms. Chatman has served on the board of directors for Archbishop Carroll High School, Washington, D.C.; The Campagna Center, Alexandria, VA; Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce; INOVA Alexandria Hospital; The Community Foundation of Northern Virginia; and WETA Public Broadcasting; and chaired the Diversity Council for AARP Virginia. In 2008 Ms. Chatman convened over thirty-two grass roots organizations to form the Nova Coalition to lead voter education and empowerment efforts throughout Northern Virginia and promote civic engagement on nonpartisan issues in the community. Ms. Chatman served on The National League of Cities, Council on Youth, Education & Families, the World Bank’s D.C. Community Outreach Grants Committee, and the Cardinals Circle for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C, and is the immediate past president of the Arlington chapter of Links, Incorporated and an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Annie Simonian Totah (Honorary Gala Chair) For more than 40 years, Annie Simonian Totah has been recognized for her effective leadership, philanthropy and untiring commitment on behalf of many important political, cultural, and academic, health, women- and children- related and religious causes. Her many contributions and accomplishments have helped organizations and communities on the local, national, and international level. Ms. Totah is often spotted at the District’s many charitable functions, likely because she is involved in so many of them. She and her late husband Sami have been instrumental in donating and expanding the Magen David Sephardic Congregation. Ms. Totah is a major donor, mover and shaker in the nationwide Armenian Community. Through her fundraising and advocacy efforts, she has helped raise, in the last two decades, more than $3 billion in foreign aid for Armenia, her ancestral homeland. She is a breast cancer survivor and a supporter of Sibley Hospital. Through the Totahs’ generosity of $1.0 million, the Sibley Hospital has dedicated the Executive Wing of the Hospital in the name of the Sami & Annie Totah Family Foundation. A major donor and supporter of the Democratic Party, Ms. Totah has hosted in her beautiful home several fundraisers for Democratic candidates on the county, state, gubernatorial, federal and presidential levels. Ms. Totah’s fame and success have not been only in her charitable giving but in her ability to mastermind and produce spectacular and unique events for dozens and dozens of charitable causes. She donates, networks, elevates the cause of the organization and raises millions of dollars for organizations and events such as Israel Bonds Ambassadors’ Gala, Sibley Hospital Gala, Susan G. Komen Honoring the Promise Gala, Best Buddies with Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Washington Performing Arts Society, and the list goes on. Ms. Totah serves on the boards of many non-profit organizations including the Armenian Assembly of American, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Marshall Legacy Institute, Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Magen David Sephardic Congregation, Washington Performing Arts Society, Washington Ballet, National Rehabilitation Hospital, Sibley Hospital, CARE Humanitarian Organization, Young Concert Artists, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Heifitz International Music Institute, Post Classical Ensemble, Hope of Light Foundation, Phillips Collection, Strathmore Hall Foundation, and more. She is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Medal of Appreciation from the President of the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian Assembly of America’s Distinguished Humanitarian Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Sibley Memorial Hospital’s Shining Star Award, and the Medal of Appreciation from the President of Nagorno Karabagh Republic, among others.
Grammy Award® winner Michael Bolton joins the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) for a one-night-only performance this spring, led by NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke. The concert takes place on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 8 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
From “When a Man Loves a Woman” to “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” and more, Michael Bolton’s time, love, and tenderness has created the soundtrack of our lives. Join the Grammy Award®-winner with the NSO for an evening of timeless hits and a musical journey through pop, rock, soul, standards, and even classical, specially arranged for symphony orchestra.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets ($29-$119) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, online at kennedy-center.org, and via phone (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.
CapitalBop returns to the DC Jazz Festival on June 8 with present::futures, the most talent-packed single show in this DIY organization’s history. Six of the most forward-thinking acts in music will appear across two stages, surrounded by visual art and pop-up vendors selling homemade food and drink.
For 2019, CapitalBop has opted to compress its usual run of concerts at the DC JazzFest into one jam-packed, evening-long celebration of musical innovation, with live painting, food, drink and more.
More information available at presentfutures.eventbrite.com
Headlining the festival are separate bands led by West Coast singer/songwriter/emcee Georgia Anne Muldrow and New York-based drummer/bandleader Justin Brown. Muldrow is a prolific performer with an uncommonly deep catalogue, including multiple collaborations with rap legend Madlib, and she has recently broken into the mainstream with the release of her most recent album, Overload.
Brown, a giant of modern jazz who plays with Thundercat, Ambrose Akinmusire, Esperanza Spalding and others, is one of the most important emerging artists in music today. His debut album as a leader, NYEUSI, has turned heads and drawn attention from music writers and fans all over the world.
Miles Okazaki, one of the most distinctive young guitarists alive, gained a new level of attention last year when he released WORK, a six-disc album featuring his interpretations of every song in Thelonious Monk’s catalogue.
Saxophonist Brent Birckhead, a D.C. native now living in New York, is riding the momentum of his acclaimed debut release, BIRCKHEAD. Composer, clarinetist and vocalist Angel Bat Dawid also released her debut album this year, The Oracle, and has earned praise from such press outlets as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Other deep-thinking DMV mainstays, including Jamal Moore’s Organix Trio and DJ John Murph, will round out the evening’s lineup.
The event takes place at the Sandlot Southwest, an open, outdoor space located just south of Audi Stadium at Buzzard Point, at 1800 Half St. SW. Doors open at 6:30, directly preceded by an hour-long meet-and-greet for package and VIP ticket-holders. Tickets are $18 early advance (before May 27), $25 advance and $30 at the door; students get $5 off the price of their admission. Special ticket packages are available for $40, and VIP-level reserved seating for donors starts at $100. The show is all-ages.
5:30 PM: VIP meet-and-greet
6:30 PM: Doors
7:15 PM: Angel Bat Dawid (stage 2)
7:30 PM: Brent Birckhead (stage 1)
8:15: Miles Okazaki (stage 2)
9:15 PM: Justin Brown’s Nyeusi (stage 1)
10:15 PM: Jamal Moore’s Organix Trio (stage 2)
11:00 PM: Georgia Anne Muldrow (stage 1)
