WQED-FM’s Anna Singer interviews the stars of RIGOLETTO - baritone Andrew Cummings and soprano Maria Brea, plus Artistic Director & conductor Maria Sensi Sellner about this long-awaited production.
Listen on the Voice of the Arts Podcast here!
Read MoreSoprano Takesha Meshé Kizart Thomas and Artistic Director Maria Sensi Sellner spoke on the air with WQED-FM’s Anna Singer about “The Phenomenal Woman” concert this Saturday April 30 at 7pm at Mellon Institute Auditorium.
Listen to the interview on the Voice of the Arts Podcast Here!
Read MoreSuperstar soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas talks with Artistic and General Director Maria Sensi Sellner about our upcoming April 30 concert, “The Phenomenal Woman” as well as motivation and inspiration for a multifaceted artistic life as performer, creator, and administrator.
Director & librettist Ben Robinson and conductor Maria Sensi Sellner chatted with WQED-FM’s Anna Singer about the film premiere of Hansel & Gretel!
Listen now on the WQED Voice of the Arts Podcast!
Read MoreDouble bassist Jeffrey Turner, and Conductor/Artistic Director Maria Sensi Sellner had the privilege of talking with WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham about Missy Mazzoli’s brilliant Dark with Excessive Bright, the rest of the Back to the Future program that it inspired, and how they see classical music moving forward.
Listen now to the Voice of the Arts podcast!
Read MoreA program like this weekend’s Back to the Future is created around the spark of an idea. For me it usually comes as the catalytic combination of a musical work, a specific artist, and just the right timing. When I discovered that Missy Mazzoli, one of the most exciting and innovative composers in the world right now, wrote a double bass concerto that premiered less than a year earlier, I immediately emailed Jeff Turner about it, and the match was lit! The pandemic extended the timing bit more than anticipated from that initial conversation back in January 2019, but after a 20-month delay, we now feel even more honored to present Dark with Excessive Bright, making Pittsburgh one of the handful of American cities to experience what the Chicago Classical Review called "the finest double-bass concerto of the past fifty years."
Read MoreBack to the Future features Pittsburgh premieres of works inspired by past musical traditions from around the world by four of today’s most important living composers: Missy Mazzoli, Chen Yi, Jessie Montgomery, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Get to know these amazing creators, and make plans to join us IN PERSON on November 13 & 14 at the Greer Cabaret at Theater Square!
Read MoreWe are thrilled to re-release our September 2020 performance of Julia Perry’s dramatic Stabat Mater into our On Demand library for the rest of the season!
Our performance features mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford (who is also a Westminster Choir College alum!) and a quintet of strings from our Resonance Chamber Orchestra - Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, Maureen Conlon Gutierrez, Si Yu, Elise Feagley, and Jesica Sharp Crewe. Maria Sensi Sellner conducts.
Watch through the end of the season with $5 access.
Read MoreAs so often happens, some of the best projects come into being as offshoots from other plans. Such was the case with Amor y Corona. Last summer, as I was planning our “March of the Women” series, I chatted with Maureen (electronically, of course) about her performing a couple of short pieces on the series, potentially one of the Romances by Clara Schumann or one or two of the 6 Morceaux by Pauline Viardot García. The timing ended up not being ideal, and the series was already growing beyond our initial scope (with so much great music to include, it was hard to edit things out), so these became the core of a whole other project. Maureen was not familiar with Viardot’s works for violin and had also been looking for an excuse to learn Amy Beach’s Romance, which fit perfectly. And thus a recital program of Romanzas was born...
Read MoreMaria and librettist/co-creator Matt Boresi appeared on “Thursdays with Thomas” on IDAGIO Live to talk about the Decameron Opera Coalition’s “Tales from a Safe Distance” and more!
Read MoreRed Curtain Addict previewed the Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales from a Safe Distance with a “Behind the Curtain” episode featuring a wonderful conversation with Maria, internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and co-creator/librettist Matt Boresi.
Read MoreDid you know that composer Ruth Crawford Seeger is one of the premier voices in American modernism? She was the first woman to win a Guggenheim Fellowship, traveling to Europe, where she composed her most famous work, her string quartet.
Our …of dark and bright program includes her Andante for Strings, which is an expansion of the slow movement of that earlier string quartet.
Read MoreOn October 23 & 25, RESONANCE WORKS will open its 2020-2021 season with I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams at the New Hazlett Theater on Pittsburgh’s North Side. A collaboration between composer Jorge Sosa and creator and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs, this acclaimed new opera champions the near perpetual struggles of immigrants and the often overlooked complexities of their stories. Building on its reputation for bringing the most important new American music to Pittsburgh audiences, Resonance Works becomes only the second company to present this celebrated new work.
Read MorePITTSBURGH, PA - (02.12.20) - on March 21 and 22, 2020, the Resonance Chamber Orchestra and Chorus will return to the concert hall with … of Dark and Bright featuring one of the first US performances of Missy Mazzoli’s remarkable new concerto for double bass Dark with Excessive Bright and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands for chorus and strings. With further works by Ottorino Respighi, Chen Yi and Gabriela Lena Frank, the whole of this program explores modern-era works that have been inspired by music and musical traditions of the past.
Read MoreFlutist Lindsey Goodman performs works by Kaija Saariaho and the world premiere by Jorge Sosa on the national anthems this weekend! Lindsey shares with us her own family history and heritage:
Read MoreOur concertmaster, Sandro Leal-Santiesteban hasn't always lived in Pittsburgh. He emigrated to the US from Havana, Cuba, with one goal in mind: music.
Read MoreOur countdown continues to the national anthems this weekend at Heinz Chapel and the Charity Randall Theatre! We’re looking forward to having you with us as our exploration of the globe unfolds in this celebration of music from around the world! Music and art are perhaps the most prominent and most lasting forms of expression by the oppressed and revolutionary.
Read MoreI did not grow up in Pittsburgh but I really appreciate its celebration of so many cultures and ethnicities!
My father was a Latvian immigrant. He came to the United States by ship across the Atlantic around age 11, knowing only two phrases in English: “Where is the restroom?” and “I don’t speak English.”
Read MoreWe hope you’re making plans to join us for the national anthems as we explore diversity and culture through many different lenses. The universal language of music establishes a common ground as we probe into the personal histories of the composers and performers featured in our program. While some bear stories of overcoming oppression and adversity, some recall adopting new homes as immigrants, and still others make peaceful reflections upon their heritage, all have unique perspectives that draw many parallels to the rich and diverse heritage of the Pittsburgh region!
Read MoreBaritone Lucky Rattan performs with our Festival Chorus for the first time with the national anthems. He graciously shared with us his mother’s immigration story and reflections on his cultural identity:
“I am a first-generation American of Laotian descent. Growing up, I never realized and therefore never appreciated the great sacrifices that my mother made to come to the US.
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