The Queer Urban Orchestra: Of Rage & Rememberance
This concert marks 45 years since the New York Native published the first-ever news article on AIDS in May of 1981. As he lost friends to the epidemic, New York composer John Corigliano wrote his First Symphony, pouring into it his anger and love. This powerful work, a musical answer to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, ends in serenity and consolation. Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto is steeped in elegiac lyricism, especially in the hands of guest violinist Blake Pouliot, “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star). Through the lens of Benjamin Britten’s arrangement, Gustav Mahler’s tender What the Wild Flowers Tell Me offers a sweet balm for the soul. The evening also includes a participatory performance of Pauline Oliveros’ Heart Chant, inviting the audience to create a collective space of healing and unity.
Tickets are $40 and $35 for Student/Senior/Disabled admission. Buy your tickets before midnight on May 8 for a $5 discount.
[Program notes taken from the Queer Urban Orchestra’s webpage: https://www.queerurbanorchestra.org/tickets/]
Brio Artist Collective: Storytelling
This program explores storytelling through music by giving sound to characters, settings, and unfolding scenes. Through shifting moods, vivid colors, and musical conversation between instruments, each work creates its own narrative world—whether inspired by folklore, place, dance, or childhood tales
Blue Hill Troupe: Ruddigore, or The Witch’s Curse
The Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd. presents, for the benefit of Kings County Tennis League:
Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore; or, The Witch’s Curse
Written by William S. Gilbert
Composed by Sir Arthur S. Sullivan
Directed by Adrienne Boris
Choreographed by Sabrina Karlin
Music Direction by David Schmidt
Get ready for ghosts, giggles, and gothic romance in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore! This delightfully twisted operetta features cursed baronets, reluctant villains, and a ghostly gallery, all set to a scintillating score. Amid the curses and chaos lies a love story full of heart and hilarity, where true affection just might break even the darkest spell. Perfect for fans of comedy, mystery, and melodrama, Ruddigore is a spookily fun night of theatre you won’t soon forget!
Wednesday, April 15, 7:30 pm: Opening Cast
Thursday, April 16, 7:30 pm: Closing Cast
Friday, April 17, 7:30 pm: Opening Cast
Saturday, April 18, 2:00 pm: Opening Cast
Saturday, April 18, 7:30 pm: Closing Cast
Sunday, April 19, 2:00 pm: Closing Cast
Tickets $45 - $110
Running Time about 2.5 hours
Location: El Teatro of El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
[Program notes taken from the Blue Hill Troupe’s webpage: https://bht.org/events/ruddigore-or-the-witchs-curse-2026/]
QUO: Queer Cosmos
Queer Urban Orchestra begins A Place for Us, a season-long celebration of queer space, with an expansive vision of the queer cosmos. Astronomy and astrology unite in Holst’s The Planets, a vivid orchestral suite that plumbs the mysteries and moods of our solar system. Brooklyn Treble Choir joins the orchestra in the work’s finale as well as excerpts from The Sun’s Journey, a cantata by Holst’s daughter Imogen, a gifted but nearly forgotten composer and conductor. Pianist Isabelle O’Connell brings her “technical prowess, spirit and intelligence” (New York Concert Review) to Viet Cuong’s alluring piano concerto Stargazer.
[Program notes taken from The Queer Urban Orchestra’s webpage: https://www.queerurbanorchestra.org/tickets/]
Blue Buzz | The New Conductor's Orchestra
“Join the New Conductors Orchestra for Blue Buzz, a musical voyage through the breathtaking British and Nordic countryside. Immerse yourself in sounds both bold and ethereal, with repertoire that reflects themes of loss, transcendence, and joy.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Overture (from “The Wasps”)
Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral
Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82”
"The Grand Duke" | The Blue Hill Troupe
“Gilbert & Sullivan’s final collaboration may be the duo’s topsy-turviest! Laced with their trademark social satire and romantic misadventures, this treasure of an operetta (in BHT’s performance edition from 2005) boasts a sumptuous score and a zany plot to overthrow the government by—who else?—a troupe of actors.”