New and Noteworthy

2018 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards Announced

The legacy of classical, jazz and popular music icons - including Aaron Copland - continues to inspire award-worthy creative works. Copland is among the subjects of recently named winners of the 50th annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music. Read more...

The Washington Ballet Comes to Harman Center for the Arts

From October 31 - November 4 at The Harman Center for the Arts in the heart of the nation's capital, The Washington Ballet will showcase its range of abilities and depth of versatility in an extraordinary program that pays tribute to the 20th century's most accomplished American modern choreographers. Contemporary Masters will include iconic works by three of the greatest influencers of modern American dance, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor. Read more...

The Harman Center for The Arts

San Francisco Girls Chorus celebrates its 40-year history

For four decades now, the San Francisco Girls Chorus has pursued an important double mission. The group has trained several generations of young women in musicianship, artistry and discipline, and it has also provided Bay Area audiences with excellent public performances across a wide range of repertoire. Read more...

Herbst Theatre 401 Van Ness Ave. | 7:30 pm

Other Minds Festival

April 11, 2018 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm Read more...

B.Way Theater 3153 17th Street San Francisco, CA 94110 | 7:30 pm

Other Minds: New Release

Other Minds, the renowned new music presenter in San Francisco, has released the recording Composer-Critics of the New York Herald Tribune, which includes works by Virgil Thomson, who headed the staff of music critics, and his colleagues at the Tribune: John Cage, Paul Bowles, Lou Harrison, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. These are historic recordings, originally issued in the early 1950’s, which are collected for the first time on this new release. Read more...

Press Release: New Recording

Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has released a new recording of Thomson’s celebrated first opera Four Saints in Three Acts, with a libretto by Gertrude Stein, on their BMOP/Sound label. Artistic Director Gil Rose, in photo, conducts this luminous first recording of the recently-published critical edition of the score. Read more...

Recordings of Thomson works to be released during 2018-19

Three two-disk albums of Virgil Thomson’s music are scheduled to be released during the 2018-2019 season on Everbest Music and Media, the Virgil Thomson Foundation’s record label. These exciting recordings feature performances by Anthony Tommasini, Craig Rutenberg, and Monadnock Music, among others. Read more...

Book Review

In this review of Library of America’s second volume of Virgil Thomson’s writings, The State of Music & Other Writings, chief classical music critic of the New York Times Anthony Tommasini reflects upon Thomson’s role in the American classical music industry. Mr. Tommasini offers a nuanced perspective on Thomson’s famously provocative writing, and on the inherent contradiction in being both an active composer and an important music critic concurrently. He leaves no doubt about the significant impact that Thomson had on the American music scene. Read more...

Thomson Library of America Volume Now Available

Following on the acclaimed 2014 edition of Virgil Thomson’s collected newspaper music reviews, Library of America and Pulitzer Prize–winning music critic Tim Page now present Thomson’s four classic full-length works in one volume for the first time.  Read more...

Recording Review

The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson for Voice and Piano (Boston Globe). Read more...

Florestan Recital Project Releases The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson for Voice and Piano Featuring Unpublished Works and Premiere Recordings

Marking the first complete recording of Virgil Thomson’s songs that were originally composed for voice and piano, The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson for Voice and Piano provides a more complete understanding of one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Featuring performances by the Florestan Recital Project, the three-disc recording offers a unique window into both Thomson’s compositional evolution, and changing musical concerns throughout his remarkable career. Read more...

Florestan Recital Project

In anticipation of the release of their recording, The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson for Voice and Piano, Florestan Recital Project created this promotional video featuring commentary by Aaron Engebreth, Alison d’Amato and Scott Wheeler. Watch it now to learn more about this important recording, hailed in the Boston Globe as a “landmark contribution to musical culture”. Read more...