La Fiamma

Academy of Vocal Arts

2008

$65,000

The Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) produced the Philadelphia premiere of Ottorino Respighi's rarely performed 1934 opera La Fiamma (The Flame). Two performances with a full orchestra conducted by Maestro Christofer Macatsoris were presented at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, featuring AVA resident artists, including soprano Angela Meade, baritone Christopher Bolduc, tenors Taylor Stayton and Bryan Hymel, and bass Ben Wager.

News

2019 in Review: A Year of Grant Making and Cultural Vitality

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s 2019 Year in Review highlights the remarkable work our grantees produced throughout the year and the pressing issues of cultural practice discussed in our Questions of Practice research series. We also offer a preview of the projects scheduled for 2020.

news-content
2019-in-review-a-year-of-grant-making-and-cultural-vitality
Event

The Philadelphia Embassy of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland: Inaugural Event

Composer Mike Bullock presents the inauguration of the Philadelphia Embassy of the international art project, The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland (KREV).

event-content
the-philadelphia-embassy-of-the-kingdoms-of-elgaland-vargaland-inaugural-event
Collaborators & Colleagues

Kim Whitener

Kim Whitener is the Producing Director at HERE in New York, where she works in partnership with Artistic Director Kristin Marting to curate and produce HERE's performance programs and activities. She also served as the Center's panel chair in theater in 2013 and as a Performance LOI panelist in 2014 and 2015.

people-content
kim-whitener
Collaborators & Colleagues

Linda Caruso Haviland

Dr. Linda Caruso Haviland, associate professor at Bryn Mawr College, is the founder and director of its dance program as well as the chair of the arts program.

people-content
linda-caruso-haviland
Grants & Grantees

Fail Better

Nichole Canuso Dance Company engaged in an exploratory project with a team of collaborators to develop a multidisciplinary dance-theater work inspired by Samuel Beckett's play Act Without Words I.

grant-content
fail-better
Questions of Practice

Questions of Practice: Performing Arts Producer Jenny Gersten on Art as an “Agent of Hope”

Jenny Gersten discusses the approach to programming the Center for Performing Arts at the World Trade Center.

question-of-practice-content
questions-of-practice-performing-arts-producer-jenny-gersten-on-art-as-an-agent-of-hope-
Event

Macbeth

FringeArts presents South African theater artist Brett Bailey's adaptation of Verdi's opera Macbeth, performed by the performance group Third World Bunfight.

event-content
macbeth
Event

Philadelphia Flamenco Festival Performances of La Curva

La Curva features Bacán's spare singing, Courvoisier's atonal and dissonant compositions, and Galván's score that employs rhythms from his own footwork.

event-content
philadelphia-flamenco-festival-performances-of-la-curva-with-israel-galvan-ines-bacan-and-sylvie-courvoisier
Grants & Grantees

Vespers, Premiere Recording

Piffaro recorded composer Kile Smith's Vespers with The Crossing choir.

grant-content
vespers-premiere-recording
Event

Supper, People on the Move: National Tour

Silvana Cardell's Supper, People on the Move will tour the East Coast this fall with an international engagement in the Dominican Republic.

event-content
supper-people-on-the-move-national-tour
Event

action is primary: Dinner Parties

Part performance, part discussion, and part party, these events invite attendees to discuss the project's improvisational practice.

event-content
action-is-primary-dinner-parties
Event

Ogun & the People: World Premiere

Kulu Mele African Dance & Drum Ensemble debuts Ogun & the People at the Annenberg Center.

event-content
ogun-amp-amp-the-people-world-premiere
Event

Facing Front Artist Talk: Building Performance

Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion will have spent the week with 35 Philadelphia-based artists, curators, and writers in an intensive workshop on process. This last day of the session will open a window into their work and process, allowing for time to talk formally and informally about how we build performances.

event-content
facing-front-artist-talk-building-performance
Grants & Grantees

The Quiet Circus

A 15-month-long series of performances and conversations held at sites along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers explored the city’s maritime and industrial heritage while considering human interaction with an urban landscape, community, and the contemplative.

grant-content
the-quiet-circus
Questions of Practice

*In Terms of Performance*, A Keywords Anthology

In Terms of Performance provokes dialogue, debate, and discovery in an anthology of keywords designed to generate shared literacies.

question-of-practice-content
in-terms-of-performance-a-keywords-anthology
News

Fall Arts in Philadelphia: Milford Graves at Institute of Contemporary Art, Films at Eastern State Penitentiary, David Gordon On-screen

As the season turns to fall, Philadelphia’s cultural institutions are offering new exhibitions and performances, with both online and in-person programming.

news-content
fall-arts-in-philadelphia-milford-graves-at-institute-of-contemporary-art-films-at-eastern-state-penitentiary-david-gordon-on-screen
Event

Contemporary Flamenco, Cultural Legacy + Experimental Imperative with Michelle Heffner Hayes

Michelle Heffner Hayes will lead a discussion on the history of flamenco and its cultural significance in its contemporary form.

event-content
-quot-contemporary-flamenco-cultural-legacy-experimental-imperative-quot-with-michelle-heffner-hayes
Grants & Grantees

Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music

In its Philadelphia premiere, Taylor Mac’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated performance work journeys through 240 years of US history and popular songs, staged in two 12-hour installments.

grant-content
taylor-mac-a-24-decade-history-of-popular-music
Grants & Grantees

El Viaje (The Journey)

Percussionist Pablo Batista will blend traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and contemporary Western instrumentation, Afro-Caribbean choreography and evocative multi-media imagery in a performance that will tell a story of the spiritual and cultural resilience of those forced to emigrate from Africa to the Americas and re-establish themselves with dignity.

grant-content
el-viaje-the-journey-
Event

Alias Ellis MacKenzie September 15–19

Thaddeus Phillips' new bilingual performance work for theater, inspired by his experience working on Colombian telenovela *Alias El Mexicano*, continues September 15–19.

event-content
alias-ellis-mackenzie