In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

An oratorio differs from an opera in that the performance takes place on a concert stage, without sets, staging, or costumes. It was church doctrine that drove the distinction; many oratorio subjects were drawn from the Bible, and it was considered blasphemous to dramatize them. Handel took up one such tale in 1741, when he received a new libretto from Charles Jennens, a Shakespeare scholar and long-time subscriber to Handel’s published works. Drawing texts from the King James Bible and…

An oratorio differs from an opera in that the performance takes place on a concert stage, without sets, staging, or costumes. It was church doctrine that drove the distinction; many oratorio subjects were drawn from the Bible, and it was considered blasphemous to dramatize them. Handel took up one such tale in 1741, when he received a new libretto from Charles Jennens, a Shakespeare scholar and long-time subscriber to Handel’s published works. Drawing texts from the King James Bible and…

Celebrate the holidays with one of classical music’s most beloved traditions and join the SPCO for our extremely popular annual performances of Handel’s Messiah. SPCO Artistic Partner Jonathan Cohen and the SPCO will be joined by an all-star roster of vocal soloists, and renowned vocal ensemble The Singers.

Celebrate the holidays with one of classical music’s most beloved traditions and join the SPCO for our extremely popular annual performances of Handel’s Messiah. SPCO Artistic Partner Jonathan Cohen and the SPCO will be joined by an all-star roster of vocal soloists, and renowned vocal ensemble The Singers.

2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award Winner: John Holiday in Recital.  Named for the groundbreaking African American contralto, the Marian Anderson Vocal Award recognizes a young American singer in opera, oratorio, or recital repertory with outstanding promise for a significant career. Given annually by the Kennedy Center, the award offers a cash prize, a residency at Washington's Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and a recital co-presented by WNO and the Kennedy Center's Fortas Chamber Music Concerts. This year's winner, gifted…

John Holiday joins the School of Music at Western Connecticut State University for the kickoff to their naming campaign for the Marian Anderson Initiative.  John Holiday, winner of the Kennedy Center 2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, will perform at WestConn's Community Birthday Celebration to honor Marian Anderson at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, the 121st anniversary of Anderson’s birth. Don't miss this opportunity to hear Holiday perform in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall in our Visual and Performing Arts Center.

On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia at the exact location that served as headquarters of the MOVE organization, where a 1985 standoff with police infamously ended with a neighborhood destroyed and 11 people dead, including five children. This self-defined family is assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home and begin to see their squatting as a matter of destiny…