Guided Search: Arts and Culture, English/British

Acclaimed French conductor Emmanuelle Haïm makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut, presenting two of the leading lights of English Baroque music. Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks has been lighting up the sky (in concert halls!) since 1749. In his cantata Il delirio amoroso (The Delirium of Love), soprano Lenneke Ruiten is featured in this Orpheus-like tale based on classical mythology. Purcell's brilliant score for The Fairy Queen quickly became a favorite after its rediscovery early last century.

“Lyric, fluid and precisely as tricky as he needs to be… probably the greatest Irish fiddler living.” – The Village Voice “Burke imparts a rhythmic intensity that is remarkably powerful. A superior instrumentalist in any idiom. Impressively virtuosic.” – The New York Times Co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group

His debut album One Chance sold over three and a half million albums, rocketed to the number one spot in 15 countries (including the UK, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Mexico) and stormed to the top 10 in a further eight.

In the UK, his album outsold the entire top 10 collectively in its first week. January 2008 saw him embark on a world tour with 55 dates but as his popularity soared more dates were added and he completed over 100 sell out shows in concert halls, arenas and stadiums around the globe.

The distinctive sound of Libera has travelled the world in the last few years. The group's albums have topped both mainstream and classical charts in many countries, and their recordings hold their place in top-tens alongside major artists like Bocelli.

International Guitar Night is America’s premier annual mobile guitar festival, this year featuring classically-trained Italian experimentalist Pino Forastire, Quique Sinesi's original compositions rooted in tango and folkloric music of his native Argentina, the brilliant young British fingerstyle guitarist Mike Dawes, and IGN's founder, California "guitar poet" Brian Gore. Each concert includes solos, duets and quartets highlighting the virtuosity and diversity in the world of acoustic guitar.

Winterthur curators return from mission to find costumes from PBS's big hit.

In Quintessence’s first foray into family entertainment, we bring to the stage Kenneth Grahame’s THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, the delightful story of Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger and their woodland escapades.  

Oliver Goldsmith’s SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER is one of the English language’s most uproarious comedies and a tale of true love, mistaken identities, and the never-ending battle of the sexes.

Prince Hamlet returns from university to bury his father and to attend the surprising and hasty marriage of his mother to his uncle. The ghost of his father visits the grieving Hamlet and reveals a mystery that could destroy not only his family, but the sovereignty of Denmark.