Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce Redeployment (The Penguin Press) by Phil Klay as the 2015 winner of The Chautauqua Prize. As author of the winning book, Klay receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his wife for a one-week summer residency at CHQ. He will host a public reading and a book signing on Saturday, July 25, at the Hall of Philosophy. While his Week Four residency will be the first time Klay visits CHQ, he said he has fond memories of childhood trips to Lakeside Chautauqua, an Ohio community that is part of the Chautauqua...
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce eight exceptional books as the 2015 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize: The Map Thief, by Michael Blanding (Gotham/Avery) Byrd, by Kim Church (Dzanc Books) The Bully of Order, by Brian Hart (HarperCollins) Euphoria, by Lily King (Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly) Redeployment, by Phil Klay (The Penguin Press) All Eyes Are Upon Us, by Jason Sokol (Basic Books) The Scatter Here is Too Great, by Bilal Tanweer (Harper) The Witch, by Jean Thompson (Blue Rider Press) The winning book will be selected from this shortlist and announced in mid-May. In The Map Thief, readers are taken into the high-stakes work of map dealing, a history of...
Dear Colleagues, Friends and Family, After 21 years as General and Artistic Director, I have decided to make the 2015 season my last one with the Chautauqua Opera Company. This decision comes with mixed emotions. The CHQ community has been my second home and the opera company has been the focus of my creative and personal life for more than half my professional career so far. But the timing is right for me to turn my attention from administration to devoting more of my time to directing and teaching and to spending more time with my partner, family and friends....
Chautauqua Institution today announced that Jay Lesenger, general/artistic director of Chautauqua Opera Company, will step down from his post at the end of 2015. Lesenger has led Chautauqua Institution’s resident opera company, the nation’s oldest continuously producing summer company — and fourth oldest American opera company overall — since October 1994. “When Jay arrived here, he faced the daunting task of reinvigorating the passion in and for opera at CHQ,” said Marty Merkley, vice president and director of programming. “Jay’s artistry, passion and personal charisma helped to bring about a renaissance with vibrant productions, exciting artists, diverse repertoire and quality production values. His dedication...
Chautauqua Institution today announced that Jay Lesenger, general/artistic director of Chautauqua Opera Company, will step down from his post at the end of 2015. Lesenger has led Chautauqua Institution’s resident opera company, the nation’s oldest continuously producing summer company — and fourth oldest American opera company overall — since October 1994. “When Jay arrived here, he faced the daunting task of reinvigorating the passion in and for opera at CHQ,” said Marty Merkley, vice president and director of programming. “Jay’s artistry, passion and personal charisma helped to bring about a renaissance with vibrant productions, exciting artists, diverse repertoire and quality production values. His dedication...
Chautauqua Institution today announced the appointment of Deborah Sunya Moore as vice president responsible for all arts programming at CHQ, effective Oct. 1, 2015. Moore succeeds Marty W. Merkley, who announced earlier this month that he will retire following the 2015 season, his 25th at CHQ. “I am excited about the development of our arts programming at CHQ under Deborah’s leadership,” said Tom Becker, president of Chautauqua Institution. “She understands at a very high level the intersection between art and education. I believe that she will embrace this challenge in a way that is at once creative and expressive of...
Chautauqua Institution today announced that Marty W. Merkley, vice president and director of programming, will retire from his post at the end of September 2015. Always referring to his work at CHQ as that of “facilitator,” Merkley is a beloved public figure on the grounds, responsible for much of the programming the Institution stages each summer. In his 25 years of visionary leadership, Merkley has seen the Institution through a major expansion in the breadth and quality of its artistic programming, with an emphasis on inter-arts collaboration. He joined the CHQ staff as director of programming in 1991 and was appointed...
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Calling its Amphitheater project “too important to the Institution’s mission not to get it right,” Chautauqua Institution President Tom Becker recommended today to the Institution’s board of trustees that “decisions on proceeding with the Amphitheater development project be deferred to the Board’s August 2015 meeting.” The later approval will likely mean a delay in the start of construction on the Amphitheater until the fall of 2016.
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce its 2015 season, opening Thursday, July 2, with the debut of new music director Maestro Rossen Milanov, and concluding Tuesday, Aug. 25. All performances take place in the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater.
(Chautauqua, NY) Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), under the leadership of Vivienne Benesch Artistic Director and Sarah Clare Corporandy Managing Director, is proud to announce MainStage programming for its 2015 season featuring Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town, directed by Paul Mullins (July 3-12), Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (July 24-August 2), directed by Vivienne Benesch, and Shakespeare’s Henry V (August 14-21), directed by Evan Cabnet. “Our 2015 MainStage line-up is all about imagination,” said Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch. “Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France? Indeed! And much more. Whether the curtain rises on the battlefields of Agincourt, the boudoirs...