OUR FIRST EVENT:

“Restoring the Opera Aria and the Hymn” will be an opera concert on November 16th, 2019, 7:30 at St. Jean Baptiste Church, in Manhattan, New York, USA.

Here is a link to the event’s page:  https://www.facebook.com/Restore-the-Arts-Events-112607616801784

“Restoring the Opera Aria and the Hymn” an important concert of newly written hymns presented together with opera arias new and old, will be presented at St. Jean Baptiste Church, E. 76th St., Manhattan on November 16th at 7:30 pm, admission by donation, with some of the most promising free-lance opera singers in New York, including Costa Tsourakis, Cheryl Warfield, Madison McIntosh, Ulla Westlund, and others, accompanied by Tristan Cano at the piano.

The concert is presented by Restore the Arts under the artistic direction of Webster Young, former candidate for Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA , US government)  and composer of 170 works of music including six operas.

The concert will celebrate the publication of “15 Hymns on Psalms or Gospels”, new hymns written in the melodic traditions of the Anglican Hymnal and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The new hymns are intended to make a permanent contribution to all Christian music. The first half of the program will be a performance of the hymns by the cast of opera singers, and the second half will include arias by G. F. Handel, W. A. Young, F. Mendelsson, G. Bellini, P. Mascagni, G. Puccini, and L. Refice

There will be a preview of the concert in Manhattan, at which Young will speak about Restore the Arts, and arias will be previewed. (see the event Facebook Page: “Restore the Arts Events”)

Restore the Arts has a 3 year old blog site at RestoretheArts.net and is dedicated to a restoration of all the fine arts under the banner of neoclassicism and beauty, which it seeks to define in an ongoing process with its academy of artists who have been brought together in a think tank for the arts.

One of our innovative concerns is that the debate on the NEA in the US should be positively influenced by the model of French support of the arts. Our academy is mostly French-American and includes 5 composers, 4 poets and writers, 2 ballet choreographers, a publisher, film maker, and philanthropist. One of the poets involved, Phillipe Delaveau, was asked to be Poet Laureate of France, and some new translations are at the blog site. It also represents two artists posthumously, including Kenneth Frantz, an unknown painter of the California Bay Area Renasissance who was the best friend of the American poet Brother Antoninus (William Everson).

Webster Young has been an arts administrator and is a neoclassical composer. He directed the Long Island Opera for 7 years, and before that, helped found Ballet in the Park in Ashland, Oregon, where he became the most prolific American composer for ballet before Martins-Torke. His family is related to Otto Harbach, the essential Broadway lyricist who wrote “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and many other Broadway shows and lyrics.  Young’s preview talk with music will be announced at the Facebook Page (recordings included) “Restore the Arts Events”,  and at RestoretheArts.net.  For news, interviews, and photos contact: Operacompany@Onebox.com

The Facebook Page : “Restore the Arts Events” at Facebook .

ANNUAL CONFERENCES:  We are  in the process of planning, and raising money for,  semi-annual conference events – one in France within two hours of Paris, and one in New York.  These will include ground breaking lectures, concerts, readings, and panels to be produced by our contributing artists and founders.