This is just new. Keir will narrate Stories From The Sea to include Walt Whitman’s Poems and Songs. Read on.

GBS opens 69th season with new conductor; actor Keir Dullea to narrate

Phyllis A.S. Boros
Published 5:16 pm, Tuesday, September 9, 2014

New, new, new — and lots of tradition, too.

That’s the philosophy at the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, which opens its 69th season at the Klein Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, Sept. 13 — a month earlier than usual.

Its new music director/conductor Eric Jacobsen, a cellist, will kick off his concert-week public appearances on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the Pequot Library, in Fairfield, with noted area pianist Alan Murchie. The event is part of the library’s annual concert series.

Also new: The season has been expanded from five to six concerts (with Jacobsen conducting five of them). Music lovers can purchase five-concert or six-concert subscriptions (with the six-concert package including “A Folk Christmas” on Saturday, Dec. 6).

Special discounts are being offered for 20-somethings to foster the season as a date-night destination for younger audiences. It’s a “$30 Under 30” six-concert subscription for $180, featuring prime seating and full subscriber benefits.

Opening night’s “Stories from the Sea” will include “Walt Whitman, Poems and Songs,” with narration provided by stage and screen actor Keir Dullea, a Connecticut resident who has gained a large local following for his many contributions to the community arts scene. He starred in the iconic 1968 space movie, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The songs are all original, written by guitarist Kyle Sanna, flutist Alex Sopp, Jacobsen and his brother Colin, a renowned violinist. The four musicians make up Brooklyn Rider, a successful quartet that performs around the world, and are all members of the New York-based Knights Orchestra.

The opening-night program also will include Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances.

A music director’s first season is always a special one, said Jacobsen, who celebrated his 32nd birthday in July.

When putting the season together, Jacobsen said he planned it to be “alive with discovery and excitement, full of chance and exploration.” And the GBS also “will have the repertoire that we all know and love to re-examine,” he added.

Subscribers receive a 20 percent discount compared with individual tickets. As a bonus, subscribers will receive a free pair of tickets to any concert so that they may introduce friends or relatives to the GBS.

The six-concert season packages range from $139.20 to $283.20; five-concert packages (without the holiday event) range from $116 to $236.

pasboros@ctpost.com; Twitter: PhyllisASBoros

The Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport. Saturday, Sept. 13, 8 p.m. $59-$29. Free parking. 203-576-0263, www.gbs.org.

Pequot Library, 720 Pequot Ave. in Fairfield’s Southport section. Thursday, Sept. 11, 5:30-6:30 p.m. $30 door, $25 advance. 203-259-0346; www.pequotlibrary.org.

SOURCE

The cast of “Script in Hand” reading 13 February 2012 at the Westport County Playhouse. Back row from l-r: Edward Hermann, Keir Dullea, Stephen Wellam, and Frank Converse. Front Row: Maria Tucci, Beth Fowler, Geneva Carr, Loretta Mackay and Mia Dillon (Keir’s Wife).

As the caption underneath says.

Keir and Mia will be giving a reading of Blithe Sprit in March. Details below.

When Almost, Maine wraps up, Ms. Hannah will do a reading of Blithe Spirit March 9-10 with Keir Dullea and Mia Dillon at the Theatre Artists Workshop (taworkshop.org) in Norwalk.

Again, Keir shows no slowing down. I’d love to see this due to it being both Keir and Mia. To anyone who gets to see it, I’m so jealous.

Keir and his wife Mia are due to start rehearsals for a reading of Morning’s At Seven at the Westport County Playhouse. More below the cut:

Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Maria Tucci Set for Morning’s at Seven Reading at Westport Country Playhouse

Casting has been announced for Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven to be presented as a “Script in Hand” reading at Westport Country Playhouse on Monday, February 13, at 7pm. Anne Keefe will direct.

This Tony Award-winning comedy tells of four sisters who all reside in the same town, three of them living next door to each other, and know intimately the lives of the others. But each maintains her own secrets, hidden to preserve the tranquility of their family.

The cast will include Geneva Carr (Myrtle Brown), Frank Converse (Thor Swanson), Mia Dillon (Cora Swanson), Keir Dullea (Carl Bolton), Beth Fowler (Ida Bolton), Edward Herrmann (David Crampton), Lizbeth Mackay (Aaronetta ‘Arry’ Gibbs), Maria Tucci (Esther Crampton) and Stephen Wallem (Homer Bolton).

Where is this guy getting his energy? I’d love to see this.

Keir Dullea and Actor Tom Zingarelli rehearse for a reading of “A Small World” at the Fairfield County Playhouse, 25 January 2012.

I found a photo of Keir and actor Tom Zingarelli rehearsing for the reading of “A Small World” at the Fairfield County Playhouse. Enjoy.