Carlo Ponti and Red Hen Press: Facets of Fatherhood

Poetry combined with exquisite classical music–what a delightful combination! I interviewed Maestro Carlo Ponti in 2015, not long after he formed his Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra.

The Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra (LAV) is a dynamic ensemble devoted to the advocacy and support of music education. LAV’s mission is to serve as a catalyst in supporting music education through collaborative partnerships with the community, schools, agencies, and other arts organizations, and by allocating 100% of net income from performances to support and develop the study of music.

The Broad Stage continues its collaboration with Red Hen Press for the second event of the 2019-2020 season, Red Hen Press: Facets of Fatherhood, on Sunday, January 26 at 2:00pm in The Edye at The Broad Stage. The afternoon will feature performance and poetry with Carlo Ponti, Edoardo Ponti and the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra.

Brothers and artists Carlo Ponti and Edoardo Ponti will collaborate for an unforgettable afternoon of orchestral music and poetry, featuring readings by Edoardo Ponti excerpted from his poetry collection Letters from a Young Father, which will reveal themes associated with one of the greatest journeys of all: Fatherhood; illustrated by musical works performed by the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra under conductor Carlo Ponti.

The Broad Stage and Red Hen Press have a history of bringing music, poetry and performance together in The Edye. Last season, Red Hen Press events featured GRAMMY® Award winners Hila Plitmann and Eric Whitacre, as well as California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, Brendan Constantine, and t’ai freedom ford. The Edye at The Broad Stage also hosted the Los Angeles premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Imagination Dead Imagine, set to music composed by Michael Roth.

Tickets are now on sale at www.thebroadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200.

About the Artists

Maestro Carlo Ponti is known for taking audiences of all ages on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth and has been the recipient of numerous awards for his contributions to the advancement of young musical talent and has conducted leading orchestras around the globe.

Maestro Ponti was associate conductor of the Russian National Orchestra from 2000 to 2018; served as music director of the San Bernardino Symphony from 2001 to 2013; and in 2013 founded the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra (LAV), an ensemble emphasizing music’s educational value of which he currently is the music and artistic director. LAV is currently performing its’ fifth concert season (2019/2020) in Los Angeles, California.

Ponti’s work and performances have been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC/Universal, NPR, PBS, ORF, Spectrum, KTLA, Fox News, Leonard Lopate, Dennis Miller, Symphony Magazine, Classical KUSC, the Associated Press, American Public Media’s Performance Today and America’s Music Festivals.

Edoardo Ponti is a film director and published author. “Letters from a Young Father,” published by Red Hen Press, is Edoardo Ponti’s first book of poetry.

Fluent in English, French and Italian, the writer and director recently adapted and directed a screen adaptation of Romain Gary’s famous novel “The Life Ahead.” The film, starring Sophia Loren, will be released worldwide in the fall of 2020.

In 2014, Ponti directed a masterful film adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s play Human Voice. The film had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and its US premiere at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. In 2013, he directed the film “The Nightshift Belongs To The Stars,” starring Nastassja Kinski, Enrico LoVerso and Julian Sands. The film was short listed for an Academy Award in the “Best Live Action Short” category and won “Best Live Action Short” at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and won the prestigious Italian Film Critics prize “Nastro d’Argento.”

Ponti’s feature film debut, “Between Strangers” starred an ensemble cast that includes Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Gerard Depardieu, Pete Postlethwaite and Malcolm McDowell. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival garnering five Genie Nominations and one win.

The Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra (LAV) is a dynamic ensemble devoted to the advocacy and support of music education and formed on the core belief that an orchestra is a unique educational resource.

LAV’s mission is to serve as a catalyst in supporting music education through collaborative partnerships with the community, schools, agencies, and other arts organizations, and by allocating 100% of net income from performances to support and develop the study of music.

The Broad Stage Presents Red Hen Press: Facets of Fatherhood

Where:             The Broad Stage
                         1310 11^th St. Santa Monica CA 90401. Parking is free

When:               Sunday, January 26 at 2:00pm   

Tickets:             Prices start at $29. Prices subject to change.
Online:              www.thebroadstage.org
Phone:              Box Office at 310.434.3200
In Person:         Box office at 1310 11^th St. Santa Monica CA 90401 beginning three hours prior to performance.


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The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center opened its doors in September 2008. The Broad Stage is an artist’s dream and an audience’s delight.  Unlike any performance space in the country, it is sublimely intimate with just over 500 seats and strikingly grand at the same time—allowing eye contact with artists from the boxes to the back row—forging a new kind of artist and audience experience in Los Angeles.  Boasting one of the city’s largest proscenium stages, The Broad Stage offers theatre, dance, film, opera, jazz, world music, musicals, symphony and chamber orchestras, family programming, and more.  Each genre features superlative talent from every generation and around the globe.

No other performing arts center west of the 405 can boast such consistently stellar lineups of performers, including Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Joshua Bell, Michael Fabiano, Sir James Galway, Vittorio Grigòlo, Jonas Kaufman, Anna Netrebko, Garrick Ohlsson, André Watts, Joey Alexander, The Stanley Clarke Band, Dave Grusin, Bobby McFerrin, Brad Mehldau, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Joshua Redman, Lee Ritenour, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Helen Hunt, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Sutton Foster, Patti LuPone, Matthew Morrison Chita Rivera, Isabella Rossellini, Alash (Tuvan Throat Singers), Basiani (State Ensemble of Georgian Folk Singing), Josh Groban, Aaron Neville, Pussy Riot, Kyle Abraham Abraham.in.motion, Ballet Hispanico, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Lil Buck, Bedlam Theatre Company, Manual Cinema, 7 Fingers, the Nat Geo Live presentations, and a recent new series in conjunction with Sotheby’s including a talk with Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses, and Ed Ruscha.