March 23, 2023
Part performance, part lecture, go deeper into the creation of some of your favorite pieces with Musicfest Informances.
Stephen Sondheim is one of the most important figures on musical theater, reinventing the American musical over the course of a six-decade-long career. From his beginnings writing lyrics for West Side Story through his work on Assassins, Passion, and Road Show, Sondheim created some of the best-known and most-beloved works of the last have of the twentieth century. We’ll enjoy works from Sondheim’s catalogue of hit musicals, with commentary and performances from ASU Director of Musical Theater Brian DeMaris and standout performers from his studio!
Today’s event is part of a four-part series occuring monthly in the Community Room at Arizona Musicfest.
Stephen Sondheim – “Send in the Clowns,” from Company
Stephen Sondheim – “Move On,” from Sunday in the Park with George
Led By
Brian DeMaris
Equally at home in opera, musical theatre, symphony, ballet and pops, and involved with the development of over two dozen new works, Brian DeMaris has led productions with Anchorage Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Columbus, El Paso Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Charlottesville Opera, American Lyric Theatre and American Opera Projects. He has served as Principal Conductor of Anchorage Opera, Music Director of Mill City Summer Opera, and was previously associate conductor of the New York City Opera, assistant conductor at Florida Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, and served on the music staff of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He has led concerts with the St. Cloud Symphony, Music St. Croix, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphoria, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and has performed at the United Nations, the Aspen Music Festival, Boston’s Jordan Hall, New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, and in recitals, competitions, and master classes throughout the United States and abroad. He has served as Director of Opera and Musical Theatre at Ithaca College, Professor and Artistic Director of Music Theatre and Opera at Arizona State University, and was appointed President and General Director of Arizona Opera in 2025.