Your Choice of Music in the Eclectic Crescent City

New Orleans is known worldwide for its music – primarily jazz – which began here a century ago. But New Orleans is more than just jazz. It is opera, classical music, cabaret, and more. A hundred years before jazz evolved, the city was hosting opera and symphony performances, giving the Crescent City the distinction of having one of the oldest musical traditions of any major American city.

As New Orleans shifts into high gear for the holidays, the fall cultural season winds down with stirring performances by the New Orleans Opera Association and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. On the cabaret side, Le Chat Noir serves up a full slate of musical and comedy performances, with a sampling of local politics thrown into the mix. And, of course, giving jazz its due, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra presents two performances locally this month, cooling their heels at home from whirlwind tours that have taken them to all points on the compass nationwide.

A few of the highlights of this month are as follows:

The "Toast of New Orleans" November 18th

New Orleans Opera Association

No city in the United States – including New York, home of the Metropolitan Opera – has a longer and prouder tradition of opera than New Orleans. When George Washington was preparing to step down as president, nearly a century before The Met was founded, New Orleans was staging opera productions in the French classical style. For the entire 19th century and well into the 20th, New Orleans, with its French Opera House and numerous other theaters, was the Opera Capital of North America.

The tradition lives on to this day through the current New Orleans Opera Association founded in 1943. Opera lovers will get to enjoy that tradition once again at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 18 when the association presents “Toast of New Orleans” at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center auditorium in Hall I. The evening will feature arias from the best-known operas by renowned soloists from The Met, plus world-renowned Russian jazz pianist, Eldar (Djangirov). The singers will be backed by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera Chorus.

Maestro Robert Lyall, Artistic Director of the New Orleans Opera Association, will conduct.

Prices range from $10 to $250 for table seating in front of the stage. For tickets and information call 529-3000, go online at www.choicesecure01.net or visit the opera office in Suite 1820, 1010 Common Street in downtown New Orleans.

Philippe Quint

Carlos Miguel Prieto Music Director

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

While waiting for renovations at their traditional home in the city’s ornate old Orpheum Theater downtown, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing in a variety of venues in and around the city this season. Friday and Saturday, November 10 and 11, will find them in the pit at Roussel Hall on the campus of Loyola University, Uptown, opposite the entrance to Audubon Park.

On that occasion, LPO will feature an “All Russian” evening of classical music beginning with soloist Philippe Quint performing Lera Auerbach’s “Violin Concerto,” conducted by LPO Resident Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. Following this performance, Maestro Prieto will wield the baton once again for Shostakovich’s “Symphony Number 10.”

Often likened to the mythical phoenix bird rising from the ashes of its own destruction, LPO was born shortly after the collapse of its predecessor, the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra in the early 1990s. When the orchestra went under, the musicians themselves took the initiative and kept the music alive. LPO became the first symphony orchestra in the nation to be run by the musicians themselves. Today it ranks among the finest symphony orchestras in the U.S., attracting guest performers of worldwide renown.

To order tickets call 504-523-6530 or email info@lpomusic.com or visit their Web site www.lpomusic.com.

The Cabaret Room at Le Chat Noir

The Musical of Musicals – The Musical! cast members Elizabeth Argus and Christopher Bentivegna...

... and Craig Fols and Leslie Castay

Ricky Graham performs his one man show, "I'm Still Here, Me!"

Le Chat Noir

In the 1960s when Liza Minelli sang “Come to the Cabaret” in the eponymous Broadway musical, she introduced a new word and genre to the American consciousness. From that point on, what was formerly called “nightclub singing” had a more sophisticated-sounding label.

The cabaret tradition is carried on proudly in New Orleans by Le Chat Noir (French for “the black cat”), at 715 St. Charles Avenue, three blocks from Lee Circle. In its theater, with its intimate seating, appear some of the city’s finest “torch singers,” actors, comedians, and other raconteurs for which New Orleans is so noted. And, on occasions, nationally known acts are brought in to liven up the atmosphere.

For the rest of the month and well into December, Le Chat Noir hosts “The Musical of Musicals – The Musical!” featuring songs done in the styles of Rogers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Jerry Herman. A talented off-Broadway touring cast muses over the muses that inspired these great composers and they come up with their own unique, well-crafted interpretations.

Also featured throughout November is the versatile, multi-talented local singer/actor/performer Ricky Graham with his New Orleans-themed show, “I’m Still Here, Me!” The show reflects, in a tongue-in-cheek way, the determination of New Orleanians to survive and recover from last year’s hurricane. Original songs like “Give Me FEMA/And I Am Telling you,” “I'm Not Going!” “I'm Still Here, Still Got My Health.”

Graham’s show has gotten rave reviews by both local and national media, which has been focusing closely on what the city is doing to recover from the disaster. This is a show that you don’t want to miss! For more information, visit www.rickygrahamonline.com.

And where else in the country but in the former home of “Storyville” would you find a musical titled “The Red Light District Variety Show”? Local playwright/director Jim Fitzmorris emcees a late night of gossip, raves, rants and rumors about our political affairs, featuring dancing girls, singing poodles, flea circus cast-offs, musical guests and more surprises. In the spirit of sharing, each show benefits a local nonprofit working to better the lives of New Orleanians “Post-K.” Spoofs of local and national officials associated with Hurricane Katrina are on the menu, as well, so start rehearsing your best “Bronx cheer.” You’ll need it!

The show opens on Saturday, November 18, at the ungodly hour of 11 p.m. and continues into December.

Finally, on November 15, “Politics With a Punch” plays its monthly engagement, featuring local pols and celebs in a (usually!) good-natured free-for-all that leaves no holds barred politically. Political commentator and emcee, Jeff Crouere, keeps the peace even while allowing free rein to his guests who vary from one month to the next. If you’re not from New Orleans some of the insider humor may slip past you, but it’s fun, entertaining, and educational nonetheless.

For tickets and information call “Sweet Su” Gonczy at 581-5812 or 581-6333 or visit their Web site at www.cabaretlechatnoir.com.

The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

NOJO Director Irvin Mayfield, Jr.

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Founded in 2002 to fill a need for a touring, New Orleans-based jazz band that will premiere new jazz works, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is led by the young, Grammy-nominated trumpet phenomenon Irvin Mayfield.

In September 2003, Mayfield was unanimously appointed to the post of Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans by the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Louisiana Governor's Office, the Louisiana State House of Representatives, the Louisiana State Senate, the City of New Orleans, the New Orleans City Council and the New Orleans Aviation Board. He has established himself as a musician who embodies and represents the great New Orleans jazz legacy, as well as an international jazz and cultural spokesperson. And all of this before reaching the age of 30 (which he finally will next year).

Since its founding, NOJO, as it is affectionately called, has toured hundreds of locales, ranging from major cities to small college towns and everything in between. No dot on the map is too inconsequential for this 11-piece combo to unfold their music stands and spread the gospel of New Orleans-style jazz. If you check the band’s touring schedule, it’s very likely you may find them performing in or near your hometown.

For November, NOJO has two local performances sandwiched around its prodigious nationwide touring swing. On the 17th, at Christ Church Cathedral, 2919 St. Charles Avenue, NOJO is giving a free concert that is open to the public. On the 30th, Mayfield & Co. will appear on the campus of Tulane University, Uptown, in the McAlister Auditorium.

For information on where and when NOJO is performing over the coming months check out www.thenojo.com or email them at info@thenojo.com.

By Dean Shapiro