American Opera Company News

An internationally sought-after conductor, Florida Grand Opera Music Director Ramon Tebar's engagements take him abroad beginning this month. Following a concert with the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with soloistssoprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Saimir Pirgu in Barcelona, Spain, last week, upcoming international engagements includeCarmen with Brazil's Theatro Muncipal de Sao Paulo and a soon to be announced production with Spain's Festival de Opera de A Coruna. Nationally, he can be heard conducting Madama Butterfly with Cincinnati Opera. In May, with his company, Florida Grand Opera in Miami, he closes the 2013-14 season with a six-performance production of Thais.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West Coast premiere of A Coffin in Egypt, a new chamber opera in one act, based on the play, A Coffin in Egypt by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, for three performances only tonight, April 23 and April 25 and 27 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West Coast premiere of A Coffin in Egypt, a new chamber opera in one act, based on the play, A Coffin in Egypt by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, for three performances only April 23, 25 and 27 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. A Coffin in Egypt stars mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, one of opera's most beloved figures, whose formidable bravura has won her wide acclaim. Ricky Ian Gordon, the composer, has also composed The Grapes of Wrath, Rappahannock County, and Orpheus and Euridice. Leonard Foglia, librettist and director, directed Master Class on Broadway and Jake Heggie's Opera Last Acts.

Ever since it premiered on Broadway in 1973, Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, has been a favorite of musical theatre fans. The Michigan Opera Theatre was the first American opera company to present the piece in 1983, and other companies followed suit. It last graced Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) stages in 1999. Now, the musical, with an extraordinary set and gorgeous costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, is thrilling Houston audiences again with HGO's latest production of this American masterpiece.

Houston Grand Opera is kicking off 2014 with the most harrowing and exhausting evening of opera I have ever experienced, and as an audience member I couldn't be more thrilled. If you're simply looking for entertainment, you'll be better off seeing RIGOLETTO (the other opera being performed in repertory with THE PASSENGER this January at Houston Grand Opera). However, if you're searching for a cerebral, gripping, and altogether emotional experience, then Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) US Premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Alexander Medvedev's THE PASSENGER delivers everything you're wanting and so much more.

Seventy years ago, on February 21st, 1944, New York City Opera showcased Giacomo Puccini's Tosca at the historic City Center. The beloved company went on to launch the careers of many of the opera world's most accomplished singers, including Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Maralin Niska, Shirley Verrett, Tatiana Troyanos, Jerry Hadley, Catherine Malfitano and Samuel Ramey, to name just a few. New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia called it the "People's Opera" in recognition of the company's mission to make opera accessible to a wide audience at a reasonable cost.

Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, and Rebecca Robertson, President and Executive Producer, Park Avenue Armory, today announced that the two organizations will co-present The Passenger, Mieczyslaw Weinberg's uncompromising 1968 opera about the Holocaust, performed by Houston Grand Opera and directed by David Pountney, in its New York premiere performances July 10, 12 and 13 at Lincoln Center Festival 2014. Pountney's production will have its U.S. premiere on January 18, 2014 at Houston Grand Opera.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the company's A1 public issuer credit rating from Moody's Investors Service was affirmed. Lyric's A1 rating was initially assigned in October 2007.

The Glimmerglass Festival, Central New York's opera and musical theater company, has appointed Joseph Colaneri as its Music Director, effective October 1, 2013.

Starting May 28th at 7PM EST, operamusicbroadcast.com will present a live webcast ofInsightALT, a new festival that offers an intimate, inside look into American Lyric Theater's process of creating new creating new operas at all stages of their development.

& Hammerstein's Oklahoma! will premiere at Lyric Opera of Chicago Saturday, May 4. The new production, which includes the original choreography by the legendary Agnes de Mille, will have 16 performances (including seven matinees).

Opera Ebony, the longest running African - American opera company in the United States, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with a special celebration weekend with 2 events. The Art of The Spiritual, - a master class to be taught by Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano, a prominent Opera singer known for her warm, and rich voice, will be taught today, February 9, 2013 at 4PM at Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew (Chapel - 263 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024), Admission is $10 (mail payments to: Opera Ebony Guild, 305 West 90th Street, Suite G, New York, NY 10024).

Lyric Opera of Chicago and its general director, Anthony Freud, announced the lineup for Lyric's 2013-14 season today. Joseph Calleja, Joyce DiDonato, Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Ana Maria Martinez, Matthew Polenzani, and Patricia Racette are among those headlining the new season's offerings. These comprise 67 performances of eight different operas, beginning October 5, 2013 and concluding March 23, 2014: new productions of Parsifal, La traviata, The Barber of Seville, and Rusalka (Lyric premiere); a revival of Otello; and new-to-Chicago stagings of Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, and La clemenza di Tito. Lyric's music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will lead three operas, and guest conductors Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy and Michele Mariotti will make their house debuts. Additionally, Lyric will present a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in the spring of 2014, continuing the company's American Musical Theater Initiative, and Davis will conduct a special Subscriber Appreciation Concert in March featuring Lyric's creative consultant - the star soprano Renee Fleming - with tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Lyric Opera of Chicago and its general director, Anthony Freud, announced the lineup for Lyric's 2013-14 season today. Joseph Calleja, Joyce DiDonato, Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Ana Maria Martinez, Matthew Polenzani, and Patricia Racette are among those headlining the new season's offerings. These comprise 67 performances of eight different operas, beginning October 5, 2013 and concluding March 23, 2014: new productions of Parsifal, La traviata, The Barber of Seville, and Rusalka (Lyric premiere); a revival of Otello; and new-to-Chicago stagings of Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, and La clemenza di Tito. Lyric's music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will lead three operas, and guest conductors Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy and Michele Mariotti will make their house debuts. Additionally, Lyric will present a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in the spring of 2014, continuing the company's American Musical Theater Initiative, and Davis will conduct a special Subscriber Appreciation Concert in March featuring Lyric's creative consultant - the star soprano Renee Fleming - with tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Opera Ebony, the longest running African - American opera company in the United States, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with a special celebration weekend with 2 events. The Art of The Spiritual, - a master class to be taught by Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano, a prominent Opera singer known for her warm, and rich voice, will be taught on Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 4PM at Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew (Chapel - 263 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024), Admission is $10 (mail payments to: Opera Ebony Guild, 305 West 90th Street, Suite G, New York, NY 10024).

Opera Ebony, America's longest running African American Opera Company, kicks off its 40th Anniversary Season with a musical montage of Sass' N Class tonight, November 16, 2012 at 7PM, at Aaron Davis Hall, City College of New York (Convent Avenue and West 135th Street on City College campus) New York, NY 10031. Tickets are $25 (general admission); $15 (student tickets).

With rave reviews for Puccini's La boheme and Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers to its credit, Houston Grand Opera's season is up and running. Starting in January, the company offers productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Kern and Hammerstein's classic American musical Show Boat, which bring with them the company debuts of conductor Trevor Pinnock, bass Morris Robinson, baritone Adrian Erod, Broadway legend Tommy Tune, and more. They will be followed in March by HGO's original and highly acclaimed production of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna / To Cross the Face of the Moon, a mariachi opera by Jose "Pepe" Martinez and Leonard Foglia. Tickets are on sale now and moving quickly for this winter repertory period, which accounts for 14 of the season's 44 performances, a 38 percent increase from an average of 32 performances in recent seasons. This increase, as well as HGO's 34 percent growth in subscription sales and more than $112 million fundraising effort over the last five years, clearly identifies HGO as today's most successful American opera company.

Opera Ebony, America's longest running African American Opera Company, kicks off its 40th Anniversary Season with a musical montage of Sass' N Class on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 7PM, at Aaron Davis Hall, City College of New York (Convent Avenue and West 135th Street on City College campus) New York, NY 10031. Tickets are $25 (general admission); $15 (student tickets).