Andrew Davis News

One of the world's leading 18th-century music specialists, Japan's Masaaki Suzuki, makes his Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) debut leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program, Thursday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore, and Friday, March 13 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Featuring the composer's Don Giovanni Overture and Violin Concerto No. 5, performed by young German violinist Augustin Hadelich, the concert culminates with Mozart's Mass in C minor, otherwise known as the 'Great' Mass. Please see below for complete program details.

Lyric Opera of Chicago will begin a new chapter in its history with its 61st season - the first to be fully planned by general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis. Lyric's two artistic leaders announced the repertoire and casting for the 2015-16 season today.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Richard Wagner's majesticTannhauser conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a new-to-Chicago production byTim Albery. It opens on Monday, February 9 with seven performances through Friday, March 6. Performance dates are Feb. 9, 14, 18, 26, Mar. 2, and 6 at 6pm; and Feb. 22 at 1pm. (Note earlier curtain times.) Tannhauser will be sung in German with projected English translations.

Acclaimed director Richard Eyre's production of Carmen stars Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role of the seductive gypsy, a part she has sung to acclaim at many of the world's leading opera houses. Aleksandrs Antonenko sings the obsessed soldier Don José, soprano Anita Hartig is Micaëla, andIldar Abdrazakov is the toreador Escamillo, led by Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado. Carmen will be broadcast on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances at the Met Sunday, February 22 at 12 p.m. on PBS. (In New York THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

Lyric Unlimited presents the world premiere of The Property, a klezmer opera by composer Wlad Marhulets and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann. It opens Wednesday, February 25, with five performances through Thursday, March 5. World premiere presentations of The Property are presented in partnership with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood Feb. 25, 26, 27, with additional performances at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in suburban Skokie Mar. 4-5.

Giuseppe Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth comes to THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met with an internationally renowned cast headed by Russian star soprano Anna Netrebko in her North American debut as the fatally ambitious Lady Macbeth. Serbian baritone Željko Lu?i? sings the title role; German bass René Pape is among his victims of his bloody rise to the throne as Banquo, and Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja sings the role of his heroic rival Macduff.

Julia Faulkner has been named the director of vocal studies for The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago's renowned professional artist-development program, announced Lyric's general director Anthony Freud.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) announced programming today for its 2015-16 Orchestra Hall Classical, Pops, and Young People's Family Subscription Series. The new season reflects absolutely no increases in individual ticket prices.

Lyric Unlimited's all-new family presentation, The Magic Victrola takes place tomorrow, Saturday, January 17 at 3pm at the Civic Opera House in downtown Chicago. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek below!

?Mozart's elegant masterpiece of marital discord, Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and staged by Richard Eyre, is the season premiere of Great Performances at the Met tonight, January 16 at 9 p.m. on PBS.

Gary Naylor takes his seat to watch a live transmission of a classic operetta beamed from The Big Apple to The Big Smoke and losing little en route.

Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. The performances will also feature soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, this weekend, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. The performances will also feature soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Brian Jagde, one of the outstanding tenors of his generation with a burgeoning international career, will make his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut performing the role of the painter/revolutionary Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's fiery melodrama ?Tosca Jan. 24-Feb. 5, Lyric's general director Anthony Freud announced today. Jagde replaces the previously announced Ukrainian tenor Misha Didyk, who withdrew from the production for personal reasons.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Richard Wagner's majestic Tannhäuser conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a new-to-Chicago production by Tim Albery. It opens on Monday, February 9 with seven performances through Friday, March 6. Performance dates are Feb. 9, 14, 18, 26, Mar. 2, and 6 at 6pm; and Feb. 22 at 1pm. (Note earlier curtain times.) Tannhäuser will be sung in German with projected English translations.

Beginning New Year's Eve, Renée Fleming has returned to the stage in her first-ever performances of 'Hanna Glawari', the title role in Lehár's THE MERRY WIDOW, at the Met. Five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of this new production of the comic operetta, which also reunites Nathan Gunn (Danilo) and five-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara (Valencienne). Let's see what the critics had to say...

Heidi Stober will sing the role of Gretel in the January 1 and January 3 matinee performances of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. As previously announced, Aleksandra Kurzak sings Gretel on December 18, 23 matinee, 27, and 30 matinee, and Andriana Chuchman sings the role on January 8. As the Met's annual holiday presentation, the opera will be performed in English with family-friendly ticket prices and special weekday matinees.

Renee Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehar's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

Renée Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehár's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.