Anthony Dean Griffey News

The Collegiate Chorale announces that Eli Tokash will join the cast of the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise on May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Tickets are $30-$135 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or the Box Office at 57th and Seventh. For more information, visit http://collegiatechorale.org/performances/the-road-of-promise.

The Music Academy of the West will present the world-renowned New York Philharmonic in its first-ever performance at the historic Santa Barbara Bowl as well as a new production of Gioachino Rossini's comic opera Cinderella as part of the Academy's 68th annual Summer Festival. The Music Academy will present some 200 events, including more than 80 that are free, over the course of its coming season, which begins June 15 and concludes August 8. Additional highlights will include performances by pianists Jeremy Denk and Leon Fleisher, the Takács and JACK quartets, cellist Alban Gerhardt, and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, as well as orchestra concerts led by Christoph von Dohnányi, Courtney Lewis, Nicholas McGegan, Larry Rachleff, and Osmo Vänskä. Throughout its 2015 Summer Festival, the Academy will highlight the music of living composers, including Carter Pann, Mason Bates, Kalevi Aho, Pierre Jalbert, Steve Reich, Thomas Adès, Caroline Shaw, and Pierre Boulez. Featuring the Academy's exceptionally talented fellows, together with distinguished guest performers and faculty, the events will be presented at the Academy's scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara. Subscription sales have begun; individual tickets will go on sale Saturday, April 25.

On Friday, May 15 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall presents celebrated mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe in recital with pianist Warren Jones in a program of popular songs by Poulenc, Ferré, Brel, Britten, and Coward. One of the most respected and versatile artists of her generation, Ms. Blythe recently starred as Gertrude Stein in the world premiere production of Ricky Ian Gordon's Twenty-Seven, an opera commissioned for her by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In 2013, Innova Records released Ms. Blythe's first crossover album As Long as There are Songs, featuring selections from the Great American Songbook arranged together with pianist Craig Terry. Together Ms. Blythe and Mr. Jones have performed recitals in major concert halls across the United States.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam; the Royal Concertgebouw; and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director - performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom it is written and dedicated. The concerts also include two early 20th-century Russian works, Stravinsky's Petrushka (original 1911 version) and Lyadov's The Enchanted Lake.

The Collegiate Chorale announces that Ron Rifkin will join the cast of the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise on May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019.

The Collegiate Chorale concludes its 2014-2015 season with the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Tickets are $30-$135 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or the Box Office at 57th and Seventh. For more information, visit http://collegiatechorale.org/performances/the-road-of-promise.

The Collegiate Chorale concludes its 2014-2015 season with the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Tickets are $30-$135 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or the Box Office at 57th and Seventh. For more information, visit http://collegiatechorale.org/performances/the-road-of-promise.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam; the Royal Concertgebouw; and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director - performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom it is written and dedicated. The concerts also include two early 20th-century Russian works, Stravinsky's Petrushka (original 1911 version) and Lyadov's The Enchanted Lake.

The Collegiate Chorale announces the postponement of George F. Handel's Susanna from February 3, 2015 to the company's 2015/16 Season, with date and time to be confirmed.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from tonight, December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

An all-star cast of renowned singers and instrumentalists comes together on one CD to sing for hope and in the cause of supporting AIDS research.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).

The Collegiate Chorale announces its 2014-15 season: the New York City Premiere of Eric Idle and John DuPrez's Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) at Carnegie Hall, followed by George F. Handel's Susanna at Town Hall, and the US Premiere of Kurt Weill and Franz Werfel's The Road of Promise at Carnegie Hall.

Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”

On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in an unusual-and unusually apt-venue this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. The show is set for this weekend at Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, June 20 & 21.