Deborah Voigt News

San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the 12 recipients of the 2019 Adler Fellowship. Selected from participants of the Merola Opera Program, the ten singers and two pianist/apprentice coaches begin their fellowships in January 2019. The multi-year performance-oriented residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Since its inception in 1977, the prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 180 young artists, introducing many budding stars to the international opera stage and launching active careers throughout the world as performers, production artists, arts professionals and educators.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced a special one-night-only performance by the internationally acclaimed singing string quartet Well-Strung on Saturday, December 8, at 8pm. The four performers, who specialize in pairing universally recognized classical pieces while singing pop music hits, return to the Renberg Theatre with their hit holiday show, A Well Strung Christmas, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. The show features the group's own unique pop-classical spin on some of the most beautiful and traditional holiday favorites from "Silent Night" and "Sleighride" all the way to Dolly Parton's "Hard Candy Christmas," and everything in between.

Opera isn't my go-to art form, I'll admit it.  In fact, I don't know many people who truly appreciate opera music nor do they understand what it actually takes to become a successful opera singer.  It's an art that often goes unnoticed because of the stereotypes that it is long, boring, difficult to understand, unrelatable, and only for old, rich people.  But if music is a universal language, and I truly believe this to be true, then why do we insist that we cannot understand and then listen to all forms of music except for this one?  I recently had the honor of speaking with two artists who are radically trying to change the scene, and make opera music accessible to everyone.

In 2019, San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program will present the first opera commissioned in the Program's history, the world premiere of If I Were You, by distinguished American composer Jake Heggie and noted librettist Gene Scheer. This ground-breaking work will be presented August 1 - 6, 2019, at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. Today it was announced the opera will be conducted by Nicole Paiement and directed by Keturah Stickann. Information is available at www.merola.org. Tickets will go on sale in Spring 2019.

On Sunday, October 21, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert - one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season - will bring a galaxy of opera stars to the stage of Carnegie Hall. And opera-lovers around the world unable to make it in person will still have the opportunity to watch the performance live. Thanks to the foundation's partnership with medici.tv, the gala concert will be webcast live (6pm ET/3pm PT), free of charge, both on medici.tv and on medici.tv's Facebook page; the stream will subsequently be available for on-demand viewing for a limited period. In addition, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation continues its collaboration with WQXR 105.9 FM, New York's sole dedicated classical radio station, which will broadcast the performance to listeners in the New York metropolitan region and online at www.wqxr.org on November 10 at 1pm ET/10am PT.

American Symphony Orchestra's 2018-19 season will open with A Walt Whitman Sampler on October 17 at Carnegie Hall, and has announced that rising American soprano Angel Blue will sing the New York premiere of Franz Schreker's Vom ewigen Leben (From Eternal Life). Dubbed by Placido Domingo as "the next Leontyne Price," the young opera singer and BBC Proms host/presenter will next appear in September at the Metropolitan Opera as Musetta in La Boheme, and in the Royal Opera's production of La Traviata as Violetta in January 2019. Edward Nelson is the guest soloist for the New York premiere of Kurt Weill's Four Walt Whitman Songs. Both vocalists will also perform in Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony.

Concluding its highly successful 61st season, the Merola Opera Program announces the establishment of an Advisory Council, comprised of leaders in  the field of opera performance, young artist training, arts administration, performing arts, and philanthropy.

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin is pleased to announce that the musical ROOMS a rock romance with book by Paul Scott Goodman and Miriam Gordon, music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman, and directed by MetroStage Artistic Associate Thomas W. Jones II will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a new production at MetroStage, running Oct 11-Nov 11.

American Symphony Orchestra's 2018-19 season will open with A Walt Whitman Sampler on October 17 at Carnegie Hall, and has announced that rising American soprano Angel Blue will sing the New York premiere of Franz Schreker's Vom ewigen Leben (From Eternal Life).

Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices, announced details of the acclaimed ensemble's 77th season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect since 1941. The upcoming season will be framed by two major musical events, the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's oratorioIsrael in Egypt performed at Carnegie Hall, and a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin-Moss Hart avant-garde musical, Lady in the Dark, starring Victoria Clark at New York City Center. Lady in the Dark has not been seen in New York since it was presented at New York City Center in 1994 as part of the inaugural Encores! season.

Playwright Terrence McNally's award-winning Broadway resume includes such shows as Ragtime, Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Master Class-to name a few-as well as four Tony and three Drama Desk Awards. McNally comes to 92Y on Sunday, October 21 for a special event including a film screening, discussion and performances celebrating his extraordinary life.

Gloria McLean, President of the American Dance Guild, announced today the lineup for ADG Festival 2018, Visions Then and Now. Honors to choreographic luminaries Jane Comfort and the late Eleo Pomare will complement four days of performances by 34 multi-generational artists from across the United States. The Festival will take place October 25 through October 28 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street, in New York City.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, culminates its 2018 Summer Festival with the Merola Grand Finale, featuring the 2018 Merola young artists in a dazzling array of opera's most exciting arias and ensembles.

Tovah Feldshuh six time Tony and Emmy nominated star of 'The Walking Dead,' 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,' and now CBS' 'Salvation' returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in a all new show featuring highlights from the Broadway-bound musical Queen of Mean, based on the New York Timesbest-seller biography by Ransdell Pierson. Tovah as Leona sings and stings about everything from her meteoric rise from office temp to Queen of the Palace, to her Real Estate rival Donald Trump. Tovah's Leona is proud to be below Studio 54 whose owners ALSO served time for the crime of tax evasion.

Tovah Feldshuh six time Tony and Emmy nominated star of 'The Walking Dead,' 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,' and now CBS' 'Salvation' returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in a all new show featuring highlights from the Broadway-bound musical Queen of Mean, based on the New York Timesbest-seller biography by Ransdell Pierson. Tovah as Leona sings and stings about everything from her meteoric rise from office temp to Queen of the Palace, to her Real Estate rival Donald Trump. Tovah's Leona is proud to be below Studio 54 whose owners ALSO served time for the crime of tax evasion.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the details of its 2018-19 season, the 101st year of the institution's existence. After celebrating the Conservatory's centennial last season, SFCM looks to the future in its curricular model combining performance, history, and the humanities in thematically linked programming. This season's theme, 'Sound and Image,' brings the fine arts together with classes, concerts, and other events that examine the relationship between music, visual art, and the moving image.

Tovah Feldshuh six time Tony and Emmy nominated star of 'The Walking Dead,' 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,' and now CBS' 'Salvation' returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in a all new show featuring highlights from the Broadway-bound musical Queen of Mean, based on the New York Timesbest-seller biography by Ransdell Pierson. Tovah as Leona sings and stings about everything from her meteoric rise from office temp to Queen of the Palace, to her Real Estate rival Donald Trump. Tovah's Leona is proud to be below Studio 54 whose owners ALSO served time for the crime of tax evasion.

The American Symphony Orchestra today announced the 57th season of its Vanguard series at Carnegie Hall, running from October 17, 2018 through March 22, 2019. The 2018-19 season will focus on rediscovering works of the 20th century, illuminating masterpieces from the not so distant past and bringing rarely-heard composers to a wider audience. Music director Leon Botstein will conduct all concerts in the series.

Eric Michael Sweeney and Matthew A. Stephens present Songs and Stories: A Summertime Soiree, an intimate summer evening of storytelling and music making by five rising stars of Broadway. Singers share stories from their lives and the songs which have inspired them along the way. Whether it is a song from the first Broadway show they saw, a song from their childhood, or a song from their dream role, this outstanding cast weaves together their personal histories with the soundtracks of their lives. Songs and Stories: A Summertime Soiree allows audiences a sneak peek behind the curtain and into the real lives of Broadway's rising stars!

Advance tickets go on sale today for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert, one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season. Coming to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Sunday, October 21 at 6pm, the concert features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, with a host of opera luminaries from around the world: soprano Anna Netrebko, tenors Javier Camarena and Yusif Eyvazov, and five past Tucker Award-winners: sopranos Christine Goerke, Angela Meade, and Nadine Sierra; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe; and tenor Michael Fabiano. This starry lineup will join forces for an evening of favorite arias and ensembles under the baton of Marco Armiliato, with the support of the New York Choral Society and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The gala concert is presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.