Denyce Graves News

Washington National Opera concludes its 2017-2018 season with the company premiere of Leonard Bernstein's biting satire Candide, running now through May 26, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Check out photos of the production below!

Washington National Opera concludes its 2017-2018 season with the company premiere of Leonard Bernstein's biting satire Candide, running now through May 26, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Check out photos of the production below!

When you hear the first few notes of the rollicking overture, you know Bernstein is genuflecting hard to Johann Strauss. Yet this is a story in which the principal characters are bayoneted, hanged, maimed, raped, prostituted, ravaged by disease, and enslaved, among other things, a story which, thematically, takes the characters and us right to the edge of the Nietzschean abyss and gives us a good long sobering look into it - not the sort of thing Strauss or Gilbert and Sullivan ever did.

American soprano Emily Pogorelc makes her Washington National Opera (WNO) debut as Candide's forlorn love interest, Cunegonde, in Leonard Bernstein's effervescent social critique that blurs the lines between opera and musical theater. Candide runs from May 5-26, 2018 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.  

Washington National Opera concludes its 2017-2018 season with the company premiere of Leonard Bernstein's biting satire Candide, May 5-26, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Candide is one of Bernstein's most popular and enduring works, blurring the lines between opera and musical theater. Heading the all-American cast are three powerhouses from the world of opera: tenor Alek Shrader in his WNO debut in the title role, soprano Kathryn Lewek as his forlorn love interest Cunegonde, and WNO audience favorite and local legend Denyce Graves as the Old Lady. This new-to-Washington production, the centerpiece of the Kennedy Center's season-long Leonard Bernstein at 100 celebration, is directed by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and conducted by Nicole Paiement.

There's no time more appropriate for a PEACE AND LOVE concert than now, and on April 6, 2018, TJP (formerly known as The Jost Project) is proud to perform in the Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of their Friday Nights series. TJP will perform two sets of music at 5:45 and 7:15 p.m. As the perfect complement to the Museum's exhibit -- Design in Revolution: A 1960s Odyssey - TJP's music and the exhibit have a similar focus on the 1960s, a time of tumultuous political and social change, when messages of "peace and love" were everywhere. The exhibit is in Perelman Building, located at 2525 Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the museum. The concert is free with museum admission.

The Voice Health Institute celebrated their 15th Anniversary on March 5 with their star-studded Raise Your Voice Gala!

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, will begin its 13th season on October 6, with the Met's grand production of Verdi's Aida, starring one of the world's most acclaimed sopranos, Anna Netrebko.

Accelerating his arrival as Music Director by two seasons, Yannick Nezet-Seguin will take up the post in time for the start of the Metropolitan Opera's 2018-19 season, it was announced today.

Palm Beach Opera celebrates the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth with his comic operetta Candide, in the company's first ever fully-staged Bernstein production. Presented at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, this colorful multi-media production will be led by Palm Beach Opera Chief Conductor Maestro David Stern, who is also a friend of the Bernstein family, and Stage Director Jay Lesenger.

Palm Beach Opera celebrates the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth with his comic operetta Candide, in the company's first ever fully-staged Bernstein production. Presented at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, this colorful multi-media production will be led by Palm Beach Opera Chief Conductor Maestro David Stern, who is also a friend of the Bernstein family, and Stage Director Jay Lesenger.

Washington National Opera (WNO), led by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, announces its 2018-2019 season, one that continues its focus on bold productions of classic operas, fascinating contemporary perspectives, and the best in American artistry. The season includes a new WNO production of Verdi's classic romantic drama La traviata, the company premiere of Kevin Puts's and Mark Campbell's Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, Tchaikovsky's epic Eugene Onegin, Gounod's devilishly entertaining Faust, and Puccini's towering masterpiece Tosca. The season also features a weekend of four world premieres during the American Opera Initiative Festival; a revival of WNO's hit world-premiere holiday family opera The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me; a special Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist performance of La traviata; and other exciting vocal events, including the annual Mars, lnc.'s Opera in the Outfield.

Over 600 opera aficionados - including Honored Guests Martina Arroyo, Candice Bergen, Kristin Chenoweth, Marilyn Horne, James Morris, Diane Sawyer and Teresa Stratas - attended the 83rd Annual Metropolitan Opera Guild Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, December 7th. This year's honoree, Ren e Fleming, was acknowledged for her immense contribution to opera and music. BroadwayWorld has photos from the event below!

Over 600 opera aficionados including Honored Guests Martina Arroyo, Candice Bergen, Kristin Chenoweth, Marilyn Horne, James Morris, Diane Sawyer and Teresa Stratas attended the 83rd Annual Metropolitan Opera Guild Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, December 7th. This year's honoree, Ren e Fleming, was acknowledged for her immense contribution to opera and music. Spoken and musical tributes were delivered by Peter Gelb, Ann Patchett and Luca Pisaroni, along with a performance by The Metropolitan Opera Guild's Urban Voices, a choral music initiative that involves nearly 4,000 students and teachers every year.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Opera companies, schools and organizations across North America will celebrate the ninth annual NATIONAL OPERA WEEK from today, October 27 through Sunday, November 5, 2017, with nearly 200 opera activities in their communities.

Palm Beach Opera recently announced its 2018 main stage opera season that will present three audience favorites at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. Season subscriptions are now available for purchase.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that seven members have been elected to the organization's Board of Directors. Elections took place during OPERA America's recent Annual Business Meeting, held during Opera Conference 2017 in Dallas.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the winner of the 2017 "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year" Award: luminous Italian-American soprano Marina Costa-Jackson.