Ernest Butler News

Opera Philadelphia starts 2021 by inviting fans to an operatic amuse-bouche featuring Lee Hoiby's delightful one-woman opera, Bon Appétit! 

After carefully weighing options, in accordance with recommendations from global health leaders, Houston Grand Opera has made the difficult decision to cancel the remaining mainstage productions for the 2020–21 season. The company now plans to resume live, in-person performance in the fall of 2021.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO), Austin Opera (AO), The Dallas Opera (TDO), Fort Worth Opera (FWO), and OPERA San Antonio (OSA) are pleased to announce the creation of the Texas Opera Alliance (TOA), a new partnership of the five companies, designed to advance and protect the future of the art form in Texas.

Houston Grand Opera has announced HGO Digital, its all-new program of digital works for the 2020-21 season. Starting in September and extending through April 2021, HGO will release original video content bimonthly for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes, free of charge.

The culminating week of Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival's (CCCMF) 40th anniversary season as Cape Cod's premiere presenter of summer chamber music brings a trio of concerts with the residency of The Miro Quartet.

Choreographer Stephen Mills and Ballet Austin are pleased to present the world premiere of Grimm Tales, a full-length work inspired by the visual art of Natalie Frank

Music at Kohl Mansion has announced the lineup for its 2018-2019 season of chamber concerts in Burlingame's historic Kohl Mansion, opening Sunday, October 14, 2018 at 7 pm. The series will mark its 36th year with eight concerts, featuring five returning audience favorite ensembles and three debut ensembles. Music at Kohl Mansion will welcome back the Alexander String Quartet, the Miro Quartet, the Trio con Brio Copenhagen, the Israeli Chamber Project, and the Trio Solisti. Making their debuts on the Kohl stage this season will be the Aeolus Quartet, the Music of Remembrance Ensemble, and the Gryphon Trio.

Austin Opera today announces its 2018-2019 season and unveils Opera ATX, an adventurous new artistic series that will amplify the company's core programming with groundbreaking productions and exciting new talent. The three-opera season at the Long Center includes Verdi's spectacle of passion and betrayal Otello, the company premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, and Puccini's enduring romantic masterpiece La boheme. Opera ATX will launch with the innovative Soldier Songs by David T. Little at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its 2018-19 season in its creative home at Houston's Wortham Theater Center after a year of displacement due to damage to the building from Hurricane Harvey. The 64th season will open October 19, 2018, with HGO's first performances in 20 years of Wagner's romantic ghost story The Flying Dutchman, in a new production featuring baritoneAndrzej Dobber as the Dutchman and the role debut of award-winning American soprano and HGO Studio alumna Rachel Willis-S rensen as Senta. To close the season, the new Kasper Holten production of Mozart's Don Giovanni featuring the HGO debut of baritone Philippe Sly in the title role and the role debut of soprano Ailyn P rez as Donna Anna will be presented in repertory with The Phoenix, a world premiere about the colorful life of Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's librettist for the masterful Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and Cos fan tutte. The new work, written by composer Tarik O'Regan and librettist John Caird, will star renowned baritone Thomas Hampson as Lorenzo da Ponte in a belated HGO debut and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as Da Ponte's son, Lorenzo. HGO will also present a revival of Daniel Cat n's ethereal Florencia en el Amazonas with internationally acclaimed soprano and HGO Studio alumna Ana Mar a Mart nez in the title role; the first HGO presentation of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers with the stellar tenor and baritone pairing of Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecien in the title roles along with soprano Andrea Carroll; and the return of HGO's 2012 production of Puccini's perennial classic La boh me, featuring the role debut of soprano and HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston as Mim .

One of the most high profile events in 'Finland 100,' the year-long celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Finland's independence, is a collaboration between two of the world's top performing arts universities, The Juilliard School of New York and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki - both consistently included in the top ten such institutions in the QS World University Rankings.

One of the most high profile events in 'Finland 100,' the year-long celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Finland's independence, is a collaboration between two of the world's top performing arts universities, The Juilliard School of New York and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki - both consistently included in the top ten such institutions in the QS World University Rankings.

One of the most high profile events in 'Finland 100,' the year-long celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Finland's independence, is a collaboration between two of the world's top performing arts universities, The Juilliard School of New York and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki - both consistently included in the top ten such institutions in the QS World University Rankings.

Inspired by vintage recordings of strings giants Pablo Casals, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and more, Grammy-nominated cellist Bion Tsang presents eighteen virtuoso miniatures for cello and piano on Bion Tsang: The Blue Rock Sessions, now available oniTunes and Amazon.com, a culmination of Tsang's lifelong fascination with the violin repertoire and the musicality and intimacy of miniature compositions such as Tchaikovsky's “Melodié in E Flat” and Giovanni Sgambati's “Serenata Napoletana.”

Inspired by vintage recordings of strings giants Pablo Casals, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and more, Grammy-nominated cellist Bion Tsang presents eighteen virtuoso miniatures for cello and piano on Bion Tsang: The Blue Rock Sessions, now available on iTunes and Amazon.com.

Two of Schubert's great masterpieces – as well as two of cellist Matt Haimovitz's most personally significant recordings – are now remastered and rereleased in SACD surround sound on the PENTATONE Oxingale series – the fifth release since PENTATONE and Oxingale Records joined forces at the beginning of 2015.

Houston, March 28, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) opens its spring repertory with Siegfried, the much- anticipated third installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, on April 16. The ground-breaking Ring by Carlus Padrissa of Catalan theater company La Fura dels Baus, with its cutting-edge visuals and acrobats in tableaux of human scenery, has thrilled Houston audiences and played to sold-out houses.

Houston, August 17, 2015—Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2015–16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of La Fura dels Baus's imaginative Ring cycle featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Prince of Players by eminent American composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2015–16; Dvoák's fairy tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro; a new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca; and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford's take on the classic musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the company will present two additional world premieres: O Columbia, a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration; and The Root of the Wind is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann about the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf coast.

Houston, January 29, 2015-Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2015-16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of La Fura dels Baus's imaginative Ring cycle featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Prince of Players; Dvo?ak's fairy tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro and a new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca; and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford's take on the classic musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the company will present two additional world premieres: O Columbia, a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration; and another chamber opera, by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, about the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf coast.

The dynamic Miro Quartet enjoys its place at the top of the international chamber music scene. Now in its second decade, this American quartet continues to captivate audiences with its startling intensity, fresh perspective, and mature approach. Founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Miro Quartet met with immediate success, winning first prize at the 50th annual Coleman Chamber Music Competition in April 1996. In 2005, the Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and was the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. The first of five string quartets to perform on the International Chamber Music Series this season, the ensemble will perform a program that includes a newly commissioned string quartet by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller.

The dynamic Miro Quartet enjoys its place at the top of the international chamber music scene. Now in its second decade, this American quartet continues to captivate audiences with its startling intensity, fresh perspective, and mature approach. Founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Miro Quartet met with immediate success, winning first prize at the 50th annual Coleman Chamber Music Competition in April 1996. In 2005, the Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and was the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. The first of five string quartets to perform on the International Chamber Music Series this season, the ensemble will perform a program that includes a newly commissioned string quartet by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller.