Harolyn Blackwell News

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) will celebrate its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, beginning with the New York premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek's 27, specially adapted for MasterVoices, on October 20 and 21, 2016 at 8pm at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, New York City.

Opera Exposures  (http://www.operaexposures.org), the not-for-profit opera company founded by Edna Greenwich in 2004, will present  a special recital celebrating  Elizabeth Taylor Browning, the first African American opera singer to gain recognition in Europe and the United States in the mid to late 19th century, on Sunday, September 18, at 3:00 PM at the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, 1466 Manor Road.  Tickets, available at the door, are $25. Children under ten will be admitted free of charge.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Washington National Opera seek nominations for the 2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, which celebrates excellence in performance by recognizing a young American singer who has achieved initial professional success in the area of opera, oratorio, or recital repertory, and who exhibits promise for a significant career.

The Merola Opera Program presents Conrad Susa's Transformations, led by conductor Neal Goren and director Roy Rallo, in two performances Today, July 21 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 23 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco.

(San Francisco, June 9, 2016) The Merola Opera Program presents Conrad Susa's Transformations, led by conductor Neal Goren and director Roy Rallo, in two performances Thursday, July 21 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 23 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale)will open its 75th anniversary season with Ricky Ian Gordon's 27, with libretto by Royce Vavrek, starring Stephanie Blythe, Heidi Stober,Theo Lebow, Tobias Greenhalgh, and Daniel Brevik, conducted by Ted Sperling, and directed by James Robinson, with Orchestra of St. Luke's on October 20 and 21, 2016at New York City Center.

The winners of the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of an audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. 

MasterVoices, formerly The Collegiate Chorale, was honored at the Martina Arroyo Foundation's11th Annual Gala.MasterVoices was recognized along with American couture designer Joanna Mastroianni and The Michel Maurel award-winner Ernst Rieser. Brian Kellow and Terrance McKnight hosted the gala, with performances by the young artists of Prelude to Performance, Jennifer Rowley, Michele Angelini and Cecilia Violetta Lopez (both featured in the October issue of Opera News), as well as other special guests.

Gotham Chamber Opera announces Edward Barnes as the company's new Executive Director, effective June 1, 2015. Mr. Barnes will succeed Gotham's previous executive director, David Bennett, who will become general director of the San Diego Opera. In addition, David Rubeo has been promoted to Associate Director.

Through it's grant-making to thousands of nonprofits each year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity.

Gotham Chamber Opera announces its 15th Anniversary Season, which will begin in the fall of 2015 with a 15th Anniversary Celebration Concert (date and venue tba). The season continues in February 2016 with Alessandro Stradella's 1675 San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist)in a co-production with the Netherlands Nationale ReisOpera, and a concert at (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, NYC, featuring a new work by David Hertzberg, winner of the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Music. The season concludes with the New York premiere of Charlie Parker's Yardbird, a co-production of the Apollo Theater, Gotham Chamber Opera and Opera Philadelphia, at the world famous Apollo Theater in May/June 2016.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild has announced that soprano Ailyn Pérez has joined the organization's Artists' Council. Comprised of a distinguished group of Met artists from both past and present, all of whom share the Guild's mission to support the Metropolitan Opera and enhance the public's appreciation of the art form, the Artists' Council serves in an advisory capacity to the Guild board and staff, and, when possible, works actively on its programs.

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago celebrates its 40th season with its annual Rising Stars in Concert program tonight, March 21, at 7:30pm at the Civic Opera House. The talented singers and pianist of the 2014-15 ensemble will perform with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra in works of Bellini, Berg, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Donizetti, Floyd, Gounod, Handel, Korngold, Mozart, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Rossini. Rising Stars in Concert is offered in celebration of an exceptionally successful year of study and performance for these up-and-coming artists.

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago celebrates its 40th season with its annual Rising Stars in Concert program Saturday, March 21, at 7:30pm at the Civic Opera House. The talented singers and pianist of the 2014-15 ensemble will perform with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra in works of Bellini, Berg, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Donizetti, Floyd, Gounod, Handel, Korngold, Mozart, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Rossini. Rising Stars in Concert is offered in celebration of an exceptionally successful year of study and performance for these up-and-coming artists.

Today, November 21, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 80th Annual Luncheon presents 'Brava, Jessye!' to salute the legendary Jessye Norman, who recently wrote about her life in a memoir titled Stand Up Straight and Sing!

On Friday, November 21, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 80th Annual Luncheon presents "Brava, Jessye!" to salute the legendary Jessye Norman, who recently wrote about her life in a memoir titled Stand Up Straight and Sing!

On Saturday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m., the talented singers and pianist of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center 2013-14 ensemble will perform with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra in works of Adams, Bizet, Copland, Donizetti, Gershwin, Gounod, Handel, Lehár, Massenet, Mozart, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Walton. Rising Stars in Concert is offered in celebration of an extraordinarily successful year of study and performance for these up-and-coming artists.

Recognizable stage and screen star Anita Gillette returns to the West Coast with her solo show AFTER ALL this Friday with a gig scheduled for Feinstein's At The Nikko.

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein will present Tony Award Nominated star of stage and screen, Anita Gillette, as she presents her new one-woman show, After All, a wonderful evening of music and memories that takes an intimate, touching, and hilarious look behind the scenes from Broadway to Hollywood on Thursday, January 30, 2014 (8 p.m.). An autobiographical work, After All takes audiences backstage with Gillette as a young showgirl starting out in the original cast of Gypsy with Ethel Merman onwards into the worlds of David Merrick and Gower Champion in Carnival through a building career that leads to a Tony nominated performance in the Neil Simon comedy Chapter Two. From major feature films playing roles such as Ms. Mona in 'Moonstruck,' co-starring in hit television shows like 'Quincy' and Game Show classics, to playing Tina Fey's mother in '30 Rock' and Annie Fitzsimmons in the multiple award winning hit 'Modern Family,' Gillette will surprise and delight in this production that is certain to entertain! Tickets for Anita Gillette range in price from $30-$40 and are available now by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketweb.com.