Hilary Blecher News

Opera Orlando continues its 2023-24 All for Art season On the MainStage with a celebration of Mexican art and culture. Robert Xavier Rodriguez's opera Frida, about the trailblazing surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, takes the stage on January 26 at 7:30 p.m. and January 28 at 2 p.m. in Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Audiences will enjoy an evening as colorful and enchanting as the surrealistic paintings and fiery personality of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo as Opera Naples presents 'Frida' Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4-5, at Cambier Park, 601 Park St., Naples.

Opera Naples, one of Naples' leading performing arts organizations, will kick off the third annual Festival Under the Stars on March 21 at Cambier Park.

Opera Orlando has been approved for a $10,000 (ten thousand dollar) Grants for Arts Projects award to support the Opera’s 2023-24 season production of Frida to be presented in Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Opera Naples, one of Naples' leading performing arts organizations, has announced tickets are on sale for the third annual Festival Under the Stars at Cambier Park. Conducted by Opera Naples Artistic & Music Director and Naples Cultural Ambassador Maestro Ramón Tebar, performances will take place March 21 - April 5, 2023.

OPERA America has announced the recipients of the 2022 Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors. The program incentivizes companies to hire women in these key artistic roles in order to enrich the production and performance of new operas and works from the inherited repertoire; introduce audiences to the talent and insight of new artists, and inspire future generations of creative artists who identify as women. 

Three organizations in Albuquerque were awarded $100,000 from The National Endowment for the Arts.

Portland Opera has announced programming for the 2020/21 season, which will open on September 11, 2020. The season will launch in the fall with Robert Xavier Rodríguez's Frida, starring soprano Catalina Cuervo in the title role. This will be followed by the company's fall classic opera, Puccini's enduring drama Tosca, in October and November. The season will continue with a double bill of two pieces honoring the lives of Jewish victims of the Holocaust-Grigori Frid's The Diary of Anne Frank and Jake Heggie's For a Look or a Touch-in early 2021. On March 13, the company will present its annual Big Night concert at the Keller Auditorium. The season will close with Giuseppe Verdi's tour de force opera, Il Trovatore, starring Italian soprano Selene Zanetti in her U.S. debut.

Who needs an excuse to leave NYC in the blistering days of summer? It's especially true if you head north to some of the bucolic opera and vocal venues within driving distance.

In a unique production, Cincinnati Opera offers FRIDA by composer Robert Xavier Rodriguez with libretto by Hilary Blecher and Migdalia Cruz.  An opera filled with music drawn from Mexican folklore and American influences, such as George Gershwin, FRIDA covers the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954). 

On June 17, 18, 23, 24, & 25, Long Beach Opera (LBO) will present five outdoor performances of the highly anticipated Southern California premiere of Frida. The opera celebrates the renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, her vivacious spirit, sexuality, fragility, and her tumultuous life with muralist Diego Rivera. Robert Xavier Rodriguez' brilliant score captures Frida with music as rich and haunting as her art.

Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek today announced Long Beach Opera's (LBO) 2017 season. “LBO's  38th season will offer four operas new to Southern California,” said Mitisek. “We'll bring stories that play against the tide of conventions and that are also quintessentially American.  And, we'll work alongside a broad range of collaborators to tell these stories.  As always, to paraphrase Robert Frost, we take the road less travelled, and that makes all the difference.

?OPERA America is pleased to announce it has awarded grants to 11 opera companies through its Opera Fund: Audience Development grant program, which promotes deep learning experiences about new or infrequently produced American operas and music-theater works. Each grant supports audience development activities associated with a specific work being produced by an OPERA America Professional Company Member.