Houston Grand Opera News

One of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala returns home to New York's Carnegie Hall for the first time in more than a quarter of a century on Sunday, October 30.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will host ¡Viva Rudy!, honoring HGO's late director of patron services, Rudy Avelar, who served the company for almost 40 years until his passing in June. Rudy represented everything HGO stands for: dedication, excellence, and service. This commemorative event will be held on Monday, September 19, 2016.

Fox Theatre in partnership with the Cobb Energy Centre announced today that individual tickets for the return engagement of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage will go on sale Friday, August 5 at 10:00 a.m.

Cabaret audiences who fell head over heels for opera singer Janice Hall's 2010-2011 solo debut show—Grand Illusions: The Music of Marlene Dietrich—will get to fall in love all over again (and a new audience can become smitten for the first time) when Hall reprises her Award-winning show at the Metropolitan Room on September 13 at 7 pm, in the 12th installment of Stephen Hanks' monthly New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits Series (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD). Hall's Marlene Dietrich show is directed by Peter Napolitano, with Matthew Martin Ward as Musical Director/Pianist and Ritt Henn on bass and ukulele.

The Old Globe presents the world premiere of Steve Martin's new play METEOR SHOWER, an adult comedy, marking his welcome return to the Globe following the great success of Bright Star. It will be directed by Gordon Edelstein in a co-production with Long Wharf Theatre, where Edelstein serves as Artistic Director (and no, he is not related to Barry).

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team of the West Coast premiere of OCTOBER SKY, which will blast off the Globe's 2016-2017 Season with a tale of boys, rockets, and big dreams.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2016 season.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2016 season. Since 1984 the performing-arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators and performers. Each intimate program blends performance with stimulating conversation with the creators, and takes place in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed, 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by the New York Times as 'an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,' Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson. A season preview video is available and further details can be found at worksandprocess.org.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that 14 participants from the United States, Canada and Europe have been selected for its 2016 Leadership Intensive program. These future industry leaders were chosen through a competitive selection process focusing on candidates' potential to make significant contributions to the opera field. This program is made possible by the generous support of American Express.

Houston Grand Opera will present four pinnacles of the operatic repertoire during the company's 2016-17 season, which also features the highly anticipated world premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer, and much-loved comedies by Donizetti and Mozart. Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will lead Gotterdammerung, the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, featuring a new generation of leading Wagnerians includingSimon O'Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde. HGO will bring back its popular production of Gounod's Faust, with the HGO debut of international star tenor Michael Fabiano in the title role partnered by Houston favorite Ana Maria Martinez as Marguerite, along with the role debut of prominent bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as Mephistopheles. The company will celebrate the 30thanniversary of HGO's world premiere of John Adams's pivotal Nixon in China by presenting James Robinson's production, of which HGO is a co-producer, with HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks as Richard Nixon and soprano Andriana Chuchman as his wife, Pat. Patrick Summers will conduct Verdi'sthrilling Requiem, which critics at the time termed "an opera in ecclesiastical robes," with soloists Angela Meade, soprano, in her HGO debut; Sasha Cooke, alto; Alexey Dolgov, tenor; and Peixin Chen, bass; and the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. HGO's 62nd season will open with a whimsical production of Donizetti's buoyant The Elixir of Love, featuring tenor Dimitri Pittas as Nemorino and HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston as Adina and led by the eminent English conductor Jane Glover, HGO's 2016-17 Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, in her first HGO appearance. Mozart's zany yet deeply emotive comedy TheAbduction from the Seraglio-featuring Russian coloratura soprano and HGO Studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova as Konstanze and leading American tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Belmonte in HGO's inventive 2002 co-production-will close the main-stage season.  

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Megan Kane in 'Megan Kane. It's About Time' on August 1 st , 2016 at 9:30pm. Here she is, boys. Here she is, world! Join Feinstein's/54 Below regular Megan Kane (Gay Bride of Frankenstein, God's Country) as she takes you on an uplifting, heartfelt, and hilarious journey from her suburban beginnings to (almost) childhood stardom, to that time she (almost) made out with Brad Pitt to her incredibly complicated and unique experiences as a hoofing, hard working actor in NYC and all over the country. This versatile actor/songstress will delight you with some favorites including Broadway classics, Janis Joplin, current pop hits from Sara Bareilles, contemporary musical theatre from the likes of Jason Robert Brown, and everything in between. Don't miss this entertaining and buoyant evening filled with special guests and fancy friends from Broadway and TV's hottest shows!

San Francisco Opera's partnership with the Bay Area's Classical KDFC continues with a fall season of opera radio broadcasts beginning August 7 with the star-studded, June 16, 2016 gala concert celebrating San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley. The Company's highly acclaimed 2016 Summer Season productions of Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Don Carlo and Jana?ek's Jen?fa, along with a special 1982 'From the Archives' broadcast of Handel's Julius Caesar, will air each month through December 4. All performances were recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House and feature the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2016 – The Merola Opera Program's Summer Festival concludes with its 2016 artists performing in the Merola Grand Finale Saturday, August 20 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conductor Rory Macdonald will lead the orchestra and 2016 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Aria Umezawa will stage the program, featuring works by Bizet, Bernstein, Donizetti, Offenbach, Mozart, J. Strauss, Puccini, Berlioz, Britten, Humperdinck, Flotow, Glück, and Rossini. The performance is a culmination of the 12-week Merola Opera training program, and all 23 of the 2016 Merola singers will perform, under the coaching and direction of their fellow artists. A special artists' reception follows the Grand Finale (tickets sold separately).

On August 22, award-winning opera educator, administrator, researcher and stage director Carleen Graham assumes the position of Director of HGOco, the Houston Grand Opera's community outreach program.

Artistic Director Anda Winters today announces Print Room at the Coronet's forthcoming season running through until December 2016. The season opens with Tennessee Williams' A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, directed by Michael Oakley. The production opens in the main theatre space on 15 September, with previews from 12 September, and runs until 7 October.

The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), New York's standard for grand choral performance, will mark its 2016-17 season with performances of symphonic choral masterworks of Handel, Mozart, Bruckner, and Britten, ending with Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor. Leading the OSNY for its 144th season will be Kent Tritle, in his 12th year as Music Director.

SAN FRANCISCO - The acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the United States, opens its 2016 Summer Festival with the popular Schwabacher Summer Concerts tonight, July 7 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 9 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of the world premiere of Steve Martin's new play METEOR SHOWER, an adult comedy, marking his welcome return to the Globe following the great success of Bright Star.

 OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that Timothy O'Leary, general director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, has been elected the new chairman of OPERA America's board of directors. He has been involved with OPERA America since 2006, when he participated in Leadership Advance, one of the organization's professional development programs. He joined OPERA America's board in 2011. O'Leary was elected chairman at OPERA America's recent annual business meeting — held during Opera Conference 2016 in Montreal — where eight new members were also elected to the board and three current members were re-elected to three-year terms. 

Happy Birthday Audra McDonald!! Today is six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald's birthday and to celebrate her special day BroadwayWorld has decided to round up some of our favorite Audra McDonald videos!