Houston Grand Opera News

? OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the latest recipients of Discovery Grants and Commissioning Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Skylight Music Theatre presents the Gilbert & Sullivan favorite, The Pirates of Penzance from Friday, May 20 through Sunday, June 12, 2016.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the American professional premiere of the new musical THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, written by Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy. Performances take place May 6 through May 21, 2016. PTC has just announced the full cast and creative team for the production!

Jim Schubin of Plainsboro, NJ, and Brian Vu of Los Angeles, both earned top prizes in the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition, sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and held on April 16, 2016 in Kilbourn Hall of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

A friendly reminder! MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) continues the 2015-2016 season with Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate's tempestuous Baroque opera, DIDO AND AENEAS, on April 28, 2016 at 7pm and April 29, 2016 at 8pm at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, New York City.

Pride Films and Plays is thrilled to present the US professional premiere of Jason Mitchell's zesty comedy The Boys Upstairs which The Village Voice called 'Sex in the City meets Boys in the Band.'  PFP Artistic Associate Nelson Rodriguez leads a cast including Gary Henderson as Seth, Tristien Winfree as Eric, Shaun Baer as Ashley, and PFP Company Member Luke Meierdiercks playing a variety of different roles. PFP Executive Director David Zak directs.

Goodman Theatre has announced Broadway stars John Dossett and Douglas Sills will join the cast of War Paint, a new musical starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, respectively. Dossett will portray Tommy Lewis, Miss Arden's husband and chief marketing officer, and Sills will portray the ambitious Harry Fleming, Madame Rubinstein's clubby confidante and faithful ally.  

Bay Street Theater in collaboration with Divaria Productions and Spanish opera company Rioja Lirica will present Donizetti's classic comedic masterpiece, DON PASQUALE.   

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is thrilled to announce that soprano Tamara Wilson – whose “voice of steely beauty and great power” (Houston Chronicle) has already won international accolades – has been named as winner of the 2016 Richard Tucker Award. Dubbed the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a major international career. Featuring such luminaries as Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe,Lawrence Brownlee, David Daniels, Christine Goerke and Joyce DiDonato, the list of past winners reads like a who's who of American opera.

The Arianna String Quartet with Yumi Kurosawa, koto; Yoko Reikano Kimura, shamisen; and James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi will play on Sunday, April 17, 2016, 4:00 PM at Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street, New York City.

Ghostlight Records has released the original cast recording of the world premiere musical FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE - written by Michael John LaChiusa and directed by Kirsten Sanderson - online and in stores today, Frida­­y, April 1. The album was released in digital formats on Friday, February 26.

Commemorating the 100th birthday of the late conductor and legendary choral leader Robert Shaw, Carnegie Hall presents the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus (ASOC) conducted by Music Director Robert Spano in a celebratory concert on what would have been Robert Shaw's 100th birthday, Saturday, April 30 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Hershey Symphony Orchestra presents Symphonic Blockbusters, featuring classical themes that combine beauty and high drama, on Friday, April 8, 2016 at 8 p.m. at The Hershey Theatre.

New York City Opera presents the New York premiere of HOPPER'S WIFE by composer Stewart Wallace, set to a libretto by Michael Korie.

Ghostlight Records has released the original cast recording of the world premiere musical FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE -- written by Michael John LaChiusa and directed by Kirsten Sanderson. The physical CD will be online and in stores today, April 1.

HITS Theatre starts the spring season in style with the production of Crazy for You, a Tony award-winning musical at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park at 6000 Hermann Park Drive with performances scheduled for March 31, April 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 at 8 p.m.

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.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present the final production of the company's ambitious 2015-2016 Season, composer Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's SHOW BOAT.  This groundbreaking 1927 masterpiece marks TDO's first ever presentation of a Great American Musical, providing a showcase for a host of stars from both the opera world and Broadway, as well as the company's first major artistic collaboration with Dallas Black Dance Theatre in the Winspear Opera House.

Opera Santa Barbara's 22nd season will conclude in grand style with a pair of Giacomo Puccini's great one-act operas, the heart-warming Suor Angelica and the comic farce Gianni Schicchi, at the historic Granada Theatre on April 22 and 24. Performances will take place at 7:30 pm on Friday, April 22, and at 2:30 pm on Sunday, April 24. Ranging in price from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222. 

Nashville Opera presents Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall located at 505 Deaderick Street in Downtown Nashville: Thursday, April 7th at 7 PM and Saturday, April 9th at 8 PM. John Hoomes, Nashville Opera's Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director, directs the production with Maestro Dean Williamson conducting the Nashville Opera Orchestra. Amy Tate Williams, accompanist and chorusmaster, leads the 24-member Nashville Opera Ensemble. John Hoomes will present the popular Opera Insights discussion one-hour prior to curtain on the Orchestra Level and admission is free to all ticket holders.