Houston Grand Opera News

BWW Reports: The 21st Annual TransCanada Theater District Open House

New York City will resound with the sound of Meredith Monk's music as her 50th anniversary is celebrated far and wide in venues large and small—from (Le) Poisson Rouge to Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall to its Weill Recital and Stern Auditorium to BAM's Harvey Theater—over the next year.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston's 2014-15 Season begins September 5 with Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece SWEENEY TODD, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The musical thriller runs September 5 through October 11, 2014. The opening is set for September 7 at 3 p.m.

Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger- the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared 'a perfect masterpiece'- earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year. The Chicago Tribune declared The Passenger to be an 'engrossing, thought-provoking experience,' while the Houston Chronicle praised the presentation for 'ingenious storytelling, potent music, commanding performances and vivid, fast-paced staging.' Now HGO brings the David Pountney production of The Passenger for its New York premiere in three performances- today, July 10, 12, 13 -at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival.

The Glimmerglass Festival has announced its 2015 Festival, which will celebrate the company's 40th anniversary. The 2015 Festival will feature Mozart's The Magic Flute, Verdi's Macbeth, Vivaldi's Cato in Utica and Bernstein's Candide. The productions will run in repertory in the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake in Cooperstown July 10 through August 23. These mainstage offerings will be complemented by lectures, concerts and other special events.

Skyrocketing rents. Loss of diversity. Evictions, Google Glass wearing nouveau riche, The War on the Poor. What is The City coming to? The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT) opens its 55th season with RIPPLE EFFECT, a musical comedic tale of intersecting lives and cultures that reflect the familiar neighborhood tensions that are polarizing San Franciscans today.

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, New York Live Arts' Resident Dance Company, announced today the touring programs and productions for the 2014-2015 Season. The Company will perform and conduct residencies in more than 11 cities in eight states over the next 12 months, making their debut at a number of venues across the U.S. Highlights of the 2014-2015 Season include the New York City premiere of Story/Time (35, 36, 37 & 38) November 4 - 8 and 11 - 15 on the Company's home stage at the New York Live Arts theater; the world premiere of Analogy (working title) in June 2015 at Montclair State University; the Company debut at Dancers' Workshop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and more. Touring programs for the 2014-2015 season include Analogy (working title), the Company's newest work; Story/Time; Play and Play: An Evening of Movement and Music; Body Against Body; and A Rite.

Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger— the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared “a perfect masterpiece”— earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year. The Chicago Tribune declared The Passenger to be an “engrossing, thought-provoking experience,” while the Houston Chronicle praised the presentation for “ingenious storytelling, potent music, commanding performances and vivid, fast-paced staging.” Now HGO brings the David Pountney production of The Passenger for its New York premiere in three performances— July 10, 12, 13 —at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the 2014 Lincoln Center Festival. Pountney's staging was inspired, in part, by the soaring space of Park Avenue Armory's massive Wade Thompson Drill Hall, where he produced Zimmerman'sDie Soldaten for Lincoln Center Festival in 2008. HGO artistic and music director Patrick Summers will conduct the HGO Orchestra and Chorus; reviewing the Houston performances, the Wall Street Journal praised Summers for the way he “shaped the evening with enormous care.” The Dallas Morning News commended all the singers – headed by mezzo-soprano Michelle Breedt in the title role – by saying: “Top to bottom, the cast is excellent.”

Houston Grand Opera's U.S. premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger-the long-suppressed Holocaust opera that Shostakovich declared "a perfect masterpiece"-earned virtually universal acclaim earlier this year

This July and August 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

This summer, Nicholas Phan returns to his roots, joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood to sing the title role in Bernstein's Candide, the work that first inspired him to pursue a career in opera (Aug 16). In his third consecutive residency at the Oregon Bach Festival (June 26–July 10), the tenor takes part in performances of Vespers by Monteverdi and Rachmaninoff; Mozart's Requiem, led by Festival Director Emeritus Helmuth Rilling; an evening of Strauss Lieder; and after proving himself “the standout among the vocal soloists” (New York Times) in Bach's St. Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall last month, a reconstruction of the Baroque master's St. Mark Passion. Phan also makes his Seattle Chamber Music Festival debut with Vaughan Williams and Brahms (July 18 & 21), and returns to New York's Bard Music Festival, now celebrating its 25th anniversary season, to sing Schubert in recital and with members of the American Symphony Orchestra (Aug 8 & 10).

The 35th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2013/2014 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony in Toronto on the evening of Monday, June 23 at Harbourfront Centre's WestJet Stage, hosted by the hilarious Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, Second City alumni and founding members of the National Theatre of the World.

DPAC announced today that individual tickets for the Triangle premiere of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage will go on sale June 28 at 10 a.m. Tickets are available at the DPAC Ticket Center or by visiting DPACnc.com and Ticketmaster. The staged musical of this worldwide smash-hit film will play DPAC September 16-21, 2014.

On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in an unusual-and unusually apt-venue this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. The show is set for this weekend at Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, June 20 & 21.

This summer, Nicholas Phan returns to his roots, joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood to sing the title role in Bernstein's Candide, the work that first inspired him to pursue a career in opera (Aug 16). In his third consecutive residency at the Oregon Bach Festival (June 26–July 10), the tenor takes part in performances of Vespers by Monteverdi and Rachmaninoff; Mozart's Requiem, led by Festival Director Emeritus Helmuth Rilling; an evening of Strauss Lieder; and after proving himself “the standout among the vocal soloists” (New York Times) in Bach's St. Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall last month, a reconstruction of the Baroque master's St. Mark Passion. Phan also makes his Seattle Chamber Music Festival debut with Vaughan Williams and Brahms (July 18 & 21), and returns to New York's Bard Music Festival, now celebrating its 25th anniversary season, to sing Schubert in recital and with members of the American Symphony Orchestra (Aug 8 & 10).

Von Stade out of retirement is cause for celebration, but there's no other purpose to the vehicle for it

On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in two unusual-and unusually apt-venues this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death: Madame Tussauds New York, on June 17, and Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, on June 20 & 21.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the world premiere of An American Soldier, June 13-14, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. An American Soldier features music by composer Huang Ruo and a libretto by David Henry Hwang. This new work, to be performed in English, is the second hourlong opera created under the auspices of the American Opera Initiative, WNO's commissioning program for contemporary American opera. An American Soldier is directed by David Paul and a chamber orchestra is conducted by Steven Jarvi; both are alumni of WNO's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.