Jake Heggie News

Fort Worth Opera revealed today the names of the composers whose works have been selected for participation in the first season of the company's exciting, annual new works program, Frontiers, making its debut May 6 - 11, 2013. The showcase will present eight unpublished works by composers from the Americas during the last week of the 2013 Opera Festival in the McDavid Studio across from Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth.

Celebrating the American Spirit, performed by Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) and conducted by Judith Clurman along with guest artists, Broadway stars Kelli O'Hara and Ron Raines and composer-arranger Larry Hochman, represents an American songbook for the 21st century.

Can't get enough of Patti LuPone? A documentary following the legendary performer has just been released on Youtube, titled 'Entrances, Exits, and Everything In Between.' Creator Josh Johnston writes: 'What she and I have collaborated on is our effort to show aspiring performers and fans of the arts what it's like in the shoes of a veteran of the craft: everything from the Sunset lows to the Rainbow Highs of performing, Patti LuPone has seen and lived it all.' Check out the first episode below!

The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University announces the programming lineup for its fall 2012 season, featuring pioneering new performances, classic cinema, stimulating conversation, and penetrating analysis of the 2012 election season.

OPERA America, the national nonprofit service organization for opera, has announced that Frayda B. Lindemann, Ph.D. became the first opera company trustee in the organization's entire 42-year history to be elected Chairman of its Board of Directors. Dr. Lindemann began her term at OPERA America's recent Annual Business Meeting - held during Opera Conference 2012 in Philadelphia - where eight new members were also elected to the Board.

Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, as well Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for her performance as Rose in the most recent Broadway production of Gypsy, and created the title role in Evita on Broadway with her now legendary performance, for which she won her first Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Today, July 4th and tomorrow, July 5th, she will make her Provincetown debut at The Art House, with Sirius/Radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano, for 3 shows only.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced initial plans for the first season of its American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive new commissioning program first announced in January.

The Dallas Opera today announced important promotions within the Department of Development: Gae Whitener has been appointed to serve as the company's new Director of Development, effective immediately, after fulfilling those responsibilities in an interim capacity for the past year; while Eva James Toia has assumed the role of Associate Director of Development previously held by Ms. Whitener.

The Dallas Opera today announced the commissioning of a new original one-act opera by renowned British composer Joby Talbot (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and the critically acclaimed American librettist Gene Scheer (Moby-Dick, Cold Mountain) in their first joint project.

Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon, announced today the selection of nine Bay Area finalists for the Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket Babylon "Scholarship for the Arts." One winner in each category will be presented with a check for $10,000 towards their college education.

SongFest is a festival for singers and collaborative pianists, which covers all aspects of the art of song: musical interpretation, literary interpretation, and effective public presentation. Master classes are taught to singers and pianists by distinguished artists of international stature. Each master class focuses thematically on specific vocal repertoire, presenting and studying it in new and challenging contexts.

After nearly a year of previews throughout the U.S. and Canada, LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano featuring internationally renowned contemporary pianist Anthony de Mare comes to New York City's Symphony Space for one night only on April 21st.

Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon will join soprano Lisa Delan and pianist Kristin Pankonin in an evening that features Gordon Getty's The White Election, a song cycle based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Ms. Nixon will read selections from Emily Dickinson's letters. The event will take place on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan).

The Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre will honor esteemed stage actress Patti LuPone with the company's third Stephen Sondheim Award. The award, established in 2009 in honor of America's most influential contemporary musical theater writer and composer, will be presented at a black-tie Gala Benefit on April 16, 2012 at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC. Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer said, 'I am thrilled that Patti LuPone will be this year's recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Award. With her wonderful performances in Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Company, Passion, and more - she has had an amazing connection to Steve's words and music. It's wonderful to add her name to the distinguished honorees Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters. We look forward to saluting Patti and her extraordinary talents in April.'

After nearly a year of previews throughout the U.S. and Canada, LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano featuring internationally renowned contemporary pianist Anthony de Mare comes to New York City's Symphony Space for one night only on April 21st.

Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon will join soprano Lisa Delan and pianist Kristin Pankonin in an evening that features Gordon Getty's The White Election, a song cycle based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Ms. Nixon will read selections from Emily Dickinson's letters. The event will take place on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan).

Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, as well Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for her performance as Rose in the most recent Broadway production of Gypsy, and created the title role in Evita on Broadway with her now legendary performance, for which she won her first Tony and Drama Desk Awards. On July 4th and 5th she will make her Provincetown debut at The Art House, with Sirius/Radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano, for 3 shows only. The Art House is thrilled to welcome this Broadway legend to Provincetown this summer, when she opens the Broadway at the Art House series which will feature 10 different artists including Betty Buckley, Charles Busch, Ana Gasteyer, and Marilyn Maye among others, from July 4 - September 23. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 508-487-9222.

The Dallas Opera Guild's 24th Annual Vocal Competition for young opera singers ended on a high-note last evening when ten outstanding finalists (with Texas connections) were awarded a total of $20,000 in prize monies. It is only the second time this spring musical event has graced the stage of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Arts District.

Opera San Jose continues its 28th season with Gounod's Romantic-era masterpiece, Faust. Inspired by Goethe's legendary story of the old scholar who sells his soul to the devil for eternal youth, Faust is one of the most performed operas of all time. Opera San Jose founding music director, David Rohrbaugh, conducts with stage direction by Brad Dalton, who recently directed Opera San Jose's company premiere of Mozart's Idomeneo. Faust will be sung in French with English supertitles. Eight performances are scheduled from April 21 through May 6 at the California Theatre, 345 South First Street in downtown San Jose. Tickets are on sale at the Opera San Jose Box Office, by phone at (408) 437-4450 or online at www.operasj.org. Faust is made possible, in part, by a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San Jose.

Houston Grand Opera - the only opera company to have won a Tony, two Grammys, and two Emmys - enhances its 2012-13 line-up with three productions from its Song of Houston project, winner of the National MultiCultural Institute's 2009 Leading Lights Diversity Award.