Jake Heggie News

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series continues -Placido Domingo with soprano Ailyn Perez on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30pm.  Eugene Kohn conducts the orchestra.

Today, the shortlist is announced for the 2018 BroadwayWorld UK Awards, celebrating the best long-running West End productions and best new productions from around the country. CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Stephen Lawless will be directing the San Diego Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro this week. I met with him in the opera company's rehearsal room recently to discuss that, how he came to be a director, and his views of a director's responsibilities.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ravinia's Steans Music Institute (RSMI) last summer, Ravinia launched a competition for composers who could fuse the worlds of jazz and classical music. Due to its success, Ravinia, with the support of DownBeat magazine, is now calling for submissions to the second annual "Bridges" international jazz and classical fusion composition competition, overseen by legendary pianist Billy Childs and double-bassist Rufus Reid, who co-direct the RSMI Jazz Program. Up to three winners will receive the David Baker Prize, named in recognition of the first RSMI Jazz director. The prize includes $2,500 in cash plus the world-premiere performance of the winning piece during Ravinia's 2019 season.

Monday evening, November 12, 2018, 8 p.m., The New York Choral Society and Orchestra (NYCHORAL) will present its first program of the season, MY SHADOW AND MY LIGHT, under the baton of Music Director David Hayes at the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. In honor of Veterans Day and in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Maestro Hayes has chosen a program that explores how three early 20th-century composers, two British and one American, created works expressing their deeply personal reactions to these profound moments in human history.

Utah Opera opens its 2018-19 season with Shakespeare's love story of two star-cross'd lovers in Charles Gounod's musical take on the tragic tale, “Romeo and Juliet” The production will be performed five times at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre (50 West 200 South) on October 13 and 19 at 7:30 PM, October 15 and 17 at 7 PM, and October 21 at 2 PM.

Concluding its highly successful 61st season, the Merola Opera Program announces the establishment of an Advisory Council, comprised of leaders in  the field of opera performance, young artist training, arts administration, performing arts, and philanthropy.

The Metropolitan Opera is preparing to kick off its 2018-2019 season tomorrow, September 24, under the leadership of new Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin. According to The New York Times, he company is making its future plans, including its first-ever commissions of operas written by women. Among them are new works by Jeanine Tesori and Missy Mazzoli.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.   As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus 'Va, pensiero,' from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

Texas Christian University's School of Music presents the fifth annual Festival of American Song Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2018 at The PepsiCo Recital Hall.

Concert Artists Guild opens its 2018-19 season of concerts with WORDS AND MUSIC: A CELEBRATION OF SONGS COMMISSIONED BY CAG.

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." So said Oscar Wilde's Salome, anticipating the theme running through all six of the works that make up The Atlanta Opera's 2018-19 season. The six are linked also by their novelty, for under the leadership of Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, Atlanta's new season consists entirely of stagings conceived over the past few years. Created in collaboration with leading opera companies from around the world, four are ambitious mainstage productions: the blockbuster musical West Side Story, 19th-century classics Eugene Onegin and La traviata, and the Southeast premiere of Dead Man Walking, a major 21st-century addition to the canon. Rounding out the season, Charlie Parker's Yardbird and Maria de Buenos Aires will be presented in the Discoveries series, which breaks down barriers between artists and their audience by providing authentic, intimate and immersive experiences in nontraditional spaces. The winner of a "Best of Atlanta" award from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an International Opera Award nomination, the series represents one of the many innovations behind the company's current wave of extraordinary creative and economic resurgence.

ZACH Theatre, in partnership with the Harry Ransom Center, announces a weekend of star-studded events celebrating four-time Tony Award-winning playwright and LGBT activist Terrence McNally. McNally will be in attendance at the events celebrating his 80th birthday and legendary career from November 10 to 12. Monday, November 12 event to feature Tony Award winner John Glover, Golden Globe winner F. Murray Abraham, and Emmy winner Richard Thomas.

Concert Artists Guild opens its 2018-19 season of concerts with WORDS AND MUSIC: A CELEBRATION OF SONGS COMMISSIONED BY CAG. The concert is on Tuesday, September 25 at 7:30pm at the Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 East 65th Street in New York.

San Francisco Opera opened its 2018–19 Season with a weekend of celebratory events and performances beginning Friday, September 7 with two galas—Opera Ball 2018: ¡Viva La Noche! and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala—and a performance of the famous operatic double bill of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo'sPagliacci (or CavPag). Opening weekend continued Saturday, September 8 with the highly-anticipated premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's bel canto drama Roberto Devereux and on Sunday, September 9, nearly 15,000 people flocked to Golden Gate Park for the annual San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park concert on a beautiful, 71-degree day with blue skies.

San Francisco Opera opened its 2018-19 Season with a weekend of celebratory events and performances beginning Friday, September 7 with two galas-Opera Ball 2018: ¡Viva La Noche! and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala-and a performance of the famous operatic double bill of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (or Cav/Pag). Opening weekend continued Saturday, September 8 with the highly-anticipated premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's bel canto drama Roberto Devereux and on Sunday, September 9, nearly 15,000 people flocked to Golden Gate Park for the annual San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park concert on a beautiful, 71-degree day with blue skies.

The St. Louis Opera Collective is an adventurous tiny company that brings us chamber operas. Their current offering at the Kranzberg Studio is Three Decembers, with music by Jake Heggie and libretto by Gene Scheer.

Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) students are given the opportunity to study alongside esteemed industry leaders, guest artists and teachers as part of the school's third annual Master Artist Series. The innovative series began in celebration of OCSA's 30th anniversary two years ago and continues to bring high-caliber arts professionals to campus, where they collaborate with faculty to create exceptional learning experiences for students. This season's Master Artist Series kicks off with Broadway actor and recording artist David Burnham ("Wicked," "The Light in the Piazza") performing alongside some of OCSA's own musical theatre students during the school's Season Premiere. The series continues with visiting professionals from the worlds of acting, culinary arts, instrumental and vocal music, musical theater, writing and more.

Lincoln Center Theater has announced full casting for its upcoming production of THE HARD PROBLEM, a new play by Tom Stoppard, to be directed by Jack O'Brien.