Jake Heggie News

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from tonight, December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

A seasoned group of Broadway helmers are bringing magic, drama, history, romance and more to the Great White Way this season. Below, BroadwayWorld rounded up this fall's directors for an in-depth look at their careers.

San Francisco, November 24, 2014 – Acclaimed contemporary opera company Opera Parallèle will open its 2015 season with the premiere of a new production of Jake Heggie's landmark work Dead Man Walking—marking the 15th anniversary of one of the most widely performed operas of the 21st century—in three performances Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21, 2015 at 8 pm and Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 2 pm at YBCA Theater in San Francisco. Based on Sister Helen Prejean's memoir and passionate statement against capital punishment of the same title, Dead Man Walking plumbs the depths of human emotion, resilience, fortitude, hope, and redemption, making it an ideal subject for the operatic stage and for Opera Parallèle's brand of story-telling, exploring the human experience in provocative and intense stagings. The premiere will be followed by the Company taking to the road for the first time to present a concert version of Dead Man Walking at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA, March 7 and 8, 2015.

For the 2014-2015 season, CMASH presents a series of concert events marking the fiftieth birthday of Dr. Vartan Aghababian, a founding core collaborator of CMASH.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone in 'Far Away Places - Part Two' tonight, November 3, through November 15. In an evening conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Scott Wittman, LuPone returns with Part Two of the show which she premiered to critical acclaim when 54 Below opened in June 2012.

Soprano Nicole Cabell and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato star as the ill-fated lovers Giulietta and Romeo in Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) in San Francisco Opera's new video release in partnership with EuroArts Music International. Cabell and DiDonato are joined by Albanian tenor Samir Pirgu (Tebaldo), American bass-baritone Eric Owens (Capellio) and Chinese baritone Ao Li (Lorenzo).

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

Chicago's Eclipse Theatre Company, the Midwest's only theatre company to focus on a single playwright each season, will feature the works of award-winning American playwright Terrence McNally for their 2015 Season. Eclipse will explore the range of McNally's output with three full productions, plus readings and public events about the playwright.

Opera Saratoga announces its 2015 Summer Festival season, which will run from July 2 - July 26, 2015 at multiple venues throughout Saratoga Springs, New York.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, an opera featuring the internationally renowned ensemble Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitla?n, on May 13, 16, and 17, 2015 in the Wortham Theater Center, it was announced by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers and Managing Director Perryn Leech. HGO's 2010 mounting of the world's first mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon, with Mariachi Vargas, not only captivated audiences in Houston, but went on to hit runs in Paris, San Diego, Chicago, and Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. HGO brought Cruzar back to Houston in 2013 for three sold-out performances. Now the company will present a second mariachi opera from the same creative team of Jose? “Pepe” Marti?nez and Leonard Foglia, fresh from its March 2015 world premiere at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Set on a Mexican hacienda in 1910, just prior to the Mexican Revolution, the story traces how the country's cultural conflicts and nationalistic struggles shape one family across generations. El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished will be sung in Spanish and English with projected translations.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and San Francisco Opera Association President Keith Geeslin today announced that Gockley will retire in July 2016, concluding a ten-year, seven-month tenure with the Company and capping an internationally acclaimed and award-winning career spanning 44 years as one of America's most prominent opera impresarios. Gockley, who will be 73 at the end of the 2015–16 season, became the Company's sixth general director when he joined San Francisco Opera in January 2006. Today's announcement was made at a War Memorial Opera House press conference.

Below are all the events at Carnegie Hall in February 2015.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera Chicago, today announced the artists for El Pasado Nunca Se Termina (The Past Is Never Finished), the new mariachi opera commissioned by Lyric Unlimited that has its world premiere in Chicago in March 2015.

Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, in one of the most impressive productions ever seen at the War Memorial Opera House, comes to audiences on DVD and Blu-ray today, September 30, 2014 in San Francisco Opera's latest video release in partnership with EuroArts Music International.

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.'

Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, in one of the most impressive productions ever seen at the War Memorial Opera House, comes to audiences on DVD and Blu-ray on September 30, 2014 in San Francisco Opera's latest video release in partnership with EuroArts Music International.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, will present two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone in 'Far Away Places - Part Two' November 3 -15. In an evening conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Scott Wittman, LuPone returns with Part Two of the show which she premiered to critical acclaim when 54 Below opened in June 2012. In this continuation of the show (which will include a few encores from the landmark Part One) she further explores her wanderlust, performing songs by an eclectic group of songwriters including Irving Caesar, Billy Joel, David Yazbek, Johnny Mercer and Kris Kristofferson.

Classical and Broadway musician Peter Sachon and Carbon Cello Productions, in conjunction with New York Comic Con 2014 and the first annual New York Super Week Festival, will present a unique concert experience, MYTHOS, a showcase of great music from across the spectrum of modern orchestral genres - music from the concert stage, television and film, and video games - featuring the all-star orchestra The Third Estate, conducted by Grammy Award nominee, Austin Wintory, composer of Journey , as well as vocalists from Choral Chameleon.