James Robinson News

Michael Nardone (BBC One's The Night Manager and Rellik, HBO's Rome) will play the title role in Rufus Norris' touring production of Macbeth, with Kirsty Besterman (Genesis Inc. at Hampstead Theatre, They Drink It in The Congo at the Almeida Theatre, and BBC One's Father Brown) joining the cast as Lady Macbeth.

DON GIOVANNI, opera by Mozart, will be performed this June at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St. New York NY 10011), starring David Serero as Don Giovanni along with an international cast.

Opera Theatre St. Louis continues its 43rd season of exceptionally fine opera with another world premiere. An American Soldier is their twenty-seventh such premiere, a record which sets OTSL among the forefront of producers of new opera in America.

DON GIOVANNI, opera by Mozart, will be performed this June at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St. New York NY 10011), starring David Serero as Don Giovanni along with an international cast.

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER--music by Huang Ruo and libretto by David Henry Hwang, directed by Matthew Ozawa--opened at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) on June 3. The opera asks the powerful question: What does it mean to be an American? It is based on the true story of a young Chinese American, who enlisted in the Army during the war in Afghanistan and became victim of military hazing that led to his suicide. The artists spoke about the creation of the piece at the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series.

DON GIOVANNI, opera by Mozart, will be performed this June at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St. New York NY 10011), starring David Serero as Don Giovanni along with an international cast.

Opera Theatre St. Louis has produced many wonderful productions, and a handful of simply perfect ones. Their production of 'Regina' is among the latter.

On Saturday, May 26, Grammy Award-winning mezzo Susan Graham – “an artist to treasure” (New York Times) – makes her title role debut in Marc Blitzstein's Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She will be joined by veteran bass-baritone James Morris, Broadway and television actor Ron Raines, and award-winning soprano Susanna Phillips in a new production by Artistic Director James Robinson, with Music Director Emeritus Stephen Lord leading from the pit (May 26–June 24).

DON GIOVANNI, opera by Mozart, will be performed this June at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St. New York NY 10011), starring David Serero as Don Giovanni along with an international cast.

According to Variety, FOX has cancelled THE EXORCIST. The show will not be returning after the current second season. Read more about it from Variety here!

Michigan Opera Theatre CEO and President Wayne S. Brown and Principal Conductor Stephen Lord today announced the company's 2018-19 opera season.  MOT's 48th opera season will be the second under Lord's artistic leadership and celebrates masterworks of literature turned opera, with "Eugene Onegin" (Pyotr Tchaikovsky), "Candide" (Leonard Bernstein) and "The Grapes of Wrath" (Ricky Ian Gordon/Michael Korie). The season also includes a staple of the opera repertoire, "The Barber of Seville" (Gioachino Rossini) and a fairytale opera, "Hansel and Gretel" (Engelbert Humperdinck). The season begins Sept. 29 with a gala concert featuring opera superstar Renee Fleming.  

This spring, Grammy Award-winning mezzo Susan Graham revisits her signature interpretation of Ravel's Sheherazade in performances with the San Francisco Symphony under Yan Pascal Tortelier (April 19-21). She then makes her title role debut in Marc Blitzstein's Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (May 26-June 24), in a production that marks the 30th anniversary of her company and leading-role debuts. After three glorious decades at the highest echelons of the opera world, there is still, as the New York Times put it, "no more satisfying singer than this eminent mezzo-soprano, with her rich, even voice, exquisite musicianship, and warm presence."

MasterVoices - dedicated to celebrating the power of the human voice through the art of musical storytelling - presents two performances of a new production of Orphic Moments, in conjunction with producers Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan. 

The Opéra de Montréal has an exciting 39th season planned for the 2018-2019 production year. The Place des Arts lineup includes classics like Rigoletto, Das Rheingold, Carmen and the anticipated Canadian premiere of the jazz-opera Champion. In addition to these four operas, a chamber opera called Twenty-Seven will be presented at the Centaur Theatre and a concert with soprano Joyce El-Khoury and Pianist Laurent Philippe will be held at the Festival du Monde Arabe.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Excerpts will be performed from An American Soldier, a new two-act opera based on the true story of Danny Chen, proud American and son of Chinese immigrants residing in Manhattan's Chinatown. After enlisting in the U.S. Army, Chen is welcomed in boot camp, but in Afghanistan, his own base becomes enemy territory as military hazing turns deadly, posing powerful questions about what it means to be an American. Librettist David Henry Hwang and composer Huang Ruo discuss their collaboration with James Robinson, OTSL Artistic Director, and Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of the Museum of Chinese in America, prior to the opera's World Premiere in Saint Louis. Excerpts performed by Fang- Tao Jiang, Andrew Stenson, and Guang Yang, accompanied by pianist Lachlan Glen.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2018/2019 season presents the world premiere of Hadrian, a new opera from composer Rufus Wainwright and librettist Daniel MacIvor, which features the highly anticipated COC debuts of international opera stars Thomas Hampson and Karita Mattila.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its series of holiday operas with the world premiere presentation of The House without a Christmas Tree by the widely admired composer/librettist team of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek, in the HGO Resilience Theater at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The opera is based on the uplifting story by Gail Rock and the beloved 1972 television film of the same name about a family that is healed by the holiday spirit. A precocious daughter struggles to understand her father's resentment of the holidays and longs for a beautiful Christmas tree like other families have, to make her house look happy. The opera includes a new setting of the carol Gather Around the Christmas Tree, sung by a juvenile chorus. Tickets for the new venue are available at HGO.org. Group discounts are available. Parking for HGO's performances will be available at the Avenida North garage located at 1815 Rusk Street, across from HGO's new venue. A sky bridge connects the parking garage to the GRB, and there is clear signage directing patrons to the theater. More information about parking can be found here.