Joyce DiDonato News

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance has announced its Harris Theater Presents season for 2020-21, its most ambitious and diverse lineup to date. With 36 performances - including one international premiere and North American exclusive, Chicago debuts, and artists representing 11 countries and countless cultural influences -the 2020-21 season reaffirms the Harris Theater's commitment to presenting a multitude of voices and genres on its stage in Millennium Park.

The Lark Theater is pleased to present Agrippina by George Frideric Handel, as part of their 2019-20 season of The Met Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts.

Get you first look at Agrippina as Handel's tale of intrigue and impropriety in ancient Rome receives its first Met performances, with star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the controlling, power-hungry Agrippina and Harry Bicket conducting.

George Frideric Handel (1685a?"1759) was born in Germany, trained extensively in the music capitals of Italy, and spent most of his brilliant career in London. While his great choral and orchestral works have remained extraordinarily popular up to the present day, his theatrical creations, which were instrumental in introducing Italian opera to the British public. Vincenzo Cardinal Grimani (1652 or 1655a?"1710) was a career diplomat who also supplied libretti for opera composers, the text for Agrippina being his most famous.

In the Metropolitan Opera's first-ever performance of Agrippina, Handel's satire of sex and power politics, Sir David McVicar reconceives a production he originally created for the Monnaie in Brussels in 2000, evoking a scandalous world in which the Roman Empire never fell but simply kept going right up to the present. Agrippina comes to the big screen LIVE in HD at The Ridgefield Playhouse Saturday, February 29 at 12:55pm, part of the Classical Series, underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone, and Sabina & Walter Slavin with support from Whistle Stop Bakery. For tickets ($25 | Members & Seniors $20 | Students $15 | FREE for students 18 and under) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online atridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.

The 2019-2020 season of The Met: Live in HD will continue Saturday, February 29 with Handel's AGRIPPINA at 12:55 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. The 2019-2020 season is sponsored by Viron Rondo Osteria. A complimentary 45 minute pre-opera lecture by Nunzio DeFilippis will be offered in the Studio Theatre Lobby two hours before the broadcast, sponsored by Land Rover Hartford.

The GRAMMY AWARDS Premiere Ceremony took place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 26, from 12:30-3:30 p.m. PT. Preceding the 62nd Annual GRAMMY AWARDS telecast, the Premiere Ceremony was hosted by two-time GRAMMY winner and current nominee Imogen Heap and featured a number of performances by current GRAMMY nominees. Performers included classical violinist Nicola Benedetti, jazz legend Chick Corea, folk music supergroup I'm With Her, West African sensation Angélique Kidjo and Best New Artist nominee Yola.

Carnegie Hall today announced that the Weill Music Institute's (WMI) Lullaby Project has received a three-year grant from the William Penn Foundation to implement the program in Philadelphia. This spring, the Lullaby Project will pilot in Philadelphia.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announces that conductor Christophe Rousset withdrew today from the HGO premiere of La favorite due to personal circumstances. HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct all five performances. The production runs from Jan. 24 a?" Feb. 9, 2020 at the Wortham Theater Center.

Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2020a?"21 season, featuring a repertoire of beloved classics, company premieres, and a much-anticipated world premiere. The 66th season opens with audience favorite Carmen. American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her HGO and role debut as Carmen in the revival of Rob Ashford's acclaimed 2014 production of Bizet's classic. She is joined by tenor Andrea Caré as Don José, bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Escamillo, and Anita Hartig as Micaela, all making their HGO debuts. The production will be conducted by HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim.

On February 21, 2020, some of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will perform with pianist Lydia Brown before a panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience at The Morgan Library & Museum. At the event's conclusion, a few of them will be named this year's winners of the George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the best young singers since 1971. The award, currently a $10,000 prize, is named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century.

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the semifinalists for the 32nd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on Feb. 7, 2020 at 7 p.m. A limited number of tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim,presents The Metropolitan Opera's Agrippina by George Frideric Handel with Harry Bicket, Joyce DiDonato, and David McVicar on Monday, January 20, 2020 at 7:30pm.  

As the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven's birth approaches, Carnegie Hall announces a wider schedule of partner events by leading cultural institutions, complementing the Hall's programming as part of its Beethoven Celebration which includes an unprecedented range of performances by renowned artists exploring the composer's works and his transformative impact on music. The Beethoven Celebration presents one of the largest explorations of the great master's music in our time and marks the largest-ever exploration of one composer by Carnegie Hall, with 86 works of music performed by more than 58 artists and ensembles in New York City and beyond from January through June 2020.

Mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges discusses appearing in Philip Glass's “Akhnaten” and her road to the Met stage with Live in HD host Joyce DiDonato. 2019–20 season.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim  has announced its spring 2020 season. Since 1984, the performing arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators. The intimate Frank Lloyd Wright­-designed Peter B. Lewis Theater is the venue for these seventy-minute programs that explorethe creative process through stimulating discussions and riveting performance highlights. One-of-a-kind productions created for the Guggenheim's rotunda offer a unique experience of the landmark museum. Additional information is available at worksandprocess.org.

DACAMERA's 2019a?"20 season continues with Mozart and Aucoin at Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. The world-renowned Brentano Quartet returns to DACAMERA's stage for the premiere of a new work by composer Matthew Aucoin, for DACAMERA and Carnegie Hall. The ensemble will also perform Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F Major and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K. 406/516.

Recording Academy® President/CEO Deborah Dugan alongside Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees and renowned record producer Harvey Mason Jr., as well as GRAMMY Awards® host Alicia Keys and past two-time GRAMMY® nominee Bebe Rexha, today revealed nominees for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards in select categories. This year's nominees reflect a melting pot of artistic innovation that defined the year in music, showcasing the unparalleled craftsmanship of established artists and the industry-shifting impact of rising music creators. Leading nominees Lizzo (8), Billie Eilish (6) and Lil Nas X (6) not only topped the charts but ignited a cultural conversation around their genre-bending hits. As the only peer-selected music award, the GRAMMY Awards are voted on by the Recoding Academy's membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers and engineers.

Throughout the season, New York City teens come together each week to write, produce, and perform original music across genres with their peers and learn from leading artists through Future Music Project, a vibrant creative community based out of Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing. Future Music Project includes weekly afterschool workshops on songwriting and digital music production and a sampler pack exploring basic musicianship, recording, and songwriting. The faculty is comprised of leading professional musicians, producers, technicians, and DJs who are active in New York's vibrant music scenes. Weekly workshops are free, and lunch and a roundtrip MetroCard are provided at every workshop. Future Music Project also takes place offsite for young people in the justice system.