Layla Claire News

Minnesota Opera presents its co-production of a dynamic and engaging staging of Mozart's The Magic Flute with LA Opera. Mozart's masterful comedy about love, truth and the pursuit of enlightenment is richly reimagined in this boundary-busting production. Connecting the tale's enduring meaning with modern metaphor, this extraordinary staging combines live performance and film animation to delve deeply into the opera's surreal magic, odd characters and crazy love. Check out a sneak peek below!

Minnesota Opera is pleased to announce its co-production of a dynamic and engaging staging of Mozart's The Magic Flute with LA Opera. Mozart's masterful comedy about love, truth and the pursuit of enlightenment is richly reimagined in this boundary-busting production. Connecting the tale's enduring meaning with modern metaphor, this extraordinary staging combines live performance and film animation to delve deeply into the opera's surreal magic, odd characters and crazy love.

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham launches a four-date U.S. recital tour tomorrow with pianistBradley Moore in Myrtle Beach, SC, with the trek including the singer's Kimmel Center recital debut in Philadelphia on April 2. The recital program of Purcell, Berlioz, Poulenc and Cole Porter will be drawn from Graham's second Onyx album,Virgins, Vixens & Viragos. In a review of the recording, the UK's Sunday Times noted: “It's hard to think of another contemporary singer who could pull off the tour de force Graham achieves here, with numbers ranging over a period of almost 300 years.” Back in New York on April 26, Graham will perform a special concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. The program – titled “Sculpting Sound” and held in conjunction with the exhibitionThe Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux – will feature the music of the 19th-century French sculptor's friends and collaborators, including Bizet, Gounod and more. Graham will be joined by pianist Brian Zeger (director of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Department), as well as by bass-baritone Evan Hughes and soprano Layla Claire. This summer, Graham will cap her season in Paris by making her role debut as Anna in The King and I at the Théâtre du Châtelet (June 13-29).

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham launches a four-date U.S. recital tour today with pianist Bradley Moore in Myrtle Beach, SC, with the trek including the singer's Kimmel Center recital debut in Philadelphia on April 2. The recital program of Purcell, Berlioz, Poulenc and Cole Porter will be drawn from Graham's second Onyx album, Virgins, Vixens & Viragos. In a review of the recording, the UK's Sunday Times noted: 'It's hard to think of another contemporary singer who could pull off the tour de force Graham achieves here, with numbers ranging over a period of almost 300 years.' Back in New York on April 26, Graham will perform a special concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. The program - titled 'Sculpting Sound' and held in conjunction with the exhibition The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux - will feature the music of the 19th-century French sculptor's friends and collaborators, including Bizet, Gounod and more. Graham will be joined by pianist Brian Zeger (director of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Department), as well as by bass-baritone Evan Hughes and soprano Layla Claire. This summer, Graham will cap her season in Paris by making her role debut as Anna in The King and I at the Théâtre du Châtelet (June 13-29).

Minnesota Opera is pleased to announce its co-production of a dynamic and engaging staging of Mozart's The Magic Flute with LA Opera. Mozart's masterful comedy about love, truth and the pursuit of enlightenment is richly reimagined in this boundary-busting production. Connecting the tale's enduring meaning with modern metaphor, this extraordinary staging combines live performance and film animation to delve deeply into the opera's surreal magic, odd characters and crazy love.

Washington National Opera (WNO), led by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, today announced its 2014-2015 season. It includes the company premiere of Daniel Catán's Spanish-language Florencia in the Amazon, a brand-new production of Puccini's classic La bohème, the company premiere of Rachel Portman's family opera The Little Prince, an English-language production of Poulenc's 20th-century drama Dialogues of the Carmelites, a revival of Wagner's epic The Flying Dutchman, and an acclaimed new-to- Washington staging of Rossini's Cinderella. A third season of the American Opera Initiative, including the world premiere of Penny by two alumni of the program, continues WNO's efforts to commission new works and expand the American repertory. Highlights from the 2014-2015 season will be performed by the WNO Orchestra and special guests at a free preview concert on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 6 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

The Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio was created in 1980 as a vehicle for training Canada's next generation of opera stars. Its current members will take to the stage of the Four Seasons Centre on February 7th, replacing regular cast members in Atom Egoyan's production of the Mozart opera Cosi fan tutte for one night only. Two current members of the Ensemble say to expect something very different and special.

The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2013/2014 winter season with Così fan tutte (or The School for Lovers), Mozart's wry comedy about romantic love, fidelity and temptation. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, the COC's Così fan tutte comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 10 performances today, January 18 and January 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2013/2014 winter season with Così fan tutte (or The School for Lovers), Mozart's wry comedy about romantic love, fidelity and temptation. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, the COC's Così fan tutte comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 10 performances on January 18, 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2013/2014 winter season with Così fan tutte (or The School for Lovers), Mozart's wry comedy about romantic love, fidelity and temptation. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, the COC's Così fan tutte comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 10 performances on January 18, 24, 29, February 1, 6, 7*, 9, 15, 18, 21, 2014.

The December broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Bernard Labadie returning to the Philharmonic to conduct Mozart's Requiem; J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!; and Handel's 'Let the Bright Seraphim' from Samson. The program's soloists will include soprano Miah Persson, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Fre?de?ric Antoun, bass Andrew Foster-Williams, and Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, joined by the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. The following week Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Premiere of The Marie- Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Oboe Concerto featuring Principal Oboe Liang Wang, and Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Don Juan, both featuring Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow in the concertmaster solos.

The December broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Bernard Labadie returning to the Philharmonic to conduct Mozart's Requiem; J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!; and Handel's 'Let the Bright Seraphim' from Samson. The program's soloists will include soprano Miah Persson, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Fre?de?ric Antoun, bass Andrew Foster-Williams, and Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, joined by the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. The following week Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Premiere of The Marie- Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Oboe Concerto featuring Principal Oboe Liang Wang, and Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Don Juan, both featuring Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow in the concertmaster solos.

The Canadian Opera Company has announed its 2014 productions - check out full details below!

· Robin Ticciati will conduct his first Glyndebourne Festival as Music Director. He is only the seventh conductor to hold the post in Glyndebourne's 80- year history, following in the distinguished line of Fritz Busch, Vittorio Gui, John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Andrew Davis and Vladimir Jurowski.

Minnesota Opera is pleased to announce casting updates for the 2013–2014 season, which boasts three company premieres and five productions new to Minnesota audiences. Based on anticipated demand, the boundary-busting production of The Magic Flutewill receive nine performances. Other season highlights include James Valenti starring in the premiere of a revised The Dream of Valentino by Dominick Argento as part of Minnesota Opera's New Works Initiative; Kelly Kaduce in an opulent production of Puccini's soulful Manon Lescaut; Jacquelyn Wagner, Elizabeth Futral, Brian Jagde and Craig Irvin in a stylish production of Strauss' romantic comedy, Arabella; and Verdi's chilling take on the Shakespearean thriller, Macbeth, starring Brenda Harris and Greer Grimsley. Minnesota Opera is also pleased to announce the roster for the 2013–2014 Resident Artist Program, as well as unveil a new website.

The Canadian Opera Company has closed another successful opera season by recording an average attendance of 90% for 2012/2013. A total of 114,133 patrons attended the 61 performances of the company's seven mainstage productions this season in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: Verdi's Il Trovatore, Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Richard Strauss's Salome and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites.

The Canadian Opera Company unveiled its 2013/2014 season today at a press conference at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The company's 64th season stars the world's best singers, conductors, directors and designers in a performance year with seven operas, including three COC premieres and three new COC productions. The COC presents Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème with a new production featuring some of Canada's brightest stars; COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Benjamin Britten debut when he conducts Peter Grimes with a production starring acclaimed Canadian tenor Ben Heppner in the iconic title role; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte with a new COC production by renowned film and theatre director Atom Egoyan with Debus conducting; Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera starring great Canadian diva Adrianne Pieczonka in a role debut; George Frideric Handel's Hercules with a COC premiere and new COC production by world-renowned director Peter Sellars with a star-studded cast; Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux with a COC premiere starring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in a role debut; and Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte with a COC premiere featuring Debus in another conducting debut and the world's pre-eminent bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

The Cleveland Orchestra announces the appointment of Mark Williams as director of artistic planning. Mr. Williams will be responsible for managing all aspects of artistic planning and programming at The Cleveland Orchestra, including managing all artist relations, programming, and presentations at Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival. He will begin his duties with the Orchestra on January 7, 2013.