Lee Hoiby News

Houston Grand Opera has announced HGO Digital, its all-new program of digital works for the 2020-21 season. Starting in September and extending through April 2021, HGO will release original video content bimonthly for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes, free of charge.

Here's a look at some of the newly added and upcoming streams being offered by opera companies across North America:

Orange County School of the Arts is capping off the 2019-2020 school year with a groundbreaking digital rendition of the charming and comedic opera, Lee Hoiby's 'This is The Rill Speaking.'

In lieu of an in-person festival, Des Moines Metro Opera is teaming up with Iowa PBS to share online and televised presentations of recent productions.

Opera Maine has announced the postponement of its 26th summer season out of concern for public health during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The Launch of the Douglas Moore Songbook and A Celebration of 20th Century Opera Composers a?" Dominick Argento, Jack Beeson, Douglas Moore and Virgil Thomson a?" will be showcased on Saturday, March 14. 

At the University of Arizona's Centennial Hall. on January 28, 2020, the Tucson Desert Song Festival presented Thomas Hampson, baritone, with Lara Downes, piano, and the Beyond Liberty Players: Stephen Buck, synthesizer; Judy Kang, violin; Jesus Morales, cello; and Alex Laing, clarinet; The show libretto was based on an original work by Royce Vavrek which first appeared in a Francesca Zambello production at the 2018 Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York

Portland Opera continues the 2019/20 season with the premiere of a new production entitled An American Quartet: Four One-Act Operas. Each of these pieces, written by American composers, will be presented in the intimate black box theatre at Portland Opera's Hampton Opera Center.

There are so many wonderful things going on in a?oeBon Appetit! The Julia Child Operettaa??, the show about one of the world's most recognizable cooking personalities, Julia Child, that it's unbelievable it all happens in under an hour. But then Julia always did make magic happen in such a short time herself.

Music, cake, and an evening of entertainment. After a sold out run of performances in July, Bon Appétit!The Julia Child Operettareturns to Belltown's historicJewelbox Theater at The Rendezvousfor five additional performances, to bake cake, and reminisce about one of the world's most talented chefs. a?oeJulia Child is an icon.a?? said director Jane Kaplan. a?oeHer television show, as well as her cookbook, revolutionized the way Americans thought about cooking. We're thrilled to be sharing this show with Seattle audiences.a??  

Da Camera of Houston's 2019-20 season launches with Bon Appetit!, an evening of surrealist and culinary musical delights, at the Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center on Saturday, September 21 at 7 p.m. The first of several Da Camera performances this season to prominently feature talented women, the concert is titled after composer Lee Hoiby's comedic operatic take on Julia Child's 1970s television show, with soprano Abigail Fischer as the beloved chef. The program also features the renowned Imani Winds performing Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and acclaimed American vocalist Ryan McKinny in his Da Camera debut performing Francis Poulenc's delightfully absurd Le bal masque. 

Portland Opera is pleased to announce programming for the company's 56th season, which will open on October 25, 2019. The season will launch with one of the most powerful operas of all time, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, starring internationally acclaimed soprano Hiromi Omura in the title role. In February, the company will present An American Quartet: Four One-Act Operas in an intimate evening in the Hampton Opera Center's black box theatre. These one-acts feature Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone, Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge, Douglas Moore's Gallantry, and Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit! The season will continue with a rare presentation of Vivaldi's opera Bajazet in March, which will be a special collaboration with the Portland Baroque Orchestra. In the spring, Portland Opera will present its annual Big Night concert and Leoncavallo's verismo masterpiece, Pagliacci. The 2019/20 season will close with the Portland Opera premiere of Jake Heggie's familial drama, Three Decembers.  

Berklee College of Music has named Philip Lima as assistant chair of the Voice Department. Lima is a baritone vocalist who has garnered critical acclaim for his performances on both concert and operatic stages. He is currently serving as interim chair of the department while chair Anne Peckham is on sabbatical.

Berklee College of Music has named Philip Lima as assistant chair of the Voice Department. Lima is a baritone vocalist who has garnered critical acclaim for his performances on both concert and operatic stages. He is currently serving as interim chair of the department while chair Anne Peckham is on sabbatical.

Da Camera of Houston announces its 2019/2020 season, which features a lineup spanning a multitude of styles and genres.

On Friday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m., the Carnegie Hall Notables-a membership and ticket program for music enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s-presents Jamie Barton in an exclusive concert in Zankel Hall for Notables members only. The concert features the award-winning mezzo-soprano alongside pianist Kathleen Kelly performing Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit!-a 20-minute operatic scene for mezzo-soprano and piano based on an actual Julia Child cooking show-with additional selections to be announced from the stage.

It's the day of the show, y'all: The Nashville premiere of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is tonight - at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue in The Nations - and six of the actors portraying Crowley's now-iconic characters took time from tech week to answer questions about their processes and to offer their reasons for why you should come see the show.

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.