Los Angeles Opera News

For people the world over, New York City represents the epicenter of arts and culture. With its renowned theatres and concert halls, attending a performance in the city often comes with a level of reverence and expectation. Countless artistic innovations, movements, even entire genres can trace their roots back to the city that never sleeps. Next week, New York City audiences can add to this the experience a cutting-edge opera production that was conceptualized and created in the globally creative city of Nashville, Tennessee.

Lawrence Edelson, Artistic and General Director of Opera Saratoga, announced the program for the 2016 Summer Festival, which will run from May 28 through July 17, 2016. The season will feature three new productions at The Spa Little Theater in Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs, New York, along with a diverse slate of recitals and concerts at multiple locations in Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls, and Albany.

Now in its 12th season, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival has garnered great acclaim for its world-class performances on the Big Island each summer. This year will be no exception for the festival, as the season kicks off with An Evening At the Stork Club, starring Justin John Moniz, Ashley Lambert, and David Castillo.

Sonia Friedman Productions is delighted to announce further casting for the long-awaited UK premiere of Dreamgirls which will have preview performances at the Savoy Theatre from 19 November and Opening Night on Wednesday 14 December 2016.

New York City Opera concludes its 2016 season with the New York premiere of Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Cata?n. Performances are June 22, 23, 25, and 26 in Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall. New York City Opera inaugurates O?pera en Espan?ol, a landmark initiative of productions of opera in the Spanish language, Baroque to the contemporary, from Spain and Latin America, as well as zarzuela. O?pera en Espan?ol introduces the opera-loving public to a neglected but significant repertoire and aims to expand City Opera's reach to new and Spanish-speaking audiences.

Tulsa Opera, one of the nation's most veteran regional opera companies and an historic incubator of rising vocal talent, has appointed Tobias Picker as its new Artistic Director effective June 1, 2016.  Picker, who has been hailed by The Wall Street Journal as 'our finest composer for the lyric stage,' will collaborate with General Director/CEO Greg Weber on overall artistic vision for the company, selection of repertoire and production teams, and casting of singers.

The 2016 May Festival, which celebrates and concludes Music Director James Conlon's 37-year tenure, ends Friday and Saturday, May 27-28 with grand scale performances at Music Hall. These will be the final performances at Music Hall prior to its closing for renovation. On Friday, May 27 at 8 p.m., Mr. Conlon leads Dvo?ak's deeply personal cantata, Stabat Mater, a work was written during a time of deep grief for the composer following the death of his children. This rarely-performed work is full of symbolism, following a journey of mourning to hope of Paradise. At the invitation of James Levine, Mr. Conlon made his May Festival debut in 1978 conducting Stabat Mater (the following year he began his storied tenure as Music Director). Joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus will be soloists Julianna DiGiacomo (soprano), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor) and Kristinn Sigmundsson (baritone).

?The RRazz Room At The Prince is pleased to present Philadelphia's own Josepha Gayer in concert, celebrating the release of her debut CD, RENAISSANCE: NOTES FROM ITALY (LML Music). Ms. Gayer, will perform one show on June 26, 2016 at 5pm, accompanied by Eric Knight. The RRazz Room At The Prince is located in the second floor Black Box Cabaret space of the historic Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (near the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets on the Avenue Of The Arts). Elevator access is available. Tickets range from $32 (seats) to $42 for table seating. Table seating requires a two drink minimum per person.  Visit: http://www.therrazzroom.com or the ticket link: http://tinyurl.com/jhg793s

Vancouver, BC ~ On June 2, four of Canada's most talented singers will join forces with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and Vancouver Opera Chorus for a celebratory concert featuring timeless opera favourites. BraVO!, a rare treat for music lovers, will be conducted by VO Music Director Jonathan Darlington and will recognize the retirement of VO's General Director James W. Wright, after 17 years at the head of the company.

World-famous sculptor Anish Kapoor will design the sets for ENO's unmissable new production of Tristan and Isolde. Directed by Daniel Kramer and conducted by former ENO Music Director Edward Gardner, Tristan and Isolde is one of the most hotly-anticipated arts events of 2016.  

San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced that he will step down from his position at the end of his current contract, which expires on July 31, 2018.  Mr. Luisotti, age 55, will continue to serve as San Francisco Opera music director through the 2017-18 Season. Today's announcement was made in the War Memorial Opera House theater before the full company of staff, musicians, chorus, dancers and crew.

Goodman Theatre announces Broadway stars John Dossett and Douglas Sills will join the cast of War Paint, a new musical starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, respectively. Dossett will portray Tommy Lewis, Miss Arden's husband and chief marketing officer, and Sills will portray the ambitious Harry Fleming, Madame Rubinstein's clubby confidante and faithful ally.

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, will celebrate six-time Tony Award winning actress, Audra McDonald with their 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award at its 67th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute.

Audra is expecting! Today it was announced  that The West End production of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill will be postponed as the show's star Audra McDonald has announced that she and her husband, actor Will Swenson, are expecting a baby.

The New York Choral Society will present Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt under the baton of Music Director David Hayes, today evening, May 10th, 2016, 8pm at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Composed entirely from selected passages from the Bible's Old Testament, Israel in Egypt relates the harshness of the Israelites' captivity in Egypt and their subsequent triumphant escape from the Pharaoh's oppressive regime. Israel in Egypt is atypical in Handel's choral output, as it contains little solo material and is dominated by large-scale virtuosic choruses that exhibit Handel's mastery as a musical storyteller.

Derek Blount, Chairman of the WaterTower Theatre Board of Directors, today announced the appointment of Gregory Patterson as Managing Director. Patterson, the Company's Director of Development and Marketing for the past nine years, will assume his new position effective immediately. The newly created position reports to the Board of Directors.