Los Angeles Opera News

Leslie Velez, an accomplished fundraising and retail sales professional, has been named director of development for the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Her appointment was effective August 3.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the four conductors for the 2015-2016 season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Gary Thor Wedow (pictured, left, Mozart's Don Giovanni), and David Charles Abell (Bizet's Carmen) will be returning to the Lyric Opera. Alexander Polianichko (Dvorak's Rusalka) and Christopher Allen (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love) will be making their Lyric Opera debut.

The RRazz Room New Hope, 6426 Lower York Road New Hope PA, presents Happily Ever Laughter featuring LIZ CALLAWAY and JASON GRAAE and Alex Rybeck, Musical Director, tonight, August 15.

Single-ticket sales for Opera Santa Barbara's 2015-16 season will begin on Saturday, August 15. Ranging from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222. Opera Santa Barbara will open its 22nd season with Mozart's timeless drama Don Giovanni on November 6 and 8, followed by Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece The Elixir of Love on March 4 and 6, and a twin bill consisting of Puccini's compelling one-act operas Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi on April 22 and 24. Performances will take place at the historic Granada Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara.

Stephen Sondheim's macabre musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street receives its highly anticipated San Francisco Opera premiere in a production featuring a cast of notable operatic stars and performed with Sondheim's original score for the lyric stage.

The RRazz Room New Hope, 6426 Lower York Road New Hope PA, presents Happily Ever Laughter featuring LIZ CALLAWAY and JASON GRAAE and Alex Rybeck, Musical Director, Saturday, August 15.

Broadway husband and wife Will Swenson and Audra McDonald recently filmed themselves singing a seemingly random duet- the theme song from the hit '70s show LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. Check out the fun a capella performance, made for Broadway Sleepout, below!

In the summer of 2015 the New York Philharmonic will undertake its first performance residencies in Shanghai, as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership, and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Celebrated conductor Kostis Protopapas, whose engaging podium presence, incisive musicality, and administrative acumen have garnered praise from critics and industry professionals nationwide, has been named artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara. With the appointment, which caps a seven-month international search, Mr. Protopapas becomes just the fourth artistic director in the company's 21-year history.

BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you a first look at Ogunquit Playhouse's stage, screen and television Valerie Harper starring in the role of the wealthy and stylish 'Millicent Winter' in the delightful Nice Work If You Can Get It, on stage July 22, to August 15.  Check out the cast in action below!

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG -- the only New York organization devoted solely to the astonishing variety and power of song -- has announced its 2015-16 season.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.  – The Glimmerglass Festival opened its third production of the 2015 season with Vivaldi's setting of Metastasio's poetic depiction of Cato the Younger.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces that Arnon Adar, Founder, President and CEO of CNA Enterprises has joined its Board of Directors.

The Ogunquit Playhouse recently announced that star of stage, screen and television Valerie Harper would star in the role of the wealthy and stylish 'Millicent Winter' in the delightful Nice Work If You Can Get It, on stage tonight, July 22, to August 15.

Orange County, Calif.—July 10, 2015—It is a night of spicy, riveting music and dance featuring salsa, Cuban rhythms and the sounds of Spain, when Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, delivers the third concert of Summer Festival 2015. The evening is chock-full of hot-tempered tunes, including Ravel's “Bolero,” featuring the most famous drumbeat in classical music and immortalized in the movie “10”; Rimsky-Korsakov's sparkling orchestral painting of Spain, Capriccio Espagnol, full of passionate tunes and brilliant colors that have made it a smash-hit concert favorite; the short but potent “Ritual Fire Dance” from de Falla's ballet, “El amor brujo”; and excerpts from Bizet's alluring “Carmen,” sung by opera star, mezzo-soprano Milena Kiti?.  The band JT & Friends then delivers high-octane entertainment on the second half, which includes Bizet's “Farandole” from L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 and Bernstein's heart-pumping “America” from the classic film, “West Side Story.” Completing the mix are dancers, Salsa king Bobby Rivas, singer Beau Williams, and music that includes Barry Mann's “On Broadway,” Flores' rowdy “Tequila” and more. 

The Ogunquit Playhouse is thrilled to announce that star of stage, screen and television Valerie Harper will join the cast in the role of the wealthy and stylish Millicent Winter in the delightful Nice Work If You Can Get It on stage July 22 to August 15. Also joining the cast is two-time Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers as the Dutchess Estonia, a temperance enforcer who is set against a gang of bootleggers in this madcap musical comedy set during the Roaring Twenties. This brand-new musical written by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro is based on material by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse and was nominated in 2012 for 10 Tony Awards, winning two. This high-stepping Broadway musical recalls the golden age of American musicals, complete with extravagant dance numbers, glittering Broadway costumes and a treasure trove of George and Ira Gershwin's most beloved songs, including "But Not For Me," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "I've Got a Crush on You" and "Someone to Watch Over Me."

In the summer of 2015 the New York Philharmonic will undertake its first performance residencies in Shanghai, as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership, and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Baltimore, Md. (June 17, 2015) -Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Assistant Conductor Nicholas Hersh will lead the orchestra in their annual Independence Day celebrations at Oregon Ridge Park tonight and tomorrow, July 3 and 4 at 8 p.m.

Lincoln Center Theater presents Patti LuPone, Dale Soules, Michael Urie, Jordan Dean, Lance Coadie Williams, and Zoe Winters in Shows For Days, a new play by Douglas Carter Beane, directed by Jerry Zaks. The production will open tonight, June 29 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).