Lucy Schaufer News

Where are our Violettas, our Salomes, our Elektras--even our Lulus--for opera to move forward as an art form for the 21 century? They're all victims of stress and suffering of one sort or another, but still worth meeting up with--not only musically but dramatically--more than once. I began thinking about this while watching the three music-theatre/new opera pieces that I visited during the opening days of the current edition of PROTOTYPE:OPERA/THEATRE/NOW--The Infinite Hotel, 4.48 Psychosis and PRISM.

New York's PROTOTYPE OperaTheatreNow Festival returns for its seventh season from January 5 to the 13th and the one thing that you can't ask about it is “What's new?” That's not because there's nothing to answer. On the contrary--there's too much, in style, in content, in the sizes of its venues: This year's Festival is larger than ever, with a dozen works, 24 composerlibrettists and over 150 collaborators.

The Royal Opera House today opens the doors to its transformed new home, following an extensive three-year construction project.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the eagerly awaited DVD and Blu-ray release of Mark Adamo's critically acclaimed new holiday opera, BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, distributed exclusively through CD Baby.

Repasamos los espectaculos que llenaran las carteleras en Madrid, Barcelona y giras en la nueva temporada.

On Monday 15th May 2017, SimG Records, the leading independent British label devoted to new musical theatre writers and artists, is to release COMRADE ROCKSTAR.

Opera Philadelphia continues to combine cutting-edge new commissions with fresh takes on the classics. To conclude a 2016-17 season highlighted by the knockout success of its world premiere production of Breaking the Waves, the company turns to iconic Mozartean comedy, with a new co-production of The Marriage of Figaro (April 28–May 7). With Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leading five performances at the historic Academy of Music, celebrated young singers Brandon Cedel, John Chest, Layla Claire, Ying Fang, and Cecelia Hall anchor a stellar cast in the new Stephen Lawless staging that has already proven “as beautiful as it is humorous, as sophisticated as it is raunchy” (Kansas City Star).

Opera Philadelphia's celebrated 2016-2017 Season comes to a humorous conclusion with a new production of one of the greatest operas ever written, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, with five performances at the historic Academy of Music from April 28-May 7. The screwball comedy complete with disguises, surprises, and compromises, comes to life with an impressive cast of singers, many making their company debut under the leadership of conductor Corrado Rovaris, Opera Philadelphia's celebrated Jack Mulroney Music Director.

The 2017 Grammy Awards were announced this past Sunday in Los Angeles.  The complete list of winners and nominees of classical music is below! 

LA Opera Music Director James Conlon's world premiere recording of composer John Corigliano and librettist William M. Hoffman's The Ghosts of Versailles, released on the PentaTone label, today won two 2017 Grammy® Awards for Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album, Classical.

The Ghosts of Versailles features Patricia Racette in the leading role of Marie Antoinette and Broadway legend Patti LuPone as the Turkish entertainer Samira.

A diverse all-star lineup of GRAMMY Award nominees, GRAMMY winners, entertainers and film and TV stars took stage last ight for THE 59TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

LA Opera Music Director James Conlon's world premiere recording of composer John Corigliano and librettist William M. Hoffman's The Ghosts of Versailles, released on the PentaTone label, today won two 2017 Grammy® Awards for Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album, Classical.

It is no secret that acclaimed film director Mike Leigh has a passion for Gilbert and Sullivan; his 1999 film Topsy-Turvy was an outright celebration of them and their music. In this first revival of his version of Pirates of Penzance, Leigh maintains and expands on that celebratory spirit in a colourful and vivacious production at the London Coliseum.

 The Florentine Opera's original recording of Wuthering Heights makes Opera News' 10 Best in Opera recordings of the Year in 2016. Read more at OperaNews.com.

San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Conlon, and Wu Man were nominated for Best Orchestral Performance today.

This morning, The Recording Academy and 2016 GRAMMY Best New Artist, Meghan Trainor, kicked off this year's GRAMMY Awards nominations by revealing nominees in the four General Field categories (Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Album Of The Year) live on 'CBS This Morning.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the winner of the 2016 'Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year' Award: transcendent American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

The Lyric Hammersmith today announces its Spring 2016 Season. They will present the first professional production of Simon Stephen's HERONS since the play premiered at the Royal Court in 2001, directed by the Lyric's Artistic Director Sean Holmes. This is followed by the return of their co- production with Filter Theatre of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM last staged in 2012. Whilst the Royal Opera will present, two contemporary operas, PLEASURE by Mark Simpson featuring well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett and the world premiere of Sarah Kane's 4:48 PSYCHOSIS by Philip Venables, both presented in association with the Lyric.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to present an original, musically compelling and visually stunning world premiere: Mark Adamo's BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, opening tonight, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.