Mark Campbell News

New York Festival of Song continues its 30th anniversary season today, December 2, 2017 from 1:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., when NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett hosts a monumental eight-hour concert to celebrate Leonard Bernstein as part of the worldwide 'Bernstein at 100' festivities.

Only in the magical land of Broadway can you take a 1994 animated Disney movie thinly based on Shakespeare's HAMLET and possibly based on a 1960s Japanese anime series and transform it into a 6-Tony-Award-winning and highest grossing Broadway production in history. Yes, it's 'The Lion King,' which has reached more than 19 million theater goers in its North American tour, playing more than 70 cities across the continent, including Baltimore-'The Lion King' performs on Baltimore's Hippodrome stage now through Sunday, Dec. 10th.

New York Festival of Song continues its 30th anniversary season on Saturday, December 2, 2017 from 1:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., when NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett hosts a monumental eight-hour concert to celebrate Leonard Bernstein as part of the worldwide 'Bernstein at 100' festivities.

Des Moines Metro Opera opens its 46th Season on November 17 with As One, a one-act chamber opera for two voices and string quartet with music by Laura Kaminsky and libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed.

On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 8pm the Neave Trio (Anna Williams, violin; Mikhail Veselov, cello; Eri Nakamura, piano) will present a program entitled Three Piano Trios from America to the Moon at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music's Cary Hall

As part of the 2017/2018 CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Hippodrome Broadway Series, Disney's The Lion King opens tonight, Thursday, November 16, at the Hippodrome Theatre for a limited engagement of four weeks through Sunday, December 10.

If a spouse transitions from one sex to another in a state where gay marriage is illegal, is the marriage still valid? There are many possible reactions to that question, including heated discussion, juvenile giggling, or reactionary distaste. Composer Laura Kaminsky chose empathy for those most directly affected. The result was her first opera, and it is a striking statement at a time when empathy for anyone different is in short supply. As one, a chamber work for two singers and string quartet, does a compelling job of describing a transgender's struggle with sexual identity. It is the latest offering in the San Diego opera's d tour series, which features smaller-scale works outside the usual operatic repertoire. Kaminsky's choice of artistic partners was as fortunate as her timing. Kimberly Reed, a transgender woman, and Mark Campbell, one of today's most successful librettists, collaborated to produce a story that feels real and has emotional impact.

The Oratorio Society of New York has the distinction of having performed Handel's Messiah every Christmas season since 1874, and at Carnegie Hall every year the hall has been open since 1891 qualifying the OSNY's annual rendition of the holiday classic as a New York tradition of the highest order.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the sixth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. All of the program's world premiere operas are presented during the American Opera Initiative Festival weekend,January 19 21, 2018, all in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The festival begins with the world premiere of a new hour-long work by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, Proving Up, on January 19 and 21, 2018, directed by Alison Moritz and conducted by Christopher Rountree, both in their WNO debuts. Three new pairings of opera composers and librettists Nathan Fletcher and Megan Cohen, Gity Razaz and Sara Cooper, John Glover and Erin Bregman offer new, one-act operas during the festival. Two semi-staged concert performances of each 20-minute opera are presented on January 20, 2018.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its series of holiday operas with the world premiere presentation of The House without a Christmas Tree by the widely admired composer/librettist team of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek, in the HGO Resilience Theater at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The opera is based on the uplifting story by Gail Rock and the beloved 1972 television film of the same name about a family that is healed by the holiday spirit. A precocious daughter struggles to understand her father's resentment of the holidays and longs for a beautiful Christmas tree like other families have, to make her house look happy. The opera includes a new setting of the carol Gather Around the Christmas Tree, sung by a juvenile chorus. Tickets for the new venue are available at HGO.org. Group discounts are available. Parking for HGO's performances will be available at the Avenida North garage located at 1815 Rusk Street, across from HGO's new venue. A sky bridge connects the parking garage to the GRB, and there is clear signage directing patrons to the theater. More information about parking can be found here.

On Today, November 7 at 8:00 p.m., as part of the worldwide 'Bernstein at 100' celebration, NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG-'one of the longstanding delights of New York's music scene' (The New York Times)-opens its 2017-18 Mainstage series at Merkin Concert Hall with Take Care of This House: A Bernstein Celebration.

Inspired by Shubert's Wintereisse (A Winter's Journey), December Songs portrays a brokenhearted young woman, wandering the snowy paths of Central Park. In this contemporary tale of her journey, she finds the strength to recover and begin her life anew. Written by prolific Broadway Composer Maury Yeston (Nine, Titanic, Phantom), December Songs will be performed by Lisa-Marie Parker (Les Miserables, Cats, Blood Brothers).

Chicago Opera Theater (COT) presents 'The Consul,' a Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Gian Carlo Menotti. 'The Consul' is a modern opera whose subject matter has proven to have lasting relevance since its premiere in 1950.

As One, Laura Kaminsky's first opera, premiered in September 2014. While many contemporary operas are performed once and never heard again, it has been staged more often every year since then, and is already scheduled at nearly a dozen venues for 2018. In a recent phone interview Kaminsky and I spoke about that success, her peripatetic career, and what influences the music she writes.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE LION KING, SOMETHING ROTTEN and More!

The excitement in the air in Syracuse, New York has been going on for quite awhile since it was announced that the North American tour of The Lion King would be coming to the Landmark Theatre in late October. The time has finally arrived and the crowds are packed into the theatre, ecstatic to once again see the beloved hit musical's return.

It's Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1828 and the city's world-renowned anatomy schools are suffering from a cadaver shortage. Enter two immoral and highly industrious men--William Burke and William Hare--who pick up the slack by murdering disenfranchised citizens and selling their corpses to one of these schools, Dr. Knox's Academy. Perfect story for a chamber opera, eh? Well, yes, actually, says composer Julian Grant (even if it's opening a bit late for Halloween).

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Tamar of the River Reunion Concert on November 1, 2017 at 9:30pm.

Opera companies, schools and organizations across North America will celebrate the ninth annual NATIONAL OPERA WEEK from today, October 27 through Sunday, November 5, 2017, with nearly 200 opera activities in their communities.

American Lyric Theater presents A Toast to Ten Years, a wine tasting recital in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the company's lauded Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP), on Friday, November 17, 2017 at 7pm at The Players.