Richard Strauss News

Following The Cleveland Orchestra's critically acclaimed 2015 European Tour and Vienna Residency, Music Director Franz Welser-Most and the Orchestra announce details of their summer 2016 European Festivals Tour, August 18-24, 2016.

The Dallas Opera is thrilled to present six women conductors of international stature making music with The Dallas Opera Orchestra and a host of outstanding young artists in one great evening designed to showcase the work of the inaugural Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera.

Migenes' performance was like taking a step back to the 1930s, watching the remarkable Lotte Lenya performing her husband's songs during the time he collaborated with Bertolt Brecht to create atonal melodies meant to shock audiences into realizing the masses were, like today, being controlled by the wealthy, upper 1% of society. "Lotte Lenya herself came backstage after I performed Mahagonny and gave me a rose," Migenes says. "That is one of my most precious memories." No doubt the two women were connected to their souls, given how Migenes interpreted her songs.

PITTSBURGH – The annual tradition returns! The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck perform waltzes and polkas from his home country of Austria on November 27 and 29 at Heinz Hall as part of the BNY Mellon Grand Classics season.

Bass-baritone Eric Owens will continue his tenure as The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence with performances, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, of Richard Strauss songs - "Ruhe, meine Seele," Op. 27, No. 1; "Ca?cilie," Op. 27, No. 2; "Pilgers Morgenlied," Op. 33, No. 4 - and the Final Scene from Act III of Die Walku?re, alongside soprano Heidi Melton in her Philharmonic debut. The program also includes Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Sibelius's En saga, one of several programs this season honoring the 150th anniversary of Sibelius's birth. The performances take place Thursday, January 7, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 8 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, January 9 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Celebrated mezzo-soprano Julia Migenes (Diva on the Verge) returns to the Odyssey Theatre with her newest show, once again directed by Academy Award-nominated director Peter Medak. JULIA MIGENES SINGS KURT WEILL opens at the Odyssey Theatre tonight, November 18, running Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. for five weeks through December 19. BroadwayWorld has a look at Migenes in performance below!

Celebrated mezzo-soprano Julia Migenes (Diva on the Verge) returns to the Odyssey Theatre with her newest show, once again directed by Academy Award-nominated director Peter Medak. Julia Migenes Sings Kurt Weill opens at the Odyssey Theatre on November 18, running Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. for five weeks through December 19. BroadwayWorld has a first look at Migenes in performance below!

PITTSBURGH - The annual tradition returns! The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck perform waltzes and polkas from his home country of Austria on November 27 and 29 at Heinz Hall as part of the BNY Mellon Grand Classics season.

The 93rd season of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) will begin on Saturday, December 12, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. with the program "Fables and Folktales," the first in this season's series, Once Upon a Time, exploring music inspired by stories, poems, and legends. The season's first concert will feature Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Brandon Gill; Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks; and the first performance of selections from the orchestral version of Raphael Mostel's Travels of Babar, Part One: The Honeymoon, accompanied by a digital slideshow of high-resolution scans of Babar author Jean de Brunhoff's watercolors. Joshua Gersen, in his first season as a Philharmonic Assistant Conductor, will make his Philharmonic debut leading the performance, and Vice President, Education, Theodore Wiprud will host the event.

Music Director and Principal Conductor Christopher Confessore leads the Brevard Symphony for the Orchestra's second subscription concert of the 2015-2016 season on Saturday, November 21, 2015, at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne.

The New York Philharmonic will present Rachmaninoff: A Philharmonic Festival, tonight, November 10-28, 2015, featuring 24-year-old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performing three of the composer's piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini over the course of three consecutive all-Rachmaninoff programs, each led by a different conductor: Cristian Macelaru (in his Philharmonic debut), Neeme Jarvi, and Ludovic Morlot.

?Named "Best Female Singer" at the 2014 International Opera Awards, German soprano Diana Damrau appears in recital with pianist Craig Rutenberg at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, December 6 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Ms. Damrau and Mr. Rutenberg perform German lieder by Schubert and R. Strauss, French songs by Poulenc and Manuel Rosenthal, and Dvo?ak's Zigeunermelodien.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in an all-Mozart program: his Divertimento in D major, K.136/125a; Horn Concerto No. 2, with Principal Horn Philip Myers; and Serenade for 13 Winds, Gran partita. The concerts take place tonight, November 4, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 6 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 7 at 8:00 p.m.

The Board of Opera Naples is pleased to announce that Dennis Hanthorn has been appointed General Director of Opera Naples, effective November 15, 2015. The announcement comes following a six month international executive search guided by Arts Consulting Group, resulting in over 70 applications.

James Gaffigan will make his New York Philharmonic subscription debut conducting the World Premiere of Andrew Norman's Split, for piano and orchestra, composed for Jeffrey Kahane, who will be the soloist. The program also includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Richard Strauss's tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. The concerts take place Thursday, December 10, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, December 11 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, December 12 at 8:00 p.m.

One thing you should know about Richard Strauss's ELEKTRA: When it's done right, the audience works itself into a fever pitch and—after the orchestra has played the final notes—it stands and screams its head off. I've seen this before and it happened again the other night, with sopranos Christine Goerke in the title role and Gun-Brit Barkmin as her sister Chrysothemis, in an exhilarating performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under its music director Andris Nelsons.

Tchaikovsky's soulful Symphony No. 4 portrays his battle against fate, the cold-hearted power he believed ruled his life. Guest pianist Haochen Zhang, co-winner of the Gold Medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, will expertly undertake the consummate challenges of the Prokofiev piano concerto, and Maestro Milanov will bring to vivid life the heartless seducer of Strauss' tone poem Don Juan.

Semyon Bychkov will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct works composed or inspired by Brahms: Brahms's Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, with violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuc?on; Detlev Glanert's Brahms-Fantasie; and Brahms's Symphony No. 1.

Me & She Productions and ManyTracks Inc. present a revival of Evan Smith's THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, a saucy comedy exploring the imperfections of blind faith and the thorny issues of religious dogma. Directed by Katrin Hilbe, previews begin November 27 at the cell with opening set for December 6.