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BAM Kicks Off 2016 Winter/Spring Season of Theater, Dance, Music and Opera by BWW News Desk
- January 16, 2016 Brooklyn Academy of Music kicks off programming for its 2016 Winter/Spring Season today, January 16, running through June 12, and comprising theater, dance, music, opera and visual art events in the institution's three venues-the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, the BAM Harvey Theater, and the BAM Fisher.
Arizona Opera's Ryan Taylor To Lead Minnesota Opera by BWW News Desk
- January 15, 2016 Arizona Opera Board Chairman Robert Tancer has announced that Ryan Taylor has accepted the position of Minnesota Opera's General Director. Minnesota Opera is one of the top opera companies in the country, and the organization where Ryan began his career in opera as a Resident Artist.
Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio Recruits Seven New Artists by BWW News Desk
- January 15, 2016 Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals, welcomes seven outstanding new artists for the 2016/2017 season: sopranos Danika Lorènand Samantha Pickett, mezzo-sopranos Emily D'Angelo, Lauren Eberwein and Megan Quick, baritone Bruno Roy, and pianist Stéphane Mayer. The seven artists join the Ensemble Studio in August 2016 and become part of an illustrious program that, since its inception in 1980, has launched the careers of over 215 Canadian singers, opera coaches, mainstage directors and conductors.
Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces Schedule for General Chorus Auditions, 3/7 by BWW News Desk
- January 15, 2016 CHICAGO - Lyric Opera of Chicago will hold auditions in March 2016 for experienced, classically trained singers who are seeking professional positions in the company's choral ensemble for the 2016-17 season.
LA Opera Appoints Matthew Aucoin as First Ever Artist-in-Residence by BWW News Desk
- January 14, 2016 (Los Angeles) January 14, 2016 — Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, announced today that Matthew Aucoin—the composer, conductor, pianist and writer recently hailed by The New York Times Magazine as 'opera's great 25-year-old hope'—will join the company as its first ever Artist in Residence. The three-year appointment, which will begin in the company's forthcoming 2016/17 season, represents a major step forward in LA Opera's longstanding commitment to the development of music and composers of our time.
Seven Young Artists to Join COC's Ensemble Studio During 2016-17 Season by BWW News Desk
- January 14, 2016 The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals, welcomes seven outstanding new artists for the 2016/2017 season: sopranos Danika Lorèn and Samantha Pickett, mezzo-sopranos Emily D'Angelo, Lauren Eberwein and Megan Quick, baritone Bruno Roy, and pianist Stéphane Mayer. The seven artists join the Ensemble Studio in August 2016 and become part of an illustrious program that, since its inception in 1980, has launched the careers of over 215 Canadian singers, opera coaches, mainstage directors and conductors.
COC Music Director Johannes Debus Renews Contract Through 2020-21 Season by BWW News Desk
- January 14, 2016 Canadian Opera Company audiences can look forward to five more years with Johannes Debus as the company's Music Director. The news of Debus' contract renewal through to the company's 2020/2021 season was announced today by COC General Director Alexander Neef at the public launch of the COC's 2016/2017 season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Houston Grand Opera to Premiere THE ROOT OF THE WIND IS WATER, 5/13 by BWW News Desk
- January 14, 2016 Houston, January 13, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of The Root of the Wind Is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, directed by Matthew Ozawa, on May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Wortham Theater Center and on May 15 at 7 p.m. at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. Presented under the auspices of HGOco, the company's community collaboration and education initiative, The Root of the Wind Is Water explores the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf Coast through the eyes of the residents who call the region home. The opera will be HGO's 61st world premiere.
The Florentine Opera to Premiere SISTER CARRIE This Fall by BWW News Desk
- January 13, 2016 Milwaukee, WI -- The Florentine continues to craft its seasons with a blend of imaginatively staged classic operas and important new American works. The nation's sixth oldest opera company will launch the 83rd Season with the world premiere of SISTER CARRIE, a new work by the two-time Grammy Award-winning creators of Elmer Gantry.
BWW Review: PERLES of Wonder from Damrau and Polenzani at the Met by Richard Sasanow
- January 13, 2016 One more BOHEME? Yet another TOSCA? How about BARBIERE redux? Sometimes the standard repertoire of opera companies seems too standard. That's why it was good to hear that the Met was mounting Bizet's LES PECHEURS DE PERLES for the first time in a century, as a showcase for one of its top divas, Diana Damrau with tenor Matthew Polenzani, one of the company's secret treasures.
Opera Paralléle and SFJazz to Co-Present CHAMPION, 2/19 by BWW News Desk
- January 13, 2016 San Francisco's Opera Parallele and SFJAZZ will present their first collaboration: a new, fully staged production of Champion: An Opera in Jazz by Terence Blanchard, SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, with eight performances to be given February 19-28, 2016 at SFJAZZ Center. Based on the life of African-American, bisexual boxing champion Emile Griffith (1938-2013), the production marks both Opera Parallele's first foray into an operatic jazz idiom and SFJAZZ's first opera. Performances will be given at 7:30 pm Friday--Sunday, February 19, 20 and 21; Tuesday and Wednesday, February 23 and 24; Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27; and at 4 pm Sunday, February 28 and tickets are priced $30-$185. For more information, visit www.operaparallele.org and www.sfjazz.org .
New Opera Showcase Set for Trinity Wall Street, 1/18 by BWW News Desk
- January 12, 2016 OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, announces the details for the New Opera Showcase, taking place on Monday, January 18 at 8:00 p.m. at historic Trinity Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. The Showcase offers artists, producers and audiences a unique opportunity to hear some of the most exciting operas being composed today.
Ecce Ensemble to Present World Premiere of SWITCH Opera, 2/12 by BWW News Desk
- January 12, 2016 Cambridge, MA (FOR RELEASE 1.11.16) — As the 2015-16 contemporary music ensemble-in-residence at Cambridge's Le Laboratoire, the Ecce Ensemble premieres Switch, a contemporary opera written and composed by John Aylward, directed by Laine Rettmer (Loft Opera), and conducted by Jean-Philippe Wurtz (Ensemble Linea). Featuring two vocalists—Amanda DeBoer Bartlett (soprano) and Mikhail Smigelskii (bass-baritone)—backed by the Ecce Ensemble, Switch explores the relationship between an artist and his muse. In addition to two consecutive weekends of performances, Ecce hosts two free, complementary events open to the public at Le Lab: Re-Imagining Contemporary Opera, an artist talk with Aylward and Rettmer on February 3rd at 6:30 p.m.; and Composers' Reading Session, a workshop/presentation of young local composers' chamber works led by Wurtz on February 15th at 12:00 p.m.
Opera Australia to Present MAZDA OPERA IN THE DOMAIN, 1/23 by BWW News Desk
- January 12, 2016 Pack your picnic basket and get ready for a night of incredible opera, as Mazda Opera in the Domain is just around the corner, with some of Opera Australia's most renowned singers performing crowd favourites throughout the evening.
San Francisco Opera Announces 2016-17 Season by BWW News Desk
- January 12, 2016 San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2016–17 Season repertory and roster of international guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House, as well as initial programming for SF Opera Lab 2017 presentations at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Taube Atrium Theater. The Company's 94th Season will also mark Matthew Shilvock's inaugural year as San Francisco Opera's new general director, succeeding his mentor and internationally respected impresario, David Gockley, who will step down on July 31, 2016.
Washington National Opera to Open 2016 with Apartheid-Era Opera LOST IN THE STARS by BWW News Desk
- January 11, 2016 Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 60th anniversary season with the company premiere of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's LOST IN THE STARS, February 12-20 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.
Opera Star Leah Crocetto Featured in CURRAN: UNDER CONSTRUCTION Series, 2/4 by BWW News Desk
- January 11, 2016 Carole Shorenstein Hays announced today that for the next subject of Groundbreakers with Kevin Sessums, the Curran's Editor-at-Large will sit down with award-winning opera star Leah Crocetto, for a special evening titled “Leah Crocetto Talks Opera and Sings Jazz.” Sessums will discuss Crocetto's early years in the New York cabaret scene, her rise to fame in the opera world, and her deep connection to the San Francisco Opera. Crocetto, who recently opened the SFO's 2015 season with her electrifying performance in the title role of Luisa Miller and made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Liù in Turandot, will perform three numbers throughout the evening.
Photo Flash: First Look at Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien & More in Met Opera's LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES by BWW News Desk
- January 09, 2016 The Met's acclaimed new production of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been staged by the company in a century, will be transmitted on Live in HD for the first time on Saturday, January 16 at 12:55pm ET. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and directed by Penny Woolcock, Bizet's sweeping romance tells the story of a beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand. Diana Damrau leads the cast as the priestess Leïla, opposite Matthew Polenzanias Nadir, Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and Nicolas Testé as the high priest Nourabad. Highlights of the score include 'Au fond du temple saint,' perhaps the best-known duet for two male voices in the operatic repertory.
2016 Richard Tucker Opera Gala 'FROM BOCELLI TO BARTON' to Air on PBS as Part of Live From Lincoln Center by TV News Desk
- January 08, 2016 LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER - the multiple Emmy Award-winning performing arts series that for more than 40 years has showcased the best of the wide-ranging programming from the world's leading performing arts center - will broadcast the opera world's most highly anticipated event of the season on February 5, 2016. The annual Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala concert features some of opera's biggest stars, including Andrea Bocelli, Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Isabel Leonard, Christine Goerke, Lawrence Brownlee, Stephen Costello, Nadine Sierra, and Piotr Bezcala, along with this year's Richard Tucker Award winner, Jamie Barton. Supporting the singers will be members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Choral society under the baton of Eugene Kohn. Live From Lincoln Center's 'From Bocelli to Barton: The Richard Tucker Opera Gala' will air on Friday, February 5, 2016, at 9:00 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), and will be hosted by Audra McDonald.
Kitchen Opera Company to Present World Premiere of QUICKSAND, 1/28 by BWW News Desk
- January 08, 2016 The Kitchen is pleased to present the world premiere of Quicksand, an opera-novel for music, dance, and light, composed from a novel of the same name by the late Robert Ashley. Quicksandfeatures a narrative entirely sung by Ashley, movement by legendary choreographer Steve Paxton, a light environment by David Moodey, and an electronic orchestra by Tom Hamilton. Performers include Steve Paxton, Maura Gahan, and Jurij Konjar.
Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Announces Resignation of Molly Sasse French by BWW News Desk
- January 08, 2016 January 7, 2016 - Chattanooga, TN - Molly Sasse French, Executive Director of the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, has announced her resignation effective January 31, 2016, after being on medical leave since the beginning of November. Sasse French is resigning in order to focus on her health and family. "Molly Sasse French became the Executive of the CSO when its very existence was challenged by changes in funding and by a difficult economy," stated CSO Past Board President, Spencer McCallie. "She brought together an efficient and effective staff, controlled expenses, increased fundraising, and enhanced our musical and educational missions to the community. The CSO Board is grateful for her extraordinary leadership. We also thank her for the pleasure we
have had serving with her on the CSO Board."
Vancouver's Opera Mariposa Launches Mariposa Theatre Wing; To Open Season With Terrence McNally's MASTER CLASS, 2/19 by BWW News Desk
- January 08, 2016 Opera Mariposa, an acclaimed Vancouver company for local and emerging artists, is celebrating its fourth season with a landmark expansion. In February the organization is launching the Mariposa Theatre Wing (MTW), which will present plays and musicals with operatic elements. A fundraising campaign for the MTW is live right now on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, and the theatre wing will open with the Tony Award-winning play Master Class on February 19-28.