Tom Rand

Two classic Puccini operas and a hidden opera gem make up Welsh National Opera's Love's Poisoned Chalice season, taking audiences on a journey of love, passion, heartbreak and tragedy through some of opera's greatest tear jerking music.

Mint Theater Company will present a one-night "Further Reading" of Waters of the Moon by N.C. Hunter on Monday August 15th (7pm) at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (home to Mint's current production, Hunter's A Day By The Sea, opening August 25).

The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H), led by Artistic Director Harry Christophers, opens the 2014-2015 Bicentennial Season on October 10 and 12 with the joyous program, Baroque Fireworks! H+H turns 200. The celebration continues with performances of historically significant works that H+H introduced to American audiences in the 19th century (Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Haydn's Creation). The Bicentennial Season culminates in the spring and summer with an interactive exhibit at the Boston Public Library exploring H+H's history, a world premiere work by prominent American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and a free outdoor performance of Beethoven's epic Ninth Symphony ('Ode to Joy').

The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H), led by Artistic Director Harry Christophers, opens the 2014-2015 Bicentennial Season on October 10 and 12 with the joyous program, Baroque Fireworks! H+H turns 200. The celebration continues with performances of historically significant works that H+H introduced to American audiences in the 19th century (Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Haydn's Creation). The Bicentennial Season culminates in the spring and summer with an interactive exhibit at the Boston Public Library exploring H+H's history, a world premiere work by prominent American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and a free outdoor performance of Beethoven's epic Ninth Symphony ('Ode to Joy').

No es facil que Madrid se convierta en la capital operistica del mundo, sin embargo, con el estreno de Brokeback Mountain lo ha conseguido.

One of the highlights of the 2014 operatic season, Brokeback Mountain is a new opera composed by Charles Wuorinen after the original short story of Annie Proulx. On February 7, medici.tv streamed the world premiere opera live, and now you can watch the full production HERE.

Month in and month out, medici.tv takes music lovers to one-of-a-kind concert happenings around the world - the next best thing to being there. The next great medici.tv experience is tomorrow, Friday, February 7, at 2pm EST, with the live webcast of Charles Wuorinen's opera Brokeback Mountain, in its much-anticipated premiere production at Madrid's Teatro Real. Wuorinen, the 75-year-old composer who has both a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur 'genius' grant to his credit, based his opera on the short story of the same name by fellow Pulitzer-winner Annie Proulx, who also penned the libretto (her first). The heartbreaking story of a complex emotional-sexual relationship between two Wyoming cowboys over 20 years starting in 1963 earned wide renown in Ang Lee's 2005 film version, which won three Academy Awards among many other international prizes. The New York Times first-night review of the Madrid production called Wuorinen's opera 'a serious work, an impressive achievement,' praising the 'intricate, vibrantly orchestrated and often brilliant score that conveys the oppressiveness of the forces that defeat these two men.' The review also described the stage production by Belgian director Ivo van Hove as 'starkly beautiful,' with the conducting by Titus Engel drawing 'a pulsing, incisive performance' from the orchestra. The opera stars Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and American tenor Tom Randle as the closeted ranch hands Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist. The Times review pointed out: 'The cast, to a member, embraces every chance to maximize every lyrical bit in the vocal writing.'

Gerard Mortier and the New York City Opera have commissioned Charles Wuorinen, an American composer, to turn Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain into a work for the operatic stage. Proulx wrote the libretto, and Wuorinen completed the opera in 2012. The premiere was postponed after New York City Opera's General Director, Gerard Mortier, resigned. The project was then again taken up by Mortier at the Teatro Real in Madrid and is set to premiere today, January 28, 2014.

The Handel and Haydn Society (H&H), led by Artistic Director Harry Christophers, opens a musical celebration of the holiday season with its 160th annual performances of George Frideric Handel's masterpiece Messiah, November 29-December 1, 2013, at Symphony Hall. The celebration continues with A Bach Christmas, an intimate program of Baroque music; and Holiday Sing, a participatory family program of carols and choral music for the season.