Alan Held News

The Canadian Opera Company has closed another successful opera season by recording an average attendance of 90% for 2012/2013. A total of 114,133 patrons attended the 61 performances of the company's seven mainstage productions this season in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts: Verdi's Il Trovatore, Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Richard Strauss's Salome and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites.

Single tickets for The Cleveland Orchestra's 2013 Blossom Music Festival go on sale Tuesday, May 28, online at clevelandorchestra.com, by telephone, and in person at the Severance Hall Ticket Office.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2013 spring season marks the return of celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan with his searing, critically acclaimed COC production of Richard Strauss's Salome.

Richard B. Worley, chairman of The Philadelphia Orchestra, joined Opera Philadelphia Chairman Daniel K. Meyer today to announce plans for a first-ever artistic collaboration in the 2013-14 season-a theatrically-inspired production of Richard Strauss's compelling and provocative masterpiece, Salome. The performances, set to take place on Thursday, May 8, and Saturday, May 10, 2014, in the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall, will be led by Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin. With this initial collaboration, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Philadelphia reinforce their strong commitment to delivering more diverse offerings to audiences in Philadelphia and beyond through groundbreaking performances and innovative collaborations. This new partnership leverages Opera Philadelphia's reputation as a dynamic producer of theatrical opera, and The Philadelphia Orchestra's standing as one of the preeminent orchestras in the world.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2013-14 season. Music Director Franz Welser-Most will introduce a Fall Festival, pairing symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich, and an all-Brahms weekend with two programs featuring Brahms's Violin Concerto and his Second and Fourth Symphonies. Mr. Welser-Most brings opera back to Severance Hall, with a semi-staged production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Guest artists returning to Severance Hall include Leon Fleisher, Mitsuko Uchida, Radu Lupu, and conductors Christoph von Dohnanyi, Pierre Boulez, and Herbert Blomstedt. The Orchestra celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten with performances of his Spring Symphony, Violin Concerto, and Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2013 spring season marks the return of celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan with his searing, critically acclaimed COC production of Richard Strauss's Salome.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2013 spring season marks the return of celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan with his searing, critically acclaimed COC production of Richard Strauss's Salome.

Over three days of preliminary auditions today, February 25 through the 27th, 2013, approximately 90 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 42nd annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin and President and CEO Allison Vulgamore today announce the 2013-14 season of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the 2013 Blossom Music Festival season. The Orchestra will present 19 concerts at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Valley National Park from July 3 - September 1.

Over three days of preliminary auditions on February 25-27, 2013, approximately 90 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 42nd annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

The Canadian Opera Company unveiled its 2013/2014 season today at a press conference at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The company's 64th season stars the world's best singers, conductors, directors and designers in a performance year with seven operas, including three COC premieres and three new COC productions. The COC presents Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème with a new production featuring some of Canada's brightest stars; COC Music Director Johannes Debus makes his Benjamin Britten debut when he conducts Peter Grimes with a production starring acclaimed Canadian tenor Ben Heppner in the iconic title role; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte with a new COC production by renowned film and theatre director Atom Egoyan with Debus conducting; Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera starring great Canadian diva Adrianne Pieczonka in a role debut; George Frideric Handel's Hercules with a COC premiere and new COC production by world-renowned director Peter Sellars with a star-studded cast; Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux with a COC premiere starring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in a role debut; and Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte with a COC premiere featuring Debus in another conducting debut and the world's pre-eminent bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

The New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Carnegie Hall under the baton of David Hayes, making his debut as Music Director tonight, December 18th at 8pm for a presentation of two choral works.

The New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Carnegie Hall under the baton of David Hayes, making his debut as Music Director on Tuesday, December 18th at 8pm for a presentation of two choral works. The concert will open with O magnum mysterium by Pulitzer-prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Written for chorus accompanied by a small, novel musical ensemble, O magnum mysterium is an innovative, harmonically rich work that marvels at the mystery of Jesus' birth, setting the stage perfectly for the Berlioz oratorio that follows. In L'Enfance du Christ, Berlioz tells a dramatic and moving story of Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Jesus in the days following his birth. It's a story about their flight to save their baby from King Herod's murderous plot, the rejection they meet with along their way, and the kind but unlikely stranger who finally offers them a refuge in his home. Berlioz masterfully combines soloists, orchestra and chorus in this composition. Soloists are Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; William Burden, tenor; Alan Held, bass-baritone, and Richard Bernstein, bass. This concert will be presented with English supertitles.

OPERATHON 2012, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 33rd anniversary by raising $482,465 during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 20, exceeding the $450,000 goal.

The Canadian Opera Company has announced that, after four months of negotiations, the company's offer to the membership of Canadian Actors' Equity Association and the Toronto Musicians Association has been rejected. An agreement would have allowed the COC to continue to produce, in partnership with the CBC, broadcasts of the COC's entire 2012/2013 season on CBC Radio 2 and Radio-Canada's Espace Musique. These broadcasts have been in place since the fall of 2009.

Single tickets go on sale to the general public today, Aug. 1, for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 58th season. The internationally renowned company will present grand opera with exceptional casts and productions in its beautiful home, the historic Civic Opera House. Lyric will offer 68 performances of 9 operas in the 25-week season, including 6 new-to-Chicago productions, Saturday, October 6, 2012, through Saturday, April 6, 2013.