Alek Shrader News

The Atlanta Opera reinvents its business model for the 2020-21 season with the a?oeBig Tenta?? series.

The Met has announced a specially-curated, three-week schedule for its Nightly Met Opera Streams, a free series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on the company website during the coronavirus closure. The schedule includes an All-Verdi week, a 20th-Century Classics week, and an All-French week.

The company is taking its next step into the future of the art form with the launch of the Opera Philadelphia Channel, a global broadcast platform that will bring a revised 2020-2021 season into opera lovers' homes via their television screens and streaming devices.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a?? The Atlanta Opera announces the formation of the Atlanta Opera Company Players, featuring twelve world-class singers, all resident in Atlanta and the southeast, who will collaborate with the company's leadership team to reimagine its 2020a?'21 season.

Arizona Opera announced today that it will be replacing its planned a?oein-theatera?? productions for the 2020/21 Season with an array of exciting alternative programs that can be more safely enjoyed by a larger audience.

OPERA America is inviting artists, administrators, trustees, and audiences to 'A Toast to 50 Years,' a celebration of opera's progress and of OPERA America's 50th Anniversary, taking place today, Friday, May 15, from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. EDT.

Here's a look at how 'Light Shall Lift Us; Singers Unite in Song' (for OPERA America), a video project featuring 107 opera singers in “a song of hope and solidarity” by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell, came together to help raise up the spirits of their communities as we deal with COVID-19. It went 'live' on May 14 at 1:30 pm EST.

Today (May 12) in live streaming: It's the Day of the Show Y'all with Spencer Glass, Ken Davenport chats with James Snyder and so much more!

Today (May 11) in live streaming: Join the BroadwayWorld Book club, JRB and Georgia Stitt visit Stars in the House and so much more!

The Met has announced the Week 9 schedule for its Nightly Met Opera Streams, a free series of encore Live in HD presentations streamed on the company website during the coronavirus closure.

Some unclear choices keep a beautifully-designed and often well-sung GIOVANNI from making the impact it intends to.

Today, the Metropolitan Opera announced its 2020-21 season, the first in which Yannick Nézet-Séguin assumes his full breadth of musical duties as the company's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducting six productions. His schedule includes the Met premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the first contemporary opera conducted by the maestro on the Met stage, as part of his ongoing commitment to opera of our time at the Met, which will expand in the seasons to come.

San Francisco Opera's 2020 Summer SeasonSan Francisco Opera presents a trio of masterworks spanning the 18th century to the present for its 2020 Summer Season at the War Memorial Opera House June 7a?"July 3. In an update announced today, Caroline H. Hume Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani replacing James Gaffigan who has withdrawn from the production due to family reasons. The summer season will also include George Frideric Handel's Partenope in Christopher Alden's popular production and the Bay Area premiere of composer Mason Bates' kaleidoscopic exploration of life, love and creativity, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

Perhaps as composer Gioachino Rossini believed, at certain times, life might resemble a comic opera. For opera aficionados in the Twin Cities area, MN Opera at the Ordway Center presents a beloved classic by Rossini--The Barber of Seville. In this story about a rapscallion, yet well to do  barber named Figaro created by the 18th century playwright known as Beaumarchais, Rossini added a compelling score to Beaumarchais' play to complement Cesare Sterbini's libretto that brings Figaro to operatic life. The fun loving, well loved barber in Seville features into several popular operas to become some of Rossini's favorites  MN Opera transforms the already comic opera into a tour de force production by combining extraordinary singing with a sublime cartoon framework in the tradition of the commedia dell'arte, where masks used by the actors often underscore the action.

Joseph Mechavich conducts The Barber of Seville at Minnesota Opera November 9 - 17.

Semele recently opened at Opera Philadelphia and critics were in attendance. Find out what they had to say!

Edinburgh International Festival returns for its 73rd year on 2 - 26 August 2019, bringing the best of theatre, music and dance from across the world to Scotland's capital.

With over 20 companies presenting more than 25 events throughout the city, the Fest will once again prove how opera can be fresh, vital, and relevant, exploring contemporary themes of gender roles, LGBTQ rights, toxic masculinity, political satire, global warming, and more.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

On Saturday, January 12, 2019, the National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) will honor prolific choreographer and bold visionary Camille A. Brown (1997 YoungArts Winner in Dance & U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), and singular interdisciplinary designers Simon and Nikolai Haas of The Haas Brothers, with the 2019 Arison Alumni Award and Arison Award, respectively.