Andrew Stenson News

A major highlight of MasterVoices' 77th season will take place on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Israel in Egypt, Handel's timely oratorio of exile and displacement, reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea. In collaboration with The Juilliard School, MasterVoices will feature soloists who are current students or alumni from the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, including sopranos Mikaela Bennett and Jessica Niles, countertenor John Holiday, baritone Gregory Feldmann and bass-baritone Erik Van Heyningen, as well as rising star tenor Andrew Stenson.

MasterVoices and its 150 choristers opens its 77th season on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's Israel in Egypt. The timely oratorio of exile and displacement is reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea.  

A major highlight of MasterVoices' 77th season will take place on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Israel in Egypt, Handel's timely oratorio of exile and displacement, reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea. 

The Dallas Opera is extremely proud to present the season opener of the company's grand 2018-2019 "Swept Away" Season: Richard Wagner's haunting nineteenth-century masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Hollander), a work not seen on The Dallas Opera stage since January of 1994.

Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices, announced details of the acclaimed ensemble's 77th season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect since 1941. The upcoming season will be framed by two major musical events, the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's oratorioIsrael in Egypt performed at Carnegie Hall, and a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin-Moss Hart avant-garde musical, Lady in the Dark, starring Victoria Clark at New York City Center. Lady in the Dark has not been seen in New York since it was presented at New York City Center in 1994 as part of the inaugural Encores! season.

Lincoln Center's MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL is over for the season and finished up with a program that was an oddity because it wasn't mostly Mozart (or no Mozart) but all Mozart. Well, hooray for the 18th century. I was happy to be back in the bosom of the festival's namesake. Does that make me a bad person?

Opera Theatre St. Louis continues its 43rd season of exceptionally fine opera with another world premiere. An American Soldier is their twenty-seventh such premiere, a record which sets OTSL among the forefront of producers of new opera in America.

If you didn't find a performance to attend in the first part of this series--or you simply can't get enough operas, symphonic concerts and musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure--here's more to choose from. It covers the gamut from the Mozart REQUIEM to Bernstein, Bernstein and more Bernstein.

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER--music by Huang Ruo and libretto by David Henry Hwang, directed by Matthew Ozawa--opened at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) on June 3. The opera asks the powerful question: What does it mean to be an American? It is based on the true story of a young Chinese American, who enlisted in the Army during the war in Afghanistan and became victim of military hazing that led to his suicide. The artists spoke about the creation of the piece at the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series.

From Sunday, June 3 through Friday, June 22, 2018, conductor Michael Christie will lead the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere performances of An American Soldier, the new two-act opera by Huang Ruo and Henry David Hwang, at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road). Tenor Andrew Stenson (Danny Chen), mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu (Mother Chen), and soprano Kathleen Kim (Josephine Young) make debuts with OTSL and join bass-baritone Wayne Tigges (Sergeant Aaron Marcum) and director Matthew Ozawa for this production.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Excerpts will be performed from An American Soldier, a new two-act opera based on the true story of Danny Chen, proud American and son of Chinese immigrants residing in Manhattan's Chinatown. After enlisting in the U.S. Army, Chen is welcomed in boot camp, but in Afghanistan, his own base becomes enemy territory as military hazing turns deadly, posing powerful questions about what it means to be an American. Librettist David Henry Hwang and composer Huang Ruo discuss their collaboration with James Robinson, OTSL Artistic Director, and Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of the Museum of Chinese in America, prior to the opera's World Premiere in Saint Louis. Excerpts performed by Fang- Tao Jiang, Andrew Stenson, and Guang Yang, accompanied by pianist Lachlan Glen.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: An American Soldier with David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera's 2018-19 season. Featuring two new productions by the company's in-house Production Studios, Utah Opera's 41st season runs from October 2018 to May 2019 and comprises three main-stage productions at Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and a semi-staged production at Abravanel Hall.

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera's 2018-19 season. Featuring two new productions by the company's in-house Production Studios, Utah Opera's 41st season runs from October 2018 to May 2019 and comprises three main-stage productions at Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and a semi-staged production at Abravanel Hall.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

A menagerie of fantastical creatures, colors, and sounds awaits at Seattle Opera's The Magic Flutethis May. Prince Tamino and his comical sidekick Papageno set out to rescue The Queen of the Night's daughter. But their quest takes on unexpected turns as they soon realize not all is as it seems in this fairytale land.