Benjamin Britten News

On Site Opera, an organization dedicated to presenting site-specific opera productions in non-traditional venues throughout New York City, announces its dynamic 2019-2020 season. As the company has grown in recent years, they have established a season that includes three core mainstage productions, The Turn of the Screw, October 25-27, Amahl and the Night Visitors, December 4-8, and Das Barbecu, January 26-February 11, along with additional partnerships and events beyond the boundaries of the New York City boroughs in summer of  2020. 

The New School's College of Performing Arts (CoPA) announces its fall 2019 season highlights, featuring a series of exciting world premieres and newly commissioned works.

Following a highly acclaimed tour in 2018, The Original Theatre Company and The Anthology Group in association with Peter Stickney and York Theatre Royal's production of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART will return and tour the UK in 2020. Directed by Philip Franks and starring Matthew Kelly as Fitz (W. H. Auden) and David Yelland as Henry (Benjamin Britten). The tour begins on 18 March 2020 at Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne.

The Last Night of the Proms is the culmination of the world's biggest musical festival. It's less a concert, more a cultural experience. The Royal Albert Hall is transformed with flags, banners, balloons and a tangible party atmosphere. The occasional glimpse of an inflatable flamingo or helium parrot just added to the evening's charm and eccentricity.

Billy Budd recently opened at San Francisco Opera and the critics were in attendance! Find out what they had to say.

San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Chronicle present the latest edition of the annual Opera in the Park concert at 1:30 pm on Sunday, September 8, 2019.

One of the nation's most adventurous opera companies, Odyssey Opera, begins its seventh season with a concert performance of Henry VIII (1883) by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The schism in England) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. This kick-starts the company's 2019-20 season featuring concert and staged operas about the great English dynasty of the 16th century: the Tudors. With libretto by Léonce Détroyat and Armand Silvestre, Henry VIII brings to life one of history's most infamous love triangles featuring baritone Michael Chioldi as King Henry, soprano Ellie Dehn as Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and mezzo-soprano Hilary Ginther as Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 97th season on Friday, September 6 with Charles Gounod's romantic Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette) and two season-opening benefit eventsa?"Opera Ball 2019: The Capulets' Masked Ball and BRAVO! CLUB's Opening Night Gala. The Company's opening weekend also includes Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd in director Michael Grandage's acclaimed production opening on September 7; and on September 8 San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, the annual free concert tradition celebrating the opening of the opera season.

One of the nation's most adventurous opera companies, Odyssey Opera, begins its seventh season with a concert performance of Henry VIII (1883) by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The schism in England) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7a?"22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the a?oepowerfula?? (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd.

Acclaimed ballerina, Julia Farron, has died on July 3 at the age of 96. Her death has been confirmed, but it is unknown where she passed, according to The New York Times.

a?oeParisians hiss new balleta?? read The New York Times upon the première of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (with choreography from the renowned Vaslav Nijinsky) back in 1913; it supposedly sparked riots as the audience reacted badly to this daring piece of music, though it's thought that the strange new dance moves were the real focus of their wrath. Fast forward to the 21st century, and the piece is firmly established as a classic of its era a?" the Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School performing it as part of this year's BBC Proms season.

One of the nation's most adventurous opera companies, Odyssey Opera, begins its seventh season with a concert performance of Henry VIII (1883) by French composer Camille Saint-Saens based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The schism in England) by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. 

Alarm Will Sound today announces the release of its latest album The Hunger, out Friday, August 23, 2019 on Nonesuch Records. The Hunger is a riveting modern cantata by renowned contemporary composer Donnacha Dennehy rooted in the emotional, political, and socioeconomic devastation of Ireland's Great Famine (1845-52) and features performances by Alarm Will Sound, soprano Katherine Manley, and sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Jeanmarie (Simpson) Bishop, Founding Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Matters, refers to incoming Co-Artistic Director Wendy Warwick White as 'the ultimate renaissance woman.'

Wave Hill is proud to announce a collaboration with On Site Opera (OSO) to present Benjamin Britten's operatic ghost story, The Turn of the Screw, October 25-27, 2019. This immersive production will take place on Wave Hill's grounds, indoors and out, with audience members following the characters to each location.

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is unquestionably one of the finest choirs in the world. Founded in the 15th century and drawing on an unbroken tradition of musical excellence, the Choir has captured the hearts of listeners all around the world. Generations of Australian audiences have thrilled to the exquisite beauty of the Choir's annual Christmas festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, in radio broadcasts from the BBC; in July and August this year, they have the opportunity to hear these inspirational singers in the flesh, as the Choir embarks on a national tour for Musica Viva Australia.

On Site Opera (OSO) will present Benjamin Britten's operatic ghost story, The Turn of the Screw, at Wave Hill, a public garden and former estate in the Bronx, October 25-27, 2019. The immersive production will unfold in several locations around the estate, both indoors and outdoors, with audience members following the characters from place to place.

Since the summer of 2005, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (HPAF) has continued to bring world-class music to Hawaii Island. Over the past fifteen years, HPAF has garnered an international reputation as a premiere training and performance program for aspiring young artists worldwide, many of whom have gone onto significant careers as singers, conductors, directors, orchestral musicians, and teachers. Each season, HPAF assembles an exceptional roster of faculty artists who provide instruction and appear in a series of events for the Big Island community. From June 24 through July 21, HPAF will present nearly 20 public performances at a number of notable island venues from Kona to Hilo, featuring both student and faculty artists.