Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director, Lawrence Edelson announced today updated casting and additional events to be featured as part of the company's 2019 Summer Festival, beginning May 25th, 2019 and running through July 14th, 2019. In addition to the three previously announced productions of The Daughter of the Regiment, the world premiere of Ellen West, and Hansel and Gretel, Opera Saratoga will present a new series of master classes; a community symposium on
Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop) has announced that it will produce Intimate Apparel, a new opera with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her critically acclaimed play. The production, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, February 27 and open on Monday, March 23 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).
On Friday, June 28, 2019, Navona Records releases EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS, a new recording from Grammy-winning new-music choir, The Crossing, featuring works by six contemporary composers: Edie Hill, Gregory W. Brown, James Shrader, Bruce Babcock, Jonathan Sheffer, and Christopher J. Hoh. Exploring humanity in all its facets, EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS grapples with aspects of life, both mortal and eternal, drawing texts from a variety of sources including songs of praise from the Biblical era, a reimagining of a Shakespearean sonnet, and contemporary poetry.
The 2019 Bard SummerScape festival takes a contemporary look at Hollywood's Golden Age in Acquanetta, a visual and musical tour-de-force inspired by the eponymous B-movie star with a mysterious past. Combining theater, opera, and film in a haunting meditation on identity, transformation, stereotypes, and typecasting from composer and Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon and his longtime collaborator, librettist Deborah Artman, Acquanetta originally premiered at the PROTOTYPE Festival, where it was a New York Times and New York magazine "Critics' Pick" and one of the New York Classical Review's "Top Ten Performances of 2018."by Daniel Fish, whose previous SummerScape staging (a revelatory new take on Oklahoma!), scoring the visionary director a 2019 Tony nomination.
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra announces the 2019 NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute composers and their winning works. The composers include Dan Caputo (USC) with his work Liminal, Patrick O'Malley (USC) with his work Rest and Restless, Iv n Enrique Rodr guez (Juilliard) with his work A Metaphor for Power and Bora Yoon (Princeton) with her work The Encyclopedia of Winds.
On Wednesday, May 8 (7 pm), the five 2019 Fellows in Kaufman Music Center's Luna Composition Lab mentorship program for young, female-identifying, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers will premiere their commissions at Merkin Hall. As part of Kaufman Music Center's multi-year Solar Flare series, the program also includes Shelley Washington's A Kind of Lung, Mary Halvorson's Spirit Splitter and music by Alex Temple. Tickets are $15, available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org. The concert will also be live-streamed via Kaufman Music Center's Facebook page.
Pigeonholed presents #yourmemorial, a new play written by Emily Daly and directed by Emily Lyon, from May 9-26, 2019 at HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue, NYC (entrance on Dominick, one block south of Spring). Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1009680 or by calling 212-352-3101. For more information, visit HERE.org.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas today announced complete details for Festival 2019, which opens on June 8 and continues for two weeks through June 22 in New Haven, Connecticut.
On May 13, the OBIE-winning HERE will honor MacArthur fellow Taylor Mac and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation ArtsProgram at BLOOM, HERE's annual spring gala. The evening celebrates Mac, a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, performance artist, director and producer and "critical darling of the New York scene" (New York Magazine) who also has been HERE's resident playwright since 2016. Mac's current Broadway debut, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, was commissioned by HERE and written during Mac's residency.
HERE welcomes composer and singer Gelsey Bell, OBIE and Doris Duke award-winning playwright Julia Jarcho, and NAACP-nominated theatre-maker Nia O. Witherspoon as new members of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP).
Chicago Opera Theater's Orli and Bill Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya and Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General Director Ashley Magnus today announced the plans for the company's 47th season, to include productions of two exciting contemporary operas, a Chicago premiere by Rachmaninov, and the company's second world premiere commission. Yankovskaya will conduct each of these Chicago Opera Theater (COT) productions.
Grammy-winning new-music choir, The Crossing, announces a program change to its current concert season with For Joe on Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 8pm at The Crossing's home, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. For Joe honors the life of Joseph Flummerfelt, the preeminent choral conductor of our time who passed away on March 1. Flummerfelt was a former teacher of conductor Donald Nally and together they wrote the 2011 book Conversations With Joseph Flummerfelt: Thoughts on Conducting, Music, and Musicians.
Trinity Church Wall Street's Time's Arrow festival (March 5-9), known for its signature combination of early and new music, focuses this spring on amplifying the voices of female artists and exploring sensitive contemporary themes. The centerpiece of the festival is a juxtaposition of two musical portraits of the biblical figure Susanna: Handel's oratorio Susanna, and Artemisia, an opera by Laura Elise Schwendinger, with a libretto by Ginger Strand. Complementing these large-scale pieces is a concert centered on works by Barbara Strozzi, the most prolific composer of secular vocal music in Venice in the mid-17th century and a renowned poet who likely wrote many of her own texts. Performed by Trinity Choir soprano Molly Netter, the concert also features world premieres by Jessica Meyer, Doug Balliett, Alyssa Weinberg, and others (March 8). A Pipes at One concert on that same day, featuring Trinity Associate Organist Janet Yieh, will also reflect the Time's Arrow theme, with compositions by Rachel Laurin, Florence Price, Lili Boulanger, Clara Schumann, and others. All performances take place in the intimate surroundings of St. Paul's Chapel, a Georgian-era gem just a few blocks north of Trinity, and the oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast and creative team for HOME. This production is led by Obie Award-winning physical theatre artist Geoff Sobelle and his ensemble of actors, dancers, and designers.
Placido Domingo has announced the company's 2019/20 season. The season will include six mainstage operas, one musical, one recital and one concert presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with additional performances presented in other venues through the company's Off Grand initiative.
On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, American Composers Orchestra (ACO) celebrates four individuals - true forces of nature - who have effected change in the American musical landscape at its annual Gala: Jon Deak, Founder & Artistic Director of New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers; violinist Jennifer Koh; composer and conductor Tania Leon; and Frederick Wertheim, ACO Board Chairman.
OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that 16 participants from the United States, Canada and Latin America have been selected for its 2019 Leadership Intensive program. These future industry leaders were chosen through a competitive selection process focusing on candidates' potential to make significant contributions to the opera field. This program is made possible by the generous support of American Express.
Chicago Opera Theater (COT) continues its 2018/2019 season with the Chicago premiere of the contemporary opera "The Scarlet Ibis." Composed by Stefan Weisman with libretto by David Cote, "The Scarlet Ibis" was declared an "outstanding new chamber opera" by David Allen of The New York Times upon its debut at the 2015 Prototype Festival. Chicago Opera Theater presents the first full production of this operatic adaptation of James Hurst's 1960 short story (apart from its festival debut), featuring the artistry of stage director Elizabeth Margolius and conductor David Hanlon. The opera stars Annie Rosen (who also performed in COT's season-opening production of "Iolanta") as Brother and Jordan Rutter as Doodle.
