Beth Morrison News

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of O Columbia, a chamber opera created by an acclaimed team of artists: composer Gregory Spears, librettist Royce Vavrek, stage director Kevin Newbury, and conductor Timothy Myers-tonight and tomorrow, September 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Bayou Music Center.

(Los Angeles) September 17, 2015 — LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include the west coast premiere of Song from the Uproar, a new multimedia opera by Brooklyn-based composer Missy Mazzoli. This compelling new work is presented under LA Opera's Off Grand banner, which complements the company's mainstage programming through a wide variety of forms of artistic exploration. A unique combination of live music and original film, Song from the Uproar was inspired by the life and writings of early 20th-century explorer Isabelle Eberhardt. The audience witnesses key moments in her life: the death of her family, her journeys in the North African desert, her ecstatic religious conversion and, ultimately, her tragic drowning in a flash flood at the age of 27. 

Houston, July 21, 2015— Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of O Columbia, a chamber opera created by an acclaimed team of artists: composer Gregory Spears, librettist Royce Vavrek, stage director Kevin Newbury, and conductor Timothy Myers—on September 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Bayou Music Center. O Columbia examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration and celebrates the identity of America's frontiersmen and women. O Columbia will be HGO's 57th world premiere.

Tickets for LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season, featuring beloved classics, exciting fan favorites and invigorating new works, will go on sale to the general public this Sunday, June 28, at 10am. Tickets may be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001 or in person, from 10am to 6pm, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office, located at 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012.

LA Opera concludes its 2014/15 season with the west coast premiere of Dog Days, a shocking work by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek that incorporates elements of opera, musical theater and rock. Based on a powerful short story by Judy Budnitz, Dog Days is set in the aftermath of an unimaginable catastrophe as a family struggles to survive. The teenage daughter clings to hope, unwilling to accept their dire situation, until a disturbing stranger shows up at the doorstep.

LA Opera concludes its 2014/15 season with the west coast premiere of Dog Days, a shocking work by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek that incorporates elements of opera, musical theater and rock. Based on a powerful short story by Judy Budnitz, Dog Days is set in the aftermath of an unimaginable catastrophe as a family struggles to survive. The teenage daughter clings to hope, unwilling to accept their dire situation, until a disturbing stranger shows up at the doorstep.

LA Opera concludes its 2014/15 season with the west coast premiere of Dog Days, a shocking work by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek that incorporates elements of opera, musical theater and rock. Based on a powerful short story by Judy Budnitz, Dog Days is set in the aftermath of an unimaginable catastrophe as a family struggles to survive. The teenage daughter clings to hope, unwilling to accept their dire situation, until a disturbing stranger shows up at the doorstep.

New Brew Performs Select Scenes From: The Curse of the Rat King: Trav S.D. (libretto) and David Mallamud (music) have been collaborating on this campy comic opera since 2010. It is a post-modern mash-up of Universal horror films, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the writings of Sigmund Freud, and numerous other elements. On the bill with him will be selections from Three Way, by David Cote (libretto) and Robert Paterson (music), which has been described as “a kind of NC-17 Il trittico”, and two works with lyrics by UTC#61's Edward Einhorn: The Velvet Oratorio (music by Henry Akona) and Money Lab (music by Avner Finberg).

New Brew Performs Select Scenes From: The Curse of the Rat King: Trav S.D. (libretto) and David Mallamud (music) have been collaborating on this campy comic opera since 2010. It is a post-modern mash-up of Universal horror films, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the writings of Sigmund Freud, and numerous other elements. On the bill with him will be selections from Three Way, by David Cote (libretto) and Robert Paterson (music), which has been described as “a kind of NC-17 Il trittico”, and two works with lyrics by UTC#61's Edward Einhorn: The Velvet Oratorio (music by Henry Akona) and Money Lab (music by Avner Finberg).

Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, has announced the company's 2015/16 season. This will be the 30th season presented by the company, created by Mr. Domingo in collaboration with Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon and President and CEOChristopher Koelsch. The company's 30th anniversary season will include six mainstage productions and two concerts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with a total of 40 performances taking place in that venue, as well as 13 performances presented elsewhere through the company's Off Grand initiative. The season will open onSeptember 12, 2015, and will run through June 19, 2016.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, has announced the first recipients of Commissioning Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. These grants help support the commissioning of works by talented women composing for the stages of OPERA America Professional Company Members.

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE have announced programming for the third annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running today, January 7-17, 2015, in New York City.

This holiday season, Kristin Marting, Kim Whitener, and Beth Morrison are making their lists and checking them twice. In mid-January, they'll be producing seven separate shows over ten days as part of PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now, a festival of opera-theatre and music-theatre. While PROTOTYPE is only in its third year, it has already established itself as the crucible for contemporary opera and theater in New York City. BWW sat down with the three co-producers at HERE, PROTOTYPE'S epicenter, to chat about each of the upcoming festival's unique offerings.

(American Opera Projects) and Adelphi University present Independence Eve, a new chamber opera in three scenes that explores the troubled journey of race relations in America. The concert performances will take place on Thursday, November 13 at 7:30PM at the Concert Hall of the Performing Arts Center at Adelphi University (1 South Ave, Garden City, NY 11530), with a second performance on Saturday, November 15 at 8PM in the Great Room at AOP's South Oxford Space (138 S Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217). Composed by Sidney Marquez Boquiren with a libretto by Daniel Neer, the opera will include performances by baritone Jorell Williams, and tenor Brandon Snook. Damian Norfleet will act as stage director, while Mila Henry will provide music direction and piano.

Over 160 opera companies, schools and organizations across North America will celebrate the sixth annual NATIONAL OPERA WEEK from today, October 24 through Sunday, November 2, 2014, with opera activities and announcements in their communities. National Opera Week is coordinated by OPERA America, the national service organization for opera.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) today announced the participants of the third cycle of the BAM Professional Development Program (BAM PDP), led by BAM and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland. The companies for this session represent mixed disciplines ranging from dance to theater to opera. Chosen by a BAM-convened panel, the organizations taking part in this session are Encompass New Opera Theatre, Satellite Collective, Summation Dance, and Treehouse Shakers. As with the previous sessions, the DeVos Institute extended invitations to a group of organizations to apply for the training portion of the BAM PDP-expanding the program's reach beyond Brooklyn-based companies. These additional organizations taking part in the program areBalletNext, Beth Morrison Projects, S? Percussion, and Zvi Dance.

VisionIntoArt (VIA), the non-profit company founded by Brooklyn-based composer Paola Prestini, is pleased to announce the launch of a record label, VIA Records, with three inaugural albums this fall. The formation of the label expands upon VIA's already vast body of work, which, over the last ten years, has included commissioning and producing new music by a wide range of artists. VIA Records will help to broaden the canon of new multimedia works through the commissioning and recording of artists on VIA's roster.

VisionIntoArt (VIA), the non-profit company founded by Brooklyn-based composer Paola Prestini, is pleased to announce the launch of a record label, VIA Records, with three inaugural albums this fall. The formation of the label expands upon VIA's already vast body of work, which, over the last ten years, has included commissioning and producing new music by a wide range of artists. VIA Records will help to broaden the canon of new multimedia works through the commissioning and recording of artists on VIA's roster.

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE have announced programming for the third annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running January 7-17, 2015, in New York City.

On September 13, LA Opera kicks off an exciting 2014/15 season with La Traviata. Following the success of the mesmerizingly beautiful Thais,Plácido Domingo and soprano Nino Machaidze come together once again in this Giuseppe Verdi classic under the baton of Music Director James Conlon. Maestro Conlon will also conduct our highly anticipatedFigaro Trilogy which follows the development of Figaro, one of opera's most famous characters, from barber to bridegroom to older-but-still-wily servant in Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (Feb. 23-Mar. 1, 2015), Rossini's The Barber of Seville (Feb. 28-Mar. 22, 2015) and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (Mar. 21-Apr. 12, 2015).