Christopher Bozeka News

Victor DeRenzi, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, and Richard Russell, Executive Director, are pleased to announce the casting for the 2021 Winter and Spring Opera Festivals.

On June 30 Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts welcomed the Wolf Trap Opera Summer 2020 residency program cohort consisting of 18 Filene Artists, 17 Studio Artists and five Fellows. They joined Wolf Trap Opera (WTO) from across the country and around the globe for six weeks of operatic study and training.

On June 30 Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts welcomed the Wolf Trap Opera Summer 2020 residency program cohort consisting of 18 Filene Artists, 17 Studio Artists and five Fellows.

R. Strauss's powerful psychodrama Salome returns to Houston Grand Opera for the first time in 20 years in a production directed by Francisco Negrin. The revolutionary score reinvents Oscar Wilde's biblical drama of a deeply disturbed princess who has fallen in love with Jokanaan (John the Baptist). After he denies her, she performs the infamous and seductive a?oeDance of the Seven Veilsa?? for King Herod in exchange for John's head.

Ars Lyrica Houston has announced its 16th season, which introduces a new chamber series at Rienzi alongside its popular mainstage subscription series at the Hobby Center. Highlights of the 2020/21 season, entitled Turning Points, include two operas, one a contemporary work for solo voice and historic instruments and the other a full-dress Baroque opera with period dancing and poignant drama. Timeless stories and transcendent music animate Ars Lyrica's 2020/21 programming, as this Grammy-nominated ensemble continues to offer Houston audiences the finest in live period-instrument performance.

Verdi's timeless Aida returns to the Wortham stage in an awe-inspiring new production directed by Phelim McDermott. This stunning new design is enhanced by the incorporation of visionary artists Basil Twist's silk choreography. Set in ancient Egypt during the pinnacle of war, the captive princess Aida falls in love with a conquering general and must choose between true love and loyalty to her country. Verdi's powerful music heightens the unforgettable story of betrayal and sacrifice.

a?oeSecret love bound by silence.a?? Once the most performed opera of its time, Donizetti's bel canto drama, La favorite, features some of the most challenging arias ever written. Woven into this nowa?"rarely performed opera is a classic love triangle among a noblewoman, king and warrior. Set in early 14th century Spain, this triangle involves the King of Castile Alphonse XI, the beautiful Léonor and a novice monk, Fernand. In the background, the Moors have invaded Spain, and a power struggle has begun between church and state. Opera powerhouse and HGO Studio alumna Jamie Barton and international star Lawrence Brownlee return to Houston for this HGO premiere. World-renowned opera, film, theater and event director Kevin Newbury directs La favorite.

Continuing its tradition of presenting largely forgotten and exotic operas of the 18th- and 19th-centuries, Opera Southwest will open its 47th Season with the chance to hear and see Giovanni Bottesini's Alì Babà, Sunday afternoon, October 20, 2019 at 2 pm, Friday evening, October 25, 2019 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday afternoon, October 27, 2019 at 2 pm, all at Albuquerque's Journal Theatre (National Hispanic Cultural Center 1701 4th Street SW Albuquerque NM 87102).

Ars Lyrica Houston, the Grammy nominated early music ensemble, celebrates its 15th-year anniversary with the announcement of the 2019/20 season entitled "National Treasures." This season explores iconic moments in diverse European cultures, from Venice in the late 17thcentury through Madrid in the early 19thcentury. With a range of musical styles and genres accompanied by dance, visual art, and dramatization, this season illuminates defining moments in French, Italian, English, German, and Spanish cultural history. 

The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This production of Sweeney Todd remains faithful to the original Broadway show, and features an all-star cast, including Michael Mayes in his role debut as Sweeney Todd, and Maria Zifchak as Mrs. Lovett. Timothy Myers will conduct in a company debut, and Albert Sherman, who has directed Sweeney Todd under the mentorship of Harold Prince, will serve as production director.

The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This production of Sweeney Todd remains faithful to the original Broadway show, and features an all-star cast, including Michael Mayes in his role debut as Sweeney Todd, and Maria Zifchak as Mrs. Lovett. Timothy Myers will conduct in a company debut, and Albert Sherman, who has directed Sweeney Todd under the mentorship of Harold Prince, will serve as production director.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 2015 – The Merola Opera Program's Summer Festival concludes with its 2015 artists performing in the Merola Grand Finale tonight, August 22 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conductor Antony Walker will lead the orchestra and 2015 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Mo Zhou will stage the program, featuring works by Gounod, Bellini, Tchaikovsky, Jake Heggie, Nikolai, Verdi, Rossini, Humperdinck, Mascagni, and Offenbach. The performance is a culmination of the 12-week Merola Opera training program, and all 23 of the 2015 Merola singers will perform, under the coaching and direction of their fellow artists. A special artists' reception follows the Grand Finale (tickets sold separately).

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 2015 – The Merola Opera Program's Summer Festival concludes with its 2015 artists performing in the Merola Grand Finale Saturday, August 22 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conductor Antony Walker will lead the orchestra and 2015 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Mo Zhou will stage the program, featuring works by Gounod, Bellini, Tchaikovsky, Jake Heggie, Nikolai, Verdi, Rossini, Humperdinck, Mascagni, and Offenbach. The performance is a culmination of the 12-week Merola Opera training program, and all 23 of the 2015 Merola singers will perform, under the coaching and direction of their fellow artists. A special artists' reception follows the Grand Finale (tickets sold separately).

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's (CCM) Department of Choral Studies presents a strikingly diverse and unique series of concerts this spring.

Five voice students were named winners of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's (CCM) 2014 Opera Scholarship Competition, which was held Saturday, March 15, in UC's Corbett Auditorium. The annual competition welcomes current and incoming CCM voice students to compete for scholarships and cash prizes, and a panel of judges composed of opera industry professionals selects each year's class of prizewinners.