David T. Little News

Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) recently received a $1 million gift from the Lauridsen Family Foundation in support of the Company's Words & Music at the Carnegie Capital Campaign. Other leadership gifts have been received from Charlotte and Fred Hubbell, Nancy Main, Kathleen Picken, Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey, Ardene and Bob Downing, The Laverty Foundation and Cherie and Bob Shreck. The $3.5 million campaign was begun in June of 2016 and in less than a year more than $3 million has been raised.    

Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) recently received a $1 million gift from the Lauridsen Family Foundation in support of the Company's Words & Music at the Carnegie Capital Campaign.

ANGEL'S BONE, by Du Yun with a libretto by Royce Vavrek was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The opera--a bold work that that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world--debuted on January 6, 2016 at the Prototype Festival, 3LD Arts and Technology Center in New York.

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today details of the company's full line-up of thrilling productions scheduled to take the stage during the 2018 season, running April 27 – May 13. In 2018, the company will offer opera lovers an entirely new Festival experience with the first production of Richard Wagner's magnificent fantasy opera Das Rheingold; Gaetano Donizetti's hysterical bel canto gem, Don Pasquale; and composer Astor Piazzolla's genre-defying tango opera, María de Buenos Aires. The Festival will also usher in the sixth year of Fort Worth Opera's critically-lauded new works showcase, Frontiers, featuring eight unpublished operas from some of the most talented composers and librettists in the 21st-century.

NYFOS Next at New York Festival of Song-concludes its season Wednesday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. at National Sawdust with a theatrical evening from Lauren Worsham, Kyle Jarrow, and Sky-Pony.

Now in its nineteenth year, MATA Festival is back at The Kitchen on April 25 - 29 with an overflowing bounty of the newest music.

American Lyric Theater (ALT) and The Morgan Library & Museum present ALT Alumni: Composers & Librettists in Concert on Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 3pm at The Morgan Library & Museum in the Gilder Lehrman Hall, 225 Madison Avenue, NYC. 

Music Director Alan Gilbert begins his final weeks by leading the New York Philharmonic in Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The program juxtaposes the tragedy and optimism of human experience through Schoenberg's depiction of the horror of the Holocaust and the message of hope, brotherhood, and joy in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw will feature Gabriel Ebert as narrator (in his Philharmonic debut) and the men of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will feature soprano Camilla Tilling, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack (debut), tenor Joseph Kaiser (debut), bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller. The performances will take place Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, May 6 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. The program will be presented without intermission.

Now in its nineteenth year, MATA Festival is back at The Kitchen on April 25 - 29 with an overflowing bounty of the newest music. Representing 31 early-career composers from seventeen countries, it offers a singular opportunity for New Yorkers to grasp the complete spectrum of new music emerging today - from gritty European modernism to experiments in theater, sound, and acoustics. This year's concerts include seven world premieres (including three MATA commissions), fifteen US premieres, and six NY premieres. 

American Opera Projects (AOP) announces the return of its popular Composers & the Voice program for its 2017-19 seasons. Created and led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, eight composers and librettists will be selected for two-year fellowships to learn the fundamentals of writing for the voice and opera stage.

Peak Performances will present the world premiere of Quixote, from composer-librettist Amy Beth Kirsten and director-designer Mark DeChiazza, March 23-26.

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera), in partnership with Telemundo, celebrates the first year of its bold new initiative, Noches de Ópera (Nights of Opera), with Fiesta Fort Worth, a family-friendly party in Sundance Square Plaza featuring a simulcast of the smash-hit mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna for thousands of spectators.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America's longest running festival of new orchestral music, celebrates the arrival of its brilliant new Music Director and Conductor, Cristian M?celaru, with a sensational series of commissioned works that continue the Festival's forward-looking tradition and opens creative doors for its dynamic young conductor.

American Opera Projects (AOP) announces the return of its popularComposers & the Voice program for its 2017-19 seasons. Created and led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, eight composers and librettists will be selected for two-year fellowships to learn the fundamentals of writing for the voice and opera stage. Workshop sessions with professional opera singers, mentors, and instructors are held at AOP's home base in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Applications and complete information will be available beginning March 15 atwww.aopopera.org/composers_voice. The deadline for applications is April 28 with fellowships announced by July 1.

American Composers Orchestra (ACO), under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan, continues its 40th Anniversary Season on Friday, March 24, 2017 at 7:30pm with Orchestra Underground: Past Forward at Carnegie Hall's subterranean Zankel Hall.

The University Musical Society (UMS) will offer a free online livestream of Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion's performance of Steve Reich's Sextet and Music for 18 Musicians on Saturday, March 18.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce it has awarded grants to 10 opera companies through The Opera Fund: Audience Development grant program, which promotes deep learning experiences about new or infrequently produced American operas and music-theater works. Each grant supports audience development activities associated with a specific work being produced by a Professional Company Member of OPERA America.

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera's 2017-18 season in recognition of the company's 40th anniversary.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.