Deborah Nansteel News

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with a new English-language production of one of the most beloved and family-friendly operas in the repertory: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, May 3-18 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. The eye-popping new production features set and costume design by Japanese- American artist Jun Kaneko in his WNO debut, and will be sung in a new English version by WNO dramaturg Kelley Rourke. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Washington National Opera (WNO) celebrates its sixth season of free opera simulcasts at Nationals Park with title sponsor Mars, Incorporated for the M&M'S® Opera in the Outfield performance of Mozart's beloved classic The Magic Flute on Saturday, May 3, 2014. Sung in English and featuring a colorful kaleidoscope of sets and costumes by Japanese- American artist Jun Kaneko, The Magic Flute is a perfect opera for the entire family. Gates open at 5 p.m. for “pregame” activities, and the opera will be broadcast live from the Kennedy Center Opera House to the high-definition NatsHD scoreboard at the ballpark at 7 p.m. Free seating will be available in the stands, while access to the outfield will be limited on a first-come, first-served basis when gates open at 5 p.m. More information, including a chance to RSVP to win prizes, is available at OperaintheOutfield.org.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with a new English-language production of one of the most beloved and family-friendly operas in the repertory: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, May 3-18 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. The eye-popping new production features set and costume design by Japanese- American artist Jun Kaneko in his WNO debut, and will be sung in a new English version by WNO dramaturg Kelley Rourke. The opening-night performance on May 3 will be simulcast free to thousands of fans at Nationals Park as part of M&M'S® Opera in the Outfield. A special

From the depths of hell to the heights of paradise, the four great operas of Seattle Opera's 2014/15 season will take operagoers on a fantastic journey. During this important season, leadership will pass from Speight Jenkins, who has been General Director of Seattle Opera for a remarkable 31 years, to Aidan Lang, who was announced as Jenkins' successor in June, 2013.

Seattle Opera's 50th Anniversary season continues with The Consul, a riveting Cold-War thriller coming to McCaw Hall for the first time. In this tale, an inhuman bureaucracy poses a formidable obstacle for a woman desperate to flee a totalitarian state with her family. Menotti's intensely human score won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1950, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical Play and played for more than 100 performances on Broadway. Seattle Opera's production, which features several leading alumni of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, opens on Saturday, February 22, and runs for seven performances through Friday, March 7.

Fun for the whole family, this is a solid offering by the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of a new holiday family opera: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, today, December 14-22 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of a new holiday family opera: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, today, December 14-22 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of a new holiday family opera: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, December 14-22 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Check out the costume sketches by Erik Teague below!

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of a new holiday family opera: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, December 14-22 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Check out a behind-the-scenes look below!

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of a new holiday family opera: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, December 14-22 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with a new production honoring the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, one of opera's most legendary composers: The Force of Destiny, tonight, October 12-26 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Verdi's epic romantic and political drama, which hasn't been seen in Washington in nearly 25 years, will be presented in a daring and visually striking new production directed by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Conductor Xian Zhang, in her WNO debut, leads the WNO Orchestra in interpreting some of Verdi's most beautiful melodies.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2013-2014 season with a new production honoring the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, one of opera's most legendary composers: The Force of Destiny, October 12-26 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Verdi's epic romantic and political drama, which hasn't been seen in Washington in nearly 25 years, will be presented in a daring and visually striking new production directed by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Conductor Xian Zhang, in her WNO debut, leads the WNO Orchestra in interpreting some of Verdi's most beautiful melodies.

The Glimmerglass Festival kicked off its 2013 season on July 6 with a new production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Seattle Opera's 2012/13 season concludes in May with a double bill of compelling twentieth-century operas, both new to the company: La Voix Humaine, by Francis Poulenc, and Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica. Both these one-act operas follow fascinating women who must grapple with despair as they meet their fate; but the two works, like the composers who created them, are extremely different. In Poulenc's sensual monodrama, a woman stumbles through a minefield of emotions as she attempts to stay connected to her ex-lover over the telephone. Puccini's mystical tragedy tells the story of a young nun who learns of the death of the son she was forced to abandon. She kills herself yet miraculously passes into a state of grace. Performances begin tonight, May 4 and run through May 18.

Seattle Opera's 2012/13 season concludes in May with a double bill of compelling twentieth-century operas, both new to the company: La Voix Humaine, by Francis Poulenc, and Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica. Both these one-act operas follow fascinating women who must grapple with despair as they meet their fate; but the two works, like the composers who created them, are extremely different. In Poulenc's sensual monodrama, a woman stumbles through a minefield of emotions as she attempts to stay connected to her ex-lover over the telephone. Puccini's mystical tragedy tells the story of a young nun who learns of the death of the son she was forced to abandon. She kills herself yet miraculously passes into a state of grace. Performances begin on May 4 and run through May 18.

Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program concludes its 2012/13 season next month with a one-night-only concert celebrating one of opera's greatest composers.

Seattle Opera welcomes the seven artists selected for the 2012/13 season of its Young Artists Program-a season given in celebration of the Verdi bicentennial.