Duane Schuler News

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm. Check out the trailer, behind-the-scenes videos and more below!

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.

CHICAGO – Lyric Opera of Chicago's spectacular 60th Anniversary season continues with Capriccio, starring Renée Fleming in one of her signature roles as Countess Madeleine and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Richard Strauss's final masterpiece reunites these longtime collaborators in performance and colleagues as Lyric's creative consultant and music director respectively.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary season continues with Capriccio, starring Renée Fleming and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, longtime collaborators in performance and colleagues as Lyric's creative consultant and music director respectively. Richard Strauss's final opera “reunites Renée in a signature role with Sir Andrew, in a lovely production previously seen here in 1994,” says Anthony Freud, Lyric's general director.

To open its 60th anniversary season, Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a brand-new production by renowned director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).

Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”

April 26, 2014 marks the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth. In honor of this milestone in world culture, Houston Ballet will present dance interpretations of great Shakespearean works by choreographers from three continents: a lavish new production of Romeo and Juliet by Stanton Welch; the company premiere of John Neumeier's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a revival of John Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew.

Casting for the seventh and eighth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2014 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

I hardly know where to begin in describing the beautiful, world-class, but dramatically uneven production of the beloved and immortal 'The Sound of Music' that opened at the Civic Opera House over the weekend. All the resources of Lyric Opera of Chicago have been brought to bear on a brand-new production of a title that is known throughout the world, and the result is occasionally thrilling--a feast for the eyes, and usually one for the ears as well.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents a stunning new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Broadway musical The Sound of Music, April 25-May 25, 2014, at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Tickets start at $29 and are available now atlyricopera.org/soundofmusic or at 312-827-5600. Check out a first look at highlights below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents a stunning new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Broadway musical The Sound of Music, tonight, April 25-May 25, 2014, at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Billy Zane, star of James Cameron's international blockbuster Titanic and critically acclaimed for his portrayal of Billy Flynn in Broadway's Chicago, has been cast as Captain von Trapp, completing principal casting for Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of The Sound of Music, tonight, April 25-May 18, 2014.

Lyric Opera of Chicago General Director Anthony Freud announced today four additional performances due to popular demand for Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Broadway musical The Sound of Music, April 25-May 25, 2014, at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Additional performance dates are Today, May 23 at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 24 at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 25 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets start at $29 and are available now at lyricopera.org/soundofmusic or at 312-827-5600.

Lyric Opera of Chicago General Director Anthony Freud announced today that two major Broadway and TV performers – Jenn Gambatese and Edward Hibbert – have been cast in the new production and company premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's iconic The Sound of Music, to be presented at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, in Chicago, this spring.

Lyric Opera of Chicago General Director Anthony Freud announced today four additional performances due to popular demand for Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Broadway musical The Sound of Music, April 25-May 25, 2014, at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Additional performance dates are Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 24 at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 25 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets start at $29 and are available now at lyricopera.org/soundofmusic or at 312-827-5600.

Lyric Opera of Chicago General Director Anthony Freud announced today four additional performances due to popular demand for Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved Broadway musical The Sound of Music, April 25-May 25, 2014, at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Additional performance dates are Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 24 at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 25 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets start at $29 and are available now at lyricopera.org/soundofmusic or at 312-827-5600.

(Los Angeles) December 19, 2013 - General Director Placido Domingo announced updated details for LA Opera's first production of Lucia di Lammermoor since 2003. Conducted by Music Director James Conlon and directed by Elkhana Pulitzer in her LA Opera debut, the new production stars Albina Shagimuratova in the title role as the dagger-wielding Scottish lass and Saimir Pirgu as her secret lover, Edgardo. Lucia di Lammermoor will open today, March 15, 2014, and run for a total of six performances through April 6 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.