Eric Owens News

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971.

Just after hearing the wonderfully well sung, semi-staged DAS RHEINGOLD at the NY Philharmonic, under departing Music Director Alan Gilbert, I saw the current Broadway revival of THE LITTLE FOXES. It seemed Richard Wagner's gods and Lillian Hellman's Hubbards had lots in common: The small-minded, self-serving gods of this production, at least, could have been friends and neighbors of the mendacious, corrupt Southerners in Hellman's play (or even of a would-be-royal family in Washington, DC).

The Glimmerglass Festival has appointed acclaimed bass-baritone Eric Owens as Artistic Advisor.

Kristine Opolais stars in her first Met performances of her breakthrough role, the title character in Antonin Dvoák's Rusalka, in a critically acclaimed new staging, directed by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Mark Elder, on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, June 18 at 12 p.m. on PBS

In an interview with The New York Times, Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb revealed that the 2019-20 season would feature a new production of Porgy and Bess, directed by Bartlett Sher and starring Grammy-award winner Eric Owens.

On May 20, 2017, the National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) will present "Little Boy Lost: One Child's Story of Life Behind Bars," a collaborative work that amplifies the voices of incarcerated youth through the story of 20-year-old Miami native Damien Duncan. The performance is part of YoungArts' celebrated Outside the Box series, which engages the community with free, multidisciplinary performances that take place outside of the iconic Jewel Box on the YoungArts Plaza.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) congratulates the 53rd class of U.S. Presidential Scholars, with special acknowledgement to the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic (photo: Chris Lee) In 2009, the year Alan Gilbert took over as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker: “Simply put, the orchestra is playing better than it has in the seventeen years that I've been a critic in New York.” The intervening years have seen Gilbert go from strength to strength, with critics and audiences alike responding with generous enthusiasm to the superb quality of the performances and to the new initiatives that transformed the orchestra into “a force of permanent revolution” (New York magazine).

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) announces the establishment of The Roger Rees Fund for Musical Theater, honoring the late stage, film and television actor Roger Rees and celebrating the company's long, warm and fruitful artistic collaboration with him.  

In the third of Alan Gilbert's final four subscription weeks as New York Philharmonic Music Director, he will lead an enhanced concert production of Wagner's Das Rheingold. Soloists include bass-baritone Eric Owens as Wotan, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Fricka (in her New York Philharmonic debut), baritone Christopher Purves as Alberich (debut), tenor Russell Thomas as Loge, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor as Erda, bass Morris Robinson as Fasolt (debut), bass Stephen Milling as Fafner (debut), soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Freia (debut), tenor Brian Jagde as Froh (debut), bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Donner (debut), tenor Peter Bronder as Mime (debut), soprano Jennifer Zetlan as Woglinde, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano as Wellgunde, and mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford as Flosshilde. The enhanced concert production will be directed by Louisa Muller with costume design - featuring character-based treatment of modern concert attire - by David C. Woolard. The performances will take place Thursday, June 1, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.

On Thursday, April 20, the National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) will welcome 280 of New York City's top cultural and community leaders, philanthropists, celebrities and art aficionados to the second annual YoungArts New York Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing. Presented in collaboration with luxury brand Swarovski, with support from Max Mara, the event will be hosted by honorary co-chairs Debbie Allen, Agnes Gund and Sir Salman Rushdie, as well as gala co-chairs Sarah Arison and Thomas Wilhelm, and Gillian Hearst Simonds and Christian Simonds. The YoungArts New York Gala will be emceed by former Gossip Girl and The Knick actress Zuzanna Szadkowski (1997 Winner in Theater and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), and will feature an elegant reception and seated dinner by Restaurant Associates. Throughout the evening, a series of interdisciplinary performance vignettes will be directed by YoungArts alumni Jake Goldbas (2007 Winner in Jazz), featuring soul singer and songwriter Grace Weber (2006 Winner in Voice and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), jazz singer, songwriter and bassist Kate Davis (2009 Winner in Jazz and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), R&B/pop singer and songwriter and The Voice Season 8 Top 5 contestant India Carney (2011 Winner in Theater, Voice and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), modern dancer Javon Jones (2016 Winner in Dance and inaugural Max Mara Young Visionary Award recipient) alongside four recent YoungArts dance alumni, and more.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), closes its 75th anniversary season with Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland on April 27, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019). The production will be conducted and directed by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature Kelli O'Hara (Contrary Mary), Bill Irwin (Master Toymaker), Christopher Fitzgerald (Alan), Lauren Worsham (Jane), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Tom Tom), Jonathan Freeman (Uncle Barnaby), Chris Sullivan (Gonzorgo), Jeffrey Schecter (Roderigo), Michael Kostroff (Chief Inspector Marmaduke), and Blair Brown (The Narrator), with the 130 singers of MasterVoices and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Musical Staging by Andrew Palermo, Costume Consulting by Tracy Christensen, and Concert Adaptation by Joe Keenan and Ted Sperling.

Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Bartonis the heroic Fenena. Russell Thomas is Ismaele, nephew to the King of Jerusalem and Dmitry Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people.

The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met as the title king in Nabucco, under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, May 7 at 12 p.m.on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

The 2017 Schwabacher Debut Recitals series concludes on Sunday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m., with a recital by a trio of San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows featured with collaborative pianist Warren Jones in a program of Italian and French repertoire.

Greg Louganis - the diving legend who first swept the Olympics in 1984 and 1988 - will serve as celebrity host when Maestro LUKE FRAZIER and THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA - Washington, DC's innovative hometown orchestra - will conclude their all-star 2016-2017 season with You Spin Me 'Round: An 80's Dance Party.

Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin (“Love From Afar”), one of the most highly praised operas of recent years, airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 2 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

Maestro LUKE FRAZIER and THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA - Washington, DC's innovative hometown orchestra - will conclude their all-star 2016-2017 season with You Spin Me 'Round: An 80's Dance Party on Friday, April 7 at 8:00 PM atThe George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium (730 21st Street NW, Washington, DC). Put on your dancing shoes and travel back in time to the era of neon, teased hair, and shoulder pads as the American Pops interpret the popular music of the 1980's. This "rad" original program combines DJ mixing, live orchestra, dancers, and hot vocalists to bring back favorite music of the 1980's in a whole new way. 80's inspired attire is encouraged. Our talented performers lead the party and will get you into the groove like it's 1989. Tickets to the show are on sale now at www.TheAmericanPops.org.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts)'s 2017 YoungArts New York program will take place from April 25 to 30 and will offer approximately 75 of this year's YoungArts Winners - some of the country's most talented artists ages 15 to 18 years old - life-changing opportunities to learn, connect and collaborate with their peers and renowned artists across disciplines.

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.