Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is pleased to announce the promotion and addition of new members to its music staff. Katherine Kozak, continuing in the position of Chorus Master at Florida Grand Opera and celebrating 20 years in the opera industry, will be promoted to also serve as Head Coach of the company's Young Artist Program. Howard Lubin will serve as Senior Coach, and Paul Schwartz and Paul Kovacovic will fill the roles of staff accompanists.
Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2016–2017 season with a new production of Gaetano Donizetti's mashup of slapstick comedy and charming romance—The Daughter of the Regiment, November 12–20, 2016, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. The cast is led by superstar tenor Lawrence Brownlee as the hero Tonio and fast-rising soprano Lisette Oropesa, who starred as Susanna earlier this season in WNO's The Marriage of Figaro, as Marie. While the opera is best known for the vocal acrobatics required of its singers, the high-comedy antics of the non-singing role of The Duchess of Krakenthorp often steal the show. On opening night, November 12, 2016, the role of The Duchess will be performed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her official Washington National Opera stage debut. The brand-new WNO production is directed by acclaimed Broadway director and choreographer Robert Longbottom, and the WNO Orchestra is led by rising conductor Christopher Allen, both in their WNO debuts.
National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, begins its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with A Gershwin Celebration onFriday, October 21, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.
A spectacular new production of Disney's The Little Mermaid kicks off at The 5th Avenue Theatre this holiday season. Featuring the critically acclaimed work of Director Glenn Casale, this beloved tale of a young mermaid's coming-of-age adventure is told like never before. Previously announced casting includes Seattle's own Diana Huey as Ariel and Matthew Kacergis as Prince Eric, with Broadway's Jennifer Allen as Ursula andSteven Blanchard as King Triton. Melvin Abston, Connor Russell and Jamie Torcellini join the cast as Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle. The 5th Avenue's production will go on to play engagements in cities including Orlando, Cincinnati,Atlanta and Louisville, among others.
National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, begins its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with A Gershwin Celebration onFriday, October 21, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.
San Francisco Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in a new production directed by Francesca Zambello and featuring designs by Los Angeles-based, contemporary visual artist RETNA(Marquis Duriel Lewis). A co-production with Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera and Minnesota Opera, this striking and bold vision for Verdi's enduring classic will feature soprano Leah Crocetto and tenor Brian Jagde in their role debuts as the lovers at the heart of the opera, the enslaved princess Aida and the Egyptian war hero Radames. Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk is Amneris, the daughter of the king who desires Radames' love, baritoneGeorge Gagnidze portrays Aida's vengeful father, Amonasro, and bass Raymond Aceto is Ramfis. The international cast and San Francisco Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Company Music Director Nicola Luisotti. Resident Conductor Jordi Bernacer will conduct the final performance on December 6. Ian Robertson is Chorus Director.
Donizetti's ebullient comedy The Elixir of Love sets a celebratory tone as Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 62nd season opener on October 21. The colorful production features tenor Dimitri Pittas and soprano Nicole Heaston, as well as the HGO debut of eminent English conductor Jane Glover. Performances run through November 4.
This season marks the silver anniversary of Deborah Voigt's Metropolitan Opera debut, a milestone the Metropolitan Opera Guild looks forward to honoring at its annual luncheon this winter. Over the course of her long and distinguished career, however, the soprano has yet to help create a new opera. That changes this fall, when she stars in the Albany Symphony's orchestral premiere of Roscoe: An American Grand Opera by Evan Mack, who composed it expressly for her voice.
Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced a change to its 2016-2017 season programming: Don Giovanni in Concert will replace the previously scheduled Stars of Tomorrow concert on Friday, March 17, 2017 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Instead of a traditional showcase featuring arias and scenes from different operas, members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program will now present a semi-staged concert performance of Mozart's timeless drama, with the WNO Orchestra conducted by Michael Christie and featuring direction by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello.
Donizetti's ebullient comedy The Elixir of Love sets a celebratory tone as Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 62nd season opener on October 21.
San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the casting and schedule for the Company's summer 2018 presentations of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The four-opera cycle of Das Rheingold,Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung-widely considered the greatest and most ambitious work ever conceived for the lyric stage-will be presented in three complete cycles from June 12 through July 1, 2018.
Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Rebecca Ringle joins fortepianist Kenneth Merrill in our season opener concert, distilling the public splendor of the opera house for the private intimacy of the recital.
Transferring from its critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Finborough Theatre earlier this year where it was nominated for seven OffWestEnd Awards including Best New Play, Best Male Performance, and Best Director, the world premiere production of It Is Easy To Be Dead by Neil McPherson opens at Trafalgar Studio 2, for a strictly limited four week limited season.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Washington National Opera seek nominations for the 2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, which celebrates excellence in performance by recognizing a young American singer who has achieved initial professional success in the area of opera, oratorio, or recital repertory, and who exhibits promise for a significant career.
The Glimmerglass Festival has appointed Allen Perriello as the new Director of the Young Artists Program, and current Glimmerglass principal coach/accompanist Christopher Devlin has accepted the position of Head of Music Staff, effective immediately.
REBECCA's 2006 world premiere, directed by Francesca Zambello opened at Vereinigte Buhnen Wien in Vienna, and the musical has subsequently played in Budapest, Hungary; Bucharest, Romania; Helsinki, Finland; Stuttgart, Germany; St. Gallen, Switzerland and at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.
Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced full programming details for the fifth season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. For the first time, all of the program's world premiere operas will be presented during an American Opera Initiative Festival weekend, January 13-15, 2017 in the Kennedy Center Family Theater.
