Frederick Ballentine News

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the sixth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. All of the program's world premiere operas are presented during the American Opera Initiative Festival weekend,January 19 21, 2018, all in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The festival begins with the world premiere of a new hour-long work by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, Proving Up, on January 19 and 21, 2018, directed by Alison Moritz and conducted by Christopher Rountree, both in their WNO debuts. Three new pairings of opera composers and librettists Nathan Fletcher and Megan Cohen, Gity Razaz and Sara Cooper, John Glover and Erin Bregman offer new, one-act operas during the festival. Two semi-staged concert performances of each 20-minute opera are presented on January 20, 2018.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the sixth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. All of the program's world premiere operas are presented during the American Opera Initiative Festival weekend,January 19 21, 2018, all in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The festival begins with the world premiere of a new hour-long work by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, Proving Up, on January 19 and 21, 2018, directed by Alison Moritz and conducted by Christopher Rountree, both in their WNO debuts. Three new pairings of opera composers and librettists Nathan Fletcher and Megan Cohen, Gity Razaz and Sara Cooper, John Glover and Erin Bregman offer new, one-act operas during the festival. Two semi-staged concert performances of each 20-minute opera are presented on January 20, 2018.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2017-2018 season with a new production of Verdi's grand Egyptian epic Aida, September 9-23, 2017, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2017-2018 season with a new production of Verdi's grand Egyptian epic Aida, September 9-23, 2017, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Washington National Opera (WNO) announces the roster of emerging artists engaged for the 16th season of its Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, which begins in September.

Who needs an excuse to leave NYC in the blistering days of summer? It's especially true if you head north to some of the bucolic opera and vocal venues within driving distance.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2016-2017 season with the company premieres of two modern American masterworks of opera: Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking, February 25-March 11, 2017 in the Opera House, and Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer's Champion, March 4- 18, 2017 in the Opera House. Both operas explore the theme of social justice which is often associated with John F. Kennedy and are presented as part of JFKC, the Kennedy Center's season-long celebration of President Kennedy's centennial. Using many of the same designers and scenic elements, the directors of each opera have worked collaboratively to create two distinct worlds in each new production to showcase the issues of Justice, Courage, and Freedom at the heart of these two compelling stories. An additional special event will continue the exploration of these themes: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will headline Justice at the Opera on Thursday, March 9, 2017 in the Opera House.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the fifth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the fifth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists.

The New York Choral Society (NYChoral) under the direction of its music director David Hayes will ring in the holiday season with a Christmas concert at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday evening, December 21st, at 7:30 p.m. The program, featuring soloists Frederick Ballentine and Justin Hopkins, will present works by two musical giants of 20th Century American choral music, Robert Shaw, whose 100th birthday would have been this year, and Robert De Cormier, NYChoral Music Director Emeritus, who was awarded the 2016 Michael Korn Founders Award by Chorus America for his lifetime contribution to the choral arts. The concert will also include works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Elizabeth Poston, and James MacMillan, and will end with an audience sing-along of beloved Christmas carols. The complete program follows:

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final casting information for LA Opera's new production of Akhnaten by Philip Glass. A co-production with English National Opera, Akhnaten is conducted by Artist in Residence Matthew Aucoin and staged by British director Phelim McDermott.  Check out a sneak peek below!

General Director Placido Domingo has announced final casting information for LA Opera's new production of Akhnaten by Philip Glass. A co-production with English National Opera, Akhnaten will be conducted by Artist in Residence Matthew Aucoin and staged by British director Phelim McDermott.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2016-2017 season with a new-to-Washington staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpiece of romantic comedy-The Marriage of Figaro, September 22-October 2, 2016, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. One of opera's most enduring and beloved classics, The Marriage of Figaro tells an upstairs/downstairs story of love, lust, seduction, infidelity, and ultimately, forgiveness, all set to some of the most sublime and memorable music ever written.

The Glimmerglass Festival, which presents four mainstage productions of opera and musical theater as well as many events every summer, has released the details of its 2017 schedule.

Early in May, Gustavo Dudamel—the brilliant music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic—was booed at the opening of TURANDOT at the Vienna State Opera purportedly for playing too loud. There were no such complaints when he returned to Disney Hall in Los Angeles on May 20, with a grand, finely nuanced performance that paired the austere but marvelous MISERERE by Arvo Part with Mozart's REQUIEM.

After receiving a record-breaking 600 applications in a single season, General Director Plácido Domingo has selected ten new participants who will enter LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2014/15 season. Approximately 250 of the original applicants were selected to sing live semi-final auditions in Los Angeles and New York before a panel of LA Opera's music staff and artistic administration. From those auditions, 21 singers were invited to sing a final audition for Mr. Domingo, who made the ultimate selection of the incoming participants.

LA Opera will soon present the first full-scale production in this century of John Corigliano's grand opera buffa, one of the most acclaimed operas of our time. Extravagantly scaled, gloriously tuneful, supremely touching and yet uproariously entertaining, The Ghosts of Versailles turns history on its head as love attempts to alter the course of destiny. Running February 7- March 1, 2015, the production will feature direction by Tony winner Darko Tresnjak.