Giovanni News

Director Steven Spielberg's critically lauded WWII epic Saving Private Ryan celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a new 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo release on May 8, 2018 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Final cast is today announced for Charles Court Opera's smart, stylish, sparkling fresh version of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic masterpieces, The Mikado.

Opera Ithaca presents Bizet's masterpiece, Carmen, March 9th and 11th at the Hangar Theatre in a production by director-designer team Adrianna Desier Durantt and Andrew Boyce, lighting designer Seth Reiser and Associate Designer Anna Grigo.

Gareth Morrell will replace Maurizio Benini as conductor for Rossini's Semiramide at the Met on Saturday March 3, 2018, at 8.00pm. The British conductor led the opera on February 24th and 28th, 2018.

American soprano Kathleen Battle's luminous voice has been called by The Washington Post "...without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world."  Yet beyond the glory of her singing, in a career filled with countless accolades, honors and major milestones, what has perhaps distinguished her most is her almost magical ability to create an unwavering emotional bond between herself, her music and her audience.  On Thursday, March 29 at 8pm, that special bond will be on full display when Ms. Battle makes her debut at The Soraya with Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad-A Spiritual Journey accompanied by pianist Joel Martin and the LA-based choir, The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers.

Elizabeth Caballero will perform the role of Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème for tonight's performance, March 2 at 8:00 p.m., replacing Sonya Yoncheva who is ill.

The San Francisco Early Music Society's 2017-18 concert season continues the weekend of April 6 with three concerts by WILDCAT VIOLS in a program of music for the viol consort from the second half of the 17th century: Henry Purcell's "Fantazias of four parts," Matthew Locke's "Magnifick consort of four parts," and Giovanni Legrenzi's "Sonate a quatro viole da gamba."

BabsonARTS is pleased to announce a very special presentation - On The Wing:  A Celebration of Birds In Music and Spoken Word, an evening of poetry reading, music, and ornithology - everything you wanted to know about birds - on Tuesday, March 27 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College, Forest Street, Wellesley.

Out March 23rd, Blueprint is the second full-length solo record by Alice Bag. Based in Los Angeles, Bag is a punk rock singer, musician, author, educator and feminist archivist. 

The Verdi Chorus celebrates its 35th anniversary with its Spring 2018 concert The Force of Destiny for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 28 and 29 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, their program will feature selections from three Verdi operas - La forza del destino, Nabucco, including the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," the opening party scene of La traviata, and conclude with beloved melodies from Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

The Art of the Score, exploring some of the most distinctive uses of music in film, will return for its fifth season with Amadeus: Live, the New York Premiere screening of Amadeus with the Mozart-centered score performed live to the complete film. Conducted by Richard Kaufman in his Philharmonic debut and featuring Musica Sacra, directed by Kent Tritle, Amadeus: Live will take place Wednesday, April 11, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 13 at 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, April l4 at 7:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. On April 11 actor Alec Baldwin - Philharmonic Board Member and Artistic Advisor of The Art of the Score - and special guest F. Murray Abraham - who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Salieri - will introduce the film.

Christine Goerke, “the reigning Amercian dramatic soprano of the day” (The New York Times), makes her first Met performances in the title role of Richard Strauss's tragedy Elektra at the Met. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Patrice Chéreau's acclaimed staging, with Elza van den Heever as Elektra's sister, Chrysothemis, and Michaela Schuster as her mother, Klytämnestra. Jay Hunter Morris sings the role of Aegisth, Klytämnestra's lover, and Mikhail Petrenko performs as Elektra's long-lost brother Orest. The production runs for six performances from March 1 through March 23, 2018.

SKYLARK OPERA THEATRE IS THRILLED TO PRESENT The Minnesota premiere of AS ONE. Music and Concept by Laura Kaminsky. Libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. Film by Kimberly Reed. Starring Luke Williams as Hannah Before and Bergen Baker as Hannah After Robert Neu, Director Jeffrey Stirling, Music Director

Welsh National Opera presents a feast of Italian operas from three of the greatest composers for its Spring season in Bristol. The season, entitled Rabble Rousers, will feature a new production of Verdi's La forza del destino alongside revivals of Puccini's Tosca and Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces the full cast and creative team for William Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Winter's Tale, directed by OBIE Award-winner Arin Arbus. The production plays March 13-April 15, 2018, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place), TFANA's home in the Brooklyn Cultural District.

Grab your good friend Sweeney and snag a comfy seat on the 20th Century as Rob and Kevin speak to one of the most celebrated choreographers of the 1970s, Larry Fuller. Joining us via phone from his new home in Palm Springs, California, Larry looks back on a career that included appearances in the original productions ofTHE MUSIC MAN, DONNYBROOK, KEAN, BRAVO GIOVANNI, and FUNNY GIRL, plus choreographing the original productions of Hal Prince's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (film, ON THE 20TH CENTURY, SWEENEY TODD, EVITA, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, and A DOLL'S LIFE.

The American Sephardi Federation's NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival showcases contemporary voices steeped in the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities. The ten-day Festival features premiere film screenings, intriguing stories, evocative documentaries, Q&As with filmmakers, as well as special honorees and guests. The Pomegranate Awards Ceremony on Opening Night celebrates Sephardi excellence in the arts. Past recipients include Senior Counselor to the King of Morocco Andre Azoulay, French-Algerian recording legend Enrico Macias, Kuwaiti star and human rights activist Ema Shah, and Morocco-Israeli poet Erez Bitton.

Gareth Morrell will replace Maurizio Benini as conductor for performances of Rossini's Semiramide on Saturday February 24 at 8.00pm and Wednesday February 28th at 7.30pm, 2018.

The national tour of the classic musical A Chorus Line is entertaining audiences at The Oncenter Crouse Hinds theatre in Syracuse, New York. The production - restaged by Baayork Lee based on Michael Bennett's original direction and choreography - is 'One Singular Sensation.' With masterful music by Marvin Hamlisch, unique lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a flawless book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, it is no wonder that the original production received nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

When soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci walked on stage at Zankel Hall for her recital the other night, I thought I had wandered into an Antonioni movie, with a ravishing diva (usually played by Monica Vitti) about to perform for a rapt audience. Then she opened her mouth and sang the first of a series of songs by Debussy (texts by Verlaine) and I knew I was in the right place: heaven.