Hadleigh Adams News

Houston Symphony Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and CEO/Executive Director John Mangum, holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, announced the details of the 2020a?"21 season, Orozco-Estrada's seventh as music director. Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony enter the next decade of music-making with works by Beethoven, in honor of his  250th birthday celebration; new music from contemporary composers; Symphony Specials with pianists Lang Lang and Leif Ove Andsnes; solo performances from Concertmaster Yoonshin Song and other Houston Symphony musicians; and a new, three-year Artistic Partnership with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman. 

KC Lyric's La Bohème revives the 2014 production with a lighter tone.

Every year, the Houston Symphony offers numerous festive programs during the holiday season. An annual attraction, the Symphony's holiday concerts range from traditional and classical music, popular festive tunes, and family-friendly Christmas music. The Houston Symphony's holiday programming is supported by a generous Cultural Districts Project grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 2019-2020 season with Giacomo Puccini's timeless tale of love and loss, La bohème. An audience favorite for more than a century, this tale of four young Parisians who dedicate their lives to art and love blends bohemian rhapsodies with riveting romance in one of opera's quintessential tearjerkers.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7–22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the “powerful” (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript ofBilly Budd.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7a?"22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the a?oepowerfula?? (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd.

Pacific Symphony is saddened to announce the recent passing of its Principal Cellist Timothy Landauer. In Landauer's honor, Pacific Symphony will perform a selection of music on the first half of the classical program, May 16, 17 and 18, that will provide a stirring atmosphere to contemplate his many musical contributions over the years.

Sometimes you watch a production and experience total perfection. Yesterday evening was such a night. Sondheim's A Little Night Music performed by the Nederlandse Reisopera, an opera company which chose to work on Sondheim musicals (Sweeney Todd was their earlier production), next to classic opera repetoire. And my oh my, what an excellent choice to do so.

From the 16th of March to the 9th of April 2019, the Nederlandse Reisopera (Dutch National Touring Opera) will be taking a new production of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music around the country. This is an English-language version produced by an American artistic team. In this staging, Director Zack Winokur looks back to the film that the musical was originally based on, Ingmar Bergman's Smile of a Summer Night: 'What I found lacking in the musical, at least in the productions that I saw, was the bodily, sensual and erotic comedy which is at the heart of the film. Why are people continually trying to seduce each other and why are they continually failing? This work is about feelings that everyone deals with in daily life, which is comforting, alienating and disquieting at the same time.'

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at San Francisco Opera's new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops. Check out photos below!

San Francisco Opera unveils a new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on Wednesday, October 3, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops.

San Francisco Opera unveils a new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on Wednesday, October 3, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops.

Cincinnati Opera, today announced the repertoire and casting for Cincinnati Opera's 2019 Summer Festival, which will run from June 13 to July 28. The company's 99th season begins with a charming production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Music Hall's Springer Auditorium.

Complementing the highly-anticipated performances of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House (June 12-July 1), San Francisco Opera presents its ongoing Ring Festival of ancillary events and activities. Designed to deepen public engagement and provide informative, fun ways to explore Wagner's profound masterwork, the Ring Festival offers a diverse schedule of lectures, exhibitions, film screenings, musical programs and opportunities to hear from artists, production team members and Wagner experts.

Arts advocate and San Francisco Opera board member Annette Campbell-White was honored at the sixth annual International Opera Awards (IOA) in London for her lifelong commitment to opera and support of young artists and the performing arts. At the black-tie ceremony held at the London Coliseum on April 9, Campbell-White was presented with the 2018 International Opera Award for Philanthropy. The event, sponsored by British accounting firm Mazars in association with BBC Radio 3 and Opera magazine, also included awards for Female Singer, Male Singer, Readers' Choice, Lifetime Achievement, Recording, among other categories.

On Sunday, March 4 at 8 p.m., the Bay Area's Classical KDFC will broadcast a San Francisco Opera performance from November 2014 of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca starring soprano Lianna Haroutounian in the title role, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and bass-baritone Mark Delavan as Scarpia, with maestro Riccardo Frizza leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. KDFC radio announcer Dianne Nicolini hosts the archival broadcast presentation, which will be available for on demand streaming at kdfc.com up to four weeks after the March 4 airing.

WAR OF THE WORLDS, composed by Annie Gosfield, plays again at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on November 18 at noon and 2pm. Let's see what the critics had to say!

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Noon to Midnight: A Day of New Music returns Saturday, November 18 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. As it did during last year's successful inaugural performances, the day-long event offers audiences L.A.'s most far-sighted ensembles with pop-up performances scattered throughout the various spaces of the iconic venue.

CROSSING plays through October 8 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the critics are weighing in!