Houston Grand Opera News

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) announces four TFANA Talks in connection with its new, critically lauded production of William Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Winter's Tale, directed by OBIE Award-winner Arin Arbus. These free post-performance discussions take placeat Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place), TFANA's home in the Brooklyn Cultural District, where The Winter's Tale runs through April 15

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees—conductorWilliam Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva — will be celebrated at a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe will be the special musical guest.

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees-conductor William Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva - will be celebrated at a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe will be the special musical guest. 

Company XIV is currently presenting Cinderella at their new space, Theater XIV (383 Troutman Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn). Broadway's Jonathan Groff stopped by to see the show, check out the photo below!

Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson announced the complete casting and programming for the company's 2018 Summer Festival, which will feature new productions of four operas at The Spa Little Theater in Spa State Park, along with a wide variety of free and ticketed concert events from May 26th through July 15th at venues throughout the region. Single tickets, as well as subscription packages, are on sale now at www.operasaratoga.org.

'Each season, Playwrights For A Cause continues to raise awareness on topics of social justice while providing an opportunity for theater artists to share their creations. I couldn't be more excited about this seasons line-up of brilliant playwrights,' says Glory Kadigan, founder and curator of the annual Playwrights for a Cause benefit, hosted by Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. 'I'd also like to thank the Associate Artistic Director of the Theater at the 14th Street Y, David Stallings, for providing a home for our event.'

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2017-2018 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven Symphony #9 on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

On Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, acclaimed American tenor Lawrence Brownlee presents the New York premiere of Cycles of My Being, a new song cycle composed by Tyshawn Sorey with lyrics by Terrance Hayes that explores the realities of life as a black man in America. Brownlee—hailed as one of “the world's leading bel canto tenors” by the Associated Press—is conducted by composer Tyshawn Sorey and joined by violinist Randall Goosby, cellist Khari Joyner, clarinetist Alexander Laing, and pianist Kevin Miller for Cycles of My Being, which is co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall as part of the Hall's 125 Commissions Project. The program opens with Schumann's Dichterliebe, to be performed alongside pianist Myra Huang.

Casting has been announced for Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for its highly anticipated return to St. Louis at the Fabulous Fox Theatre May 9-20. With newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design, this new version of PHANTOM is performed by a cast and orchestra of 52, making this one of the largest productions on tour in North America.

MasterVoices - dedicated to celebrating the power of the human voice through the art of musical storytelling - presents two performances of a new production of Orphic Moments, in conjunction with producers Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan. 

The Dallas Opera is proud to present one of the most talked about Mozart productions of the decade: DON GIOVANNI in a critically acclaimed production created by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls for Lyric Opera of Chicago and conducted by Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume.

Shakespeare Theatre Company today announces the cast of Lerner and Loewe's multiple Tony Award-winning musical Camelot. Directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul (Kiss Me, Kate; Man of La Mancha), the classic musical will play at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St NW) from May 22 through July 1, concluding STC's 2017-2018 mainstage season.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) invites audiences to explore 21st-century opera viewing with Star Cross'd, a new streaming series of short opera films based on true personal experiences with Romeo and Juliet themes.

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) will hold its annual Spring Gala at New York's Metropolitan Club (1 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022) on Thursday evening, April 5, 2018, starting at 6:00 pm. The organization will honor renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe with the NYCHORAL Music Excellence Award for her contributions to the musical profession, as well as Sylvia R. Hoisington who is celebrating her 50th season with the chorus. Produced in partnership with the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the evening's showcase performance will feature soprano Amanda Majeski and tenor Ben Bliss, both of whom will be participating in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Cosi fan tutte from March 15 to April 9, 2018. Members of the NYCHORAL Chamber Ensemble will also perform. The evening will feature a silent auction of unique items and experiences. The program is as follows:

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today the names of the six composer and librettist teams whose unpublished works have been selected for the company's sixth annual, critically-acclaimed new works series, Frontiers - funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Held during the final week of the 2018 FWOpera Festival, these selected pieces will be presented in two separate showcases of three works each on Wednesday, May 2 from 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm, and Thursday, May 3 from 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm, on the stage of Bass Performance Hall. Featuring 20-minute excerpts of each selected piece, these brand-new operas will be sung by artists from the 2018 FWOpera Festival with piano accompaniment.

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) will hold its annual Spring Gala at New York's Metropolitan Club (1 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022) on Thursday evening, April 5, 2018, starting at 6:00 pm.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to present the sixth show in its 97th season, the world premiere of NATHAN GUNN FLYING SOLO, written and directed by Hershey Felder, with musical direction by Michael Bagby.

Ethereal and dramatic, Michel van der Aa's concerto was specifically written for Janine Jansen, a violinist who meets the many challenges of this stunning music. Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2—a Philadelphia Orchestraspecialty—has its own dramatic effects in the final movement, where the composer uncannily captures the sound of cascading Russian church bells. Its heart and soul, however, is the breathtaking third-movement Adagio that spins out a stream of beautiful melodies.

World premieres of an oratorio about the Underground Railroad that sets narratives of slaves running for freedom and their lives, and a work that sets poems calling for peace in Farsi, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and English: Sanctuary Road, music by Paul Moravec and text by Mark Campbell based upon the writings of William Still, a conductor for the Underground Railroad; and We Are One for chorus and orchestra by Behzad Ranjbaran, both completed within the last year, will be given their first performances by the Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY) led by Music Director Kent Tritle as the culminating concert of the OSNY's 145th season on Monday, May 7, 2018, at Carnegie Hall.

Casting has been announced for Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for the premiere South Bend engagement at the Morris Performing Arts Center.