Houston Grand Opera News

Porchlight Music Theatre's Mainstage 2017-2018 season concludes with Memphis, April 19 - June 3, at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Memphis, book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music and lyrics by David Bryan, is directed by Daryl D.  Brooks, assistant directed and choreographed by Christopher Carter, music directed by Jermaine Hill and assistant choreographed by Reneisha Jenkins. 

Porchlight Music Theatre announced that Lorenzo Rush Jr has replaced James Earl Jones II in Porchlight Revisits They're Playing Our Song, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and book by Neil Simon, with direction and choreography by Christopher Carter and musical direction by Andra Velis Simon. Porchlight Revisits They're Playing our Song is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, March 6 through Thursday, March 8 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along (previews begin January 26) at Porchlight's new home, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for They're Playing Our Song are $35.

The 2018 McCammon Voice Competition judges have chosen the semi-finalists for the eighteenth biennial competition, to be held on March 16, 2018 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The finals will be held March 17, 2018 at Bass Performance Hall. This year's competitors are David Araujo, Amanda Blue, Nicolette Book, Ryan Bradford, Rachael Braustein, Kathleen Buccleugh, Chelsea Coyne, Danielle Davis, Peter Scott Drackley, Helen Huang, Hao Hu, Emily Michiko Jensen, Abigail Kempson, Chonghwa Kim, Abigail Levis, Brandon Morales, Elizabeth Moran, Langelihle Mngxati, Chong Yoon Noh, Brittany Nickell, Yulan Piao, Anthony Reed, Michael St. Peter and Andrew Wannigman.

Ars Lyrica Houston's A Roman Feast Gala, Honoring Rhonda and Donald Sweeney chaired by Drs. Rachel and Warren Ellsworth IV, and Sarah and Gabriel Loperena took place March 3, 2018 in the historic Esperson building in downtown Houston, an event to raise funds for the organization's first fully-staged Baroque opera, Handel's Agrippina to be produced November 2018. The evening began with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the contemporary Rusk Lobby, filled with fragrant lavender, ferns and Romanesque decor with live harp music. An intimate concert of Handel arias followed, performed by acclaimed countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Artistic Director Matthew Dirst on harpsichord, and violinist Alan Austin in the Esperson Neils Lobby. Guests then enjoyed a grand feast on theme and ended with an Italian disco after party in the transformed Neils Lobby complete with dancing, drinks, light bites, and craft beer sponsored by Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co.  

Renowned experimental, often-controversial opera and theater director Peter Sellars will join Debbie McNulty, director of Mayor Turner's Office of Cultural Affairs, and Patrick Summers, artistic director of Houston Grand Opera, in a public conversation about art and activism moderated by the Rothko Chapel's executive director, David Leslie, on Tuesday, March 20, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Rothko Chapel, 3900 Yupon St., Houston. The "pay what you can" event has a suggested value of $20. Registration is advised; visit rothkochapel.org or call 713-524-9839.

 Cherry Lane Theatre has announced casting for the final production of the Obie award-winning MENTOR PROJECT now in its 20th season. Sam Chanse's THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION is being presented at Cherry Lane (38 Commerce St.) from March 28 - April 7,2018, it has been announced by Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero, Cherry Lane's Co-Artistic Directors.  Angelina Fiordellisi is Cherry Lane's Founding Artistic Director. Ms. Chanse is mentored by recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts playwriting fellowship and the Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright Award, Migdalia Cruz.

American baritone Nathan Gunn and pianist Julie Gunn, partners in life and often on stage, will make their debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in an evening of cabaret by iconic composers ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter to Billy Joel and Tom Waits.  The evening concert from an eclectic American Songbook joins Bernstein at 100, the worldwide celebration of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history. An Evening with Nathan and Julie Gunn takes place Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 7:30pm in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis.

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.

Company XIV, which recently presented their acclaimed production of Nutcracker Rouge, will open their newest production, Cinderella at their new space, Theater XIV (383 Troutman Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn) on Monday, March 12. Previews will begin on March 8.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's Baroque Conversations series features the highly anticipated US premiere of a newly-discovered setting of Pergolesi's Salve Regina, led by guest conductor Riccardo Minasi, hailed as “an outstanding musician” (Guardian), on Thursday, March 1, 2018, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles.  The program also includes Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, a setting of a 13th-century meditation considered among the composer's most notable sacred works, with rising artists soprano Elizabeth Sutphen and mezzo-soprano Sofia Selowsky.  The all-string program includes 16 members of LACO's critically acclaimed string section headed by Tereza Stanislav as acting concertmaster.  A complimentary wine reception for all ticket holders begins at 6 pm. 

Paper Mill Playhouse announced today the world premiere of UNMASKED, which will feature some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most iconic work and the stories behind its creation, along with new music and memories from his extraordinary life and career, will open its 2018-2019 season.

Impresario Peter Tiboris announced today that he has commissioned acclaimed composer Christopher Theofanidis and poet and librettist J. D. McClatchy, a 2003 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, to create an opera-oratorio based on the international bestseller 'Eleni,' about a woman's sacrifice to save her children during the Greek Civil War.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the lineup for the second biennial Pipeline Festival, showcasing the work of the celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers from March 29 - April 28 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway & 76th Street.)

Porchlight Music Theatre announced that Lorenzo Rush Jr has replaced James Earl Jones II in Porchlight Revisits They're Playing Our Song, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and book by Neil Simon, with direction and choreography by Christopher Carter and musical direction by Andra Velis Simon. Porchlight Revisits They're Playing our Song is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, March 6 through Thursday, March 8 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along (previews begin January 26) at Porchlight's new home, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for They're Playing Our Song are $35. All tickets include access to the popular pre-performance event, Behind the Show Backstory, a multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Weber that discusses the evening's production including the show's creative history, juicy backstage gossip and the state of the art on Broadway that season. Single tickets to They're Playing Our Song and subscriptions for the entire series are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

The Florentine Opera Company will receive a $30,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the world premiere live recording and production of American composer Carlisle Floyd's Prince of Players.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, presents What Do the Women Say?: Dismantling Patriarchy, its annual celebration of International Women's Day. This year's program showcases the work of leading Middle Eastern women artists that are working to expose and eradicate toxic masculinity at home, at work, and on the national stage. The event features a presentation by Yemeni-American visual artist Yasmine Diaz about her collage series, One Way or Another; a dramatic reading by Golden Thread Resident Artist Atosa Melody Babaoff of the short story "White Torture" by Iranian author Farnoosh Moshiri; a performance by Lebanese-American singer Naima Shalhoub featuring music from her debut album Live in San Francisco County Jail; and an excerpt from the documentary film The Judge by Erika Cohn and Sara Maamouri about the Arab world's first woman Sharia judge. After the presentations, Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian will facilitate a conversation with the participating artists and the audience. Reem's California will sell food in the lobby starting at 6pm. The full program is 100 minutes without intermission.

Gioachino Rossini's laugh-out-loud romantic comedy returns to Opera Santa Barbara for the first time since 2001. The Barber of Seville has been entertaining audiences for more than 200 years with its outrageous stage antics and vocal acrobatics. Featuring some of opera's most recognizable tunes, audiences are sure to leave the theater singing Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiiiii-garo!

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera's 2018-19 season. Featuring two new productions by the company's in-house Production Studios, Utah Opera's 41st season runs from October 2018 to May 2019 and comprises three main-stage productions at Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and a semi-staged production at Abravanel Hall.

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera's 2018-19 season. Featuring two new productions by the company's in-house Production Studios, Utah Opera's 41st season runs from October 2018 to May 2019 and comprises three main-stage productions at Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and a semi-staged production at Abravanel Hall.

Soprano Heidi Melton is the 2009 George London-Kirsten Flagstad Award winner who in February sings the role of Sieglinde in the New York Philharmonic's concert performance of Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre led by Jaap van Zweden, and tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven is the winner of the Nicolai Gedda Memorial Award at the 2017 George London competition as well as a 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner. These two young rising stars join pianist Craig Rutenberg to perform a joint recital, the final event of the George London Foundation's 2017-18 season, on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at 4:00 pm, at the Morgan Library and Museum's Gilder Lehrman Hall.