Houston Grand Opera News

Eric Owens and I discuss stand-up comedy, Star Wars, and how Europeans boo an opera production without booing the performers. And, on occasion, we discuss his reasons for being in Houston: To perform the lead role in Houston Grand Opera's THE BARBER OF SEVILLE as well as guest judge for the company's Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers.

Los pr0ximos 3 y 4 de junio a las 21.30 tendra lugar en el Teatro Real el concierto DIVA ON RETOUR de la aclamada soprano lirica Patricia Racette.

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 the New York Premiere of Angela Rice's Thy Will Be Done on Friday, March 16, 2018 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC. Tickets are $30-100 and are available at www.nationalchorale.com or by calling (212) 333-5333.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers that took place at Stude Concert Hall at Rice University. For the second time, the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube for the first time. The livestream was hosted by award-winning soprano and HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.

Rising actress and lyric soprano Natalia Ferreiro will shine bright in the Los Angeles premiere of the world's first mariachi musical, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon). at the Valley Performing Arts Center - The Soraya.

The Atlanta Opera presents its most exciting season to date in 2018-19. The mainstage season will be bookended by two of the greatest blockbusters in the repertoire, as well as the most performed American opera of the 21st century, and Tchaikovsky's timeless masterpiece. The Discoveries series features two distinct styles in a jazz-infused 'Be-Bopera' and a tango opera presented at beloved local venue, the red velvet cabaret Le Maison Rouge.

The Cincinnati May Festival announced today that conductor Eun Sun Kim will make her exciting Festival debut on May 18, leading the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra ( CSO ) in a performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the renovated Cincinnati Music Hall. She replaces the previously announced conductor, James Levine.

Following the success of their production of Nutcracker Rouge, Company XIV is now presenting a new production, XIVariete, playing at the troupe's new home Theatre XIV (383 Troutman Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn).

Houston Grand Opera presents Bernstein's West Side Story (April 20 - May 6), Bellini's Norma (April 27 - May 11), and return of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (May 17, 19, 20) at HGO Resilience Theater World's first mariachi opera returns after New York triumph Houston, January 29, 2018 - Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the first major American opera house production of Leonard Bernstein ' s landmark musical West Side Story, April 20 - May 6, and Bellini's vocal powerhouse Norma, April 27 - May 11, in the HGO Resil i ence Theater at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Twenty of the finest young opera singers in the United States will be competing in the 30th Annual Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition presented, jointly, by The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild.

Washington National Opera (WNO), led by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, announces its 2018-2019 season, one that continues its focus on bold productions of classic operas, fascinating contemporary perspectives, and the best in American artistry. The season includes a new WNO production of Verdi's classic romantic drama La traviata, the company premiere of Kevin Puts's and Mark Campbell's Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, Tchaikovsky's epic Eugene Onegin, Gounod's devilishly entertaining Faust, and Puccini's towering masterpiece Tosca. The season also features a weekend of four world premieres during the American Opera Initiative Festival; a revival of WNO's hit world-premiere holiday family opera The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me; a special Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist performance of La traviata; and other exciting vocal events, including the annual Mars, lnc.'s Opera in the Outfield.

In many areas of the arts in New York, January is a quiet month. But in the opera world, the last few weeks certainly have been jumping. It has also been a fine time for asking 'What is an Opera?' For me, January started with Prototype 2018's ACQUANETTA and ended this past weekend--with many in between--with New York City Opera's 'first mariachi opera,' CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA (TO CROSS THE FACE OF THE MOON).

Opera in the Heights (Oh!) presents a new look at Verdi's tale of regicide, Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball), from February 16 - 24 at Lambert Hall.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2018 National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards. Now in their 11th year, these awards honor outstanding trustees of U.S. opera companies for their exemplary leadership, generosity and audience-building efforts on behalf of their respective organizations.

Today we celebrate Broadway legend, Hal Prince, who is celebrating his 90th birthday!

San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program present the 35th anniversary season of the Schwabacher Recital Series, opening on February 21 and continuing through April 4. The four-recital series offers music lovers an opportunity to hear opera's next generation of stars in the intimate and state-of-the-art Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco. New this season, the recital series moves to Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m.

Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan took the Grammy's Best Classical Solo Vocal Album Sunday night with her mash-up of George Gershwin, Alban Berg and Luciano Berio, “CRAZY GIRL CRAZY”--not only singing but conducting the Ludwig Orchestra.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Stude Concert Hall at Rice University on February 1 at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available here. For the second time, the program will also be streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. The livestream will be hosted this year by award-winning soprano Tamara Wilson. Viewers will be invited to cast their votes for an Online Viewers' Choice Award.

The Houston Symphony's live recording of Alban Berg's Wozzeck under the direction of former Music Director Hans Graf won a Grammy Award at the 60th annual ceremony Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in the Best Opera Recording category. This is the first nomination and win in the orchestra's 104-year history.

Following the success of its fall productions of Puccini's beloved La Fanciulla del West and the New York premiere of Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne, New York City Opera continues the 2017/2018 season in January 2018 with the New York premiere of Jos 'Pepe' Mart nez and Leonard Foglia's Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, the world's first mariachi opera.