Houston Grand Opera News

Houston Grand Opera will present four pinnacles of the operatic repertoire during the company's 2016-17 season, which also features the highly anticipated world premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer, and much-loved comedies by Donizetti and Mozart. Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will lead Gotterdammerung, the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, featuring a new generation of leading Wagnerians includingSimon O'Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde. HGO will bring back its popular production of Gounod's Faust, with the HGO debut of international star tenor Michael Fabiano in the title role partnered by Houston favorite Ana Maria Martinez as Marguerite, along with the role debut of prominent bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as Mephistopheles. The company will celebrate the 30thanniversary of HGO's world premiere of John Adams's pivotal Nixon in China by presenting James Robinson's production, of which HGO is a co-producer, with HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks as Richard Nixon and soprano Andriana Chuchman as his wife, Pat. Patrick Summers will conduct Verdi'sthrilling Requiem, which critics at the time termed "an opera in ecclesiastical robes," with soloists Angela Meade, soprano, in her HGO debut; Sasha Cooke, alto; Alexey Dolgov, tenor; and Peixin Chen, bass; and the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. HGO's 62nd season will open with a whimsical production of Donizetti's buoyant The Elixir of Love, featuring tenor Dimitri Pittas as Nemorino and HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston as Adina and led by the eminent English conductor Jane Glover, HGO's 2016-17 Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, in her first HGO appearance. Mozart's zany yet deeply emotive comedy TheAbduction from the Seraglio-featuring Russian coloratura soprano and HGO Studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova as Konstanze and leading American tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Belmonte in HGO's inventive 2002 co-production-will close the main-stage season.  

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Megan Kane in 'Megan Kane. It's About Time' on August 1 st , 2016 at 9:30pm. Here she is, boys. Here she is, world! Join Feinstein's/54 Below regular Megan Kane (Gay Bride of Frankenstein, God's Country) as she takes you on an uplifting, heartfelt, and hilarious journey from her suburban beginnings to (almost) childhood stardom, to that time she (almost) made out with Brad Pitt to her incredibly complicated and unique experiences as a hoofing, hard working actor in NYC and all over the country. This versatile actor/songstress will delight you with some favorites including Broadway classics, Janis Joplin, current pop hits from Sara Bareilles, contemporary musical theatre from the likes of Jason Robert Brown, and everything in between. Don't miss this entertaining and buoyant evening filled with special guests and fancy friends from Broadway and TV's hottest shows!

San Francisco Opera's partnership with the Bay Area's Classical KDFC continues with a fall season of opera radio broadcasts beginning August 7 with the star-studded, June 16, 2016 gala concert celebrating San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley. The Company's highly acclaimed 2016 Summer Season productions of Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Don Carlo and Jana?ek's Jen?fa, along with a special 1982 'From the Archives' broadcast of Handel's Julius Caesar, will air each month through December 4. All performances were recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House and feature the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2016 – The Merola Opera Program's Summer Festival concludes with its 2016 artists performing in the Merola Grand Finale Saturday, August 20 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conductor Rory Macdonald will lead the orchestra and 2016 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Aria Umezawa will stage the program, featuring works by Bizet, Bernstein, Donizetti, Offenbach, Mozart, J. Strauss, Puccini, Berlioz, Britten, Humperdinck, Flotow, Glück, and Rossini. The performance is a culmination of the 12-week Merola Opera training program, and all 23 of the 2016 Merola singers will perform, under the coaching and direction of their fellow artists. A special artists' reception follows the Grand Finale (tickets sold separately).

On August 22, award-winning opera educator, administrator, researcher and stage director Carleen Graham assumes the position of Director of HGOco, the Houston Grand Opera's community outreach program.

Artistic Director Anda Winters today announces Print Room at the Coronet's forthcoming season running through until December 2016. The season opens with Tennessee Williams' A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, directed by Michael Oakley. The production opens in the main theatre space on 15 September, with previews from 12 September, and runs until 7 October.

The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), New York's standard for grand choral performance, will mark its 2016-17 season with performances of symphonic choral masterworks of Handel, Mozart, Bruckner, and Britten, ending with Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor. Leading the OSNY for its 144th season will be Kent Tritle, in his 12th year as Music Director.

SAN FRANCISCO - The acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the United States, opens its 2016 Summer Festival with the popular Schwabacher Summer Concerts tonight, July 7 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 9 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of the world premiere of Steve Martin's new play METEOR SHOWER, an adult comedy, marking his welcome return to the Globe following the great success of Bright Star.

 OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that Timothy O'Leary, general director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, has been elected the new chairman of OPERA America's board of directors. He has been involved with OPERA America since 2006, when he participated in Leadership Advance, one of the organization's professional development programs. He joined OPERA America's board in 2011. O'Leary was elected chairman at OPERA America's recent annual business meeting — held during Opera Conference 2016 in Montreal — where eight new members were also elected to the board and three current members were re-elected to three-year terms. 

Happy Birthday Audra McDonald!! Today is six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald's birthday and to celebrate her special day BroadwayWorld has decided to round up some of our favorite Audra McDonald videos!

If you're a fan of Puccini-esque music and the “magic realism” of the great Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Daniel Catan's FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS may be for you. Others might find the opera--which had its New York premiere at New York City Opera's home at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theatre--like falling into a production of “Alice in Puccini-land.” With an endless array of high-strung arias, it left no room for anyone to come up for air for 2½ hours, despite some first-rate performances.

Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson announced today the three exciting new productions that will comprise the company's 2017 Summer Festival, which will build on the company's commitment to producing masterpieces from the operatic cannon, important American works, and works in which dance plays an integral role.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has announced three New York Premiere productions for its upcoming 38th season. The season will kick off in October 2016 with the New York Premiere ofNOTES FROM THE FIELD: DOING TIME IN EDUCATION, the latest work created, written and performed by groundbreaking theatre artist Anna Deavere Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia. This marks Ms. Smith and Mr. Foglia's return to Second Stage Theatre, where their previous collaboration, Let Me Down Easy, had its New York Premiere in 2008.

Ardea Arts announces BOUNCE The Basketball Opera, their latest project in development. Showcase performances will take place at Paerdegat Park in East Flatbush, Brooklyn Today-Monday June 25-27, 2016 at 6pm.

The Huntington Theatre Company will open its 2016-2017 season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim's stunning masterpiece about love, inspiration, and "the art of making art." Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois (A Little Night Music) will direct. Performances will run September 9 - October 16, 2016 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre. Tickets are now on sale to the general public.

On Thursday, June 16, the San Francisco Opera honored Company General Director David Gockley with a gala evening and concert titled Celebrating David! Many of the leading artists from the world of opera gathered to honor one of the great careers in the modern history of the art form. Gockley, who in 2014 announced that he would retire from his position as General Director at the completion of the 2015­­-16 Season on July 31, has led a storied career of more than 40 years as an opera impresario.

Houston, June 14, 2016— Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has appointed Carleen Graham, an award-winning opera educator, administrator, researcher, and stage director, as director of the company's community collaboration and education initiative, HGOco. She will assume the position August 22. The executive search process was guided by Arts Consulting Group.

For people the world over, New York City represents the epicenter of arts and culture. With its renowned theatres and concert halls, attending a performance in the city often comes with a level of reverence and expectation. Countless artistic innovations, movements, even entire genres can trace their roots back to the city that never sleeps. Next week, New York City audiences can add to this the experience a cutting-edge opera production that was conceptualized and created in the globally creative city of Nashville, Tennessee.

?San Francisco Opera today announced that it has amended the list of international singers performing at the David Gockley Gala Concert on Thursday, June 16 to now include Sasha Cooke in lieu of Susan Graham, who has withdrawn due to illness. Cooke will sing in the Act III trio “Hab' mir's gelobt” from Der Rosenkavalier and Didon's aria “Ah! Je vais mourir…adieu, fière cité” from Les Troyens.