Houston Grand Opera News

LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include its first performances in nearly two decades of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, conducted by James Conlon, the company's Richard Seaver Music Director. The production, directed by Anne Bogart, will open tonight, November 21, 2015.

Updated this week! Check out upcoming Non-Equity Auditions from Sunday, November 15, 2015 for productions in your area and around the country.

New York, NY (November 11, 2015) – Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the Met stage on Monday, November 23 for the first of seventeen performances throughout the season. The November and December performances, conducted by Paolo Carignani,will star Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, opposite American soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta in her first Met performances since 2005. Romanian baritone Levente Molnár makes his Met debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro. 

'Everyone at CSUN is always delighted to welcome back our alums who have risen to the top of their professions,' said VPAC Executive Director, Thor Steingraber. 'Michelle has conquered the stages at La Scala, the Met, Salzburg and LA Opera, and we welcome this great diva and look forward to her conquering the VPAC stage.'

Updated this week! Check out upcoming Non-Equity Auditions from Sunday, November 8, 2015 for productions in your area and around the country.

American Lyric Theater is proud to launch a new series, ALT Alumni: Composers and Librettists in Concert, celebrating the successes of its Composer Librettist Development Program. The series includes two upcoming concerts at the brand new National Sawdust, November 15, 2015 and February 7, 2016, each featuring excerpts from five different operas with scores and/or librettos written by alumni of the CLDP.

?Named "Best Female Singer" at the 2014 International Opera Awards, German soprano Diana Damrau appears in recital with pianist Craig Rutenberg at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, December 6 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Ms. Damrau and Mr. Rutenberg perform German lieder by Schubert and R. Strauss, French songs by Poulenc and Manuel Rosenthal, and Dvo?ak's Zigeunermelodien.

DALLAS, OCTOBER 16, 2015 – Expect edge-of-your-seat excitement and experience Grand Opera at its finest as The Dallas Opera presents Giacomo Puccini's immortal TOSCA, opening on Today, November 6, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.  

From the rights of the individual against government and corporate power, to advocacy for First Amendment rights, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas scaled great heights on behalf of the individual and the natural environment. Bristol Riverside Theatre continues its Mainstage Season with Mountain: The Journey of Justice Douglas by Douglas Scott about this judicial giant running tonight, November 3, through November 22. Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the cast features Keith Baker as Douglas with Kenneth Boys and Sandy York playing multiple supporting characters.

LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include the company premiere of Moby-Dick, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, opening tonight, October 31, 2015. 

The Public Theater has announced a one-week extension for the critically acclaimed FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE, a world premiere musical by Michael John LaChiusa, BroadwayWorld has confirmed. Directed by Kirsten Sanderson, FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE began previews on Tuesday, October 6 and was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, November 15. It will now run an additional week through Sunday, November 22. Ghostlight Records recently recorded the original cast recording of FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE to be released later this season.

For the holiday season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents three classic one-acts by three celebrated writers, LOVE STORIES, November 25 - December 20, 2015. The production features VILLAGE WOOING by George Bernard Shaw, THE JEWISH WIFE by Bertolt Brecht and HERE WE ARE by Dorothy Parker. Real-life married couple James Pickering and Tami Workentin star in LOVE STORIES under the direction of Paula Suozzi. LOVE STORIES performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

HOUSTON (October 29, 2015) – This December, the Houston Symphony will deck the concert hall with the sounds of holiday cheer to celebrate the festive time of year. Now in its 15th season, the annual Houston holiday tradition Very Merry Pops will once again delight audiences big and small with favorite holiday carols and the holiday classic Handel's Messiah also returns with full glorious choruses that tell the story of Christmas through the fine masterpiece. New this year is the live orchestral accompaniment to the film Home Alone to celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary.

(Los Angeles) October 29, 2015 — LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include its first performances in nearly two decades of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, conducted by James Conlon, the company's Richard Seaver Music Director. The production, directed by Anne Bogart, will open on November 21, 2015. 

The Dallas Opera is proud to present one of the most eagerly anticipated new operas of the year: Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's GREAT SCOTT, featuring a once-in-a-lifetime cast headed by America's favorite mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato, in the title role of Arden Scott; also starring soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, baritone Nathan Gunn, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, bass Kevin Burdette, tenor Rodell Rosel and baritone Michael Mayes.

'Everyone at CSUN is always delighted to welcome back our alums who have risen to the top of their professions,' said VPAC Executive Director, Thor Steingraber. 'Michelle has conquered the stages at La Scala, the Met, Salzburg and LA Opera, and we welcome this great diva and look forward to her conquering the VPAC stage.'

Toronto – Today at the Canadian Opera Company's Annual General Meeting, COC Board Chair Tony Arrell and COC General Director Alexander Neef reported on the financial and artistic successes of the 2014/2015 season. With an acclaimed season of operas, the COC maintained its impressive attendance numbers, recording an average attendance of 92%, as well as retained last year's historic-level of fundraising with contributed revenue totaling $12.6 million and posted a balanced budget, to show a modest surplus of $13,000.

PRINCE OF BROADWAY, a new musical celebrating the extraordinary six-decade Broadway career of producer-director Harold Prince, plays from tonight, October 23, through November 22, 2015 at Tokyu Theatre Orb in Tokyo, Japan and November 28-December 10, 2015 at Umeda Arts Theatre, Main Hall, in Osaka, Japan.

'I have a lot of projects I get asked for, but the opera house really is my house.'

On October 23 & 24, Persona, a new opera from composer Keeril Makan and adaptor / librettist / director Jay Scheib, will make its world premiere at National Sawdust. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust, and adapted by Scheib from Ingmar Bergman's film of the same name, Persona is a provocative, highly cerebral, and artistically complex depiction of human frailty, cruelty and identity. These world premiere performances—which represent the first opera staged at National Sawdust—feature music direction by Evan Ziporyn and music by the ensemble Either/Or.