Houston Grand Opera News

HOUSTON (April 13, 2015) - The Houston Symphony presents Ohlsson Plays Chopin at Jones Hall featuring works by contemporary American living composer Jennifer Higdon and Romantic-era composer and virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts and Divaria Productions are pleased to announce a shortened, LIVE version of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA on Saturday, May 9 at 8 pm. The evening will highlight Verdi's most famous opera with the most important numbers linked by compelling narrative.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Lyric's 'Carousel' and the 'Sound Of Music' movie keep R&H front and center, plus 'Show Boat' from San Francisco and 'The Wiz,' 'Rocky Horror' and 'Grease' coming on television. COT has Ricky Ian Gordon, the Royal George has Louis Prima, more 'First Date' and 'Ordinary Days,' 'On Your Feet' and Broadway In Chicago's summer concert get set, and more!

What: Donizetti's comic opera DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT Where: Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, Downtown Pittsburgh When: Saturday, May 2, 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.* Sunday, May 10, 2:00 p.m.

The Collegiate Chorale announces that Eli Tokash will join the cast of the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise on May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Tickets are $30-$135 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or the Box Office at 57th and Seventh. For more information, visit http://collegiatechorale.org/performances/the-road-of-promise.

HOUSTON (April 13, 2015) – The Houston Symphony presents Ohlsson Plays Chopin at Jones Hall featuring works by contemporary American living composer Jennifer Higdon and Romantic-era composer and virtuoso pianist Frédéric Chopin.

The Houston Symphony will present the world premiere concert featuring music from the Emmy-Award winning TV series Schoolhouse Rock! for orchestra. The animated musical educational short film and TV series debuted in 1970 and has become a pop culture phenomenon.

Tulsa Opera is pleased to welcome Carlisle Floyd, one of the foremost American opera composers and librettists, to Tulsa for the upcoming Oklahoma premiere of his opera Of Mice & Men, based on John Steinbeck's iconic novel. While in Tulsa, Mr. Floyd will attend opening night of Tulsa Opera's production of Of Mice & Men tonight, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

The Houston Symphony will present the world premiere concert featuring music from the Emmy-Award winning TV series Schoolhouse Rock! for orchestra. The animated musical educational short film and TV series debuted in 1970 and has become a pop culture phenomenon.

Nineteen of the best young opera singers in the country will be competing in The Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition presented by The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild. The talented performers are competing for thousands of dollars in prize money and prestigious honors including the “People's Choice” award selected by audience ballot.

The Oratorio Society of New York is in its 142nd season as the city's standard for grand choral performance, and its tenth with its current music director, Kent Tritle. Celebrating the culmination of their landmark season together and, as it happens, emergence from a frigid and stormy winter, Tritle and the OSNY will present two life-affirming works for their spring concert: the ardent, hopeful Chichester Psalms of Leonard Bernstein, which will be conducted by the OSNY's associate conductor, David Rosenmeyer (also marking his tenth season with the group), and Carl Orff's spirited, bawdy Carmina Burana. Soloists Jennifer Zetlan, soprano; Peter Tantsits, tenor; Takaoki Onishi, baritone, and the Choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine join the OSNY on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, at 8:00 pm, at Carnegie Hall.

Houston, April 1, 2015—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the cast members set to appear in the much-anticipated mariachi production El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, featuring internationally renowned ensemble Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. El Pasado is the second mariachi opera from the creative team of José “Pepe” Martínez and Leonard Foglia, who collaborated to create the international hit Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon, with Mariachi Vargas, which HGO premiered in 2010 and reprised in 2013. HGO will close its 60th anniversary season with three performances of El Pasado on May 13, 16, and 17, 2015, in the Wortham Theater Center. The opera will be sung in Spanish and English with projected translations. The Chicago Tribune calls El Pasado “an audience-grabber with heart…with all the sweetness and tang of a freshly-made margarita.”

There is still some casting that is yet to be announced, but much of the cast has now signed on to take part in the much-anticipated film. Below, get to know the company and the roles that they will be playing!

The Collegiate Chorale announces that Ron Rifkin will join the cast of the US Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise on May 6, 2015 at 8pm and May 7, 2015 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019.

This just in! According to the Hollywood Reporter, Audra McDonald is in final talks to join the cast of Disney's upcoming remake of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The six-time Tony winner will take on the role of 'Garderobe,' the wardrobe.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra welcomes guest conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada for his Heinz Hall debut in 'Four Horns,' A BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert weekend, March 27-29.

The New York Philharmonic will present the U.S. Premiere of director Co?me de Bellescize's staging of Honegger's dramatic oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake in season-finale performances conducted by Alan Gilbert and starring Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard as Joan of Arc.

Baltimore, Md. (March 23, 2015) — For the conclusion of the 2014-2015 season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and Music Director Marin Alsop lead the BSO premiere of Leonard Bernstein's comedic operetta Candide on June 11 at the Music Center at Strathmore, and June 12 through June 14 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The BSO announced today that the semi-staged production of Candide will be directed by Garnett Bruce and features an all-star cast including Peter Sagal, the host of NPR's weekly current events quiz show “Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me,” and Judy Kaye, Tony Award-winning star of The Phantom of the Opera. Rounding out the cast are Keith Jameson, Lauren Snouffer, Joshua Hopkins, Mark Diamond, Marie Lenormand, Stephanie Sadownik, Curtis Bannister, Patrick Cook, Andrew McLaughlin, Melissa Wimbish and Lewis Shaw.

Tulsa Opera is pleased to welcome Carlisle Floyd, one of the foremost American opera composers and librettists, to Tulsa for the upcoming Oklahoma premiere of his opera Of Mice & Men, based on John Steinbeck's iconic novel. While in Tulsa, Mr. Floyd will attend opening night of Tulsa Opera's production of Of Mice & Men on April 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, five young singers have been named the winners of the nation's most prestigious vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.