Houston Grand Opera News

Described by Opera News as the “lyric soprano who truly seems to have it all,” Ailyn Pérez takes the stage at leading opera houses on both sides of the Atlantic in 2014-15 for an exciting new season that features house debuts at both the Metropolitan Opera and Houston Grand Opera, the latter also serving as a role debut for Pérez as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello.

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final details for LA Opera's first revival of Florencia en el Amazonas, an enchanting and romantic opera by composer Daniel Catán. Co-commissioned by LA Opera in 1995, the opera returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for six performances from November 22 through December 20, 2014. In the exquisitely beautiful opera, inspired by the fiction of Gabriel García Márquez, a steamboat passage along the fabled Amazon becomes a poignant voyage of discovery for all seven travelers on board.

Ailyn Perez, born and bred in Chicago, returns to her hometown's famous Ravinia Festival for two performances (Aug 14 & 16) as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni - a role that the Dallas Morning News has said shows her to be 'a singer of considerable nuance.' LA Opera Music Director James Conlon leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the run, which also features baritone Christopher Maltman in the title role, baritone David Bizi? as Leporello, soprano Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna and tenor Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio. The Chicago Tribune praised Perez's 2012 appearance at Ravinia, as Pamina in Die Zauberflote, as 'show-stopping…all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, which roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation.'

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director) is proud to open its 2014-2015 season with a Broadway-bound, world-class revival of Can-Can starring Kate Baldwin as Pistache and Jason Danieley as Aristide.

CHICAGO – Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton are excited to release single tickets to the renowned contemporary company's 2014–15 season performances in Chicago, on August 25, 2014 at 10am. All remaining seats to the company's performances at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Edlis Neeson Theater will be available online at hubbardstreetdance.com or by phone to the Hubbard Street Ticket Office at 312-850-9744. (Season 37 subscriptions, which include tickets to all four 2014–15 season engagements, went on sale May 1, 2014 and remain available by phone or online at hubbardstreetdance.com/subscribe.) Season 37 single tickets start at just $25; the performance schedule is as follows:

San Francisco Opera presents the Company premiere of Carlisle Floyd's two-act opera Susannah September 6 at the War Memorial Opera House. Soprano Patricia Racette returns to San Francisco Opera in her role debut as the innocent, strong-willed and falsely accused young woman Susannah Polk.

Tulsa Opera today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Greg Weber to the position of Managing Director. Currently Director of Production at San Francisco Opera, Weber brings more than 28 years of experience in arts management. He was hired after a nationwide executive search guided by Arts Consulting Group. Weber will assume his duties as Managing Director this October.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2014-2015 season with the company premiere of Daniel Cata?n and Marcela Fuentes-Berain's Florencia in the Amazon, September 20-28 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. This modern romantic drama, the first Spanish-language work WNO has presented in a decade, is inspired by the magical realism of Colombian author Gabriel Garci?a Ma?rquez. WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello revisits her world premiere production with members of her original creative team to present a fresh take on this contemporary classic. Conductor Carolyn Kuan leads the WNO Orchestra in her WNO debut.

Houston Ballet is pleased to announce that Angela Lane has joined its senior management team as Chief Development Officer. Ms. Lane will be responsible for developing comprehensive strategic fundraising plans and overseeing the development department at the company.

Houston Ballet has announced that Angela Lane has joined its senior management team as Chief Development Officer. Ms. Lane will be responsible for developing comprehensive strategic fundraising plans and overseeing the development department at the company.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the third season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three teams of new opera composers and librettists—John Liberatore and Niloufar Talebi, Jake Runestad and David Johnston, and Rene Orth and Jason Kim—will premiere new 20-minute operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on November 21, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

The Old Globe today announced the full cast and creative team for the World Premiere of Bright Star, a new American musical featuring music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, lyrics by Brickell, and book by Martin, based on an original story by Martin and Brickell. Directed by Walter Bobbie, Bright Star will run September 13 - November 2, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run September 13 - September 27. Opening night is Sunday, September 28 at 7:00 p.m. Single tickets go on sale on Friday, August 8 at noon.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the third season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three teams of new opera composers and librettists—John Liberatore and Niloufar Talebi, Jake Runestad and David Johnston, and Rene Orth and Jason Kim—will premiere new 20-minute operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on November 21, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

San Francisco Opera's 2014-15 Season opens September 5, 2014 with a dramatic new production of Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto masterpiece Norma, starring American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in one of opera's most dazzling and demanding roles. American mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas is the young priestess Adalgisa; Italian tenor Marco Berti is Pollione; and American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn is Oroveso. Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and Director Kevin Newbury and set designer David Korins return to San Francisco Opera to premiere this vivid, large-scale new co-production with Toronto's Canadian Opera Company, Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Norma runs for seven performances through September 30.

Audiences of all ages can hum along to their favorite songs like 'Edelweiss,' 'My Favorite Things' 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' and title song 'The Sound of Music' when Central City Opera (CCO) brings to Denver one of the most popular Broadway productions of all time, The Sound of Music. Rodgers and Hammerstein II's Tony Award winning musical, which was also an Academy Award winning movie, is Central City Opera's final production for the 2014 Festival. The Sound of Music will be performed at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Performing Arts Complex for seven performances only from today, August 2 through August 10.

The Music Academy of the West will present a new, fully staged production of Georges Bizet's timeless opera Carmen in honor of celebrated mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne's 80th birthday at Santa Barbara's historic Granada Theatre. Directed by David Paul and conducted by James Gaffigan, the performances will take place at 7:30 pm tonight, August 1, and at 2:30 pm on Sunday, August 3. Tickets start at $15.

Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”

THE POTOMAC THEATRE PROJECT has announced the cast for their third reading in the After Dark Series, 'GATED' by Lukas Kanter at Atlantic Stage 2 at The Atlantic Theater (330 West 16th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues) on Friday,August 1 at 10:30 PM. Christine Hope (Into the Woods, Stage 23 Theatre Company), Cole Cuomo (City of Angels, USC), Michael Kushner (On the Town,Barrington Stage Company), Martina Bonolis (Lovesong of the Electric Bear, PTP), Elianna Kan, Ollie Corchado, and Jenny Hoofnagle (Don Carlos, Houston Grand Opera) will join the cast of the reading.

Audiences of all ages can hum along to their favorite songs like 'Edelweiss,' 'My Favorite Things' 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' and title song 'The Sound of Music' when Central City Opera (CCO) brings to Denver one of the most popular Broadway productions of all time, The Sound of Music. Rodgers and Hammerstein II's Tony Award winning musical, which was also an Academy Award winning movie, is Central City Opera's final production for the 2014 Festival. The Sound of Music will be performed at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Performing Arts Complex for seven performances only from August 2 through August 10. Directed by Ken Cazan, who also directed CCO's critically acclaimed production of Dead Man Walking this summer, The Sound of Music will be performed in English with a full live orchestra. Single tickets range from $30 to $106.

Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) kick off the 2014-2015 concert season with Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Fourth Symphony on Thursday, September 18 at 8 p.m.