Houston Grand Opera News

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today a call for submissions for its second annual Frontiers new works showcase to be held during the 2014 Fort Worth Opera Festival. A pioneering leader in the production of contemporary opera, FWOpera launched Frontiers in the 2012-2013 season. One of the only programs world-wide designed to seek out unproduced works by up-and-coming composers from North, South, and Central America, the showcase provides composers and librettists a platform by which to gain exposure for their pieces in a live performance environment while also affording them valuable networking opportunities with industry professionals, including artistic directors of opera companies, artist managers, classical music publishers, funding organizations, and conductors.

Soprano Renee Fleming and Mezzo-Soprano Susan Graham, two of the world's foremost stars of opera, join together for a rare recital of duets at The McCallum Theatre tonight, January 22 at 8:00 pm. Through selections from the French, German and American repertoire, the compelling and dynamic singers will create a lively evening of collaboration.

Houston Grand Opera presents SHOW BOAT, which opened January 18. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

Houston Grand Opera presents SHOW BOAT, which opened January 18. BroadwayWorld has a first look at highlights from the show below.

Virginia Opera, The Official Opera Company of the Commonwealth of Virginia, announces its 2013-14 Season that features four, brand-new mainstage productions and two Special Engagement productions that span comedy, drama, farce and grand opera. The Company's 39th Subscription Season will open with Falstaff in September, followed by The Magic Flutein November, Ariadne auf Naxos in February, and Carmen in March. Special Engagements next season will include performances of The Girl of the Golden West in January and Sweeney Todd in May.

A total of 35 established and emerging writers, composers and lyricists will converge on the Goodspeed campus this month to participate in the first-ever Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing more than twenty new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

Houston Grand Opera opened their Winter Repertory offerings with an impressive and rousing production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's iconic book musical SHOW BOAT. The musical historically changed the face of American Musical Theatre and introduced a genre of entertainment that many feel OKLAHOMA perfected and solidified. Despite it's classification as a musical, the show's score is incredibly operatic and requires many classically trained voices to effectively pull off a production.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO)-the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony - continues to raise the bar for American opera with next season's gripping new line-up.

Muhlenberg College will showcase world premiere dance works created by five of the region's most accomplished choreographers and two restagings by internationally acclaimed choreographers, in the College's annual 'Master Choreographers' dance concert, Feb. 7-9.

INTAR (Lou Moreno, Artistic Director/John McCormack, Executive Director) today announced the two plays for its Winter/Spring 2013 season: Lucy Loves Me, written by Migdalia Cruz, directed by Lou Moreno, and Pinkolandia written by Andrea Thome, directed by Jose Zayas. Lucy Loves Me will begin performances Off-Broadway Friday February 22nd continuing through March 24th. Pinkolandia begins performances Friday, May 3rd and will continue through May 26th. Both Lucy Loves Me and Pinkoldandia are products of INTAR's legendary Maria Irene Fornés Hispanic Playwrights-in-Residence Laboratory (MIF HPRL).

Despite being wholly busy and working on perfecting DON GIOVANNI with the Houston Grand Opera creative teams and cast, I had the pleasure of being able to spend a delightful 30 minutes with the talented and intelligent Rachel Willis-Sørensen. We discussed her career, including her impressive contest wins, preparing Donna Anna in DON GIOVANI for Houston audiences, performing in Houston, and the best aspects of being an opera performer.

A total of 35 established and emerging writers, composers and lyricists will converge on the Goodspeed campus this month to participate in the first-ever Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing more than twenty new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

Seattle Opera rings in the New Year next month with royalty, a ball, and plenty of giant rats when it stages La Cenerentola, Rossini's effervescent take on the Cinderella story. But you won't find a glass slipper, an evil stepmother, or a fairy godmother in this opera; instead, this uniquely Italian retelling features a prince in disguise, a pompous stepfather, and a wise philosopher. Love, laughter, virtue, and brilliant bel canto vocalism win out at the end of this opera by the composer of The Barber of Seville. La Cenerentola opens tonight, January 12, and runs for eight performances through January 26.

The Atlanta Opera will host its 24-Hour Opera Project Showcase on Saturday, January 26, 2013, at 7 p.m. EST. Audiences can attend for free or tune in via LIVE WEBCAST.

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre site on the net, continues its expansion into other areas of entertainment with our latest feature -The Regional Opera Company of the Week! This week's featured Opera Company is Opera Colorado in Denver celebrating its 30th anniversary!

Soprano Renee Fleming and Mezzo-Soprano Susan Graham, two of the world's foremost stars of opera, join together for a rare recital of duets at The McCallum Theatre on January 22 at 8:00 pm. Through selections from the French, German and American repertoire, the compelling and dynamic singers will create a lively evening of collaboration.

Internationally acclaimed Grammy Award-winning conductor Helmuth Rilling, recipient of the 2011 Herbert von Karajan Music Prize, makes his 13th appearance with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to guest conduct two performances of Mozart's sublime Requiem in D minor, K. 626, featuring soprano Stacey Tappan, alto Callista Hoffman, tenor Nicholas Phan, bass Michael Dean and the acclaimed USC Thornton Chamber Singers, under the direction of Jo Michael Scheibe, on Saturday, January 26, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, and Sunday, January 27, 2013, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. The all-Mozart program, which celebrates the legendary composer's 257th birthday, opens with his majestic Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543.

Since the birth of its Song of Houston project in 2007, Houston Grand Opera has been actively pursuing a unique collaborative relationship with the city's Mexican community: commissioning and presenting new works that go beyond a merely curatorial approach to the shared culture of a significant majority of Houston's citizens, telling their stories and refining opera's "Euro-centric" musical-theatrical art with the cadences of the New World. In 2010, HGO commissioned and premiered the world's first Mariachi opera: Cruzar la Cara de la Luna ("To Cross the Face of the Moon"), a true blending of the musical and storytelling traditions of both opera and mariachi, composed by Jose "Pepe" Martinez (music director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan) and co-written by Martinez with the distinguished Broadway director and writer Leonard Foglia. Now, after 2010's sold-out world-premiere performance and an acclaimed season-opening run at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in September 2011 - and the subsequent release of the opera on CD (on Albany Records) - Cruzar returns home for its first full run on the main stage at HGO, where it will receive four performances at the Wortham Theater Center on March 21, 23 and 24, 2013.

The Opera Orchestra of New York presents an opera-in-concert performance of Umberto Giordano's verismo opera, Andrea Chénier conducted by Music Director Alberto Veronesi at Avery Fisher Hall today, January 6, 2013 at 4:00 pm. Tenor Roberto Alagna sings the title role of Andrea Chénier, one of opera's most dramatic lyric-tenor roles, for the first time, with soprano Kristin Lewis as Maddalena di Coigny, baritone George Petean as Carlo Gérard, with a special appearance by mezzo soprano Rosalind Elias as Madelon.

Saturday, February 2, 2013 brings internationally renowned Sicilian tenor Marcello Giordani to town for a single outstanding performance at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.