Houston Grand Opera News

The Collegiate Chorale announces its upcoming performance with the American Symphony Orchestra, Beatrice di Tenda by Vincenzo Bellini tonight, December 5, 2012 at 6pm at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, NYC. Tickets start at $12.50 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org.

Mercury is elated to welcome a Mercury-favorite, soprano Lauren Snouffer, to A Baroque Christmas on Dec. 7 & 8 at the Wortham Center, Cullen Theater. The repertoire is entirely Baroque, featuring both popular and unique Christmas favorites!

American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey will join soprano Emalie Savoy (2011 George London Award winner) and pianist Ken Noda on the bill of the second George London Foundation Recital of the season on January 13, 2013, at The Morgan Library & Museum. Mr. Griffey replaces the originally-announced Matthew Polenzani, who has had to withdraw because of a scheduling conflict-he has assumed the role of Leicester in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Polenzani will participate in the George London Foundation Recital Series next season.

Main Street Theater collaborates with MECA Houston (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts) to present a Mexican Pastorela, La Música del Cielo (Music from Heaven), written and directed by Peter Webster. The production will be presented in Spanish with English surtitles.

Today we are thrilled to be talking to a nine-time Tony Award-winning performer/director/choreographer all about his illustrious career onstage and behind the scenes working on classic musicals such as THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, NINE, GRAND HOTEL, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and many more as well as all about his new solo piece premiering at Feinstein's At Loews Regency this weekend - the one and only Tommy Tune. Taking a look back at his near-peerless legacy as the top director of the 1980s and 1990s on Broadway, Tune imparts his candid insights about show business and reflects upon many aspects of the aforementioned hit shows - from their inception and creation to their critical and public reception and their ultimate legacy - as well as shares stories about his time as a performer, both then and now, with the star-studded tales cumulatively involving such legendary luminaries as Gene Kelly, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bennett, Hal Prince, Maury Yeston, Ken Russell, Jane Krakowski, Sutton Foster and many more. Plus, Tune gives us an enticing glimpse of his new Feintein's At The Regency showcase, TAPS, TUNES AND TALL TALES, playing November 18-26, and casts his sights on the future, near and far, and discusses the types of projects he would like to tackle next - including, first up, finding the perfect NYC location for his environmental new theatre piece, 54. All of that, tons of taps, top hats and tails and much, much more!

With rave reviews for Puccini's La boheme and Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers to its credit, Houston Grand Opera's season is up and running. Starting in January, the company offers productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Kern and Hammerstein's classic American musical Show Boat, which bring with them the company debuts of conductor Trevor Pinnock, bass Morris Robinson, baritone Adrian Erod, Broadway legend Tommy Tune, and more. They will be followed in March by HGO's original and highly acclaimed production of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna / To Cross the Face of the Moon, a mariachi opera by Jose "Pepe" Martinez and Leonard Foglia. Tickets are on sale now and moving quickly for this winter repertory period, which accounts for 14 of the season's 44 performances, a 38 percent increase from an average of 32 performances in recent seasons. This increase, as well as HGO's 34 percent growth in subscription sales and more than $112 million fundraising effort over the last five years, clearly identifies HGO as today's most successful American opera company.

The New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Carnegie Hall under the baton of David Hayes, making his debut as Music Director on Tuesday, December 18th at 8pm for a presentation of two choral works. The concert will open with O magnum mysterium by Pulitzer-prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Written for chorus accompanied by a small, novel musical ensemble, O magnum mysterium is an innovative, harmonically rich work that marvels at the mystery of Jesus' birth, setting the stage perfectly for the Berlioz oratorio that follows. In L'Enfance du Christ, Berlioz tells a dramatic and moving story of Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Jesus in the days following his birth. It's a story about their flight to save their baby from King Herod's murderous plot, the rejection they meet with along their way, and the kind but unlikely stranger who finally offers them a refuge in his home. Berlioz masterfully combines soloists, orchestra and chorus in this composition. Soloists are Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; William Burden, tenor; Alan Held, bass-baritone, and Richard Bernstein, bass. This concert will be presented with English supertitles.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation holds its 37th annual gala, one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, tonight, November 11 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center. Soprano Ailyn Perez, winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award and the first Latina singer to be so honored, joins a dazzling array of special guests - including baritones Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Gerald Finley; mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina; tenor Marcello Giordani; bass Ildar Abdrazakov; bass-baritone Erwin Schrott; and many more - in a program of favorite arias and ensembles, including selections by Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet, Mascagni, Handel, and Wagner. Maestro Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, leads the lineup of luminaries, supported by members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Choral Society.

Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will lead his first Met performances of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in a new production by renowned opera director David Alden, beginning tonight, November 8. The staging is the first of two new Verdi productions in the current Met season, which includes seven operas by the great composer in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Musical America, now in its third century, today announced the winners of the annual Musical America Awards, recognizing artistic excellence and achievement in the arts.

Sundance Institute today announced the seven artists selected for its 2013 Playwrights Retreat at Ucross Foundation, February 4-22, 2013. The annual writing colony at the 20,000-acre working cattle ranch outside of Sheridan, Wyo. provides a supportive environment for artists to create new work and receive guidance and reactions to it at an early stage. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director of the Theatre Program, and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Playwrights Retreat is made possible through the generosity of Ucross Foundation.

The Collegiate Chorale announces its upcoming performance with the American Symphony Orchestra, Beatrice di Tenda by Vincenzo Bellini on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 6pm at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, NYC. Tickets start at $12.50 and are available at www.carnegiehall.org.

After a 29-year absence from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City repertoire, the Company presents Verdi's Il Trovatore tonight, November 3 and November 7, 9 & 11, 2012 at the Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts.

Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will lead his first Met performances of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in a new production by renowned opera director David Alden, beginning November 8. The staging is the first of two new Verdi productions in the current Met season, which includes seven operas by the great composer in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Previews begin today for John Caird's production of DADDY LONG LEGS, the second production at London's newest theatre complex, the St. James Theatre. DADDY LONG LEGS will run at the St. James Theatre until 08 December, with press night on 07 November 2012. Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis will reprise the roles of Jervis Pendleton and Jerusha Abbott. Photos from the production inside!

Patrick Carfizzi has a lot of future projects lined up. Yet, Houston audiences are lucky enough to have the opportunity to see him perform as Mustafa in Rossini's THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS, playing now through November 11, 2012. When Patrick Carfizzi isn't on stage he is teaching (which is something he loves and plans to do more of as time and schedule permits), volunteering for community groups, and working with the elderly from time to time. He is "delighted, honored, and grateful" to do what he does for a living. Despite his busy schedule, he spent a few minutes to talk with me about his career in opera, THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS, and his character Mustafa.

Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis will reprise the roles of Jervis Pendleton and Jerusha Abbott in John Caird's production of Daddy Long Legs, the second production at London's newest theatre complex, the St. James Theatre. Daddy Long Legs will run at the St. James Theatre from tonight, 31 October to 8 December, with press night on 7 November 2012. Get a first look at Hancock and McGinnis in character below!

Houston Grand Opera is performing Gioachino Rossini's splendid, humorous, and simply delightful L'italiana in Algeri or THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS for the first time. Even knowing that comedic operas exist, it is still seems somewhat like a contradiction to this opera novice. With that said, being able to laugh and smile all the through a performance made this production all the more memorable and enjoyable.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

Houston Grand Opera is opening its 2012-2013 season with a lavish and fresh production of one of the world's favorite operas, LA BOHÈME by Giacomo Puccini. The familiar opera tells the story of four bohemian artists that live in the same garret (apartment) in 1830s Paris. The poet, Rodolfo, falls for Mimi, a seamstress suffering from Tuberculosis. His friend Marcello, a painter, has recently broken up with Musetta, but is still fascinated by her. In a series of short glimpses into their lives, the audience sees Rodolfo and Mimi fall into a deep, passionate love that is eventually troubled and torn asunder by Rodolfo's jealousies and concerns about her health.