Houston Grand Opera News

The Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University has selected two Irish artists - choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan and playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh - as the recipients of the third annual Meadows Prize arts residency.

The Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni will take another featured turn on the Met stage as Caliban, alongside Placido Domingo and Joyce DiDonato, in The Enchanted Island - the company's freshly conceived Shakespearean tableau of music by Handel, Vivaldi, and Rameau, conducted by renowned Baroque authority William Christie (Dec 31-Jan 30).

The second event in the FRESHLY BREWED series at OPERA America will be held this weekend on Sunday December 18th at 1:00 PM. Tickets are now on sale for The Art of the Aria with Mark Adamo.

Houston Grand Opera today launched a new version of its InstantEncore Mobile Suite, which allows users to purchase tickets using their mobile devices.

The young American theater director Arin Arbus will direct an opera for the first time when she leads a new production of Benjamin Britten's intimate but intensely gripping chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia at Houston Grand Opera, on February 3-11, 2012.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Chiara Taigi at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. Joined by Eve Queler at the piano, Ms. Taigi will present a program including works by Bellini, Cherubini, Mascagni, Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

After last December's premiere run in Houston of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, the world's first mariachi opera, the Houston Chronicle called the piece 'a bold first-time fusion' that 'succeeded on all fronts.'

Opera San Jose continues its 28th season with the romantic tragedy La traviata. An unequivocal masterpiece based on the short life of the most famous of all Parisian courtesans, this is Verdi's most popular opera.

Am Sonntag, 11. Dezember 2011, findet um 11.00 Uhr die vierte Matinee der Reihe „Das Ensemble stellt sich vor“ im Gustav Mahler-Saal der Wiener Staatsoper statt. Die beiden Ensemblemitglieder Albina Shagimuratova (Sopran) und Ho-yoon Chung (Tenor) präsentieren Arien, Duette und Lieder von Sergei Rachmaninow, Gaetano Donizetti und Giuseppe Verdi sowie koreanische Volkslieder. Am Klavier werden sie begleitet von der musikalischen Studienleiterin Kathleen Kelly.

The Araca Group has announced the return of AracaWorks, a week-long series of play readings celebrating new work for the theatre.

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

The legendary Grotta Azzurra Ristorante, located on the corner of Broome and Mulberry Streets in one of lower Manhattan's historic neighborhoods - Little Italy -- is transforming its famous lower-level 'grotto' into an intimate live music room on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 PM starting in mid-December. The policy will be a $20 cover charge plus a two drink minimum. Dinner at this fabled Italian restaurant will be available upstairs in the main dining room at 6 PM. A limited snacks menu will be available in the 'grotto" during the performances. The capacity of the 'grotto" is 50 people.

As previously reported, Michael Grandage will be stepping down from his post as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse at the end of the year. Today, the New York Times' ArtsBeat reports that Grandage will form his own theater company. In an interview with the London's Evening Standard, Grandage spoke of his longevity in the industry and said, “It seems entirely appropriate to think about what I can take from those years, form a company that's buildingless and go out and make work.'

Houston Grand Opera's new production of Benjamin Britten's intimate but intensely gripping chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia takes place on February 3-11, 2012 and features the young American theatre director Arin Arbus in her operatic debut.

Puccini's La Bohème will return to the Met on November 18 under the baton of Louis Langrée, who will lead his first house performances of Puccini's extraordinarily popular romantic opera.

Harold Prince directed the original productions of Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade, LoveMusik, and Paradise Found. Before becoming a director, Mr. Prince's productions included The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

In the first of several high-profile appearances this season, Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni earned universal acclaim for his star turn as Leporello in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which ran from October 13-November 11. He sang alongside such talents as Peter Mattei and Mariusz Kwiecien (as Don Giovanni), Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira) and Ramón Vargas (Don Ottavio), led by Met principal conductor Fabio Luisi.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Chiara Taigi at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. Joined by Eve Queler at the piano, Ms. Taigi will present a program including works by Bellini, Cherubini, Mascagni, Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

Rising Action Theater announces that this Monday, November 14th at 7:30pm for the first ever there will be a public reading of the new comedy/mystery 'Who Killed Joan Crawford?' by Carbonell/Silver Palm Award winner Michael Leeds who last season directed Rising Action Theatre's critically acclaimed production of The Boys In The Band.

On Monday, November 14th at 7:30pm Rising Action will present the first ever public reading of the new comedy/mystery 'Who Killed Joan Crawford?' by Carbonell/Silver Palm Award winner Michael Leeds who last season directed Rising Action Theatre's critically acclaimed production of The Boys In The Band.