Houston Grand Opera News

Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts) will present staged readings of promising new plays, beginning with Acapulco by New York writer Jacquelyn Reingold (HBO's In Treatment, Law and Order, and produced off-Broadway) and featuring L.A.-based Evan Handler ('Sex and the City,' 'Californication,' and films by Ron Howard and Oliver Stone) in addition to local artists.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, January 30, 2011 - Sunday, January 30, 2011.

Houston Grand Opera General Director and CEO Anthony Freud announced the company's 2011-2012 season today. Opening on October 21, 2011, the season offers thirty-two performances of six operas. 'We've chosen an exciting array of operas that will thrill, stimulate and entertain,' says Freud. 'From celebrated masterpieces to rarely-performed operatic gems, our 2011-12 season features world-renowned directors, beloved productions and acclaimed singers.

Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that NY-based actress, Nadia Dajani and South Florida performers Amy McKenna, Elayne Wilks, Ryan George, Glen Lawrence and Brian McCormack have joined Evan Handler, completing the cast for SoBe Arts upcoming staged readings of ACAPULCO by New York writer Jacquelyn Reingold and directed by Michael Leeds.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its 2010-11 season with a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, Gaetano Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece, opening on Friday, January 28, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center.

Philadelphia Theatre Company continues its 35th Anniversary Season with the Philadelphia debut of Anna Deavere Smith in her one-woman, award-winning show Let Me Down Easy, running March 18 through April 10, 2011 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that NY-based actress, Nadia Dajani and South Florida performers Amy McKenna, Elayne Wilks, Ryan George, Glen Lawrence and Brian McCormack have joined Evan Handler, completing the cast for SoBe Arts upcoming staged readings of ACAPULCO by New York writer Jacquelyn Reingold and directed by Michael Leeds.

Hot on the heels of winning Gramophone magazine's 2010 Artist of the Year award, the vibrant mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will release her third Virgin/EMI solo album - Diva, Divo - on January 25.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present an opera-in-concert performance of Giacomo Meyerbeer's L'Africaine conducted by the company's Music Director Eve Queler on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at Avery Fisher Hall.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its 2010-11 season with the company premiere of Dead Man Walking, American composer Jake Heggie's masterful opera about compassion and redemption.

Lynn Wyatt, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Houston Grand Opera (HGO) and a Life Trustee of the organization, together with Anthony Freud, HGO General Director and CEO, today announced that mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will be the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist at Houston Grand Opera for the 2011-12 season.

In honor of Black History Month, Opera Exposures, a Staten Island-based not-for-profit organization devoted to furthering the careers of both seasoned and young professional singers at venues which are accessible and intimate, will offer its first musical program in St. Bartholomew's Chapel on Sunday, February 6, at 3:00 PM.

Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts) will present staged readings of promising new plays, beginning with Acapulco by New York writer Jacquelyn Reingold (HBO's In Treatment, Law and Order, and produced off-Broadway) and featuring L.A.-based Evan Handler ('Sex and the City,' 'Californication,' and films by Ron Howard and Oliver Stone) in addition to local artists.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 53rd season with Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment. The Daughter of the Regiment will be performed in English. This will be the Company's final season in the Lyric Theatre. Beginning in the fall of 2011, the Lyric Opera will perform at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Joseph Calleja, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 as Verdi's Duke of Mantua, returns to the role at the Met in a January 11-27 run of Rigoletto.

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), continues its 18th season with Heather McDonald's 'An Almost Holy Picture,' directed by Tony Tsendeas and featuring Michael Stebbins, Rep Stage's producing artistic director. Freely drawn from Pamela Ward's story 'The Hairy Little Girl,' 'An Almost Holy Picture' follows the odyssey of former minister Samuel Gentle as he travels from Massachusetts to New Mexico - and from despair to triumph - heeding a mysterious voice. 'An Almost Holy Picture' opens February 2 and runs through February 20, 2011 in the Studio Theatre of the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center (HVPA) on the HCC campus. For tickets and additional information, visit www.repstage.org.A post-show reception follows the Saturday, February 5 evening performance and free post-show discussions follow the February 11 and 18 performances.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Meagan Miller at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.

Joseph Calleja, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 as Verdi's Duke of Mantua, returns to the role at the Met in a January 11-27 run of Rigoletto.

An intimate evening of talk and song celebrating the male roles from the musical songbook of 5-time Tony nominated composer, Michael John LaChiusa, whose works include Little Fish, Marie Christine, See What I Wanna See, Hello Again, and The Wild Party, will be presented at a one-night-only event on Monday, January 10 at 7 PM at Playwrights Horizon.

Hot on the heels of winning Gramophone magazine's 2010 Artist of the Year award, the vibrant mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will release her third Virgin/EMI solo album - Diva, Divo - on January 25.