Houston Grand Opera News

Producer Scott Sanders announced today that film and television icon Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) will bring his signature brand of hilarious mayhem to Broadway for a special six-week limited engagement of the acclaimed stage play, The Pee-wee Herman Show.

Previews will begin today at Virginia's Signature Theatre for the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees written by Ricky Ian Gordon, the award-winning composer of the opera The Grapes of Wrath and the musicals Dream True and My Life with Albertine. A starry Broadway cast portrays Gordon's own family story - complete with a tough Bronx-born father and former 'Borscht Belt' singer/comedian mother - in a tale of two generations' struggles and triumphs in the decades from World War II through the 1990s.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents the world premiere of the musical Johnny Baseball by Richard Dresser, Robert Reale, and Willy Reale, directed by Diane Paulus. The production begins performances on May 16 and runs through June 27, 2010 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

So far this season, Susan Graham has triumphed in Berlioz's Damnation de Faust at Lyric Opera of Chicago, in Strauss's Rosenkavalier at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with the San Francisco Symphony, and in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas on a West Coast tour.

21C Media Group is representing Joseph Calleja, handling his media and public relations. The Maltese singer's recent successes include runs at New York's Metropolitan Opera, where he 'brought the house down' in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (Classical TV) and 'gave his all, singing with ardor, stamina, and poignant vocal colorings and winning a rousing ovation' in the title role of Bartlett Sher's new production of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times). For more information visit http://www.josephcalleja.com/index.php.

The Collegiate Chorale presents George F. Handel's Israel in Egypt on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 8pm at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University, 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South), NYC.

Positive Motions Foundation in association with the Glendale Philharmonic Association and Positive Motions Concert Series, Ruslan Biryukov, Producer and Artistic Director, will present 'FOR ALL OUR MOTHERS,' a concert in honor of Mother's Day, to be presented on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Glendale; 209 N. Louise Street (at Wilson Avenue); Glendale, CA 91206.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents BATTLE OF BLACK AND DOGS by Bernard-Marie Koltès, translated by Michaël Attias, and directed by Robert Woodruff, at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York), April 16-May 8. Opening Night is Thursday, April 22.

Washington National Opera (WNO), under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) in nine performances, April 24 to May 7 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Washington National Opera, under the leadership of GeneralDirector Plácido Domingo, will present a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House. This one-night-only performance is a rare opportunity to witness emerging artists in the early stages of their careers, performing in a fully staged opera. In the spirit of cultivating the next generation of opera talent and opera lovers, this performance is offered exclusively to new members of Generation O, the company's free-to-join young professionals group. The Marriage of Figaro is performed in Italian with English supertitles. Tickets are $15 to $35; complete production and ticketing information is below, and artist biographies are available upon request or are available here.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has had a dream of a season, earning plaudits in the world's top culture capitals, including London, where the Times declared her voice to be 'nothing less than 24-carat gold.'

Houston Grand Opera Studio artist, Nathaniel Peake won the Zarzuela prize and Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny won the Birgit Nilsson prize at Placido Domingo's Operalia competition on Sunday, May 2. The weeklong worldwide competition took place this year at famed Milanese opera house Teatro alla Scala- this was the first time the contest has been hosted in Italy.

The American Repertory Theater is pleased to announce the cast for Johnny Baseball, a world premiere musical about the Red Sox, with music by Robert Reale, lyrics by Willie Reale, book by Richard Dresser, story by Richard Dresser and Willie Reale, with musical direction and vocal arrangements by Wendy Bobbitt Cavett; musical arrangements by Bruce Coughlin.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City closes Mozart's most famous opera, Don Giovanni, May 2 at the Lyric Theatre. This production of Don Giovanni features an incredible cast of singers as well as an exceptional orchestra comprised of members of the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Lyric Opera Artistic Director Ward Holmquist.

Re-affirming the role of New York City Opera as a leader in the development of American opera, the company's celebrated annual new music festival, the newly-renamed VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab will return. Now in its eleventh year, this showcase for new American operas offers both emerging and established composers and librettists the opportunity to hear their previously unproduced works performed by New York City Opera's soloists, orchestra and chorus in readings that are free and open to the public.

Re-affirming the role of New York City Opera as a leader in the development of American opera, the company's celebrated annual new music festival, the newly-renamed VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab will return. Now in its eleventh year, this showcase for new American operas offers both emerging and established composers and librettists the opportunity to hear their previously unproduced works performed by New York City Opera's soloists, orchestra and chorus in readings that are free and open to the public.

So far this season, Susan Graham has triumphed in Berlioz's Damnation de Faust at Lyric Opera of Chicago, in Strauss's Rosenkavalier at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with the San Francisco Symphony, and in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas on a West Coast tour.

On April 30, The Dallas Opera presents the world premiere of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, based on Herman Melville's iconic American novel of 1851. Tenor Ben Heppner stars as Captain Ahab.

Affirming the role of New York City Opera as a leader in the development of American opera, the company's celebrated annual new music festival, the newly-renamed VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab, will return on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, to the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South) at New York University.