J. D. McClatchy News

It has been more than four decades since Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) founded Earth Day and held its first celebration on April 22, 1970, launching the birth of the modern environmental movement.

It has been more than four decades since Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) founded Earth Day and held its first celebration on April 22, 1970, launching the birth of the modern environmental movement.

Brooklyn's American Opera Projects (AOP) and the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) will present scenes from a new opera The Leopard by composerMichael Dellaira (The Secret Agent) and librettist J. D. McClatchy (Emmeline), an adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's internationally acclaimed 1958 novel.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces that librettist/lyricist Michael Korie will receive the Marc Blitzstein Award for Musical Theater of $10,000. Established in 1965 by friends of the late Academician Marc Blitzstein in his memory, the award is given to a composer, lyricist, or librettist to encourage the creation of works of merit for musical theater and opera. The jurors were John Harbison (chairman), J. D. McClatchy, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Yehudi Wyner.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

New York Festival of Song's contemporary song series NYFOS Next -- dubbed 'invaluable' by The New Yorker and The New York Times -- enters its sixth season and continues its new format: a three-concert February mini-festival in the intimate state-of-the-art recital hall at OPERA America's National Opera Center. The Thursday concerts take place today, February 4, as well as February 11, and 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

New York Festival of Song's contemporary song series NYFOS Next -- dubbed 'invaluable' by The New Yorker and The New York Times -- enters its sixth season and continues its new format: a three-concert February mini-festival in the intimate state-of-the-art recital hall at OPERA America's National Opera Center. The Thursday concerts take place February 4, 11, and 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG -- the only New York organization devoted solely to the astonishing variety and power of song -- has announced its 2015-16 season.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) welcomes Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home) as the NYMF 2015 Honorary Chair. This year's event kicks off today, July 7.

This review was first published by KDHX 88-1 St. Louis. Opera Theatre of St. Louis has opened a very fine production of 'Emmeline,' by Tobias Picker, with libretto by J. D. McClatchy. This remarkable piece premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 1996 to great praise. It was done at the New York City Opera in '98 (with much the same cast)—again to considerable praise. It was deemed one of the great modern operas. Except for two 'reduced version' productions the work lay fallow until this full-scale revival by Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is proud to announce Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home) as the NYMF 2015 Honorary Chair.

The audited financial results for San Francisco Opera's 2013–14 season (FY14) were announced today by San Francisco Opera Association President Keith Geeslin: a deficit of $348,244 on an operating budget of $74,119,493. The Company's 91st season presented eight main stage works at the War Memorial Opera House in addition to numerous concerts, recitals, workshops and community engagement events attracting more than 271,954 individuals.

Opera Australia brings back Julie Taymor's modern interpretation of THE MAGIC FLUTE, for the 2015 Summer Season. Translated to English by J D McClatchy, this version, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera of New York in 2005 gives the 18th Century story of the education of mankind a modern pantomime treatment.

AOP (American Opera Projects) and Poets House present a discussion with award-winning poet and librettist J. D. McClatchy followed by a reading of his latest opera libretto The Leopard, based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and directed by James Robinson. The discussion will be joined by The Leopard's composer Michael Dellaira and will feature a performance of music from the opera-in-development and a mid-event reception with the artists. The event will take place on Saturday, November 8 at 3 pm at Kray Hall in Poets House (10 River Terrace, New York, NY 10282 in Battery Park City). Tickets are $10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House members and can be purchased at operaprojects.org.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and San Francisco Opera Association President Keith Geeslin today announced that Gockley will retire in July 2016, concluding a ten-year, seven-month tenure with the Company and capping an internationally acclaimed and award-winning career spanning 44 years as one of America's most prominent opera impresarios. Gockley, who will be 73 at the end of the 2015–16 season, became the Company's sixth general director when he joined San Francisco Opera in January 2006. Today's announcement was made at a War Memorial Opera House press conference.

Hidden identities, secret bargains and a dancing bear...can love possibly find its way? All will be revealed when Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents its ninth season production, The Bartered Bride. Bedich Smetana's comic masterpiece - with its infectious tunes, rollicking ensembles and inventive humor which have long made it an audience favorite - will be fully staged and costumed and presented at the Tsai Performance Center, Boston University for three performances only, today, July 23, and July 25 and 27.

Michael Cerveris, Isaiah Johnson, Randy Newman, Laura Osnes, Vonda Shepard, Brooklyn Shuck, Tony Vincent and Broadway Inspirational Voices have been cast in Randy Newman's Faust: The Concert, which will be performed tonight, July 1 as the second Encores! Off-Center presentation of the 2014 season. Faust will be directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Marcos Santana. Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off-Center artistic director; Chris Fenwick is its music director.

Hidden identities, secret bargains and a dancing bear...can love possibly find its way? All will be revealed when Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents its ninth season production, The Bartered Bride. Bedich Smetana's comic masterpiece - with its infectious tunes, rollicking ensembles and inventive humor which have long made it an audience favorite - will be fully staged and costumed and presented at the Tsai Performance Center, Boston University for three performances only, July 23, 25 and 27.

Michael Cerveris, Isaiah Johnson, Randy Newman, Laura Osnes, Vonda Shepard, Brooklyn Shuck, Tony Vincent and Broadway Inspirational Voices have been cast in Randy Newman's Faust: The Concert, which will be performed on July 1 as the second Encores! Off-Center presentation of the 2014 season. Faust will be directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Marcos Santana. Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off-Center artistic director; Chris Fenwick is its music director.

Tonight, April 28, Symphony Space will host its spring gala, Fiddler at 50, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof.