Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announces that conductor Christophe Rousset withdrew today from the HGO premiere of La favorite due to personal circumstances. HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct all five performances. The production runs from Jan. 24 a?" Feb. 9, 2020 at the Wortham Theater Center.
Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2020a?"21 season, featuring a repertoire of beloved classics, company premieres, and a much-anticipated world premiere. The 66th season opens with audience favorite Carmen. American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her HGO and role debut as Carmen in the revival of Rob Ashford's acclaimed 2014 production of Bizet's classic. She is joined by tenor Andrea Caré as Don José, bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Escamillo, and Anita Hartig as Micaela, all making their HGO debuts. The production will be conducted by HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim.
San Diego Opera has announced addition to its 2019-2020 season with the Bel Canto Trio for one-night-only on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at 7:30 PM at The Conrad Preby Performing Arts Center in the Baker-Baum Concert Hall (7600 Fay Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037). In 1947 Columbia Artist Management created The Bel Canto Trio, featuring tenor Mario Lanza, soprano Frances Yeend, and bass-baritone George London.
Now in its 37th year, the Schwabacher Recital Series returns on Wednesday, January 29, with performances at San Francisco's Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater that feature emerging artists from around the globe.
The Dallas Opera will present the internationally-acclaimed American soprano Angel Blue, accompanied by renowned South African pianist James Baillieu, in this season's Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital on January 26, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. in Moody Performance Hall at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas, Texas.
OPERA America has awarded $220,000 in Repertoire Development Grants to The American Opera Project (New York, NY) in consortium with Seagle Music Colony (Schroon Lake, NY), Beth Morrison Projects (New York, NY), Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera and The Dallas Opera. The grants provide technical and financial support to OPERA America Professional Company Members and their producing partners to enhance the quality, quantity and creativity of new American opera and music theater.
Lyric Opera of Chicago announced today that American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny will portray the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni December 3-8. Unfortunately, Davide Luciano has suffered a torn muscle requiring several weeks of rehabilitation at home in Italy which will prevent him from singing in what would have been his Lyric debut. Lucas Meacham has been in the title role for the month of November and his final performance, as planned, will be November 30.
General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced that an innovative new work celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a cabaret-style favorite that returns by popular demand comprise the 2020 Explorations series. The series leads audiences on a delightful journey of musical discovery through eclectic works performed in Lyric Opera's Michael and Ginger Frost Production Arts Building in the Crossroads District.
There's nothing subtle about Lyric Opera's staging of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's contemporary opera DEAD MAN WALKING. Based upon the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, DEAD MAN WALKING focuses on Sister Helen's relationship with 29-year-old Joseph De Rocher, a prisoner on death row in Angola, Louisiana convicted of the murder of a young couple (and the sexual assault of a young woman). While DEAD MAN WALKING clearly aims to be morally complex in its exploration of capital punishment and the notion of whether or not we should also treat criminals as human beings, the piece feels overwrought. The debate at the opera's center is painted with broad strokes; at one point, we literally see protestors outside the prison holding picket signs depicting both sides of the argument.
San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 season continues with a special one-night-only event on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM when soprano Ailyn Pérez and tenor Joshua Guerrero perform in concert at the Balboa Theatre. They will be accompanied by pianist Abdiel Vázquez. Ailyn Pérez is no stranger to San Diego Opera, having made her Company debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 2010, returning to sing Marguerite in Faust in 2011, and in recital in 2014. In demand at all the major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, and Opéra National de Paris, Ms. Pérez is the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, the 15th annual Plácido Domingo Award, and the 14th annual Opera News Award.
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to Carnegie Hall for a series of Perspectives concerts throughout the 2019-2020 season, highlighting her full range of vocal artistry as well as her work as an educator.
Dead Man Walking, the powerful opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist-playwright Terrence McNally, will have its long-awaited Lyric premiere this month. There will be six performances Nov. 2-22 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago. Tickets start at $39 and are available at lyricopera.org/dmw or by calling 312-827-5600.
Joseph Mechavich conducts The Barber of Seville at Minnesota Opera November 9 - 17.
Ovation West Musical Theatre presents a?oeAn Afternoon of Opera: From Mozart to Musical Theatrea?? on Sunday, November 17 at 3:00 p.m., at the Evergreen Christian Church, 27772 Iris Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439. Tickets are $24/adults, $22/seniors (62 & 0ver) and $18/students, and are available by phone 303-674-4002 or online at www.ovationwest.org. Groups of 10 or more receive a 15% discount. Concessions will be available before the concert and during intermission.
On Monday October 14, 2019, Arizona Opera and its Valley Friends presented a concert of arias by the Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artists at the Mon Orchid Gallery, a small hall with excellent, if somewhat live, acoustics. As a rule, AZ Opera chooses six singers and one pianist to be their studio artists. The program helps bridge the gap between the protected environment of academic studies and the rigors of a professional career.
Baritone Michael Mayes steps in to sing the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto at Houston Grand Opera. He performs the opening night performance on 18, and two additional performances on October 20 and 26. The Boston Musical Intelligencer lauded his debut in the role in 2014 with Boston Lyric Opera: 'His baritone, powerful yet fully controlled, shifted seamlessly in color between expressions of terror, pleading, and angry vengeance.' He returns to the role later this season with Nashville Opera.
Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's opera adaptation of the classic holiday film 'It's a Wonderful Life' returns home to the Eklund Opera Program Nov. 15-17.
On Friday, November, 1st, Brooklyn Art Song Society presents the second installment of its series Home with a rare complete performance of Joseph Canteloube's magnum opus, Chant's d'Auvergne. Canteloube collected the folk melodies of the Auvergne region and imbued these whimsical, earthy tunes with emotional depth and a rich Straussian harmonic palette. The work will be performed in the original piano version and sung in the French dialect Occitan. Soprano Maria Valdes and mezzo soprano Devony Smith make their BASS debuts, joined by sopranos Marnie Breckenridge and Laura Stricking. Art Historian Patricia Mainardi (CUNY) gives a pre- concert lecture at 7:00PM.
Portland Opera is pleased to announce the artists joining the company's 2019/20 Resident Artist program: soprano Emilie Faiella, returning mezzo-soprano Camille Sherman, tenor Ricardo Garcia, and returning baritone Geoffrey Schellenberg. Portland Opera established the Resident Artist Program in 2005, providing a bridge from the conservatory world to the professional stage for talented emerging singers, who join the company for a two-year rigorous residency and training program.
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