Jake Heggie News

Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2013-14 season includes the launch of the company's first Ring cycle, in a visionary and captivating production by the Catalan company La Fura dels Baus; the hotly anticipated American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Holocaust opera The Passenger; the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, based on the play of the same name by renowned Texas writer Horton Foote and starring iconic mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade; a new HGO production of Carmenfrom Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; revivals of Aida, Rigoletto, and Die Fledermaus; and, in tribute to the nation's homegrown musical theater tradition, Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music designed by fashion star Isaac Mizrahi. Through its HGOco Song of Houston project-winner of the National MultiCultural Institute's Leading Lights Diversity Award-the company continues to celebrate Houston's cultural diversity with the world premieres of two new commissions exploring the city's Vietnamese and Indian communities as part of the East + West series.

Carol Wincenc, the Grammy-nominated artist who is one of the most acclaimed and respected flutists performing today, marks her 25th anniversary as a member of the faculty of The Juilliard School in the 2013-14 season. She is celebrating the milestone with a concert at Juilliard that represents her most cherished facets of artistic life: new music, with the world premiere of a work written for her, and the U.S. and New York premieres of works by Alfred Schnittke and Hans Werner Henze; collaboration with her esteemed colleagues, with every work on the program requiring at least two guest artists; and, of course, teaching some of the best young flutists in the world who pass through Juilliard, with seven of her Juilliard students joining her on the program.

According to her official website, Patti LuPone, who will soon star in the upcoming season of FX's American Horror Story, will make a series of concert appearances from September through April 2014. Check out the full itinerary below:

The Dallas Opera is happy to present three weekends of family-friendly programming guaranteed to introduce you and your loved ones to the big, beautiful world of opera. The Dallas Opera Educational/Family Series, part of The Perot Foundation Education and Community Outreach Programs, is presented by Texas Instruments and made possible with additional support from Lockheed Martin.

Megan Mullally is a two-time Emmy-winning star of TV's Will & Grace, and recent star of Broadway's Young Frankenstein. On August 28 & 29 she returns to Provincetown by popular demand - for two shows only - after her sold-out Art House debut last summer. Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, as well Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for her performance as Rose in the most recent Broadway production of Gypsy, and created the title role in Evita on Broadway with her now legendary performance, for which she won her first Tony and Drama Desk Awards. On August 31 and September 1 she makes a triumphant Provincetown return for 4 shows only, after debuting at The Art House last summer. Chita Rivera is a living Broadway legend and a two-time Tony winner as Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Anna in The Rink. She originated the Broadway roles of Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma in Chicago, and appeared in the original casts of Guys and Dolls, Can Can, Seventh Heaven, Mr. Wonderful, Jerry's Girls, and many others. She makes her Provincetown debut on Sept. 7 & 8 with two shows only. Series host and SiriusXM radio star Seth Rudetsky joins each of these three leading ladies at the piano. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com, or call 1-800-838-3006.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces its Inaugural Season beginning with performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company, which open the 500-seat Goldsmith Theater on November 8 and 9, 2013, followed by the play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo, adapted by Edward P. Dowdall and directed by Mark Brokaw, from November 26 to December 22, 2013. The romantic tale Parfumerie inspired the films The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime, and Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail, as well as the Broadway musical She Loves Me. As a special program, an exhibition on perfume entitled Timeless Scents: 1370-2013, a history of iconic fragrances through the ages is being created especially for The Wallis by Chandler Burr, former New York Times scent critic.

The Skylight Theatre Company is honoring multi-award winning playwright Terrence McNally in a four-day, star-studded event.

The 2013 PBS Arts Fall Festival returns in October with seven weekly programs that highlight Broadway classics, music from around the country, and legendary superstar Barbra Streisand.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2013-2014 season with a production honoring the 200th birthday of one of opera's most renowned composers: Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, September 15-27 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. This epic romantic drama stars Deborah Voigt as Isolde and Ian Storey and Clifton Forbis as Tristan, and will be seen in a production new to Washington directed by Neil Armfield in his WNO debut. WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin leads the WNO Orchestra in interpreting some of Wagner's most passionate and powerful music.

Well sung and engaging, this show is one to see!

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce that single tickets for the 2013/2014 'By Love Transformed' Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center will go on sale to the general public next Monday, July 8, 2013 at 10:00 am.

OPERA America, the national nonprofit service organization for opera, has announced that four new members have been elected to its Board of Directors. Elections were held during OPERA America's recent Annual Business Meeting at Opera Conference 2013 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Can't get enough of Patti LuPone? A documentary following the legendary performer has just been released on Youtube, titled 'Entrances, Exits, and Everything In Between.' Creator Josh Johnston writes: 'What she and I have collaborated on is our effort to show aspiring performers and fans of the arts what it's like in the shoes of a veteran of the craft: everything from the Sunset lows to the Rainbow Highs of performing, Patti LuPone has seen and lived it all.' Check out the fifth episode below!

Composer Gordon Getty's opera Usher House, with libretto by the composer after Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' was released on the PentaTone Classics label on June 13, 2013.

A new CD, The Hours Begin to Sing, with songs by American composers performed by soprano Lisa Delan, has just been released on the PentaTone Classics label (PTC 5186 459).

Washington National Opera (WNO) will present the world premiere of Approaching Ali tonight and Saturday, June 8-9, 2013 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Approaching Ali features music by composer D.J. Sparr and a libretto by Mark Campbell and Davis Miller, based on Miller's own autobiographical novella. This new work is the first hourlong opera created under the auspices of the American Opera Initiative, WNO's new commissioning program for contemporary American opera, and will be directed by Nicole Watson in her WNO debut.

A little reminder about wonderful presentations by the Elder Hall in June. The June 16 Masterclass series will be a particular treat for music, opera and drama lovers when the acclaimed Independent Theatre present Masterclass an award winning play with singing, based on the masterclasses Maria Callas gave to singing students in the 1970s. Details below!

Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon, announced last night the three Bay Area high school winners of theThe Steve Silver Foundation & Beach Blanket Babylon 'Scholarship for the Arts.'

A little reminder about wonderful presentations by the Elder Hall in June. The June 16 Masterclass series will be a particular treat for music, opera and drama lovers when the acclaimed Independent Theatre present Masterclass an award winning play with singing, based on the masterclasses Maria Callas gave to singing students in the 1970s. Details below!

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone headlines the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 NJSO POPS season finale in Newark and New Brunswick, tonight, June 1 and tomorrow, June 2.