James Conlon News

The Collegiate Chorale announces its first concert of the season, Mefistofele, by Arrigo Boito on November 6, 2013 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, NYC. Tickets are available at www.carnegiehall.org or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. Single tickets for this concert start at $15. The Collegiate Chorale will hold its Annual Fall Gala immediately following the concert.

Johan Botha, the world-renowned South African heldentenor who has been performing the title role of Verdi's Otello at Lyric Opera of Chicago, has been forced to withdraw from his final two performances on October 29 and November 2 because of severe back pain caused by a previous injury, Lyric's general director Anthony Freud announced today. Botha has returned to Vienna for treatment.

Conductor James Conlon, Music Director of LA Opera, will lead a series of Britten performances across the Southland as part of the Britten 100/LA celebration, in commemoration of the 2013 Benjamin Britten centenary.

Tonight, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., soprano Jessica Rivera and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor are joined by pianist Robert Spano on a program featuring three New York premieres, two of which are Carnegie Hall co-commissions.

Johan Botha, the world-renowned South African heldentenor who has been performing the title role of Verdi's Otello at Lyric Opera of Chicago, has been forced to withdraw from his final two performances on October 29 and November 2 because of severe back pain caused by a previous injury, Lyric's general director Anthony Freud announced today. Botha has returned to Vienna for treatment.

Denver, Colo. (Oct. 24, 2013) - Central City Opera's (CCO) General/Artistic Director, Pelham (Pat) G. Pearce, is pleased to announce that Michael Ehrman has been named as director and administrator of the company's nationally recognizedBonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program.

Beginning with the 2013-14 season, the New York Philharmonic's Insights Series - in which artists and experts will explore some of the season's themes and concerts - will now be free, and take place at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. This season's events will include discussions with Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow during his farewell season (TODAY, October 23); composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and violinist Leila Josefowicz (October 28), who will discuss Mr. Salonen's Violin Concerto, written for Ms. Josefowicz (which they will perform with the Philharmonic in its New York Concert Premiere, October 30-November 5); Music Director Alan Gilbert and Executive Director Matthew VanBesien on the state of the Philharmonic (March 3, 2014); The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman (May 20, 2014), who will talk about Beethoven's piano concertos (which he will perform during The Beethoven Piano Concertos: A Philharmonic Festival, June 11-28, 2014); and discussions relating to the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, the details of which will be announced at a later date. All Insights Series events begin at 7:30 p.m.

Events coming up in the next few weeks for the LA Opera include special celebrations on November 22, Britten's 100th birthday.

The Chicago Philharmonic continues its season with Romantic Serenade on Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.

The Metropolitan Opera and Le Poisson Rouge announced details for 'An Evening of Britten and Muhly,' two concerts at Le Poisson Rouge tonight, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Metropolitan Opera stars Patricia Racette, Kathleen Kim, and Iestyn Davies will perform at the event. Composer Nico Muhly will host and perform on piano.

To honor Verdi's 200th birthday, LA Opera will present a new production of the crowning glory of the composer's magnificent career, his comic masterpiece Falstaff. LA Opera Music Director James Conlon, praised internationally for his mastery of Verdi, conducts this unabashed celebration of Merrie Olde England's lusty days and bawdy nights, starring Italian baritone Roberto Frontali. When Shakespeare's portly knight of Windsor hatches a plot to improve his love life by courting two different married women, he launches a flood of comic chaos and romantic misadventure.

Bernard Labadie will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Mozart's Requiem; J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!; and Handel's “Let the Bright Seraphim” from Samson. The program's soloists will include soprano Miah Persson, mezzo- soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Fre?de?ric Antoun in his Philharmonic debut, bass Andrew Foster- Williams, and the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, replacing Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, who is on temporary leave from the Orchestra, will make his Philharmonic solo debut in these performances. The concerts will take place Thursday, November 7, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m.

The 92nd season of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) will be launched tonight, October 12, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione will lead selections from all four movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. This is the first program in this season's series, Points of Entry, in which each concert explores facets of music and the orchestra itself through a single, influential score. The performance will feature the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus, Kent Tritle, director.

Today, on the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, Plácido Domingoannounces the full casting and production details for LA Opera's upcoming production of Falstaff, Verdi's final opera based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. 'All year long, opera houses around the world have been celebrating the bicentenary of Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest of all Italian composers,' said Mr. Domingo, LA Opera's General Director. 'In just a few weeks, we will unveil a new staging of Verdi's comic masterpiece, the crowning glory of his extraordinary career.'

On the occasion of composer Benjamin Britten's centennial, the Met will present its first performances of his 1960 opera A Midsummer Night's Dream in more than a decade. James Conlon leads his first Met performances of the opera, which is directed by Tim Albery in a revival of his acclaimed 1996 production.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), conducted by Music Director Grant Gershon, continues its year-long 50th anniversary season celebration with back-to-back performances of Orff's Carmina Burana, one of the most popular choral works of the 20th century, featuring Chorale member Timothy Gonzales, tenor, and noted guest artists Stacey Tappan, a "mellifluous" soprano (Wall St. Journal), Jose Adan Perez, a "glorious baritone" (Bach Track), and the ever-polished Los Angeles Children's Chorus on Saturday, November 2, 2013, 2 pm, and Sunday, November 3, 2013, 7 pm, at Disney Hall. Verdi's lush Te Deum, for double chorus and orchestra with roots in polyphony and Gregorian chant, opens the program.

The Collegiate Chorale announced its first concert of the season, Mefistofele, by Arrigo Boito on November 6, 2013 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Avenue, NYC. Tickets are available at www.carnegiehall.org or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. Single tickets for this concert start at $15. The Collegiate Chorale will hold its Annual Fall Gala immediately following the concert. (For more information or tickets to the Gala, please contact Mariane Lemieux at mlemieux@collegiatechorale.org or 646-435-9052.)

Bernard Labadie will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Mozart's Requiem; J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!; and Handel's 'Let the Bright Seraphim' from Samson. The program's soloists will include soprano Miah Persson, mezzo- soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Frédéric Antoun in his Philharmonic debut, bass Andrew Foster- Williams, Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, and the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. The concerts will take place Thursday, November 7, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m.

The 92nd season of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) will be launched on Saturday, October 12, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione will lead selections from all four movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. This is the first program in this season's series, Points of Entry, in which each concert explores facets of music and the orchestra itself through a single, influential score. The performance will feature the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus, Kent Tritle, director.

Los Angeles Children's Chorus (LACC) - led by Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson and acclaimed for its pure, agile, bel canto sound that has made it one of the most in-demand children's choirs in the county - announces its 2013-14 season, entitled 'Legacies Unleashed,' which spotlights the music of Benjamin Britten and the English choral tradition. The chorus also presents two world premieres and a broad range of other musical genres demanding remarkable vocal versatility and technical skill from LACC's accomplished young choristers, who range in age from 6 to 18.