James Meena News

The Opera Grand Rapids Board of Trustees has named Emilee Syrewicze the new Executive Director of Opera Grand Rapids.

A couple weekends ago, September 28th, I was fortunate enough to attend the season kick off for the 51st season of Opera Grand Rapids. They had performances from nine local Artist and a surprise from one of the vocally trained members of the office staff, who if you follow our twitter @BWW_Detroit, was featured in a short clip of her performance of 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands'.

Opera Grand Rapids will present a classically-staged production of "The Marriage of Figaro," May 4 and 5, 2018 at DeVos Performance Hall.

The last time the Met did Puccini's LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST--GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST--it was such a dispiriting affair that I was ready to write it off as past its expiration date. New York City Opera to the rescue!, opening its season with a lively revival of the Italian master's work about the California Gold Rush and the tough-babe-with-a-heart-of-marshmallow who runs the saloon.

For the third performance in the ongoing Bryant Park Presents New York City Opera series, New York City Opera will present a free preview of its upcoming production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West today, August 22 at 6 p.m.

After a critically acclaimed 2016/2017 season, New York City Opera is again at the forefront of New York's cultural season, opening its 2017/2018 season on September 6, 2017 at 7:30PM with a new production of Puccini's La fanciulla del West directed by Ivan Stefanutti with James Meena conducting the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Soprano Kristin Sampson returns to City Opera to sing the role of Minnie, joined by tenor Jonathan Burton as Dick Johnson in his City Opera debut, and bass-baritone Kevin Short as Jack Rance.

For the third performance in the ongoing Bryant Park Presents New York City Opera series, New York City Opera will present a free preview of its upcoming production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West on Tuesday, August 22 at 6 p.m.

New York City Opera's 2017/2018 season will offer four new mainstage productions at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, including a Spanish-language opera as part of its Ópera en Español series. City Opera will also offer two New York City Opera Concerts in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and a chamber opera series at locations to be announced. New York City Opera Orchestra will be featured in every opera.

On June 2, 1967, West Michigan audiences were given their first opera. 50 years and 128 operas later, Opera Grand Rapids returns to its beginnings with the same rousing, tuneful comedy.

When Puccini's The Girl of the West premieres in Charlotte, it will be the culmination of a nearly two-year partnership between Opera Carolina, New York City Opera, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Sardenia and the Teatro di Giglio in Lucca, Italy - Puccini's hometown, with additional performances in Pisa, Livorno and Modena, Italy

Opera was born in Italy, but Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit! proves the art form works deliciously for a story that's all-American … by way of France.

Opera was born in Italy, but Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit! proves the art form works deliciously for a story that's all-American … by way of France.

Opera Grand Rapid has just announced that internationally-revered conductor and  arts administrator Maestro James Meena joins Opera Grand Rapids as Artistic Director. Maestro Meena will head programming and educational initiatives beginning in the upcoming 2017-2018 season, the same season Opera Grand Rapids celebrates its 50-year legacy.

Opera was born in Italy, but Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit! proves the art form works deliciously for a story that's all-American … by way of France.

Poor Beaumarchais. A crucial friend of the American Revolution, French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais's great Figaro comedies have been both favored and scorned by history. Just two years after The Marriage of Figaro premiered in Paris, Mozart's 1786 adaptation eclipsed the theater version, remaining one of opera's supreme masterworks to this day. And the Rossini version of the first Figaro play, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, has a been an operagoer's favorite ever since its Rome premiere in 1816.

After hearing Leoncavallo's I PAGLIACCI, on New York City Opera's new double bill with Rachmaninoff's ALEKO, I'll never think of it the same way again.

New York City Opera is at the forefront of New York's cultural season with Opening Night today, September 8, 2016 featuring two compelling ensemble casts in a new production double bill directed by Lev Pugliese with conductor James Meena leading the New York City Opera Orchestra.

New York City Opera is at the forefront of New York's cultural season with Opening Night on Thursday, September 8, 2016 featuring two compelling ensemble casts in a new production double bill directed by Lev Pugliese with conductor James Meena leading the New York City Opera Orchestra.

The voice of the people sang and spoke out last night in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, Appel Room and Ertegun Atrium. Many of the world's finest musicians, and many of the finest citizens of NYC assembled to celebrate an effort to return 'The People's Opera' to New York. They did so in a Gala Concert and Dinner to honor the life of the late Maestro Julius Rudel, who was the Opera's General Director and Principal Conductor from 1957 to 1979.

New York City Opera Renaissance will host a Gala Concert and Dinner to celebrate the life of the late Maestro Julius Rudel and his invaluable contribution to the New York City Opera as General Director and Principal Conductor from 1957 to 1979. Maestro Rudel passed away on June 26, 2014 at age 93. The Gala Concert will take place at the Rose Theater in the Time Warner Center, Broadway & 60th Street, New York, NY, this evening, March 9, 2015, at 7 pm.