John Holiday News

The Dallas Opera's annual spring gala has been reimagined as a special virtual fundraising event this year, and will stream on TDO's website beginning Friday, May 7 at 7 p.m.

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced Utah Opera’s 2021-22 season, sponsored by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. In its upcoming season, Utah Opera presents four full-scale opera productions with live performances at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre.

The Dallas Opera announced today that it will be launching a new, three-event “Welcome Back” Song Series in the Winspear Opera House commencing March 31, 2021.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. This is especially true for artisans during the pandemic. One of the oldest art forms, opera, like so many other art forms has shifted and evolved as a result of the current climate. Atlanta Opera is no exception. When you go to their webpage, you’ll find a new widget at the top labeled STREAM. Once you click on that, you’ll see a drop-down: WHAT’S ON. Click on that, and you’ll find Orfano Mundo, a visual and auditory treat. For only $15 a month or $99 a year, patrons will have all access to ATL Opera’s streaming service. 

Indie Opera Productions announces the tenth anniversary of Indie Opera Podcast. In March, the company celebrates ten years of informative, humorous, and insightful episodes which have highlighted the boldest and most innovative opera artists and companies of the twenty-first century.

Galvanized by 2020’s protests against racism and police brutality, Opera Philadelphia Composer in Residence Tyshawn Sorey began writing new works for voice about race in America, to serve as an extension of, and in some ways a departure from, Cycles of My Being, his 2018 song cycle exploring the realities of life as a Black man in America today.

Ian Derrer, The Dallas Opera’s Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO, announced today that extreme and ongoing COVID 19 concerns are forcing the company to cancel its March and April 2021 subscription performances, with full-scale operas in the Winspear Opera House resuming in February and March of 2022 in a brand-new 2021/2022 Season.

Superstar recording artists Dan + Shay, Jason Derulo, JP Saxe, Julia Michaels, Keith Urban, Lauren Daigle, Lewis Capaldi, Nelly ft. Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and 24KGoldn ft. Iann Dior are set to perform.

Opera Philadelphia Composer in Residence Tyshawn Sorey, the Newark-born multi-instrumentalist and composer celebrated for his incomparable virtuosity, will premiere a new work on the Opera Philadelphia Channel inspired by “Save the Boys,” an 1887 poem by abolitionist, writer, and Black women's rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911).

Boston Baroque has introduced George Frideric Handel's glittering opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto, which premiered in 1724, as the next full-length concert release on Boston Baroque Live.

Black Opera Productions LLC and the Jessye Norman Estate will present Jessye Norman at 75: A Celebration.

Black Opera Productions is presenting Black Opera Live, a weekly live broadcast featuring candid conversations and career chats with Black American opera stars of today. Join host Kenneth Overton on Instagram Live @blackoperafilm on Mondays at 7pm EDT from June 1 through August 31.

Long Beach Opera will host the first of its Community Conversations today, June 14, with a conversation on equity and diversity in the arts.

Long Beach Opera is bringing back its popular and relevant series of Community Conversations June 14, 21, and 28 that were inspired by the LBO world premiere production of  The Central Park Five, which recently won the Pulitzer prize.  These Conversations are available on facebooklive and archived following at www.longbeachopera.org.

Over the last five years, Opera Philadelphia has presented an impressive group of new operas it has commissioned, along with some classics from the standard rep. Starting tomorrow, we'll get a look at some of the best of them, with the company's Digital Festival running through May 29, available on YouTube and the company's website.

Over 1,000 people from 21 different countries tuned in via multiple platforms on Saturday evening to honor a pair of Houston's most dedicated philantrophists and an iconic advocate for young stars.

Over the past five years, Opera Philadelphia has presented no fewer than nine world premieres, scoring multiple awards and winning international audience and critical recognition. Now that the 2019-20 season has been cut short by the need for social distancing, the company is extending its season online with Digital Festival O.

Artist Relief Tree (ART), an online fundraiser supporting artists affected financially by COVID-19, announced today that it is beginning a second phase of fundraising toward US$1,000,000. Funds will be used to support artists of any discipline with a one-time 'solidarity' donation of US$250.

Opera Omaha announces its third annual ONE FESTIVAL. The ONE Festival is a place for wild dreams, wilder execution, and exploration of those ideas on a grand scale. Programming is driven by the artists, not the executives. With an emphasis on experimentation and new worka?'yet not tethered to premieresa?'ONE fosters an environment that encourages and celebrates bold risks and transformative storytelling. At a glance, one might assume this is happening in NYC or LA; but this opera hothouse sizzles in the dead center of our country, far from the coasts. 

On February 1, 2020, Los Angeles Opera presented the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin's third opera, Euridice. He composed it together with Sarah Ruhl who wrote the original 2003 play. Aucoin, Ruhl, and this presentation's stage director, Mary Zimmerman, have been the recipients of the MacArthur Fellowships known as 'Genius Grants.'