John Pickle News

The Pittsburgh Festival Opera is changing things up with exciting new programming that will run from May through December 2021. This year's festival lineup features the following: 'Cendrillon', Open Air Series (Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park), 'Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess' and more.

On February 14, 2021, Valentine’s Day, Pittsburgh Festival Opera presented seven singers in a romantic concert entitled Some Enchanted Evening.  James Lesniak and Robert Frankenberg provided thoughtful and supportive piano accompaniment and Festival Opera Board members added charming love stories.

Pittsburgh Festival Opera has announced Some Enchanted Evening in response to the continued COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings throughout the state of Pennsylvania.

Pacific Symphony continues its semi-staged operatic series with Puccini's poignant opera, “Madame Butterfly,” which tells the story of a young naïve Japanese geisha who believes that her love for a handsome American naval officer is eternal. With its lush score and heartbreaking arias, it is a timeless tale that will stir your emotions. Eric Einhorn is once again the stage director, returning after his masterful work on “Tosca” and “Turnadot.” Longtime artistic partner Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad, will join the Symphony on stage again as well, after their last appearance in a Symphony opera with 2018's “The Magic Flute.” Soprano Yunah Lee will be performing the lead role of Cio-Cio-San, followed by tenor John Pickle's performance as Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton. Mezzo-soprano Sabina Kim and baritone Luis Ledesma both appear to perform the roles of Suzuki and Sharpless, respectively.

 The Florentine Opera Company proudly announces its 2018-19 Season, which marks the 85th Anniversary of the company. The milestone season will feature an original commercial recording, a new production of a classic Baroque piece, and Beethoven's only operatic masterpiece.  

The Orchestra Now (T?N) will open its New York City fall season with the first concert of its T?N at Rose Theater series at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on October 15. The program of works by Rubinstein, Sibelius, and Daugherty will feature the distinguished maestro Neeme J rvi as guest conductor with pianist Anna Shelest and cellist Zuill Bailey.

The Orchestra Now (T?N) will open its New York City fall season with the first concert of its T?N at Rose Theater series at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on October 15. The program of works by Rubinstein, Sibelius, and Daugherty will feature the distinguished maestro Neeme J rvi as guest conductor with pianist Anna Shelest and cellist Zuill Bailey.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven's Symphony #9 and the World Premiere of a musical adaptation of Goodnight Moon tonight, November 18, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center withBeethoven's Symphony #9 and the World Premiere of a musical adaptation of Goodnight Moon.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven's Symphony #9 and the World Premiere of a musical adaptation of Goodnight Moon on Friday, November 18, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, begins its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with A Gershwin Celebration onFriday, October 21, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

National Chorale, New York's premiere professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, announces its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center.  The National Chorale's 49th season begins with A Gershwin Celebration, followed by Beethoven's Symphony #9, then the annual Handel's Messiah Sing-In, and concludes with Mozart's Requiem.  

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents Verdi's Messa da Requiem, a monumental work for chorus, soloists and orchestra, replete with intense drama and gloriously beautiful melodies. The composer's only large-scale work not written for the stage, the Requiem stands in stature and artistry alongside Verdi's great operatic masterpieces.

Florida Grand Opera is proud to open its 74thseason with one of the most beloved operas of all time, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, on November 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. This vibrant and exotic production delivers all the beauty and grandeur audiences have come to expect of this timeless love story. Puccini's famous music combined with Maestro Ramón Tebar's “intense and precise conducting” (Buenos Aires Herald) is sure to be a beautiful and dramatic start to another exciting season.

Former Music Director Christoph Eschenbach returns for one of the largest choral-symphonic works ever written, Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony, tonight and tomorrow, May 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm. Nicknamed the Symphony of a Thousand, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 will be performed by more than 400 musicians, chorus members and soloists together onstage at Jones Hall for an event seen only once before in the Houston Symphony's 100-year history.

Former Music Director Christoph Eschenbach returns for one of the largest choral-symphonic works ever written, Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony, on May 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm. Nicknamed the Symphony of a Thousand, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 will be performed by more than 400 musicians, chorus members and soloists together onstage at Jones Hall for an event seen only once before in the Houston Symphony's 100-year history.

Former Music Director Christoph Eschenbach returns for one of the largest choral-symphonic works ever written, Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony, on May 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm. Nicknamed theSymphony of a Thousand, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 will be performed by more than 400 musicians, chorus members and soloists together onstage at Jones Hall for an event seen only once before in the Houston Symphony's 100-year history.

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) kicks off the Christmas music and Messiah season with their 3rd annual performance of Sir Thomas Beecham/Sir Eugene Goossens's 1959 re-orchestration of Handel's Messiah for full symphony orchestra. Also featuring a mass chorus, DCINY's Messiah will ignite Avery Fisher Hall with glorious music on Sunday, December 1 at 2:00pm. The New York Times declared DCINY's Messiah chorus to be "ravishing" and New York Concert Review said, "Make no mistake; this is not your great-grandfather's Messiah. It is brash, extroverted, and at times bombastic … double the sound, new and improved, with cymbals and triangle! This version is tailor-made for DCINY; an organization that never fails to pull out all the stops in putting on a big show."

Daniel Lipton, Opera Tampa's artistic director and conductor, has announced the principal casting for the productions in the Florida Opera Festival. Presented by Opera Tampa and serving as the company's 19th season, the festival will be an exciting, vibrant time filled with grand opera, beautiful music and an assortment of fun-filled events.