Joshua Hopkins News

The Santa Fe Opera's General Director Robert K. Meya today announced repertory and casting for the company's exciting 64th Season in 2020. On the panel joining Meya for the announcement were the President of the Board of Directors Susan G. Marineau, Andrea Fellows Walters, Director of Community Engagement, and Cori Ellison, the company's first, recently appointed Dramaturg.

Pittsburgh Opera will finish its 80th season with a fresh take on Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale, one of history's greatest comic operas, in a 1950s Hollywood production that has never been performed in Pittsburgh.

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) announced details of its 2019–2020 season—the Orchestra's 45th—including a season-wide celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday in programs on its signature Chamber Music Series, orchestra concerts presented by Carnegie Hall, and free school concerts.

A man who sells his soul for worldly gain finds a perfect home in the Beltway as Washington National Opera stages Charles Gounod's 1859 opera Faust,performed in French with projected English titles. After a 25-year absence from its stage, WNO resurrects the French classic filled with depression, damnation, and demons in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Immortalized by Goethe's dramatic work, Gounod set the legendary German tale of Faust to music with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre. The opera follows the aging Dr. Faust who is willing to exchange Heaven's rewards for Earth's mortal pleasures. After a pact with Mephistopheles that restores his youth, Faustpursues the lovely Marguerite only to learn his salvation is tragically bound to others, especially for those he loves most. In the tradition of grand French opera and featuring a storybook aesthetic and memorable music, including Marguerite's "Jewel Song," the Soldiers' Chorus and the final trio, Faust returns for six performances, March 16-30, 2019, with tickets starting at $45.

For its 2019-2020 Subscription Series presented by Carnegie Hall, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) and Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie will perform three bold concert programs, including Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony and pianist Beatrice Rana performing Bach keyboard concertos, a program dedicated entirely to works for double orchestra by Handel and Vivaldi, and a celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday with four works displaying the composer's audacious genius.

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances from November 17 through December 9. The two-act work, a co-commission and co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is based in part on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and The Greatest Gift, a story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances from November 17 through December 9. The two-act work, a co-commission and co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is based in part on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and The Greatest Gift, a story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

San Francisco Opera announces updated casting for its 96th Season, which opens Friday, September 7, with the double bill of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and two galas, Opera Ball 2018: ¡Viva La Noche! and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala. The 2018-19 Season features eight productions that are new to the War Memorial Opera House stage, including a new staging of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca and the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life. Highlights also include Placido Domingo in Concert on October 21 and a roster of returning artists, debuting soloists and conductors.

 City Parks Foundation's SummerStage is in full swing, with upcoming shows for the week of June 11th taking place all across New York City. For the most up-to-date scheduling and lineup for all SummerStage programming, visit www.SummerStage.org for all festival information. 

If you can't get enough of operas, symphonic concerts and a few musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure, have I got a summer for you! Start in New York City and head north--almost around the corner, or a weekend (or more) away--and you'll find more than enough to keep you happy during the sultry weather ahead. (Even if it doesn't turn out quite so sultry…) It covers the gamut from Handel to Puccini, from serial podcasts to light opera, from dramma serio to musical comedy, with an added emphasis on Leonard Bernstein as the music world celebrates his 100th birthday.

The Met is hosting the return of Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation of Romet et Juliette, which was a hit of the 2016-17 Met season ('a revelation' declared the Huffington Post). Now the sweeping tragedy returns with Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo as the star-crossed young lovers. Plácido Domingo conducts.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation of Romet et Juliette, which was a hit of the 2016–17 Met season (“a revelation” declared the Huffington Post). Now the sweeping tragedy returns with Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo as the star-crossed young lovers. Plácido Domingo conducts.

Andrea Shin will sing the role of Roméo in tonight's performance of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, replacing Charles Castronovo, who is ill.

Charles Castronovo will sing the role of Roméo in all performances of the Metropolitan Opera's forthcoming production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, opening April 23, replacing Bryan Hymel who is ill.

The 2018 Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series will once again bring free outdoor recitals featuring rising young stars of the opera world to New Yorkers in all five boroughs. The series, now in its tenth year, is presented in collaboration with City Parks Foundation's SummerStage Festival and will feature six free concerts between June 11 and June 29. The first two recitals, on June 11 at 8 p.m. at Central Park SummerStage and June 13 at 7 p.m. at Brooklyn Bridge Park, will feature soprano Latonia Moore, who starred as the title role in Verdi's Aida this past season, tenor Mario Chang, who is currently singing as Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and baritone Joshua Hopkins, who will star as Mercutio in the Met's upcoming production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, joined by pianist Dan Saunders.

The final production of the Met's 2017-18 season, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette opens on April 23, 2018, with Bryan Hymel and Ailyn Pérez as the star-crossed lovers, conducted by Plácido Domingo and directed by Bartlett Sher. The cast also includes Karine Deshayes as Stéphano, Joshua Hopkins as Mercutio, and Kwangchul Youn as Frère Laurent, with six performances through May 12, 2018.

Washington National Opera (WNO), led by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, announces its 2018-2019 season, one that continues its focus on bold productions of classic operas, fascinating contemporary perspectives, and the best in American artistry. The season includes a new WNO production of Verdi's classic romantic drama La traviata, the company premiere of Kevin Puts's and Mark Campbell's Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, Tchaikovsky's epic Eugene Onegin, Gounod's devilishly entertaining Faust, and Puccini's towering masterpiece Tosca. The season also features a weekend of four world premieres during the American Opera Initiative Festival; a revival of WNO's hit world-premiere holiday family opera The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me; a special Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist performance of La traviata; and other exciting vocal events, including the annual Mars, lnc.'s Opera in the Outfield.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.