Joshua Hopkins News

This December, the magic of music is in the key of Christmas at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO).

This December, the magic of music is in the key of Christmas at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO).

It's Christmas in August. Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) world premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's opera It's a Wonderful Life is now available for audio streaming, high resolution download, and CD pre-orders on the PENTATONE website. The CD will be released worldwide on September 1. It's a Wonderful Life is the newest addition to PENTATONE's American Opera Series. 

On August 1, 2017, Santa Fe Opera presented Johann Strauss II's operetta, DIE FLEDERMAUS (THE BAT). The original German libretto was by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée. The audience heard it sung in an English translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin with dialogue adapted by Charles Ludlam from W. S. Gilbert's play ON BAIL. Gilbert based his play on a work by Meilhac and Halévy.

The Glimmerglass Festival has released the details of its 2018 schedule. For a second year, the Festival's programming will explore themes of home and country.

Utah Opera and Salt Lake magazine partner for the 3rd annual Libretti & Libations, where art influences life - for at least a drink (or two). Talented mixologists from choice Salt Lake City and Park City restaurants curate artisanal cocktails inspired by the season's opera productions. Until May 21, 2017, eight participating restaurants will offer expertly-crafted libations inspired by Utah Opera's production of "Don Giovanni" as a way of infusing food and beverage with the experience of opera. Visit www.utahopera.org/libations for more information.

In May 2017, Utah Opera will present Mozart's “Don Giovanni,” a tale of love, seduction, and murder as seen through the stylized lens of a 1950s “film noir” cinematic approach. This production will be performed five times at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre on May 13, 15, 17, 19 at 7:30 PM and May 21 at 2 PM. Tickets, priced from $21-$92, are available for purchase through www.utahopera.org or by calling (801) 533-6683.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere presentation of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, now through December 17. This timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel teaches him the lesson of realizing the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Houston Grand Opera continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel shows him the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us.

Houston Grand Opera continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel shows him the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us.

It's a fairytale start to 2017 with the revival of the Canadian Opera Company's playful and whimsical production of Mozart's beloved opera, The Magic Flute.

HGO's production of Gounod's FAUST puts the 'grand' in grand opera. The current production has all the bells and whistles - a timeless story, a top-notch cast, the costumes, sets and lighting of an all-out extravaganza. In short, it has everything the word 'opera' conjures up. And it's at the Wortham, all for you.

Legend has it there were five encores at the triumphant Viennese premiere of Mozart and da Ponte's Le Nozze di Figaro on May 1, 1786. By the same token, Washington National Opera's new production of the effervescent comic opera deserved just as many ovations. Now playing through Sunday, October 2 in the Kennedy Center Opera House, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO with Mozart's bubbly score and de Ponte's delicious libretto sparkles as bright as ever. The cast of first class singing-actors and the prime conducting skills of James Gaffigan are reason enough to take a seat for this masterpiece.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2016-2017 season with a new-to-Washington staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpiece of romantic comedy-The Marriage of Figaro, September 22-October 2, 2016, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. One of opera's most enduring and beloved classics, The Marriage of Figaro tells an upstairs/downstairs story of love, lust, seduction, infidelity, and ultimately, forgiveness, all set to some of the most sublime and memorable music ever written.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2016-2017 season with a new-to-Washington staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpiece of romantic comedy-The Marriage of Figaro, September 22-October 2, 2016, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. One of opera's most enduring and beloved classics, The Marriage of Figaro tells an upstairs/downstairs story of love, lust, seduction, infidelity, and ultimately, forgiveness, all set to some of the most sublime and memorable music ever written.

Under the direction of Bartlett Sher (whose work is currently represented on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The King and I, Charles Gounod's 1867 French opera ROMEO AND JULIET comes to opulent, dramatic life--with the quality and grandiosity that characterize Lyric Opera's productions. This production of Gounod's opera--with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre and which was first performed at the Lyric in 1981--retains the original Renaissance setting of Shakespeare's classic play and renders it larger-than-life. The inherently dramatic nature of the play makes it a fitting choice for an operatic adaptation--Romeo and Juliet's tragic love story becomes even more heightened when set to Gounod's decadent score.

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 61st season with ROMEO AND JULIET in a new-to-Chicago production created by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, tonight, February 22, through Saturday, March 19 (nine performances). This is the eighth and final mainstage opera production of the widely acclaimed 2015/16 season. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the company in action below!

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 28th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center tonight, February 4, at 7 p.m.

Houston, February 2, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 28th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center on today, February 4, at 7 p.m. This year's finalists are: