Today, the Metropolitan Opera announced its 2020-21 season, the first in which Yannick Nézet-Séguin assumes his full breadth of musical duties as the company's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducting six productions. His schedule includes the Met premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the first contemporary opera conducted by the maestro on the Met stage, as part of his ongoing commitment to opera of our time at the Met, which will expand in the seasons to come.
Welcome to the Met, AGRIPPINA: It's about time. Handel and his librettist, Vincent Grimani, knew that certain stories are timeless--like corruption in government--and this one has plenty of twists and turns...and even some belly laughs. It was the perfect piece for an ingenious director, Sir David McVicar, and a spectacular singing actress, mezzo Joyce DiDonato, aided and abetted by conductor Harry Bicket and the Met's perfectly Baroque pit band. The result was an unusual combination for early music: great music and great fun. I suppose that's why it became such a big hit for Handel.
The International Opera Awards today announced the finalists for its 2020 Awards [Wednesday 5 February 2020]. The annual red-carpet event - which celebrates achievement in opera around the globe over the 2019 calendar year - recognises excellence in a wide range of categories that cover performance, design and direction as well as education and outreach.
Get you first look at Agrippina as Handel's tale of intrigue and impropriety in ancient Rome receives its first Met performances, with star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the controlling, power-hungry Agrippina and Harry Bicket conducting.
George Frideric Handel (1685a?"1759) was born in Germany, trained extensively in the music capitals of Italy, and spent most of his brilliant career in London. While his great choral and orchestral works have remained extraordinarily popular up to the present day, his theatrical creations, which were instrumental in introducing Italian opera to the British public. Vincenzo Cardinal Grimani (1652 or 1655a?"1710) was a career diplomat who also supplied libretti for opera composers, the text for Agrippina being his most famous.
In the Metropolitan Opera's first-ever performance of Agrippina, Handel's satire of sex and power politics, Sir David McVicar reconceives a production he originally created for the Monnaie in Brussels in 2000, evoking a scandalous world in which the Roman Empire never fell but simply kept going right up to the present. Agrippina comes to the big screen LIVE in HD at The Ridgefield Playhouse Saturday, February 29 at 12:55pm, part of the Classical Series, underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone, and Sabina & Walter Slavin with support from Whistle Stop Bakery. For tickets ($25 | Members & Seniors $20 | Students $15 | FREE for students 18 and under) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online atridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.
The 2019-2020 season of The Met: Live in HD will continue Saturday, February 29 with Handel's AGRIPPINA at 12:55 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. The 2019-2020 season is sponsored by Viron Rondo Osteria. A complimentary 45 minute pre-opera lecture by Nunzio DeFilippis will be offered in the Studio Theatre Lobby two hours before the broadcast, sponsored by Land Rover Hartford.
Orlando was a deeply engaging, intriguing and thought-provoking exploration whose pondering, messages, striking soundscapes and visuals reverberated and lingered long after the curtain had closed. It is a highly ambitious undertaking but Neuwirth and her colleagues were up for the challenge. What is most exciting is what has now been established for a venue such as The Wiener Straatsoper as we move into a new decade of uncertain times when it is vital that radical expressions of art and activism combined are given such a grand stage with which to proclaim their truths.
TaleGate Theatre Productions are working with Bafta winning author, Nicholas Allan, on a new musical adaptation of his best selling book 'The Queen's Knickers' (Copyright, 1993) due to tour UK theatres in 2020.
Final details for 'The Warner Brothers Story' Prom have today been unveiled, as an array of musical theatre stars get set to take to the Royal Albert Hall stage as part of the BBC Proms this summer.
Placido Domingo has announced the company's 2019/20 season. The season will include six mainstage operas, one musical, one recital and one concert presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with additional performances presented in other venues through the company's Off Grand initiative.
Conductor Jeremie Rhorer returns to Theatre des Champs-Elysees today, November 28, through December 9, 2018, conducting a new production of Verdi's La traviata, directed by Deborah Warner, and using Verdi's original tuning. Rhorer will conduct Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, the period-instrument ensemble dedicated to music of the 18th and 19th centuries, which he founded in 2005.
If you have ever attended an opera and thought 'all of these sets and costumes are so incredibly distracting' then Washington Concert Opera would be right up your alley. Stripping away the grandiose of an opera production, WCO presents their works in their most raw form: with just an orchestra, a chorus, and principles who sing their hearts out. This minimalist style isn't likely to convert opera skeptics, but it is a great way to deepen one's appreciation for the art form. Their most recent presentation of Charles Gounod's first opera, Sapho, benefits from some strong lead performances. It's just a shame that the libretto isn't better.
On January 13, 17 and 19 Franz Welser-Most and The Cleveland Orchestra continue an ongoing commitment to present opera at Severance Hall with a made-for-Cleveland production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos which is being performed for the first time in the Orchestra's history. In his years as music director, Welser-Most has led The Cleveland Orchestra in performances of many orchestral works by Richard Strauss, as well as presentations of four other Strauss operas: Elektra (2004), Der Rosenkavalier (2007), Salome (2012), and Daphne (2015).
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today that Kim Pensinger Witman, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming, has announced her intention to retire in February 2019 after 22 years of leading Wolf Trap's nationally renowned opera and classical music programs. Witman will be succeeded in the role by Lee Anne Myslewski, who has served Wolf Trap since 2006 as Director, Artistic Administration.
Washington Concert Opera (WCO) is excited to announce its 2018-2019 lineup, a season that celebrates strong women and the return of beloved opera stars. WCO kicks off the year with their second annual Opera Outside at Washington D.C.'s Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park on Oct 27th, followed by performances at Lisner Auditorium of Charles Gounod's Sapho on November 18th, 2018 and Gioachino Rossini's Zelmira on April 5th, 2019. Also, for the first time ever, WCO will co-present two very special performances of Frank Martin's Le vin herbe at The Barns at Wolf Trap on February 9th and 10th, 2019.
As the celebrations, performances, and successes of The Cleveland Orchestra's Centennial Season continue toward its conclusion this spring, the Orchestra has announced details of its 101st season for 2018-2019. Aspects of the celebratory spirit continues - with a 100th Birthday concert in July for the Cleveland community and Centennial Gala in September. The new season also extends the dedicated week-to-week work, creativity, and artistry required to continue being one of the world's best orchestras year after year.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Below, note the following updates to Carnegie Hall's 2017-18 schedule, reflecting changes made since the season was originally announced in January 2017.
