Keith Phares News

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

This season ushers in a host of premieres by Boosey & Hawkes composers, including John Adams's new opera Girls of the Golden West in San Francisco, Sebastian Currier's RE-FORMATION in Minneapolis, Christopher Rouse's Berceuse Infinie in Baltimore, and a new orchestral work by Sean Shepherd in Boston.

The New York premieres and world premiere production of Gordon Getty's "Scare Pair," a double-bill by the San Francisco-based composer, pairs his two one act-operas -- Usher House and The Canterville Ghost -- together for the first time on October 19 and 21 (7:30pm) at The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (located at East 68th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues).  Both works, with the libretto and music by Mr. Getty, will be sung in English and have a running time of 60 minutes each.

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

Is this the real thing, or a conman's concoction?  All will be revealed, as the Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents Gaetano Donizetti's The Elixer of Love for its twelfth season. Three performances will presented, on July 26, 28 and 30, at the Mainstage at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown (formerly the Arsenal Center for the Arts).

The American premiere of The Trial has opened at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. This is a very major event in opera. Franz Kafka's nightmare tale of Joseph K, trapped in an enigmatic trial for his life, has fascinated readers since it appeared in 1925. Composer Philip Glass read the novel as a youth and even then he yearned to write an opera based on it. But Glass kept that idea 'in his pocket' for sixty years. It was not until he received a commission from the Music Theatre Wales, the Royal Opera, Theatre Magdeburg and the Scottish Opera that Glass was able to fulfill that dream. The London premiere of The Trial opened in 2014.

Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is accepting applications for its second annual Youth Artist Learning Academy (YALA) Summer Vocal Institute. Specifically designed for students in grades 7-12, YALA gears its program toward young aspiring opera singers, those who want to learn about backstage craft, as well as people who simply seek to develop an appreciation of the art form. YALA's staff of seasoned industry professionals will provide an indelible, hands-on experience in the world of opera.

How momentous it is that an opera as monumental and well-crafted as Craig Bohmler's RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE can now lay claim to a rightful place in the canon of works about the American West. In its World Premiere, as part of Arizona Opera's Arizona Bold Initiative, RIDERS is literally and figuratively blazing new trails, demonstrating the relevance and value of the age old genre in a dynamic and memorable production.

The opening fanfare of one of the most exhilarating overtures ever to hit Broadway signals the joyous return of New York City Opera. After financial woes threatened to pull down the curtain for good in 2013, the company that was christened in 1943 as 'the people's opera' by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia has returned with a new home and an old friend, director Harold Prince's rollicking production of Leonard Bernstein, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche and Hugh Wheeler's CANDIDE.

When I saw that New York City Opera was doing Leonard Bernstein's CANDIDE at the same time as New York's Prototype Festival--with Missy Mazzoli's BREAKING THE WAVES opening the festival of opera-theatre and music-theatre on the same night—I thought that it was great counter-programming. After all, what could be further from Mazzoli's brilliant but grim gem than Bernstein's comic masterpiece--proving there's more than one way to skin a music theatre piece?

Last night Leonard Bernstein's Candide, directed by legend Broadway visionary Harold Prince was presented by the New York City Opera and BroadwayWorld was at the opening night festivities.

This month, the legendary Broadway visionary Harold Prince returns to New York City Opera to direct a new production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide.

Leonard Bernstein's CANDIDE has had more lives than that proverbial cat--the latest being New York City Opera's new take on it, opening on January 6 for a ten-performance run at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theatre. It is, once again, helmed by director Hal Prince and choreographer Pat Birch, who were responsible--with librettist Hugh Wheeler and conductor John Mauceri--for the resuscitation and renovation of the once-considered unproducible work, more than 40 years ago.

This January, the legendary Broadway visionary Harold Prince returns to New York City Opera to direct a new production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. The production, choreographed by Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated choreographer Patricia Birch, brings together a versatile cast of Broadway veterans and rising opera stars to tell the story of Candide's adventures and tribulations in the "best of all possible worlds."

This January, the legendary Broadway visionary Harold Prince returns to New York City Opera to direct a new production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. The production, choreographed by Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated choreographer Patricia Birch, brings together a versatile cast of Broadway veterans and rising opera stars to tell the story of Candide's adventures and tribulations in the "best of all possible worlds." 

New York City Opera has announced the cast for its January 2017 production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide directed by legendary Broadway visionary Harold Prince and choreographed by Patricia Birch.

Opera Santa Barbara will open its 2016-17 season with a colorfully electrifying production of Carmen, Georges Bizet's enduring tale of love and jealousy set amid the vibrant, unruly streets of 19th century Seville. Performances will take place at 7:30 pm onFriday, November 4, and at 2:30 pm on Sunday, November 6, in the historic Granada Theatre. Ranging in price from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222.

SISTER CARRIE, a new American opera commissioned by Florentine Opera from the creators of Elmer Gantry, comes to Milwaukee's Marcus Center for the Performing Arts for two performances: Today October 7 at 7:30 PM and Sunday October 9 at 2:30 PM.

Milwaukee, WI -- The Florentine continues to craft its seasons with a blend of imaginatively staged classic operas and important new American works. The nation's sixth oldest opera company will launch the 83rd Season with the world premiere of SISTER CARRIE, a new work by the two-time Grammy Award-winning creators of Elmer Gantry.

Single tickets are on sale now for Opera Santa Barbara's 2016-17 season, which will open November 4 and 6 with Georges Bizet's timeless drama Carmen, followed by productions of Leoš Jana?ek's imaginative The Cunning Little Vixen on March 3 and 5, and Giacomo Puccini's richly melodic La Rondine on April 28 and 30. Ranging in price from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222. Performances will take place at the historic Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.