Kevin Newbury News

Blue Coyote Theater Group has announced the World Premiere of CONEY, written by David Johnston and directed by Gary Shrader.

Tonight, July 21 at 2:00pm, and Sunday, July 22 at 7:30pm, American Opera Projects, in association with Opera New Jersey, will premiere Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women

On Saturday, July 21 at 2:00pm, and Sunday, July 22 at 7:30pm, American Opera Projects, in association with Opera New Jersey, will premiere Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women

At 36, Paola Prestini has already forged a singular and celebrated path in new music. Both through her production company, VisionIntoArt, and as a composer, she has garnered praise from fellow artists, presenters and critics. Osvaldo Golijov has described Prestini's music as "wrenching and tender and luminous and pure and exuberant: always vivid and always generous." Terry Riley has called it "music [that] speaks from the heart and inspires," and The New York Times has called it "radiant" and "amorously evocative."

At 36, Paola Prestini has already forged a singular and celebrated path in new music. Both through her production company, VisionIntoArt, and as a composer, she has garnered praise from fellow artists, presenters and critics. Osvaldo Golijov has described Prestini's music as "wrenching and tender and luminous and pure and exuberant: always vivid and always generous." Terry Riley has called it "music [that] speaks from the heart and inspires," and The New York Times has called it "radiant" and "amorously evocative."

Paola Prestini's multimedia opera Oceanic Verses is described as :the most ambitious undertaking of her career to date, and the one that best reveals her sensibility. With her collaborators-including the film artist Ali Hossaini, the librettist Donna Di Novelli and the directorKevin Newbury-Prestini has expanded the work from a 35-minute oratorio to an evening-length opera commissioned by VisionIntoArt and produced by her frequent cohort, Beth Morrison Projects in association with Washington Chorus and Trinity Wall Street.'

Patrick Summers continues his first season at the helm of the Houston Grand Opera this spring, leading performances of Verdi's Don Carlos (April 13-28) and Donizetti's Mary Stuart (April 21-May 4). Summers - named HGO's Artistic and Music Director in May 2011, following a 13-year period as Music Director - began his Houston season withVerdi's La traviata. Last fall, the conductor continued his long association with San Francisco Opera as principal guest conductor, leading the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' Heart of a Soldier and, soon after, the company premiere of Handel's Xerxes. He returns to the West Coast this spring, making his Los Angeles Opera debut by conducting Puccini's La boheme (May 12-June 2).

The 15th Annual New York International Fringe Festival will present the premiere of the new play SAMMY GETS MUGGED!, by award-winning writer Dan Heching, from August 15 to 28. Directed by Noah Himmelstein, the cast features Stephanie Pope Caffey (Broadway's Chicago, Fosse and more), Patrick Byas ('Law & Order: SVU') and Mr. Heching.

The 15th Annual New York International Fringe Festival will present the premiere of the new play SAMMY GETS MUGGED!, by award-winning writer Dan Heching, from August 15 to 28. Directed by Noah Himmelstein, the cast features Stephanie Pope Caffey (Broadway's Chicago, Fosse and more), Patrick Byas ('Law & Order: SVU') and Mr. Heching.

Reviving an important but rarely performed opera is one of the ways the Bard SummerScape festival paints a nuanced portrait of the past, and this year's exploration of "Sibelius and His World" continues that tradition.

Blue Coyote Theater Group and Access Theater present the latest chapter in their downtown cult series Standards of Decency.

Blue Coyote Theater Group and Access Theater present the latest chapter in their downtown cult series Standards of Decency.

Blue Coyote Theater Group and Access Theater present the latest chapter in their downtown cult series Standards of Decency.

Reviving an important but rarely performed opera is one of the ways the Bard SummerScape festival paints a nuanced portrait of the past, and this year's exploration of "Sibelius and His World" is no exception.

The critically acclaimed 2010 Wexford Festival Opera production of 'Virginia' by Saverio Mercadante was named 'Best Opera' at the 2010 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards ceremony last night in Vicar Street in Dublin.

Scandinavia's rich cultural heritage, and the question of artistic conservatism in the modernist age, will be explored at the eighth annual Bard SummerScape festival, which once again features a sumptuous tapestry of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret, keyed to the theme of the 22nd annual Bard Music Festival.

Wexford Opera House may only hold 771 seats, but Saturday night's opening performance of the 59th Wexford Festival Opera, the tragic lyric opera, 'Virginia' by Saverio Mercadante was broadcast live by RTÉ Lyric FM to 22 countries around the World via the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - reaching an estimated 1 million listeners according to Head of Music and Euroradio at the EBU, Pierre-Yves Tribolet.

Wexford Opera House may only hold 771 seats, but Saturday night's opening performance of the 59th Wexford Festival Opera, the tragic lyric opera, 'Virginia' by Saverio Mercadante was broadcast live by RTÉ Lyric FM to 22 countries around the World via the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - reaching an estimated 1 million listeners according to Head of Music and Euroradio at the EBU, Pierre-Yves Tribolet.

Opera Theatre's 2010 spring season opens on Saturday, May 22 and continues for 28 performances through Sunday, June 27 with all-new productions of Mozart's brilliant comedy THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece EUGENE ONEGIN, Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, directed and designed by famed designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the world premiere of Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock's THE GOLDEN TICKET, based on Roald Dahl's beloved classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

While Alexander Pushkin's original verse novel, EUGENE ONEGIN, had its protagonist at the center of attention, composer Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky and writer Konstantin Shilovsky's operatic adaptation (with an English translation by David Lloyd-Jones) instead focuses on Tatiana, the woman whose heart is broken by Onegin when he rejects her. This fundamental change in perspective actually makes for a more tragic and emotional experience, and coming from Tatiana's point of view, works perfectly for the world of opera. The Opera Theatre of St. Louis is presenting a lush and dramatic production of EUGENE ONEGIN as part of their season now playing at the Loretto-Hilton.