This Spring marks the start of the 36th season of the Verdi Chorus, who will present their Spring Concert, L'Amore e la Vita (Love and Life) for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 6 and 7. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, which Ketchum humorously calls the Rom-Com of opera, will feature selections from two Verdi operas I vespri siciliani and Ernani, three Donizetti operas - Don Pasquale, La fille du r giment and L'elisir d'amore, as well as operatic sequences from Bizet's Les p cheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), Delibes' Lakm , and Puccini's La rondine.
Portland Opera is delighted to bring Laura Kaminsky's beautiful chamber opera to Portland audiences for the first time. In this stunning coming-of-age story, two voices-a mezzo-soprano and a baritone-share the role of our transgender heroine Hannah as she endeavors to resolve the discord between herself and the outside world. Celebrated as one of the most important new works in the world of opera, Hannah's story sheds light on universal truths of self-love and identity.
Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) are pleased to announce that their groundbreaking joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works, will host two new operas in November and December of 2018.
The new classical series Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight, featuring, among others, the world-renowned pianists Andre Watts and Ursula Oppens; the world premiere of a piano quintet by acclaimed new music composer Laura Kaminsky; and presentations by Academy and Grammy Awards winner Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen); Emmy, Tony, Grammy and Academy Awards winner Bobby Lopez (Frozen); Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal); and 10-time Tony winner Maury Yeston (Titanic, Nine) are among the numerous highlights of the Kaufman Music Center's diverse 2018-19 season at Merkin Hall.
Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) announces programming for its 2018-2019 season, continuing its mission of bringing affordable, world-class performances of traditional and contemporary chamber music to all five boroughs of New York City. The upcoming slate of concerts marks the organization's most collaborative season to date, including partnerships with GEMAS (Gotham Early Music / Americas Society), ClassicalCafe, Brooklyn Art Song Society, New York Festival of Song, and the LGBT Center ("The Center").
Portland Opera is pleased to announce programming for the company's 55th season, scheduled to begin in November 2018. The season will launch with the recently announced "November classic" - Verdi's heartbreaking romance La Traviata - bringing opera back to Portland in the fall months. In March, Portland Opera will present Laura Kaminsky's brave and beautiful coming-of-age story, As One, where two voices, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone, share the role of the transgender heroine Hannah. The season will continue in the spring with the company's annual Big Night concert and a bright and vibrant production of Rossini's great Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In July, the company will present Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera for the first time, followed by the company premiere of Philip Glass's exploration of the nature of justice, In the Penal Colony, based on Franz Kafka's short story.
Santa Fe Opera's General Director Charles MacKay and General Director Designate Robert Meya announced today the repertory, principal singers, conductors, directors, and designers for the company's 63rd season in 2019, along with updates to the 2018 season, which opens June 29. Joining MacKay and Meya were Santa Fe Opera Board of Directors President Susan G. Marineau, and Director of Education and Community Programs Andrea Fellows Walters.
Following the announcement of kicking off Opening Night with the world premiere of Steven Tyler's documentary OUT ON A LIMB, the Nashville Film Festival continues its lineup for the ten-day festival (May 10-19, 2018) with the announcement of 48 additional feature films in Narrative, Documentary, New Directors and Graveyard Shift competitions. Capturing the essence of today's most relevant social issues, historical stories and more, these 48 films hail from China, South Africa, Netherlands, Denmark, India, France and more, as well as 31 from the U.S. A jury of industry professionals will select the winning films that will take home up to $20,000 in cash and prizes.
The new incarnation of Skylark Opera Theatre, under new Artistic Director Robert Neu, is presenting their third work of accessible, intimate opera. As someone who usually stays on the musical theater side of the music-theater spectrum, this approach seems like a good one for me, sort of bridging that gap between opera and music theater. After last year's stripped down adaptation of CARMEN and an immersive DON GIOVANNI, they're now presenting a contemporary opera about a very timely subject. AS ONE is a two-person 90-minute English language opera about Hannah, a transgender woman becoming herself. She is played by both a man and a woman, pre- and post-transition. It's a beautiful, heart-breaking, inspirational, ultimately hopeful story gorgeously told through music. The intimate new space that is North Garden Theater, in St. Paul's West 7th neighborhood, is the perfect location to experience this sparse-in-spectacle but rich-in-substance opera. But act fast - only three more performances remain this weekend.
SKYLARK OPERA THEATRE IS THRILLED TO PRESENT The Minnesota premiere of AS ONE. Music and Concept by Laura Kaminsky. Libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. Film by Kimberly Reed. Starring Luke Williams as Hannah Before and Bergen Baker as Hannah After Robert Neu, Director Jeffrey Stirling, Music Director
Sundance Institute showcases bold, independent storytelling at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, beginning with today's announcement of feature films selected across all categories. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort, from January 18 28.
Des Moines Metro Opera opens its 46th Season on November 17 with As One, a one-act chamber opera for two voices and string quartet with music by Laura Kaminsky and libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed.
If a spouse transitions from one sex to another in a state where gay marriage is illegal, is the marriage still valid? There are many possible reactions to that question, including heated discussion, juvenile giggling, or reactionary distaste. Composer Laura Kaminsky chose empathy for those most directly affected. The result was her first opera, and it is a striking statement at a time when empathy for anyone different is in short supply. As one, a chamber work for two singers and string quartet, does a compelling job of describing a transgender's struggle with sexual identity. It is the latest offering in the San Diego opera's d tour series, which features smaller-scale works outside the usual operatic repertoire. Kaminsky's choice of artistic partners was as fortunate as her timing. Kimberly Reed, a transgender woman, and Mark Campbell, one of today's most successful librettists, collaborated to produce a story that feels real and has emotional impact.
As One, Laura Kaminsky's first opera, premiered in September 2014. While many contemporary operas are performed once and never heard again, it has been staged more often every year since then, and is already scheduled at nearly a dozen venues for 2018. In a recent phone interview Kaminsky and I spoke about that success, her peripatetic career, and what influences the music she writes.
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).
Queer Art, the New York-based nonprofit for supporting LGBTQ artists, has just announced the eleven Fellows accepted for the 2017-2018 Queer Art Mentorship program cycle, and the Mentors with whom they will be working.
A diverse range of projects and artists on the frontlines of nonfiction storytelling received nearly $2 million in grants from Sundance Institute, furthering their work across a broad array of subjects and forms.
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).
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.
