Lawrence Brownlee News

Multi-genre musical experience We Shall Overcome comes to Pepperdine University at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts today announced details of its 2020/21 Great Performers series. Now in its 55th year, the series is dedicated to presenting outstanding renowned and emerging artists from across the globe in the concert halls and theaters across the institution's iconic campus. The season features an array of the world's most accomplished and inventive orchestras, conductors, recitalists, and chamber ensembles, performing classical and bold, cutting-edge repertoire.

Carnegie Hall today announced that the Weill Music Institute's (WMI) Lullaby Project has received a three-year grant from the William Penn Foundation to implement the program in Philadelphia. This spring, the Lullaby Project will pilot in Philadelphia.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the Company's 98th season, which opens on September 11, 2020 with an Opening Night Celebration featuring soprano Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Pene Pati in concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim. Opening Night festivities include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera Ball, BRAVO! CLUB's annual Opening Night Gala and two new events: the Opera Supper in the Veterans Building's elegant Green Room and, for the entire audience, a celebratory, post-concert toast to the season.

Traveling the world as an international opera star, Angela Brown noticed something about audiences. 'I would see very few people who looked like me,' says Brown. On the surface, it looked like a racial divide, but when Brown performed at schools and universities across the country, she learned that exposure and access also played key roles in the gap. This compelled her to create her show Opera...from a Sistah's Point of View that dispels the myths surrounding the sometimes-intimidating art form called opera. By demonstrating the ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic diversity portrayed in opera characters, she helps people from all walks of life and races find themselves in and enjoy opera. She blows up the preconceived expectations of opera by mixing show-stopping arias, poignant art songs, and moving spirituals with tongue-in-cheek commentary. The show breaks down barriers for audiences that wouldn't necessarily include opera as a part of their entertainment options.

Houston Grand Opera and world-renowned tenor Lawrence Brownlee bring together international stars J'Nai Bridges, Nicole Heaston, Reginald Smith Jr., Russell Thomas, Nicholas Newton and Kevin Miller (piano) for a one-night only concert event.

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

Check out Joe's Pub lineup for the Under the Radar festival featuring new and experimental work from Rizo (fka Lady Rizo), Lucy McComick, Daniel J. Watts, and Ryan J. Haddad. Rounding out the week is Kittel & Co, Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, Jean-Michel Blais, Rev Billy, a very fun showcase from DANCE NOW, Nellie McKay, Aditya Prakash, Damien Sneed, William Prince, Xenia França, Luis Enrique and, as always, a ton more.

Gettysburg College's Majestic Theater will host the Gettysburg community's 40th anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on Saturday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. with a free concert, a?oeWe Shall Overcome.a?? Produced and music directed by Damien Sneed, the concert is inspired by the words and actions of Dr. King, and showcases repertoire from across African American music traditions that electrified generations of civil rights activists and defenders.

a?oeSecret love bound by silence.a?? Once the most performed opera of its time, Donizetti's bel canto drama, La favorite, features some of the most challenging arias ever written. Woven into this nowa?"rarely performed opera is a classic love triangle among a noblewoman, king and warrior. Set in early 14th century Spain, this triangle involves the King of Castile Alphonse XI, the beautiful Léonor and a novice monk, Fernand. In the background, the Moors have invaded Spain, and a power struggle has begun between church and state. Opera powerhouse and HGO Studio alumna Jamie Barton and international star Lawrence Brownlee return to Houston for this HGO premiere. World-renowned opera, film, theater and event director Kevin Newbury directs La favorite.

What: Houston Grand Opera and world-renowned tenor Lawrence Brownlee bring together international stars J'Nai Bridges, Nicole Heaston, Reginald Smith Jr., Russell Thomas, Nicholas Newton and Kevin Miller (piano) for a one-night only concert event. 'Giving Voice: Lawrence Brownlee and Friends Sing Opera, Gospel, and Standards' was created to celebrate Houston's diverse community and showcases the power of voice and song. The intimate evening was the brainchild of Brownlee and Houston Grand Opera is proud to support this initiative. During the concert, audiences will be treated to a program that ranges from opera classics, to spirituals, gospel, and standards. All concert guests will be invited to mix and mingle with the artists following the performance.

Damien Sneed's 40+-City North American tour, 'We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.' tour kicks off at Joe's Pub in New York, NY on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at 9:30 p.m. Presented by IMG Artists, today's leading global performing arts management agency, the tour will make stops at concert halls and universities in the U.S. and Canada. For a complete list of the tour dates, click HERE.

Opera Philadelphia welcomes Tyshawn Sorey, “a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas” (Wall Street Journal), as the company's next Composer in Residence. Sorey, whose residency begins in November 2019, is the first resident in a new phase of the company's renowned program that will give composers more opportunities to explore the opera medium.

Opera Philadelphia welcomes Tyshawn Sorey, 'a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas' (The Wall Street Journal), as the company's next Composer in Residence. Sorey, whose residency begins in November 2019, is the first resident in a new phase of the company's renowned program that will give composers more opportunities to explore the opera medium.

Musician and composer Damien Sneed pays homage to his mentor Aretha Franklin tonight, Monday Nights with WBGO: 'Damien Sneed Presents A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul' Monday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, located in Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, on Broadway at 60th Street, New York City.

The family of international opera star Jessye Norman announces today through the family spokesperson, Gwendolyn Quinn, the Homegoing Service, and the weeklong services and celebrations. The funeral is set for Saturday, October 12, 2019, at the William B. Bell Auditorium, 712 Telfair Street, Augusta, GA, doors open and seating begins at 12:00 p.m. (there will be a private interment). The four-day, weeklong events start on Thursday, October 10, and runs through Sunday, October 13, 2019, in Augusta, GA. (see full schedule below). In November 2019, there will be a celebration of life event, scheduled in New York City.

The Barber of Seville recently opened at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and critics were in attendance! Find out what they had to say.

Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 65th season with Gioachino's Rossini's romantic comedy, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. Tara Faircloth directs this exuberant revival of Lyric's 2013/14 production, originally directed by Rob Ashford, while Sir Andrew Davis conducts the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Michael Black serves as chorus master. Beautifully designed and masterfully sung, this production leans into the farcical comedy that ensues when Figaro, the eponymous barber, plays matchmaker for a wealthy count and a witty young woman.

Rossini's popular comedic masterpiece, The Barber of Seville, will open Lyric Opera of Chicago's 65th season on Saturday, September 28 at 6pm. There will be eight performances through October 27 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago. Tickets start at $49 for adults and just $20 for children, and are available now at lyricopera.org/Barber or by calling 312-827-5600.

First show of Lyric's 65th season: A delightful production of the perennially popular Rossini opera gets the 2019/20 season off to an effervescent start.