Los Angeles Opera News

Boston, MA (For Release 11.06.14) – At the vanguard of Boston's classical music scene, Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) present a co-production of the comedic, family opera Fantastic Mr. Fox. For one performance only, Fantastic Mr. Fox unites Odyssey Opera (a new, Boston-based opera company dedicated to exploring the full spectrum of adventurous repertoire), BMOP (the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music), the Boston Children's Chorus, and some of today's top vocal performers including baritone John Brancy and mezzo-soprano Krista River. (See below for complete cast.)

Six-time Tony Award winner and Musical America's 2014 Musician of the Year Audra McDonald, returns to Carnegie Hall on Friday, December 12 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

'Mad Men' star Vincent Kartheiser and Broadway's Larry Pine (CASA VALENTINA) play Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, respectively, in BILLY & RAY, Mike Bencivenga's new play -- directed by the legendary director/writer/producer Garry Marshall. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos of Marshall and Bencivenga, as taken on opening night, in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride!

Multiple Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of New Haven's Shubert Theatre with an exclusive concert engagement on December 11, 2014 at 7:30pm - a century to the day when the theatre opened!

Longy School of Music of Bard College today announced the formation of a unique training orchestra that provides a Master of Music degree, newly approved by the State of New York and is designed to prepare them for the mounting challenges facing today's orchestra players. The training orchestra, recruited from the finest postgraduate musicians, will offer advanced orchestral and leadership training and grant a Master of Music degree in Curatorial, Critical and Performance Studies. All applicants accepted into the three-year degree program will receive a fellowship, which includes the full expense of tuition as well as an annual stipend. Applications are now being accepted. The orchestra will begin performing during the 2015-16 academic year.

Beginning November 10, the Met will present a rare revival of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Shostakovich's controversial 1934 opera about an adulteress whose forbidden romance leads to murder and devastation. This season's performances will be conducted by James Conlon, who also led the work's Met premiere in 1994; it has only been revived once by the company, in 2000. Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will sing her first Met performances of the central role, Katerina Ismailova, which she has sung to acclaim at numerous leading opera houses around the world. American tenor Brandon Jovanovich sings the role of Sergei, Katerina's lover. The revival of Graham Vick's 1994 production will also star Raymond Very as Zinovy Ismailov, Katerina's ineffectual husband, and Anatoli Kotscherga as her brutal father-in-law, Boris. Dutch tenor Frank van Aken will sing Sergei in the November 21 performance.

The Dallas Opera's explosive second production of the 2014-2015 'Heights of Passion' Season is SALOME by Richard Strauss (whose libretto was based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of Oscar Wilde's play). SALOME, generally regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Late Romantic Era, opens tonight, October 30, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in theMargot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center located in the Dallas Arts District.

Verdi's Egyptian tragedy Aida, one of the most-performed operas in company history, will return to the Met stage October 30 for a 16-performance revival with rotating casts of acclaimed artists and rising stars. The initial performances will star Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, who made a notable Met debut in the role in 2012, as Aida; Olga Borodina in one of her best-known portrayals as the jealous princess Amneris; Marcello Giordani as the war hero Radamès, a role he first sang at the Met in 2012; Željko Lu?i? in his first-ever Met performances as Amonasro, Aida's father; Ukrainian bass Dmitri Belosselskiy in his Met role debut as the high priest Ramfis; and American bass Soloman Howard in his Met debut as the King. Italian tenor Antonello Palombi will make his Met debut as Radamès on November 22.

Over 160 opera companies, schools and organizations across North America will celebrate the sixth annual NATIONAL OPERA WEEK from today, October 24 through Sunday, November 2, 2014, with opera activities and announcements in their communities. National Opera Week is coordinated by OPERA America, the national service organization for opera.

San Francisco Opera presents Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) in six performances November 9-26.

Brandon Jovanovich has agreed at short notice to step into the role of Don José in this evening's performance of Carmen, replacing Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is ill. Jovanovich is currently rehearsing for next month's revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Met. He sang the October 13 performance of Carmen substituting for Antonenko as well.

'Mad Men' star Vincent Kartheiser and Broadway's Larry Pine (CASA VALENTINA) play Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, respectively, in BILLY & RAY, Mike Bencivenga's new play -- directed by the legendary director/writer/producer Garry Marshall -- being given its NY premiere this fall at the Vineyard Theatre (108 E. 15 St.), with an official opening tonight, October 20, 2014.

Music has the power to touch the human spirit, transcending time, place, boundaries and language and spurring understanding and connection. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck are deeply committed to music's ability to promote and spread a spiritual and universal message, and to that end invite the public to two free "Music for the Spirit" concerts on Thursday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair and on Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m. at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry.

Wally Russell, one of theatre technology's most beloved leaders, also was one of its most generous mentors. That's why USITT and the Wally Russell Foundation created a new award to honor an industry professional who has helped others start their careers.

Stephen D. Rountree has been named the new Managing Director at Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles, one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the country, it was announced today by William H. Ahmanson, President of the CTG board of directors.

Brandon Jovanovich has agreed at short notice to step into the role of Don José in this evening's performance of Carmen, replacing Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is ill. Jovanovich is currently at the Met rehearsing for next month's revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Susan Graham scored a fresh triumph this summer at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, where, as Anna in a new production of The King and I, she made her first foray into musical theater since her student days. Now the Grammy Award-wining mezzo returns to the concert hall, launching the 2014-15 season under Edo de Waart in her Malaysian Philharmonic debut, and joining a trio of top orchestras -- the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique -- for her signature Berlioz. Long recognized as one of the world's foremost exponents of French music, Graham returns with Berlioz to the San Francisco Opera, revisiting her star turn as Didon in an original staging of Les Troyens, while for her return to the Metropolitan Opera she sings the title role in Susan Stroman's new take on The Merry Widow. Ever “an artist to treasure” (New York Times), Graham looks forward to headlining gala concerts at Los Angeles Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she joins Jane Lynch, Renée Fleming, Ramsey Lewis, and other celebrities to honor the company's 60th anniversary, and rounds out the season in company with her regular recital partner, pianist Malcolm Martineau, for a west coast tour and a season-closing appearance in Classical Action's Michael Palm Series.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra presents Brahms's Requiem this weekend, October 10-12, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Led by conductor Robert Spano and featuring soprano Jessica Rivera, baritone Nmon Ford, and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, the concerts include Brahms's German Requiem and Jennifer Higdon's 'river sings a song to trees' from City Scape.

Soprano Amanda Majeski is a 2009 George London Award winner who just made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the Met's season-opening presentation of Le nozze di Figaro, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is a 2011 George London Award winner who this past summer sang the roles of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with the Los Angeles Opera and Billy Bigelow in Carousel at Glimmerglass Opera. Together, they will open the 2014-15 season of the George London Foundation for Singers with a joint recital at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library and Museum on Sunday, November 9, 2014, at 4:30 PM, with pianist Ken Noda. The event is Mr. McKinny's New York recital debut.

Opera Saratoga announces its 2015 Summer Festival season, which will run from July 2 - July 26, 2015 at multiple venues throughout Saratoga Springs, New York.