Los Angeles Opera News

A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. Renowned director David McVicar makes his Met debut, and Gianandrea Noseda conducts a cast that includes Marcelo ?lvarez in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, and three singers who are celebrated interpreters of their parts: Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna. Kwangchul Youn makes his Met role debut as Ferrando. In later performances, Marco Berti is Manrico; Hasmik Papian is Leonora; Luciana D'Intino is Azucena, ?eljko Lučić is di Luna, and Burak Bilgili is Ferrando, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Performances run through May 8.

Finally appearing together again after their Tony Award? winning performances in Evita, Patti LuPone joins Mandy Patinkin onstage for An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. These Broadway legends will bring their critically acclaimed theatre concert to the Fisher Theatre, April 14 -19, 2009.

Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of Lydia by Octavio Solis, directed by Juliette Carrillo at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12. Lydia features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon.

The LA Opera production of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny has won th GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Album. The LA Opera production of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny premiered on PBS 'Great Performances' on Monday, December 17th, 2008.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of LYDIA by OCTAVIO SOLIS, directed by JULIETTE CARRILLO at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12. LYDIA features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon. The cast of LYDIA includes Carlo Alb?n, Christian Barillas, Stephanie Beatriz, Armando Dur?n, Catalina Maynard, Onahoua Rodriguez, and Tony Sancho.

Tony Award-winning Broadway star Patti LuPone (the original Evita) takes us on a high-spirited tour of songs and roles that she 'could have played, should have played, did play and will play,' with selections from Hair, Bye Bye Birdie, Funny Girl, West Side Story, Peter Pan, Evita, Anything Goes and more!

Now that her already legendary run in Gypsy is over, Patti LuPone is set for a number of concert dates throughout the year, in addition to the previously announced dates with Mandy Patinkin for 'An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin' she will make a concert stop in Las Vegas at the Orleans Casino & Hotel on June 20th and 21st. She can also be seen (and heard) at the Cincinnati May Festival in Kurt Weil's 'The Seven Deadly Sins', Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. James Conlon will be the Musical Director for the series of concerts. For her complete schedule visit her official website at, www.pattilupone.net. Patti LuPone swept the 2008 theatre awards winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance for her performance as Rose in the critically-acclaimed new Broadway production of the classic Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy, directed by the show's author, Mr. Laurents, currently at the St. James Theatre.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Patti LuPone has been cast on 30 Rock to play the mother 'of Judah Friedlander's... well, um, unique Frank'. There's no word on how many episodes LuPone will appear on of the hit show.

Verdi's popular masterpiece Rigoletto returns to the repertory on January 24 with baritone Roberto Frontali making his Met role debut as the hunchback jester and conductor Riccardo Frizza in his company debut. They are joined by Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda and Giuseppe Filianoti as the Duke of Mantua, both of whom are also singing their roles for the first time at the Met. Viktoria Vizin makes her Met debut as Maddalena, and Mikhail Petrenko sings his first Sparafucile with the company. Georgian bass George Gagnidze makes his Met debut on January 27 in the title role and sings the following five performances through February 12. Piotr Beczala, whose performances as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor last fall drew wide acclaim, sings the Duke on February 12. A second run of performances begins April 1 and features the first Met Gilda of Diana Damrau, who earlier this season created a sensation with her interpretation of the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor. She will be partnered with Joseph Calleja as the Duke and Roberto Frontali as Rigoletto. Frontali returns for the April performances which run through April 17. Tamara Mumford sings Maddalena and Raymond Aceto is Sparafucile in the April cast. About the performers

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of LYDIA by OCTAVIO SOLIS, directed by JULIETTE CARRILLO at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12. LYDIA features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon. The cast of LYDIA includes Carlo Alb?n, Christian Barillas, Stephanie Beatriz, Armando Dur?n, Catalina Maynard, Onahoua Rodriguez, and Tony Sancho.

New York City Opera is proud to present the company premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra in concert on January 15 and 16, 2009 at 8 PM in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Soprano Lauren Flanigan sings the role of Cleopatra opposite baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, in his New York City Opera debut, as Antony. The cast includes rising tenor Simon O'Neill as Caesar and City Opera favorites David Pittsinger as Enobarbus, Sandra Piques Eddy as Charmian and Laura Vlasak Nolen as Iras. City Opera Music Director George Manahan will conduct. The company's celebration of Samuel Barber's upcoming centennial will also include a Symposium on Antony and Cleopatra on Saturday, January 10, co-presented by and taking place at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, which will feature City Opera soprano Elizabeth Futral in a unique recital of musical depictions and evocations of Cleopatra.

Bass-Baritone David Pittsinger has assumed the role of Emile de Becque in Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater for a limited time. He has stepped in for the production's current Emile de Becque, Tony Winning baritone Paulo Szot, who had to leave the musical to honor two previously scheduled opera commitments.

New York City Opera is proud to present the company premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra in concert on January 15 and 16, 2009 at 8 PM in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Soprano Lauren Flanigan sings the role of Cleopatra opposite baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, in his New York City Opera debut, as Antony. The cast includes rising tenor Simon O'Neill as Caesar and City Opera favorites David Pittsinger as Enobarbus, Sandra Piques Eddy as Charmian and Laura Vlasak Nolen as Iras. City Opera Music Director George Manahan will conduct. The company's celebration of Samuel Barber's upcoming centennial will also include a Symposium on Antony and Cleopatra on Saturday, January 10, co-presented by and taking place at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, which will feature City Opera soprano Elizabeth Futral in a unique recital of musical depictions and evocations of Cleopatra.

Tony Award winning singer and actress Patti LuPone is featured on this week's Associated Press 'On Broadway' podcast. In this interview Jane Waldman reports on LuPone's new CD on Ghostlight Records, 'Patti PuPone at Les Mouches;' a live recording of the legend's 1980 nightclub act that she performed on Saturdays during her run in 'Evita.'

The year was 1980, and Patti LuPone was starring as 'Evita' on Broadway. She was en route to winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and cementing her status as a Broadway star. But there was another Patti LuPone performance taking place -- one that only a comparative handful of people were aware of: Every Saturday night at midnight, for 27 weeks, after performing one of the most demanding roles ever, she made her way to Les Mouches - a legendary nightclub in New York City, to perform a solo concert...This was a one-woman tour de force that -- until now -- only the lucky few who were on hand knew about.

Bass-Baritone David Pittsinger will assume the role of Emile de Becque in Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, during two upcoming periods when the production's current Emile de Becque, baritone Paulo Szot, leaves the musical to honor two previously scheduled opera commitments.

More than a century ago, composer Richard Wagner conceived his epic four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen as a festival event that completely engaged the city of Bayreuth, Germany. In 2010, LA Opera will join forces with more than 50 cultural and educational institutions in Los Angeles to stage Ring Festival LA

Court Theatre continues its 2008/09 season with SITI Company's Radio Macbeth adapted from the play by Shakespeare and co-directed by SITI Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart and Darron L. West. The production will run November 6, 2008 - December 7, 2008 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. The press opening will be Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.

The Met's acclaimed production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, directed by the late Academy Award-winning film director Anthony Minghella, returns to the stage for twelve performances beginning Friday, October 24, 2008. Reprising their portrayals in the production this season are sopranos Patricia Racette and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs in the title role, tenors Roberto Aronica and Marcello Giordani as Pinkerton, and baritone Dwayne Croft as Sharpless. Patrick Summers conducts the opera for the first time at Met.

Court Theatre continues its 2008/09 season with SITI Company's Radio Macbeth adapted from the play by Shakespeare and co-directed by SITI Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart and Darron L. West. The production will run November 6, 2008 - December 7, 2008 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue. The press opening will be Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.