Los Angeles Opera News

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco.

After a 25-year absence, Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is pleased to bring Bellini's beloved opera NORMA to the Arsht and Broward Centers starting in late January 2016.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco. The ceremony is an invitation-only event for members of Merola's Gold Circle and above. Those wishing to join Merola may find information at www.merola.org.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to announce that the acclaimed Mannes Opera Young Artists, led by Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri, will give two fully-staged performances of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the Mannes Orchestra. Performances will take place December 11 at 7:30 pm and & December 12 at 1:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, New York). Admission is $25, $10 for students/seniors, and can be purchased through ticketcentral.com.

 DALLAS, TX, December 8, 2015 – The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.

From January 19 to 23, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) presents The Song Continues, an annual series led by renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, exploring song repertoire through master classes and concerts with the goal of encouraging, supporting, and preserving the art of the vocal recital. The series concludes with the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration, a recital featuring special guest artist soprano Nina Stemme on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. The evening's concert also features performances by soprano Julia Bullock, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, tenor Andrew Haji, bass-baritone Evan Hughes, and pianists John Arida, Keun-A Lee, Ken Noda, and Jennifer Szeto. Complete program information is listed below.

The Dallas Opera is thrilled to present six women conductors of international stature making music with The Dallas Opera Orchestra and a host of outstanding young artists in one great evening designed to showcase the work of the inaugural Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera.

San Francisco Opera today announced casting updates to the 2016 summer season which begins May 27 with the American premiere of Spanish director Calixto Bieito's production of Georges Bizet's CARMEN, followed by Giuseppe Verdi's DON CARLO opening on June 12 and Leoš Janácek's JENUFA starting on June 14.

The Dallas Opera is thrilled to present six women conductors of international stature making music with The Dallas Opera Orchestra and a host of outstanding young artists in one great evening designed to showcase the work of the inaugural Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera.

DALLAS, TX, NOVEMBER 20, 2015 - The Dallas Opera wishes to remind potential candidates that applications for the expanded and revised Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, scheduled to take place on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. (Semi-Final Round) and Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.(Finals Round) will be accepted through tomorrow – Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

The New School's College of Performing Arts is pleased to announce that the acclaimed Mannes Opera Young Artists, led by Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri, will give two fully-staged performances of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the Mannes Orchestra. Performances will take place December 11 at 7:30 pm and & December 12 at 1:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, New York). Admission is $25, $10 for students/seniors, and can be purchased through ticketcentral.com.

They were the brand name on every woman's lips. Goodman Theatre announces it will produce the world premiere of War Paint, a new musical that charts the ascent and arch-rivalry of cosmetics entrepreneurs Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. Patti LuPone, who 'generates more raw excitement than any other performer on Broadway' (The New York Times), and Christine Ebersole, a 'first-class, revitalizing master of period style' (The New York Times), respectively star as Rubinstein and Arden, the brilliant innovators with humble roots who shrewdly navigated the 1930s male-dominated business world to forever change the business of beauty. Directed by Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal, If/Then, Grey Gardens), War Paint reunites Scott Frankel and Michael Korie-the acclaimed composer and lyricist team of Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven-with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright (Grey Gardens, I Am My Own Wife, The Little Mermaid). The musical is inspired by the book, War Paint, by Lindy Woodhead and the documentary film, The Powder & the Glory, by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman.  

New York, NY (November 11, 2015) – Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the Met stage on Monday, November 23 for the first of seventeen performances throughout the season. The November and December performances, conducted by Paolo Carignani,will star Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, opposite American soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta in her first Met performances since 2005. Romanian baritone Levente Molnár makes his Met debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro. 

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) opens its five-concert Baroque Conversations series with an evening led by Iranian-born harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani featuring works by Bach, Telemann and Erlebach tonight, November 12, 2015, 7 pm, at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Beethoven's iconic Ninth Symphony and Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral, November 5-8 in Newark and New Brunswick.

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE are pleased to announce full casting for the fourth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running January 6-17, 2016, in New York City. Deemed "suddenly indispensable" (New Yorker), this 'bracingly innovative' Festival, founded, directed, and curated by Kristin Marting (of HERE), Beth Morrison (of BMP), and Kim Whitener (of HERE), has quickly become 'a point of reference" in the field (The New York Times) over three astoundingly successful seasons.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present one of the most eagerly anticipated new operas of the year: Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's GREAT SCOTT, featuring a once-in-a-lifetime cast headed by America's favorite mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato, in the title role of Arden Scott; also starring soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, baritone Nathan Gunn, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, bass Kevin Burdette, tenor Rodell Rosel and baritone Michael Mayes.

This week's mystery caller in the FUNNY OR DIE series 'Adele gets a call from...' is none other than Broadway diva Patti LuPone. Click below to hear her belt a segment of 'Buenos Aires' from EVITA!

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) opens its five-concert Baroque Conversations series with an evening led by Iranian-born harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani featuring works by Bach, Telemann and Erlebach on Thursday, November 12, 2015, 7 pm, at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Opera's greatest love story, LA BOHEME, will return to ENO's London Coliseum this winter in Jonathan Miller's stunning production, weaving together true love with heartbreak in this enduring and devastating story. Check out photos from the show below!