Los Angeles Opera News

San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced that Company Resident Conductor Giuseppe Finzi has stepped down in order to accept a growing demand of international conducting assignments that conflict with his position in San Francisco. The Italian-born Finzi made his debut at the War Memorial Opera House in 2009 and has conducted numerous operas over the past six seasons including Puccini's La Bohème last November, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Puccini's Turandot, Verdi's Aida and La Traviata and family performances of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore.

The Atlanta Opera presents Puccini's classic, and possibly most famous opera, La bohème.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City opens its 58th season with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's haunting Don Giovanni September 26 and 30 and October 2 and 4 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in Italian with English titles.

Lincoln Center Theater presents Patti LuPone, Dale Soules, Michael Urie, Jordan Dean, Lance Coadie Williams, and Zoe Winters in Shows For Days, a new play by Douglas Carter Beane, directed by Jerry Zaks. The production opened, June 29 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street), and it closes tonight, August 23.

Los Angeles is in for a treat next month! Tony and Grammy-winner Audra McDonald comes to the Hollywood Bowl to sing classics from Broadway and the American Songbook with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Bramwell Tovey, Tuesday and Thursday, September 1 and 3, at 8 pm. Audiences on both nights will be entertained by McDonald singing famous tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Mancini and Mercer, and others. The evenings also feature gifted American Ballet Theatre dancers on stage to bring Bernstein's Fancy Free to life performing Jerome Robbins' 1944 choreography.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University presents On Stage With…Branden James, an intimate cabaret performance by the "America's Got Talent" finalist. After gracing some of the world's most renowned stages, classically trained singer Branden James makes his return to Chicago this fall, Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. on the Auditorium Theatre's historic stage, 50 E. Congress Parkway.

The 51st Chicago International Film Festival, presented by Cinema/Chicago, will honor acclaimed composer and orchestrator Howard Shore in recognition of his contributions to film and television with a tribute and award ceremony on Sunday, October 18, 2015. Howard Shore is one of the most versatile, talented, and respected composers and music conductors working today. He has collaborated with such prominent directors as Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, David Fincher, Arnaud Desplechin, and David Cronenberg, among numerous others. Shore's work on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was recognized with three Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and many other honors.

Poised to embark on a new season of outstanding classical music events, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra is enjoying renewed momentum in the form of fiscal vigor, a freshly augmented professional staff, and the growing sense of an organization coming into its own.

Margaret Holsinger, an experienced administrative, customer service, and event planning professional, has been named executive assistant and outreach program manager for the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Her appointment was effective August 3.

Leslie Velez, an accomplished fundraising and retail sales professional, has been named director of development for the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Her appointment was effective August 3.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the four conductors for the 2015-2016 season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Gary Thor Wedow (pictured, left, Mozart's Don Giovanni), and David Charles Abell (Bizet's Carmen) will be returning to the Lyric Opera. Alexander Polianichko (Dvorak's Rusalka) and Christopher Allen (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love) will be making their Lyric Opera debut.

The RRazz Room New Hope, 6426 Lower York Road New Hope PA, presents Happily Ever Laughter featuring LIZ CALLAWAY and JASON GRAAE and Alex Rybeck, Musical Director, tonight, August 15.

Single-ticket sales for Opera Santa Barbara's 2015-16 season will begin on Saturday, August 15. Ranging from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222. Opera Santa Barbara will open its 22nd season with Mozart's timeless drama Don Giovanni on November 6 and 8, followed by Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece The Elixir of Love on March 4 and 6, and a twin bill consisting of Puccini's compelling one-act operas Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi on April 22 and 24. Performances will take place at the historic Granada Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara.

Stephen Sondheim's macabre musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street receives its highly anticipated San Francisco Opera premiere in a production featuring a cast of notable operatic stars and performed with Sondheim's original score for the lyric stage.

The RRazz Room New Hope, 6426 Lower York Road New Hope PA, presents Happily Ever Laughter featuring LIZ CALLAWAY and JASON GRAAE and Alex Rybeck, Musical Director, Saturday, August 15.

Broadway husband and wife Will Swenson and Audra McDonald recently filmed themselves singing a seemingly random duet- the theme song from the hit '70s show LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. Check out the fun a capella performance, made for Broadway Sleepout, below!

In the summer of 2015 the New York Philharmonic will undertake its first performance residencies in Shanghai, as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership, and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Celebrated conductor Kostis Protopapas, whose engaging podium presence, incisive musicality, and administrative acumen have garnered praise from critics and industry professionals nationwide, has been named artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara. With the appointment, which caps a seven-month international search, Mr. Protopapas becomes just the fourth artistic director in the company's 21-year history.

BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you a first look at Ogunquit Playhouse's stage, screen and television Valerie Harper starring in the role of the wealthy and stylish 'Millicent Winter' in the delightful Nice Work If You Can Get It, on stage July 22, to August 15.  Check out the cast in action below!

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG -- the only New York organization devoted solely to the astonishing variety and power of song -- has announced its 2015-16 season.