Mark Campbell News

Short on financial resources but long on ambition, Utopia Opera started its eighth season last weekend with a New York premiere: Thea Musgrave's THE STORY OF HARRIET TUBMAN. It's a 90-minute chamber version, orchestrated by composer Julian Grant, of Musgrave's full-length, two-act HARRIET, THE WOMAN CALLED MOSES, which debuted in 1985 at the Virginia Opera, with some fervent portrayals by its cast of about two dozen, including the stellar soprano MaKayla McDonald as Harriet and mezzo Karmesha Peake as her mother, Rit.

On opening night for the Minnesota Opera (MNOP), the audience in attendance became curiously quieter and quieter, silent, when the curtain rose at the Ordway Center on the company's contemporary award winning opera 'Silent Night.' Commissioned by MNOP in 2011, the music by Kevin Putts combined with a libretto by Mark Campbell transported the opera house to Christmas, 1914, the beginning of World War I, Based on Christian Carlson's screenplay for the film 'Joyeux Noel,' the opera travels to a small, bloodied war zone in a tiny Belgium village along the French boarder, which centers the attention while profoundly affecting those in the audience.

The Second City's 17th annual 24-hour improv and music marathon will take place Monday, November 19th-Tuesday, November 20th in Second City's e.t.c. Theater. 24 Hour: To the Moon and Back, Buddies is a non-stop event that will feature over 100 performers in a lineup that includes Second City alumni, current talent, and special guests from the worlds of comedy, theater, and music.

One hundred years after the armistice of The Great War, it is still crucial to honor the memory of all who fought to create a better world for the future. Washington National Opera's production of Silent Night, which opened on Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, is a glorious celebration of the brave soldiers who have risked their lives for their countries. The production is weakened by some questionable staging choices but serves as a suitable showcase for opera's rising stars.

The Oratorio Society of New York has the distinction of having performed Handel's Messiah every Christmas season since 1874, and at Carnegie Hall every year the hall has been open since 1891 - qualifying the OSNY's annual rendition of the holiday classic as a New York tradition of the highest order.

Washington National Opera celebrates the centennial of the WWI Armistice with Kevin Puts's and Mark Campbell's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night, November 10-25, in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets start at $35. Based on the true story of a wartime ceasefire, an event depicted by the 2005 film Joyeux Noel,Silent Night features music by Kevin Puts and libretto by Mark Campbell and stars a cast comprised entirely of WNO family-current members and alumni from the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and WNO Chorus-with libretto in multiple languages that capture a powerful vision of humanity and hope. With gratitude for their sacrifice and service, Washington National Opera presents Silent Night in honor of all Veterans and members of the U.S. Armed Forces. In addition to hosting a Military Appreciation Day on Sunday, November 25, additional discounts to see the production will be offered for active-duty service members for select performances.

PREMIERES (Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director), the New York based music theater organization whose mission is "to bring new music theater to light," is pleased to announce the cast and creative teams for this season's INNER VOICES, the biennial series of solo works featuring new teams of playwrights and composers. Performances begin TONIGHT at 8:00pm for a limited run through Saturday, November 17, 2018 at The TBG Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues). Opening Night is Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 8:00pm.

Each year thousands of visitors from Ireland and around the world travel to Wexford to discover hidden operatic gems. This year audiences around the world will have the chance to experience the magic of Wexford Festival Opera for themselves without ever leaving their homes.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today that Kim Pensinger Witman, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming, has announced her intention to retire in February 2019  after 22 years of leading Wolf Trap's nationally renowned opera and classical music programs. Witman will be succeeded in the role by Lee Anne Myslewski, who has served Wolf Trap since 2006 as Director, Artistic Administration.

Washington National Opera opens its 2018-2019 season with a stunning new production by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello of Verdi's La traviata, October 6-21, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets start at $45. From the famous brindisi drinking song to the heartbreaking 'Addio del passato' aria, the original 'Pretty Woman' proves it's better to have loved once than not at all. Verdi's romantic masterpiece and familiar tunes are as timeless as the storyline is contemporary, pitting tensions of social class against Violetta's personal sacrifice.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley brings an enchanted bestseller to life for the holidays with the regional premiere of Tuck Everlasting. Set in the 1890s, free-spirited Winnie Foster searches for adventure, finding the Tucks, a close-knit family that has discovered the secret to everlasting life.

CSO Music Director Rossen Milanov leads the Columbus Symphony, guest soprano Alexandra Razskazoff, guest mezzo-soprano Siena Licht Miller, guest tenor Jonas Marcel Hacker, guest bass-baritone Andrew Bogard, and the Columbus Symphony Chorus in an unforgettable performance of Handel's deeply spiritual oratorio, Messiah. The work will be performed in its entirety and is the first time the Columbus Symphony has done so since 2010.

Dolphin Theatre's production of 'Goodnight Mr Tom' is a beautifully orchestrated piece of theatre and it is difficult to reconcile that the set, special effects and performances of almost all cast members are not that of a professional company.

Casting has been announced for the Boise engagement of Disney's THE LION KING, which will leap onto the stage at The Morrison Center from Wednesday, October 17 through Sunday, November 4.

It seems impossible to improve upon a classic, but the touring company of THE LION KING has managed just that. It has shown that classics become so for a reason, and they can still take on new life in the hands of a talented director and cast.

Washington National Opera opens its 2018-2019 season with a stunning new production by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello of Verdi's La traviata, October 6-21, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets start at $45. From the famous brindisi drinking song to the heartbreaking 'Addio del passato' aria, the original 'Pretty Woman' proves it's better to have loved once than not at all. Verdi's romantic masterpiece and familiar tunes are as timeless as the storyline is contemporary, pitting tensions of social class against Violetta's personal sacrifice.

Kevin Puts's Silent Night, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music with libretto by Mark Campbell, will be performed throughout the 2018–19 concert season by multiple ensembles in commemoration of the centennial of the signing of the armistice of WWI.

You can't accuse Opera Philadelphia's O18 Festival--running September 20-30 at various city venues--of being predictable. But no one would chastise you if you were to think: How do you follow-up what seems like a once-in-a-lifetime event, last year's O17? Well, as Monty Python used to say, 'And now for something completely different...'

This fall, contemporary opera producer AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) will present COMPOSERS & THE VOICE: SIX SCENES 2018, a showcase concert of opera scenes from nine artists emerging in the world of contemporary opera. Audiences will get a first look at six wildly different new works invoking diverse settings such as the Arab Spring in Tunisia, a post-apocalyptic future, and a modern college campus and exploring a multitude of themes and concepts, including the emotional minefield of solar flares, the dissonance of fundamentalism in urban and regional communities, and the nature and validity of Opera itself. The composers Matt Browne, Scott Ordway, Frances Pollock, Pamela Stein Lynde, Amber Vistein and Alex Weiser, and librettists Laura Barati, Kim Davies, andSokunthary Svay, were chosen by AOP to spend a year creating new works in its bi-annual fellowship program Composers & the Voice (C&V). The evening will be hosted by C&V Artistic Director Steven Osgood.

Casting has been announced for the Indianapolis return of Disney's THE LION KING, which will leap onto the stage at Old National Centre from September 12 for a limited three week engagement through September 29.