Matthew Ozawa News

Kentucky Opera has announced its Brown-Forman 2021/22 season highlighting community and artistic partners, as well as key themes of Faith, Justice and Family that resonated throughout Kentucky Opera’s 2020/21 virtual season.

In Song is a series of intimate video portraits featuring remarkable San Francisco Opera artists who draw us into their distinctive spheres through stories and song—from classical to bluegrass to spirituals. In each episode, a singer invites us to see who they are in the world, their cultural backgrounds and how they express themselves through deep connections to song.

San Francisco Opera Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Matthew Shilvock announces re-envisioned Spring 2021 programming including a return to live performances with a new production of Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville and concerts offered in a drive-in setting at San Rafael's Marin Center in April and May.

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues to expand its 2020/21 Season with new offerings and virtual performances. Anthony Freud, Lyric’s general director, president & CEO, announced additional new programming today that will feature the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Lyric Opera Chorus, Lyric’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center Ensemble & more.

OPERA America has announced the inaugural participants of the IDEA Opera Residencies (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) program, a new initiative that provides New York City-based composers and librettists of color an opportunity to explore opera as an expressive medium. The program is supported by the Katherine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund of The Scherman Foundation.

OPERA America has announced the inaugural participants of the IDEA Opera Residencies (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) program, a new initiative that provides New  York City-based composers and librettists of color an opportunity to explore opera as an expressive medium.  The program is supported by the Katherine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund of The Scherman Foundation. 

 CLICKCOACH – a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created and operated for the relief of classical, jazz, and musical theater artists in financial need worldwide – launches Friday, January 15, 2021. 

The artists and artistry of San Francisco Opera will be on full display in Celebrating the Voices of San Francisco Opera, a virtual event premiering on Friday, December 4 at 7:30 pm Pacific.

The artists and artistry of San Francisco Opera will be on full display in Celebrating the Voices of San Francisco Opera, a virtual event that will be unveiled at sfopera.com, YouTube and Facebook on Friday, December 4 at 7:30 pm Pacific.

Des Moines Metro Opera announced today the repertory for the organization's 2021 Summer Festival, which runs July 2 through July 25, 2021.

The global pandemic has created a setback for arts groups across the Pacific Northwest. But despite challenges, Seattle Opera is using this moment as an opportunity to create equity in their art form through its next Community Conversation: Crescendo for Racial Justice in Opera.

San Francisco Opera today announced the difficult decision to cancel its Fall 2020 Season due to the ongoing pandemic.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the Company's 98th season, which opens on September 11, 2020 with an Opening Night Celebration featuring soprano Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Pene Pati in concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim. Opening Night festivities include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera Ball, BRAVO! CLUB's annual Opening Night Gala and two new events: the Opera Supper in the Veterans Building's elegant Green Room and, for the entire audience, a celebratory, post-concert toast to the season.

Opera San José supporters gathered at the historic California Theatre tonight to welcome its new General Director Khori Dastoor and hear her unveil the company's new strategic vision and ground-breaking line-up for the 2020-21 season, including new productions, company premieres, artist debuts, and cultural collaborations in four mainstage productions a?" including one with Broadway roots, a company first. Last spring, the Opera San José Board of Directors announced the appointment of Dastoor as the company's third general director, to succeed retiring general director Larry Hancock. She assumed the position October 1, 2019, becoming one of only six women, and the only woman of color, leading a major opera company in the US (budget over $3 million). Since then she has been overseeing all aspects of artistic planning and business operations, and now announces her first season to be staged September 2020 through May 2021 at the beautifully restored California Theatre in downtown San Jose. Noting that Opera San José has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the greater San Jose area for over thirty-five years, said Dastoor, a?oeOur current charge is to elevate the company as a vibrant artistic incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley,a?? announcing what she described as a season of renewal, growth, and, above all, impassioned music making and storytelling.

Gaetano Donizetti wrote three bel canto operas about three extraordinary women a?"  passionate Anne Boleyn, proud Mary Stuart, and mighty Queen Elizabeth I. Each of these brilliant operas offers a stupendous role for a true singing actress with incredible technique, charisma, and dramatic power.

Opera Colorado closes its triumphant 2018-19 season with a lavish production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, an opera frequently lauded as the pinnacle of the art form. The Marriage of Figaro opens Saturday, May 4, at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver, with additional performances on May 7, 10, and 12.

Lyric Unlimited, Lyric Opera of Chicago's education and community engagement arm, presents An American Dream by Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo, opening tonight.

Proving the enduring vibrancy and relevancy of the art form (while celebrating a milestone for its leader), Boston Lyric Opera's 2019/20 Season of new productions spans three centuries of composers -- focusing on works that reflect the highs and lows of power and politics, bringing passionate opera installations to new neighborhoods, and introducing audiences to rising stars from diverse backgrounds. Among the season highlights, Russian-born soprano Elena Stikhina returns to BLO, where she made her 2017 American debut, to sing the lead role in NORMA. Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director Esther Nelson marks her 10th programming season, which the company will commemorate throughout the year.

Cincinnati Opera, today announced the repertoire and casting for Cincinnati Opera's 2019 Summer Festival, which will run from June 13 to July 28. The company's 99th season begins with a charming production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Music Hall's Springer Auditorium.

On June 30, 2018, Santa Fe Opera continued the season begun the night before with a revival of the 1904 Brescia Version of Giacomo Puccini's tragic MADAMA BUTTERFLY. The late Lee Blakeley put together the original 2010 production with simple visual lines and a bold structure. Eight years later, Matthew Ozawa restated it poetically for a new audience.