Michael Mayes News

Denver, Colo. (July 1, 2016)—On July 16, 1932, Central City Opera Summer Festival, as it is known today, was launched with a performance of Alexandre Dumas' Camille, starring Lillian Gish. The weeklong run completely sold out. On July 16, 2016, 84 years later, Central City Opera continues its 2016 summer festival with the opening of a new production of Tosca, Puccini's powerful thriller of passion, seduction, and deceit, running in repertory in the Central City Opera House through August 7. 

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the winner of the 2016 'Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year' Award: transcendent American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

San Diego Opera is proud to continue its tradition of presenting new or rarely performed works when it presents the west coast premiere of Great Scott, the new opera from composer Jake Heggie (Moby-Dick, Dead Man Walking, Three Decembers) and librettist Terrence McNally (Dead Man Walking, Three Decembers, and the plays Mother and Sons, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Fully Monty). They are joined by veteran stage director and former director of San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, Jack O'Brien, who will stage the opera. Great Scott opens on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 7 PM for four performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre and is a co-production with The Dallas Opera. The opera received its world premiere in Dallas on October 30, 2015.  BroadwayWorld has a first look below!

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-sopranoFrederica von Stade, baritone Nathan Gunn, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, bassKevin Burdette, tenor Rodell Rosel and baritone Michael Mayes.  Check out the interview below with mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade!

FORT WORTH, TX – Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today details of the second phase of the company's landmark 10-year initiative Opera of the Americas, as well as the bold and exciting productions scheduled for the 2017 Festival season, running April 15 - May 7. The 2017 FWOpera Festival will include a time-honored classic, Bizet's incendiary tale of tragic seduction, Carmen; a vibrant, contemporary mainstage production unlike anything in FWOpera's repertoire, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna; and the riveting regional premiere of 2015 Frontiers winner, Voir Dire. The Festival will also usher in the fifth year of Fort Worth Opera's critically-acclaimed new works showcase, Frontiers.

What happens when American women move to Paris for creatively fulfilling careers?

Boston Lyric Opera's Stanford Calderwood General and Artistic Director Esther Nelson announced today that each of the company's 40th anniversary season productions will be presented on a different, iconic Boston stage, starting with its largest-ever undertaking—a spectacular international production of the beloved Georges Bizet opera Carmen in a provocative staging by director Calixto Bieito, co-produced with San Francisco Opera and making its American East Coast premiere at the Boston Opera House on September 23, 2016.

Seattle-based Music of Remembrance (MOR) will present the world premiere of Out of Darkness at 4:00 p.m. on May 22, 2016, at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Seattle's Benaroya Hall, and again at 7:30 p.m. on May 25 and 26 at the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to present an original, musically compelling and visually stunning world premiere: Mark Adamo's BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, opening tonight, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. 

The Dallas Opera is delighted to present an original, musically compelling and visually stunning world premiere: Mark Adamo's BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, opening on Friday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. 

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.

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 Perez, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, baritone Nathan Gunn, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, bass Kevin Burdette, tenor Rodell Rosel and baritone Michael Mayes.  BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!

Composer looks for stories that tell transformative, emotional journeys, feel relevant and true with a sense of real intimacy and larger forces at work

            DALLAS, OCTOBER 2, 2015 – 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.

San Francisco, August 31, 2015 – Acclaimed Opera Parallèle will present its annual gala benefit Today, October 3, at 6:30 pm, at Marines' Memorial Club in San Francisco featuring an original “Jukebox Opera” entitled Heroes, created by the Company's artistic team and performed by baritone Michael Mayes, who performed the role of Joe DeRocher in OP's 2015 production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. The performance will showcase another side of this charismatic artist together with Opera Parallèle's Founder and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel, who will trace the journey of a hero in arias by Heggie, Bernstein, Adamo, and others. The evening will also include cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, dinner, performance, and auction presented in The Commandant's Ballroom & Lounge at the classic 1920's Beaux-Arts hotel, Marines' Memorial Club. Tickets are priced from $350, with tables and sponsorships available for $3,500-$10,000 and all proceeds benefit Opera Parallèle and its cutting-edge productions including this season's premiere at SFJAZZ of Terence Blanchard's Champion February 19-28 and Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse April 29-May 1 at ZSpace in San Francisco. For tickets and information, visit www.operaparallele.orgor call Roma Olvera at 415.626.6279.

San Francisco, August 31, 2015 – Acclaimed Opera Parallèle will present its annual gala benefit Saturday, October 3, at 6:30 pm, at Marines' Memorial Club in San Francisco featuring an original “Jukebox Opera” entitled Heroes, created by the Company's artistic team and performed by baritone Michael Mayes, who performed the role of Joe DeRocher in OP's 2015 production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. The performance will showcase another side of this charismatic artist together with Opera Parallèle's Founder and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel, who will trace the journey of a hero in arias by Heggie, Bernstein, Adamo, and others. The evening will also include cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, dinner, performance, and auction presented in The Commandant's Ballroom & Lounge at the classic 1920's Beaux-Arts hotel, Marines' Memorial Club. Tickets are priced from $350, with tables and sponsorships available for $3,500-$10,000 and all proceeds benefit Opera Parallèle and its cutting-edge productions including this season's premiere at SFJAZZ of Terence Blanchard's Champion February 19-28 and Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse April 29-May 1 at ZSpace in San Francisco. For tickets and information, visit www.operaparallele.orgor call Roma Olvera at 415.626.6279.

Considering all the second-rate operas by men that have received first-rate productions at major houses, it's a shock that the performances of Dame Ethel Smyth's early 20th-century opera, THE WRECKERS, at Bard Music Festival was the stage premiere of the work in this country. And a dazzling one it was. The question is: “What took so long?” The answer, I suppose, is “Because Conductor Leon Botstein didn't get on the case earlier.”

 The Dallas Opera is proud to announce the names of the six distinguished professionals selected to participate in the inaugural session of the Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera: