Michael Mayes News

We start at the L A Opera website with a ”Living Room Recital.” Michael J. Hawk, baritone, sings a program entitled “Shakespeare in France and on Broadway.” He performs “Mab! la reine des mensonges” (“Mab, Queen of Lies”) from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod and three arias from Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet.

When the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus folded its tent for the last time, I’m not sure whether they held on to its title of “the Greatest Show on Earth.” But Atlanta is showing that there’s still a big tent around with some great shows to be seen. It’s the Atlanta Opera, headed by General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, which starts its six-opera season with I PAGLIACCI on October 22.

The Atlanta Opera reinvents its business model for the 2020-21 season with the a?oeBig Tenta?? series.

As Songs of Summer, a free, 15-performance recital series concludes this week, Seattle Opera unveils its Fall Season. With a variety of free performances and programming to enjoy at home, the Fall Season was created with both artistic innovation-and public safety-in mind, said General Director Christina Scheppelmann.

Terrence McNally, the legendary American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist will posthumously receive The Dallas Opera's most prestigious honor, 'The Maria Callas Award,' in recognition of his contribution to two landmark events in the company's history.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a?? The Atlanta Opera announces the formation of the Atlanta Opera Company Players, featuring twelve world-class singers, all resident in Atlanta and the southeast, who will collaborate with the company's leadership team to reimagine its 2020a?'21 season.

'Coming off its finest season in a decade... Chicago Opera Theater may be entering a golden age in its history,' writes Chicago Classical Review. This resurgence of artistic quality and audacious programming has been driven by the company's Orli and Bill Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya and Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General Director Ashley Magnus, who announced the 2020/21 season on Wednesday evening via a digital reveal on Facebook and YouTube.

From May 18 until May 25, Music of Remembrance will be streaming composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's compelling musical drama about the persecution of gays during the Holocaust – https://www.musicofremembrance.org/watch-and-listen/look-or-touch. 

According to OperaWire, The Dallas Opera has launched TDO Network, a new online weekly slate of shows.

INDECENT by Paula Vogel is equal parts demanding and rewarding for both performers and audience members alike. Theatrical Outlet's cast steps up to that demanding challenge without reservation and leans into the emotionally complicated story with palpable respect and admiration.

Michael Mayes will star in the Atlanta Opera's production of Tom Cipullo's 'Glory Denied.'

Theatrical Outfit continues its groundbreaking 2019 a?" 2020 Season with the ATLANTA PREMIERE of Indecent by Paula Vogel a?" the critically acclaimed Tony Award winning smash hit. Indecent runs March 4 a?"29, 2020 only at The Balzer Theater at Herren's in the heart of Downtown Atlanta.

For over 40 years, an unlikely place has been ground zero for the professional development of young singers with their sights set on careers in opera, musical theater and classical music. Central City, Colo., a small mountain town 35 miles west of Denver, is typically known for its mining history and casino resorts. However, during the summer months it becomes a performing arts mecca, with select rising stars traveling to Colorado for the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program during Central City Opera's annual Festival.

Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2020a?"21 season, featuring a repertoire of beloved classics, company premieres, and a much-anticipated world premiere. The 66th season opens with audience favorite Carmen. American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her HGO and role debut as Carmen in the revival of Rob Ashford's acclaimed 2014 production of Bizet's classic. She is joined by tenor Andrea Caré as Don José, bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Escamillo, and Anita Hartig as Micaela, all making their HGO debuts. The production will be conducted by HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim.

The Atlanta Opera will launch the new year with a new mainstage production of Salome, Richard Strauss's still unsettling 1905 take on Oscar Wilde's twisted biblical tale of incest, seduction and power (Jan 25, 28, 31; Feb 2).

Baritone Michael Mayes steps in to sing the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto at Houston Grand Opera. He performs the opening night performance on 18, and two additional performances on October 20 and 26. The Boston Musical Intelligencer lauded his debut in the role in 2014 with Boston Lyric Opera: 'His baritone, powerful yet fully controlled, shifted seamlessly in color between expressions of terror, pleading, and angry vengeance.' He returns to the role later this season with Nashville Opera.

Horizon Theatre Company is continuing its outstanding 35th Anniversary Season with one of the most critically acclaimed plays of the past decade, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Winner of 7 Olivier Awards and 5 Tony Awards including 'Best Play,' the show brings Mark Haddon's beloved best-selling novel to thrilling life on stage, adapted by two-time Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens.  Horizon Theatre Company's Atlanta premiere starts performances September 20, 2019 (Press Opening September 27, 2019) and runs until October 27, 2019 at Horizon Theatre in Little Five Points/Inman Park (1083 Austin Avenue N.E., Atlanta, GA 30307)  Atlanta. This show is a co-production between Horizon Theatre Company and Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, Georgia. This production will move to Aurora for a run from January 9 through February 9, 2020. The play is sponsored in part by The Marcus Autism Center, a subsidiary of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and Osiason Educational Foundation.

Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) opens the 2019/20 Season with its first production of Ruggero Leoncavallo's indelible and enduringly popular 1892 Italian opera, PAGLIACCI, running September 27 to October 6, 2019 and starring tenor Rafael Rojas (in BLO's Werther and La Traviata, 1998, and Madama Butterfly, 2000) as Canio, and soprano Lauren Michelle making her company debut as Nedda.  

Every so often, a production comes around that leaves you pondering about the show when it is done. For me, it's usually a jarring show that asks the audience to think about how we see things in the world, and if the way we see things can be adjusted or not. Des Moines Metro Opera's (DMMO) production of 'WOZZECK' was a production that will leave you thinking about a topic that is very prevalent in our world today, mental illness. This production deals with a character that is dealing with insanity. What this production does well is having the idea of insanity prevalent in multiple aspects of the show.

The Atlanta Opera broke new records this season. Even before its final presentation Francesca Zambello's new take on La traviata, which closed this past weekend 2018-19 was already guaranteed to be the company's highest-grossing season of the past decade, highlighted by last fall's West Side Story, the highest-selling production in the Atlanta Opera's 39-year history (Opera News).