Michael Sumuel News

 North Carolina Opera kicks off the 2015/16 season this fall with a fully staged production of Puccini's timeless tale, Madama Butterfly, (sung in Italian with English supertitles),presented on October 30 and November 1 at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Opera kicks off the 2015/16 season this fall with a fully staged production of Puccini's timeless tale, Madama Butterfly, (sung in Italian with English supertitles),presented on October 30 and November 1 at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

 North Carolina Opera kicks off the 2015/16 season this fall with a fully staged production of Puccini's timeless tale, Madama Butterfly, (sung in Italian with English supertitles),presented on October 30 and November 1 at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Opera kicks off the 2015/16 season this fall with a fully staged production of Puccini's timeless tale, Madama Butterfly, (sung in Italian with English supertitles),presented on October 30 and November 1 at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

Houston, March 12, 2015—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its highly anticipated La Fura dels Baus staging of Wagner's Die Walküre with an all-star cast and Stephen Sondheim's thrilling Sweeney Todd in April, after notching critical and sales successes with its winter productions of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Mozart's The Magic Flute. Butterfly's six performances averaged a total capacity of 102% (including resale of returned seats) while Flute's five performances averaged 104% capacity.

I am taken back to the first Opera I saw as a kid and the pomp and circumstance with wearing a tux and walking to the lavish theatre; this was when I fell in love with classical music. Often times we hear opera and other classical art forms are inaccessible to the people, but Houston Grand Opera's English translation of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflote) proved that opera isn't a stuffy, highbrow art form for the bourgeois. THE MAGIC FLUTE premiered on September 30, 1791 at Emanuel Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, and Mozart conducted the orchestra. The MAGIC FLUTE often referenced as a singspiel, is an opus with spoken dialogue which lends itself to the elements of classical musical theatre. The heart of this new work was an excerpt from the oriental genie tales collected by poet Christoph Martin Wieland but transitioned to have Masonic elements from the novel Sethos by Abbe Jean Terrasson.

I found myself rapt when Chicago-born soprano Nicole Heaston spoke. She was warm, passionate and driven about her art, and generous and unguarded with her thoughts and opinions. Heaston is Pamina to David Portillo's Tamino in Houston Grand Opera's production of THE MAGIC FLUTE.

Houston Grand Opera is proud to present The Magic Flute, one of two Mozart offerings for the 2014–15 season. From the coloratura pyrotechnics of the Queen of the Night to Pamina's anguished lament, to the comic love duet of Papageno and Papagena, Mozart's genius is evident as the music in The Magic Flute illustrates his unique and profound understanding of humanity. The Magic Flute marks the American premiere of Sir Nicholas Hytner's iconic English National Opera staging, in a revival directed by Ian Rutherford.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2015-16 season repertory and roster of international and critically acclaimed guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House.

After a resoundingly successful fall season and the launch of its new holiday opera series with the world premiere of Iain Bell and Simon Callow's A Christmas Carol, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) rings in 2015 with two beloved productions: a reprise of Michael Grandage's knockout staging of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, which triumphed at its 2010 Houston debut, and the American premiere of Sir Nicholas Hytner's iconic English National Opera staging of Mozart's The Magic Flute in a revival directed by Ian Rutherford.

Houston Grand Opera is proud to present The Magic Flute, one of two Mozart offerings for the 2014–15 season. From the coloratura pyrotechnics of the Queen of the Night to Pamina's anguished lament, to the comic love duet of Papageno and Papagena, Mozart's genius is evident as the music in The Magic Flute illustrates his unique and profound understanding of humanity. The Magic Flute marks the American premiere of Sir Nicholas Hytner's iconic English National Opera staging, in a revival directed by Ian Rutherford.

NEW YORK –– The Juilliard Opera season opens with a production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy), a drama buffo in two acts with a libretto by Felice Romani. Juilliard alumnaSperanza Scappucci conducts the Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra in her conducting debut at Juilliard in the production directed by John Giampietro. Performances take place tonight, November 19, 2014 and Friday, November 21, 2014 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 2 p.m., in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Tickets for Juilliard Opera's production of Il Turco in Italia are $30 and available at events.juilliard.edu or at the Juilliard Box Office. Juilliard students may attend for free; non-Juilliard students with valid ID may purchase tickets at $15 at the Juilliard Box Office.

NEW YORK –– The Juilliard Opera season opens with a production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy), a drama buffo in two acts with a libretto by Felice Romani. Juilliard alumnaSperanza Scappucci conducts the Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra in her conducting debut at Juilliard in the production directed by John Giampietro. Performances take place on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 and Friday, November 21, 2014 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 2 p.m., in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Tickets for Juilliard Opera's production of Il Turco in Italia are $30 and available at events.juilliard.edu or at the Juilliard Box Office. Juilliard students may attend for free; non-Juilliard students with valid ID may purchase tickets at $15 at the Juilliard Box Office.

OPERATHON 2014, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 35th anniversary by raising more than $550,000 (gross) during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 11.

OPERATHON 2014, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 35th anniversary by raising more than $550,000 (gross) during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 11.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm. Check out the trailer, behind-the-scenes videos and more below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's 60th anniversary starts in style with a brand-new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director, and staged by director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

To open its 60th anniversary season, Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a brand-new production by renowned director Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It opens on Saturday, September 27 with 10 performances through Wednesday, October 29. Performance dates are Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 11, 14, 17, and 29 at 7:30pm; Oct. 2, 5, 8, and 24 at 2pm.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).