Nathan Gunn News

The New York Philharmonic will present SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert on March 15 and Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.

Offering up greater variety, including more than 50 debuts from Sting to Wagnerian tenor John Treleaven, Ravinia Festival Chairperson Pamela B. Strobel and President and CEO Welz Kauffman today announced details of the 2010 season, including a Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency that celebrates major anniversaries of Mahler, Chopin, Schumann, Barber, Bernstein and Copland, as well as milestone birthdays of Music Director James Conlon, Christoph Eschenbach and Stephen Sondheim. The season, featuring 117 separate events, runs from June 3 through September 7.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of nine finalists who will sing in the 2010 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on March 14 at 3:00 p.m., with the Met Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato. The finalists are: Leah Crocetto, soprano from Adrian, Michigan and Oxford, Connecticut; Lori Guilbeau, soprano from Golden Meadow, Louisiana; Rena Harms soprano from Santa Fe, New Mexico; Haeran Hong, soprano from Kang Won, South Korea; Hyo Na Kim, mezzo-soprano from Seoul, South Korea; Maya Lahyani, mezzo-soprano from Hod-HaSharon, Israel; Elliot Madore, Baritone from Toronto, Canada; Nathaniel Peake, tenor from Humble, Texas, and Rachel Willis-Sorensen, soprano from Tri-Cities, Washington.

A haunting tale of obsession, the internationally acclaimed Richard Jones production of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades opens Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2010 spring repertory. Performances run April 16 - May 1, 2010 in the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. Opera News calls Richard Jones's production of The Queen of Spades, originally created for Welsh National Opera 'telling theatricality.' London's Observer wrote 'Once every few seasons, a production gets pretty much everything right. This is one ... dramatically spine-chilling, visually spare and coherent; it was the kind of theatrical experience which changes the way you look at life.'

See two of opera's brightest stars on Sunday, March 14 in the intimate Lund Auditorium. Chicago fan-favorites, baritone, Nathan Gunn and soprano, Elizabeth Futral come together for a very special event supporting student scholarships at Dominican University. The program ranges from opera to musical theatre to songs by Tom Waits. Among the highlights is a selection from André Previn's Brief Encounter in which Gunn and Futral premiered the lead roles at Houston Grand Opera.

According to published reports, NY Philharmonic's 'Sondheim: The Birthday Concert,' will be recorded for PBS' 'Great Performances' series. The concert will take place March 15-16 at Avery Fisher Hall.

Seven new productions, including two company premieres and the first two parts of a new Ring cycle, featuring many of the world's greatest singers and conductors, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2010-11 season.

The Collegiate Chorale, led by Music Director James Bagwell, presents the World Premiere Two Act Concert Version of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's musical version of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, on March 22, 2010 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Ted Sperling with Jane Fonda as the narrator.

The Collegiate Chorale, led by Music Director James Bagwell, presents the World Premiere Two Act Concert Version of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's musical version of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, on March 22, 2010 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Ted Sperling with Jane Fonda as the narrator.

Tune in to PBS on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 8:00p.m.* for Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of violin favorite Joshua Bell with friends from Lincoln Center's intimate Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

Laura Benanti, Matt Cavenaugh, Jenn Colella, Joanna Gleason, John McMartin, Laura Osnes, David Hyde Pierce, Bobby Steggert, Elaine Stritch, Jim Walton, and Chip Zien have joined the New York Philharmonic's presentation of SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, Monday, March 15, and Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.

In February 2010, The New York Philharmonic This Week - the two-hour, national, weekly radio program of concerts by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin - features four programs led by Music Director Alan Gilbert.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles.

Tune in to PBS on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 8:00p.m.* for Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of violin favorite Joshua Bell with friends from Lincoln Center's intimate Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

The New York Philharmonic will present SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert on March 15 and Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. This celebration of the 80th birthday of the great Broadway and film composer/lyricist will include his most enduring orchestral music and songs - performed, in some cases, by the stars of the original Broadway cast productions - in addition to rarely-heard material. Joining the celebration will be (in alphabetical order) Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Jason Danieley, Nathan Gunn, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, and others to be announced, including surprise guests. Paul Gemignani, Mr. Sondheim's longtime collaborator, will conduct the New York Philharmonic; Lonny Price is the director; and Mr. Price and Matt Cowart are the producers.

The Collegiate Chorale, led by new music director James Bagwell, announces its 68th season, including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a concert performed live to the film on October 9 and 10, 2009 at 7:30pm at Radio City Music Hall; a Gala Evening, A Jubilant Song, on December 1, 2009 at 7pm at Carnegie Hall; the World Premiere Two Act Concert Version of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's rendering of The Grapes of Wrath on March 22, 2010 at 8pm at Carnegie Hall; and George Frideric Handel's Israel in Egypt, conducted by James Bagwell, on May 12, 2010 at 8pm at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University.

Operatic comedy at its most appealing opens the 2009/10 L.A. Opera season. A magic love potion and destiny decide the fate of a love triangle involving a small-town bumpkin, a dashing sergeant and the bewitching town flirt in one of opera's most popular comedies. Filled with light-hearted charm and bursting with feel-good laughs, Gaetano Donizetti's The Elixir of Love features effervescent Italian melodies and plenty of bel canto vocal fireworks.

Mozart's enchanting masterpiece, Die Zauberflöte ('The Magic Flute'), returns to the Met on September 23 in the acclaimed production by Julie Taymor, performed in its original German-language version.