New York City Opera News

Opera Boston announces the company's first commissioned work- the world premiere of Madame White Snake, a new opera based on a beloved ancient Chinese legend, by composer Zhou Long and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs. Co-commissioned with the Beijing Music Festival (BMF), it is the first world premiere by the BMF and an American company.

When Skylight audiences last saw Figaro in The Barber of Seville, he was triumphant after engineering a romantic coup.

Alley Theatre presents the world premiere of the new musical Wonderland about Alice, a children's book writer in Manhattan who is suffering through a creative block, estranged from her husband and alienated from her daughter. It takes a trip to a strange-yet-familiar Wonderland for her to regain her life's balance and again find the love and everyday magic that reside in us all - if we know how to look. With a book by Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Jack Murphy (The Civil War), lyrics by Jack Murphy, music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlett Pimpernel, The Civil War), and directed by Gregory Boyd, Wonderland begins previews Friday, January 15, opens officially Wednesday, January 20 and runs through Sunday, February 14.

Producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman announced today that following the record-breaking and critically acclaimed engagement at Berkeley Rep, the production will begin previews on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 and open on Broadway Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44 Street). The Broadway cast will be announced shortly.

Last Life written by Eric Sanders and Directed by Timothy Haskell will play its last two performances as part of the Fight Fest shows that have been extended on January 8th at 11 pm, and January 9th at 10 pm at The Brick.

Dynamic tenor José Cura sings the title role of Verdi's rarely performed Stiffelio, the composer's daring opera about faith, jealousy, and redemption.

Expect the unexpected: that's the message Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is spreading this holiday season. Glass slipper? Check. Charming prince? Check. But, at CTC, spinning Cinderella into a thoroughly fresh fairy tale involves a little heart and hilarity.

One of Europe's leading new musical Festival's Unsound will come to New York for the first time, when Unsound Festival New York (February 4-14, 2010) opens at Lincoln Center on February 4, starting at 8:30 p.m. with two performances presented as part of the Target® Free Thursdays series at Lincoln Center's new David Rubenstein Atrium.

A new production of Bizet's Carmen, directed by Richard Eyre and starring El?na Garan?a in the title role and Roberto Alagna as Don José, premieres at a New Year's Eve gala performance. Garan?a makes her Met role debut as the gypsy femme fatale, reuniting with Alagna following their recent success in these parts at London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Marion J. Caffey's 3 Mo' Divas announces a back by popular demand concert at the world famous Apollo Theater! The Divas had audiences literally dancing in the aisles during their New York debut concert in June 2009.

The passionate world of opera comes to life in Philadelphia Theatre Company's world premiere of Terrence McNally's Golden Age on January 22 - February 14.

The Kennedy Center today announced the casting for Golden Age, a new play by Terrence McNally. Following its world premiere with the Philadelphia Theatre Company, the production will run March 12 to April 4, 2010 in the Kennedy Center Family Theater as part of Terrence McNally's Nights at the Opera, a five-week event featuring three of the playwright's works performed concurrently on three Kennedy Center stages.

A new production of Bizet's Carmen, directed by Richard Eyre and starring El?na Garan?a in the title role and Roberto Alagna as Don José, premieres at a New Year's Eve gala performance. Garan?a makes her Met role debut as the gypsy femme fatale, reuniting with Alagna following their recent success in these parts at London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Niamh Perry and Liz Robertson join Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Summer Strallen in the cast for the long-awaited show.

Parsons Dance presents REMEMBER ME, an all-new version of last season's collaboration with the lead vocalists of East Village Opera Company (EVOC), featuring the music of the acclaimed rock opera band at The Joyce Theater from February 2-14, 2010.

Following the success of Black History at New York City Opera, last season's inaugural series of events co-presented by New York City Opera and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, City Opera returns to the Schomburg Center in 2010 for three new collaborative programs celebrating the great American operatic repertoire highlighting the African-American experience, the distinguished African-American artists who have enriched the opera world, and City Opera and Schomburg's parallel commitment to promoting black culture. The series begins with Opera at the Schomburg on Monday, February 1, 2010, followed by A Tribute to Robert McFerrin on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and 'The Life and Times of Malcolm X' on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.

The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center officially opens to the public on December 17. The new space, open every day and located on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd streets, is a vibrant, new public visitors space and ticketing facility that is home to an array of programs, services, and amenities designed to welcome, inform, and entertain the thousands of people who visit Lincoln Center and its surrounding community every day.

Glimmerglass Opera has significantly reduced its 2010 operating expenses in order to balance the company budget. The company's board of trustees recently approved a $5.6 million budget, which is about $1 million less than in recent years. The 2010 Festival will be presented as planned, with four fully-staged productions running July 9 through August 24 in Cooperstown, New York.

'Handel's Messiah,' performed by Pacific Symphony, is perhaps the perfect way take refuge from the hectic pace of the holidays and celebrate the season in a serene and meaningful way. This year, the most famous oratorio in the world is led by British guest conductor William Lacey and features the Pacific Chorale and four seasoned veterans of the opera and solo stages-soprano Christine Brandes, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Batton, tenor Benjamin Butterfield and baritone Timothy Mix-singing some of the most beautiful music ever written. Taking place on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m., in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Symphony's annual performance-the first of several holiday concerts-includes blazing trumpets, thundering timpani, the exhilarating 'Hallelujah' chorus, and a message of hope in a year of tribulations.

A concert from the 40th Anniversary Tour of British theatre star Elaine Paige will be released on DVD in January of 2010. The concert, entitled 'Live in Australia,' was filmed during the New Zealand/Australian tour that took place earlier this year. This specific concert took place on October 31st, 2009.