Peak Performances continues a season of iconoclastic works with the U.S. premiere of Romeo Castellucci's Democracy in America, freely inspired by the writing of Alexis de Tocqueville (May 9-12). In a moment where the words "democracy in America" themselves read as a question, the firebrand director looks back on Tocqueville's canonized impressions of America's sociopolitical structure, and the potential, vulnerabilities, flaws, and dangers embedded in its roots.
Thousands of movie lovers have seen the acclaimed films Us, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and Captain Marvel in recent weeks. In May the Los Angeles Master Chorale gives fans the chance to hear them, performing music by composers Michael Abels, John Powell, and Pinar Toprak in a concert celebrating film scores and opera ensemble writing called Great Opera & Film Choruses at Walt Disney Concert Hall. There will be two performances; Saturday, May 4 at 2 PM and Sunday, May 5 at 7 PM with many of the Los Angeles-based film composers expected to be in attendance.
North Carolina Opera has announced the company's 2019-20 season, which includes fully-staged productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute (Apr. 3 & 5, 2020) and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (Jan. 24 & 26, 2020), a concert performance of Act III from Wagner's Siegfried (Nov. 10, 2019), and a vocal recital by superstar tenor Lawrence Brownlee (Feb. 18, 2020). The announcement was made by the company's General Director Eric Mitchko at the 2019-20 Season Reveal, which was held on Tuesday, March 26 at CAM Raleigh and graciously sponsored by the Meredith College Department of Music, CITRIX, Mitchell's, Queen of Wines, Savills, Glenwood Agency Real Estate, and Hibernian Pub.
Join the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan's University Musical Society Choral Union on April 27th at 8:00 PM in Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium for a season finale performance of Beethoven's monumental Symphony No. 9.
A homage to major composers including Richard Wagner, Philip Glass, and Louis Andriessen, an ode to power women such as Harriet Tubman and Sylvia Plath, dozens of pioneering makers and young talent plus a brand-new edition of GALA! Experience all of this and more at the 14th edition of Operadagen Rotterdam. The festival, which comprises over 100 performances, both in Rotterdam's large theatres and in unexpected locations across the city, runs from 17 through 26 May. The online ticket sales have been started.
The year 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria. On May 18 and 19, the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (MCP) will celebrate her in its lively, upcoming concert titled Victoria's Secret: A Life in Music. Audiences will experience some of the greatest musical pieces of the Victorian era as two actors lead them through episodes of the queen's life.
Washington National Opera (WNO) announces initial casting for its 2019 WNO Gala, celebrating local entrepreneur John J. Pohanka for his outstanding contributions to the organization. The Gala concert on Saturday, May 18, 2019, in the Kennedy Center Opera House features Evan Rogister leading theWNO Orchestra and an array of musical stars in his inaugural performance as WNO's Principal Conductor. Headlining the concert is renowned American soprano and Grammy® Award-winner Christine Goerke, joined by Washingtonian bassSoloman Howard. In demand by major opera houses around the world including Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House Covent Garden, WNO audiences will remember Goerke's heroic feat of stepping in last minute to take over the role of Brunnhilde during the company's first ever complete Ring Cycle in 2016. Howard, a former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, is the recipient of the 2019 Marian Anderson Vocal Award and most recently performed in Aida at The Met and Don Carlo with LA Opera.
In continued celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centennial, join the National Philharmonic for "The Debut," a recreation of the musical program that catapulted the legendary composer into the spotlight on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore's Concert Hall.
The winners of the American Vocal Arts 2019 International Collegiate Singing ChampionshipTM have been announced! The winners have been chosen from all over the world. The competition, sponsored by American Vocal Arts, emphasizes competitive collegiate singing that spans across borders. The goal of the competition is to award the best singers from around the world who are currently enrolled or have recently graduated from an undergraduate or graduate program in music. The winners were selected based on talent, potential, and overall presentation.
Amore Opera continues its 2018-19 season at the Riverside Theatre at Riverside Church (91 Claremont Ave, New York, NY 10027) with a production of Giacomo Meyerbeer's long-forgotten comic opera, Dinorah, sung in the original French. Amore will be using the score and orchestral parts recently restored by the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In continued celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centennial, join the National Philharmonic for "The Debut," a recreation of the musical program that catapulted the legendary composer into the spotlight on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore's Concert Hall. Three-time Grammy award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey and Grammy award-nominated violist Roberto Diaz will join Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski in performing Robert Schumann's Manfred Overture; Miklos Rozsa's Theme, Variations and Finale, Op. 13; Richard Strauss' Don Quixote; and Richard Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger. Almost 50 years later, in what was to be one of his last interviews, Bernstein recalled the event: "I strode out and I don't remember a thing from that moment-I don't even remember intermission-until the sound of people standing and cheering and clapping." Internationally renowned soloist Bailey is considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, and Classical Net describes him as "One of the finest cellists alive today." South Florida Classical Review wrote that Diaz gives "a stunning performance, and one that deserved the enthusiastic ovations." The concert will feature a members-only encore question-and-answer. Ticket prices are $32-$84 and are free for young people age 7-17. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.
The Metropolitan Opera will present Richard Wagner's four-part masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen in performances March 9-May 11, 2019. This season's performances are the first time the Met has presented the inventive Robert Lepage staging in six seasons and are the only complete Ring cycles to be presented in North America in 2019. Marshaling the vast forces on stage and in the pit is the incoming music director of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan, who has conducted acclaimed Ring cycles in Paris and Zurich.
The New York Philharmonic will present Phil the Hall, special $5 concerts conducted by Music Director Jaap van Zweden for New York's first responders, volunteers, and other service professionals. Miss America 2019 Nia Franklin, a soprano and composer, will host the concerts, which feature iconic music central to the history of New York and its Philharmonic as well as World Premieres of works created by New York City students participating in the Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program. The Orchestra will be joined by the Westminster Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller. The concerts will take place Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 5 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, April 6 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is pleased to announce programming for the 2019 Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival. Opening on April 4 and running through April 28, 2019, the festival will take place at venues in the Dallas Arts District and throughout the city. Tickets for SOLUNA events go on sale on January 18, 2019, at mydso.com/soluna.
To celebrate the founding of Amore Opera in 2009, Artistic Director Nathan Hull has programmed six main-stage opera productions this season. Over the past decade, Amore has created a niche for itself in New York City's cultural realm, offering lively stagings of opera classics, neglected gems of the repertoire, appealing children's fare, and ever-popular Gilbert & Sullivan presentations in the well- appointed and intimate 200-seat Riverside Theatre at Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, (near 121st Street,) New York, NY 10027.
In a new concert staged in the famous Ludwigs Festspielhaus In Germany, Sarah Brightman performs beloved favorites from her decades-long career and introduces audiences to enchanting selections from her much-anticipated new album, HYMN. Accompanied by her band, a 40-piece orchestra, a 50-voice choir and dancers, the world's most successful and best-selling soprano is joined on stage by other guest artists including Japanese superstar Yoshiki, Vincent Niclo, Mario Frangoulis and Narcis. Filmed in state-of-the-art video and mixed in Dolby Atmos sound, SARAH BRIGHTMAN: HYMN is a hybrid of a musical film, an opera and a large-scale concert production and is part of special programming premiering on PBS stations in November 2018 (check local listings).
Los Angeles Opera presented the premiere performance of HANSEL AND GRETEL. The opera's original libretto is steeped in nineteenth century culture but Richard Sparks' translation, originally for the 2006 LA presentation of the opera, brought the text up to date and made it most appealing to contemporary children.
