Washington National Opera (WNO) kicks off its spring repertory period with a production from February 29–March 22, 2020 of Mozart's Don Giovanni, a commentary on social deviance in which the anti-hero gets his due, centuries before the #MeToo movement. Don Giovanni surfaces issues of power and justice that seems ripped from today's headlines.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announces that conductor Christophe Rousset withdrew today from the HGO premiere of La favorite due to personal circumstances. HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct all five performances. The production runs from Jan. 24 a?" Feb. 9, 2020 at the Wortham Theater Center.
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.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the semifinalists for the 32nd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on Feb. 7, 2020 at 7 p.m. A limited number of tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.
Lyric Opera of Chicago announced today that American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny will portray the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni December 3-8. Unfortunately, Davide Luciano has suffered a torn muscle requiring several weeks of rehabilitation at home in Italy which will prevent him from singing in what would have been his Lyric debut. Lucas Meacham has been in the title role for the month of November and his final performance, as planned, will be November 30.
There's nothing subtle about Lyric Opera's staging of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's contemporary opera DEAD MAN WALKING. Based upon the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, DEAD MAN WALKING focuses on Sister Helen's relationship with 29-year-old Joseph De Rocher, a prisoner on death row in Angola, Louisiana convicted of the murder of a young couple (and the sexual assault of a young woman). While DEAD MAN WALKING clearly aims to be morally complex in its exploration of capital punishment and the notion of whether or not we should also treat criminals as human beings, the piece feels overwrought. The debate at the opera's center is painted with broad strokes; at one point, we literally see protestors outside the prison holding picket signs depicting both sides of the argument.
Dead Man Walking, the powerful opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist-playwright Terrence McNally, will have its long-awaited Lyric premiere this month. There will be six performances Nov. 2-22 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago. Tickets start at $39 and are available at lyricopera.org/dmw or by calling 312-827-5600.
The Cincinnati May Festival announced program details and artists for the 2020 Festival with nine performances taking place between May 21 and 31, 2020 at Cincinnati Music Hall as well as other locations, and an additional performance on April 5, 2020 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky. Joining the Festival's artistic leadership team of Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena and Director of Choruses Robert Porco is 2020 Artistic Partner John Adams.
Da Camera of Houston's 2019-20 season launches with Bon Appetit!, an evening of surrealist and culinary musical delights, at the Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center on Saturday, September 21 at 7 p.m. The first of several Da Camera performances this season to prominently feature talented women, the concert is titled after composer Lee Hoiby's comedic operatic take on Julia Child's 1970s television show, with soprano Abigail Fischer as the beloved chef. The program also features the renowned Imani Winds performing Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and acclaimed American vocalist Ryan McKinny in his Da Camera debut performing Francis Poulenc's delightfully absurd Le bal masque.
The Santa Fe Opera's General Director Robert K. Meya today announced repertory and casting for the company's exciting 64th Season in 2020. On the panel joining Meya for the announcement were the President of the Board of Directors Susan G. Marineau, Andrea Fellows Walters, Director of Community Engagement, and Cori Ellison, the company's first, recently appointed Dramaturg.
Da Camera of Houston announces its 2019/2020 season, which features a lineup spanning a multitude of styles and genres.
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.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. This is the third year the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, and the second for livestreaming on YouTube. The livestream was hosted by HGO Studio alumna Andrea Carroll. She is currently performing in The Pearl Fishers as Le la and placed first in the 2012 Concert of Arias. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the finalists for the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on February 1, 2019, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.
A season filled with unforgettable music, riveting stories, thrilling singers from around the world, and stirring productions goes on sale by subscription Friday, January 25, at 10am. Six new and new-to-Chicago productions including three Lyric premieres and three performances of the Ring cycle will engage and entertain audiences from late September 2019 through June 2020.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its 2019-20 season with a broad repertoire of operas in productions that have never been seen by Houston audiences. The 65th season will open October 18, 2019, with Verdi's classic Rigoletto. Tomer Zvulun returns to direct the season opener after successfully opening the 2018-19 season with his production of The Flying Dutchman. American baritone Brian Mulligan sings his first Rigoletto leading an outstanding cast filled with renowned HGO Studio alumni, including Mexican tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz as the Duke of Mantua and Armenian soprano Mane Galoyan as Gilda. Paired with Rigoletto is the North American premiere of the dramatic oratorio Saul in a much-lauded and imaginative production by Barrie Kosky. Christopher Purves returns to the title role after his celebrated performance at the Glyndebourne Festival and is joined by countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and Korean soprano Pureum Jo, both HGO Studio alumni.
San Francisco Opera announces the winner of the 2018 Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Emerging Stars Competition. Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan, who made his Company debut as Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata last fall, was named “2018 Emerging Star of the Year” based on a popular vote conducted online at sfopera.com from July 9–July 31, 2018. As winner of the competition, now in its third year, Ayan receives a $10,000 cash prize.
On July 28, 2018, 13 years after its premiere, Santa Fe Opera presented John Adams and Peter Sellars' DOCTOR ATOMIC. This new production featured bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the volatile scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The opera, which takes place during the last few days before the first atomic bomb test, shows Oppenheimer battling with his mental demons as he tried to deal with the impending use of his scientific discovery to destroy an entire city and its inhabitants. McKinny showed the audience the human side of the scientific genius and I doubt that operagoers who saw his portrayal will soon forget it.
We've got a first look at DOCTOR ATOMIC at Santa Fe Opera! Check out the photos below!
MN: What would you like operagoers to know about DR ATOMIC? RMcK: I hope folks are able to arrive with an open heart and mind. As with any librettist Peter Sellars and composer John Adams collaboration, what we are creating is not traditional opera. In this case, it almost feels like a kind of ceremony-a celebration of this land and a display of mourning for what happened here in the desert 75 years ago.
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