Samuel Ramey News

In anticipation of the beginning of Gerard Mortier's tenure as General Manager and Artistic Director in 2009-10, New York City Opera will present Looking Forward, a celebration of twentieth-century music, as part of a unique series of concerts and events planned for 2008-09.

When Erwin Schrott took on the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The New York Times wrote: 'The surprise was the riveting Giovanni: the seductively handsome young Uruguayan bass Erwin Schrott, who boasts a strong, dusky voice and chiseled physique. Exuding charisma, he galvanized the audience with his unabashedly narcissistic portrayal.' Now Schrott, who sang the role when the Met toured Japan in 2006, is bringing his portrayal to the Met stage for the first time beginning Saturday, September 27.

Metropolitan Opera on SIRIUS Satellite Radio channel 78 launches its regular live broadcasts of the company's 2008-09 season with the Opening Night Gala starring Renée Fleming, which airs on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. The third season of Met Opera Radio on SIRIUS features four live broadcasts weekly as the Met celebrates its 125th anniversary with six new productions, including the company premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic, 18 revivals, and the season grand finale of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, conducted by Music Director James Levine.

New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), co-founded and directed by pianists Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, who 'reinvented the song recital during the 1990's with daring and dramatic programming' (The New Yorker), announces its 21st season (2008-2009).

Ravinia Festival's Box Office officially opens for walk-up sales on Saturday, May 17 during a day filled with discounts, the chance to purchase pavilion seating to some sold-out concerts and promotions and samples from some of Ravinia's sponsors.

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) continues its 20th Anniversary season by presenting Bastianello and Lucrezia, two newly commissioned comic operas by composers John Musto and William Bolcom with libretti by Mark Campbell. The concerts will take place on Tuesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 13 at 8PM, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, West 57th Street and 7th Avenue.

At 8 pm on Wednesday, May 9th and Thursday, May 10th, the New York Festival of Song will perform We Open in Paris. Paris is the backdrop for four musical theatre works in vest-pocket NYFOS productions, including Jacques Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne and Cole Porter's Fifty Million Frenchmen.

Two new productions of operas by Rossini and Puccini will be helmed, respectively, by The Light in the Piazza's Bartlett Sher and Dirty Rotten Scoundrel's Jack O'Brien as part of the Metropolitan Opera's 2006-2007 season

The New York Festival of Song, with Artistic Director Steven Blier and Associate Artistic Director Michael Barrett, continues its 18th season on Tuesday January 31st with FATS AND FIELDS, a tribute to the song legacies of brilliant lyricist Dorothy Fields and prodigious piano virtuoso/singer/songwriter Fats Waller.

The New York Festival of Song, with Artistic Director Steven Blier and Associate Artistic Director Michael Barrett, closes its 17th season on Wednesday, May 11th with LOST TRIBES OF VAUDEVILLE, at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 West 67th St., beginning at 8 p.m.

The New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) will continue its season with a program titled At Harlem's Height on Wednesday, February 23 at 8:00pm as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook in the Rose Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The featured soloists will be soprano Dana Hanchard, tenor Darius de Haas, and baritone James Martin, with Steven Blier at the piano.