Sasha Cooke News

The NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG (NYFOS) presents a new program entitled Women, tonight, December 4 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall. One of the highlights of its 2012-2013 season, this will be an evening exploring the lives of women, narrated both in their own words, and also observed through the eyes of men.

The Cleveland Orchestra announces the appointment of Mark Williams as director of artistic planning. Mr. Williams will be responsible for managing all aspects of artistic planning and programming at The Cleveland Orchestra, including managing all artist relations, programming, and presentations at Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival. He will begin his duties with the Orchestra on January 7, 2013.

With rave reviews for Puccini's La boheme and Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers to its credit, Houston Grand Opera's season is up and running. Starting in January, the company offers productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Kern and Hammerstein's classic American musical Show Boat, which bring with them the company debuts of conductor Trevor Pinnock, bass Morris Robinson, baritone Adrian Erod, Broadway legend Tommy Tune, and more. They will be followed in March by HGO's original and highly acclaimed production of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna / To Cross the Face of the Moon, a mariachi opera by Jose "Pepe" Martinez and Leonard Foglia. Tickets are on sale now and moving quickly for this winter repertory period, which accounts for 14 of the season's 44 performances, a 38 percent increase from an average of 32 performances in recent seasons. This increase, as well as HGO's 34 percent growth in subscription sales and more than $112 million fundraising effort over the last five years, clearly identifies HGO as today's most successful American opera company.

The NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG (NYFOS) presents a new program entitled Women, on Tuesday, December 4 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall. One of the highlights of its 2012-2013 season, this will be an evening exploring the lives of women, narrated both in their own words, and also observed through the eyes of men.

The Dallas Opera has announced that single tickets for Giacomo Puccini's final masterpiece, TURANDOT, as well as a new production of the company's first world premiere commemorating the 25th anniversary of Dominick Argento's THE ASPERN PAPERS will go on sale Wednesday, November 14, 2012 beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Houston Grand Opera, with Music Director Patrick Summers and Managing Director Perryn Leech, announces its 2012-13 season, headlined by four new productions. The first of these is Puccini's La boheme, which launches the new season with a new staging by award-winning British director John Caird. To honor 2013's joint bicentennials of Wagner and Verdi, the coming season juxtaposes Tristan und Isolde - starring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme in a new contemporary staging by Christof Loy - with a revival of Steven Lawless's unforgettable take on Il trovatore. British conductor Trevor Pinnock leads a strong international cast in Mozart's ensemble masterpiece Don Giovanni, while Francesca Zambello's new production of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat brings together stars of Broadway and the opera house in a celebration of America's own contribution to the art. For a more intimate experience, Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee star in Rossini's dramma giocoso, The Italian Girl in Algiers.

Pinchas Steinberg conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall concerts featuring music by three Russian masters. The main work on the program is Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic cantata drawn from his score for the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky. Mezzo-sopranoSasha Cooke makes her Cleveland Orchestra debut as soloist in the cantata. Also performing with the Orchestra in Alexander Nevsky is the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, prepared by Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Robert Porco and Assistant Director of ChorusesLisa Wong. The concerts open with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Suite from Le Coq d'or ("The Golden Cockerel"), followed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini.

Tonight, October 16 brings one of Symphony Space's starriest presentations of the season: "Crazy for…Gershwin!," headlined by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. They're accompanied by one of New York's most dynamic young music collectives: Le Train Bleu, conducted by Ransom Wilson. It all takes place at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre.

Pinchas Steinberg conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall concerts featuring music by three Russian masters. The main work on the program is Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic cantata drawn from his score for the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky. Mezzo-sopranoSasha Cooke makes her Cleveland Orchestra debut as soloist in the cantata. Also performing with the Orchestra in Alexander Nevsky is the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, prepared by Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Robert Porco and Assistant Director of ChorusesLisa Wong. The concerts open with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Suite from Le Coq d'or ("The Golden Cockerel"), followed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to Jorgensen this season to perform the first of four in its 40th anniversary commissioned works, Earth Echoes by Pulitzer Prize nominee Augusta Read Thomas, in a Connecticut premiere that will include Metropolitan Opera stars Sasha Cooke and Nathan Gunn. The concert, fresh from its Carnegie Hall debut the night before, will be performed Friday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a concert talk by UConn music historian Glenn Stanley at 6:45 p.m.

Tuesday, October 16 brings one of Symphony Space's starriest presentations of the season: "Crazy for…Gershwin!," headlined by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. They're accompanied by one of New York's most dynamic young music collectives: Le Train Bleu, conducted by Ransom Wilson. It all takes place at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre.

According to the Houston Chronicle, nine-time Tony Award winner, Broadway performer, choreographer and director Tommy Tune is set to play 'Cap'n Andy Hawks' in the Houston Grand Opera production of Show Boat, opening January 18, 2013.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to Jorgensen this season to perform the first of four in its 40th anniversary commissioned works, Earth Echoes by Pulitzer Prize nominee Augusta Read Thomas, in a Connecticut premiere that will include Metropolitan Opera stars Sasha Cooke and Nathan Gunn. The concert, fresh from its Carnegie Hall debut the night before, will be performed Friday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a concert talk by UConn music historian Glenn Stanley at 6:45 p.m.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced that mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges, recipient of the 2012 Marian Anderson Award-a grant for American singers in mid-career-will perform a free recital in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater tonight, September 10, 2012 at 6 p.m.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced that mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges, recipient of the 2012 Marian Anderson Award-a grant for American singers in mid-career-will perform a free recital in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Monday, September 10, 2012 at 6 p.m.

Philharmonic 360, the New York Philharmonic and Park Avenue Armory's presentation of spatial music conceived by Music Director Alan Gilbert - featuring Karlheinz Stockhausen's epic composition Gruppen - will be Webcast for free by medici.tv (www.medici.TV) beginning tonight, July 6.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's classical season at the Hollywood Bowl opens with internationally-acclaimed conductor and hometown hero Leonard Slatkin leading Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Tuesday, July 10, at 8 pm. Slatkin continues the classical week, leading the LA Phil in a program showcasing Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3, Thursday, July 12, at 8 pm.

Kent Kritle's 2012-2013 season marks his 30th year conducting in New York City. The landmark season includes Britten's War Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York, Bach's Mass in B Minor with at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Manhattan School of Music, and travels across the U.S. for Carnegie Hall's National High School Choral Festival. See full details below.