OPERATHON 2013, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 34th anniversary by raising $501,036 during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 19, exceeding the $500,000 goal.
Only the greatest opera companies in the world have the resources and orchestral forces to mount the massive and complex masterpieces of Richard Wagner. In November Lyric Opera of Chicago will do just that with a new production of the German composer's final masterpiece, Parsifal.
The new season sees Thomas Hampson – “America's foremost baritone” (International Herald Tribune) – return to the world's greatest opera houses and festivals, including London's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, theBavarian State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and New York's Metropolitan Opera, where he will make hisrole debut as the eponymous antihero of Berg's Wozzeck. Equally active on the concert stage, Hampson looks forward to collaborations with such top international orchestras as Washington's National Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, which he will join for a twelve-stop European tour. Having been hailed as “an artist fully in control of a remarkable instrument” (Los Angeles Times), the baritone will take his celebrated lieder recitals to London's Wigmore Hall, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and to Coburg, Heidelberg, Brussels, and Berne. In the wake of his recent induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame, the baritone's star turn in the title role of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra – recorded live at the Vienna Konzerthaus – is due for September release on the Decca label.
Last heard at the Proms in 1977, The Midsummer Marriage is Tippett's answer to Mozart's The Magic Flute, an opera rich in symbolism and psychology, trials and transformations. Paul Groves and Erin Wall are Mark and Jenifer, Ailish Tynan and Allan Clayton, Bella and Jack, two couples tested by a series of supernatural interventions on the shortest night of the year.
Several alumni and current ensemble members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago are featured artists at music festivals and opera companies at home and around the globe this summer.
Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced yesterday that the company is projecting a breakeven operating performance for fiscal year 2013. Lyric has operated in the black for 25 of the past 26 years-a record among the country's major not-for-profit music and performing-arts companies.
Sir Andrew Davis, music director and principal conductor of the world-renowned Lyric Opera of Chicago, will add the post of chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to his considerable credits, beginning in January 2013. The appointment was formally announced on Monday in Australia, and his initial contract in Melbourne is for four years.
Sir Andrew Davis, music director and principal conductor of the world-renowned Lyric Opera of Chicago, will add to his considerable credits the post of chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra beginning in January 2013, it was announced on Monday in Australia. Davis is in Melbourne for concerts with the MSO this month. His initial contract in Melbourne is for four years.
On Tuesday and Thursday, February 16 and 18 at 8 PM, Kaufman Center and New York Festival of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present The Voluptuous Muse, a celebration of the lush tonality and decadent Romanticism of late 19th- and early 20th- century song.
On Tuesday and Thursday, February 16 and 18 at 8 PM, Kaufman Center and New York Festival of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present The Voluptuous Muse, a celebration of the lush tonality and decadent Romanticism of late 19th- and early 20th- century song.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance continues Harris Theater 5.0, its Fifth Anniversary Season, and concludes its inaugural Harris Theater Presents 2008-2009 series with a special engagement featuring legendary countertenor David Daniels with The English Concert, directed by Harry Bicket, Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for this performance, which range from $30-$110, are on-sale now and available at the Harris Theater box office located in Millennium Park at 205 E. Randolph Dr., by calling 312-334-7777 or by visiting www.harristheaterchicago.org.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance continues Harris Theater 5.0, its Fifth Anniversary Season, and concludes its inaugural Harris Theater Presents 2008-2009 series with a special engagement featuring legendary countertenor David Daniels with The English Concert, directed by Harry Bicket, Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for this performance, which range from $30-$110, are on-sale now and available at the Harris Theater box office located in Millennium Park at 205 E. Randolph Dr., by calling 312-334-7777 or by visiting www.harristheaterchicago.org.