Placido Domingo announced today that mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, one of the world's foremost opera stars, has renewed her contract to continue in her role as Artistic Advisor to LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program through the 2020/21 season.
Compagnia de' Colombari, an international collective of performing artists founded and directed by Karin Coonrod,celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of America's most influential poet, Walt Whitman, with a revival of their acclaimed production More Or Less I Am. Performances begin May 18, 2019 at multiple venues throughout the five boroughs, with most performances being free and open to the public. More information can be found at www.colombari.org.
After a months-long series of auditions involving more than 1,000 singers at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize.
Following yesterday's highly competitive semifinal competition, nine singers will advance to the final phase of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, America's largest vocal competition. The winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000, while the remaining finalists will receive prizes of $7,500.
On Sunday, April 14 at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicket conducts Handel's Semele at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation, soprano Brenda Rae performs the title role, joined by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong (Juno/Ino), bass Soloman Howard, (Cadmus/Somnus), tenor Benjamin Hulett (Jupiter), countertenor Christopher Lowrey (Athamas), soprano Ailish Tynan (Iris), tenor Brian Giebler (Apollo), and bass-baritone Joseph Beutel (Priest), along with The Clarion Choir (Steven Fox, Artistic Director).
Twenty-one young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country's leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Sunday, March 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition-the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 31.
The Crypt Sessions, which take place in the stone chamber beneath the Church of the Intercession on West 155th Street in Manhattan, might conjure up visions of horror, though it bears no relation to HBO's long-running anthology, “Tales from the Crypt.” Add that the center of attraction for the recital of the powerfully expressive baritone, Lucas Meachem, was Mahler's KINDERTOTENLIEDER, which translates to the grisly sounding (but actually elegant) “Songs on the Death of Children,” and one might be forgiven for thinking so. The result, in fact, was about as far from that as possible.
San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, launches its 62nd season offering audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow. The 2019 Merola Summer Festival announces this year's 29 Merola artists, selected from more than 800 international applicants from as far away as Brazil, South Korea, New Zealand, and Colombia, as well as across the U.S. Along with the announced world premiere of If I Were You (August 1-6) by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, the singers will perform in the Schwabacher Summer Concert (July 11 & 13) and Merola Grand Finale (August 17). The 2019 Merola Summer Festival includes performances in San Francisco at various locations. Individual event tickets and information available at www.merola.org or 415-864-3330.
Texas native Susan Graham returns to the Houston Symphony to perform a song cycle that has become a signature work for the operatic superstar as part of the all-French program Debussy's La mer + Susan Graham at 8 p.m. March 8 & 9, and 2:30 p.m. March 10. Each concert will be followed by a free, after-hours performance of French chamber music masterpieces.
Boosey & Hawkes is sad to announce the death of leading opera and art song composer Dominick Argento, who passed away aged 91 on February 20, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jane Moss, Lincoln Center's Ehrenkranz Artistic Director, has announced details of Lincoln Center's 54th Great Performers series. Since its inception, the series has showcased many of the world's most accomplished and inspirational musicians in the concert halls and performance spaces that span the Lincoln Center campus. The 2019/20 season features an array of the most prominent and beloved musicians of our time as well as up-and-coming artists bursting onto the scene: distinguished vocalists and illustrious instrumental soloists; acclaimed period-instrument orchestras, esteemed choral groups and renowned chamber ensembles; and virtuosic orchestras and their extraordinary conductors.
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.
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.
Composer, arranger, and conductor, David Berger, is recognized internationally as a leading authority on the music of Duke Ellington and the Swing Era. Conductor and arranger for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra from its inception in 1988 through 1994, Berger has transcribed more than 750 full scores of classic recordings, including more than 500 works by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Several of these transcriptions in addition to a number of original arrangements are featured in last season's Broadway hit, After Midnight.
Isabel Leonard and Jessica Vosk sing "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" from "West Side Story" also performed by Tony Yazbeck and other Broadway artists on Great Performances: The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood. Watch the performance below!
Celebrated Producer Michael Childers will bring his latest edition of One Night Only to The McCallum Theatre on April 24, 2019 with a star-studded cast including Christine Andreas, John Barrowman, Liz Calloway and more. This season's ONO is a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber and proceeds will benefit The Barbara Sinatra Children's Center. I had the chance to catch up with Michael as he was crafting this season's sell-out event. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation:
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.
Some 39 members of Los Angeles Children's Chorus (LACC), one of the world's leading children's choirs, are featured in LA Opera's production of Humperdinck's enchanting Hansel and Gretel conducted by James Conlon and starring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (The Witch), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Hansel) and soprano Liv Redpath (Gretel). The production runs for six performances from November 17 to December 15, 2018, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. LACC's new Artistic Director, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, prepared the young choristers for their roles as the gingerbread children, noted for the purity of their sound and intricate four-part harmony. A perennial favorite, Hansel and Gretel, based on the beloved Brothers Grimm tale and sung in English, features a magical score and plot and is considered to be the composer's best-known work.
On Friday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m., the Carnegie Hall Notables-a membership and ticket program for music enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s-presents Jamie Barton in an exclusive concert in Zankel Hall for Notables members only. The concert features the award-winning mezzo-soprano alongside pianist Kathleen Kelly performing Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit!-a 20-minute operatic scene for mezzo-soprano and piano based on an actual Julia Child cooking show-with additional selections to be announced from the stage.
The 2019 Adelaide Festival program to be launched on 30 October 2018 at the Adelaide Town Hall and on 31 October at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, demonstrates conclusively that the Adelaide Festival, Australia's pre-eminent arts festival, remains the dominant creative powerhouse of Southern-hemisphere celebrations.
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