Talise Trevigne News

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.

Each year, Cincinnati Opera presents a diverse series of informative and entertaining Opera Raps lectures in the months leading up to, and during, the summer performance season.

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

Missy Mazzoli had me with BREAKING THE WAVES, her 2016 opera written with librettist Royce Vavrek at Opera Philadelphia and PROTOTYPE 2017. With PROVING UP--same librettist and with a production also conceived by James Darrah--which had its New York debut this week at Columbia University's Miller theatre, she proved she's a force to be reckoned with.

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) announces their fall 2018 season and the appointment of Executive Director Rebecca Sigel.

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts opens its 30th Anniversary 2018-19 Season and launches its new Chamber Opera Commissioning Initiative with the New York Premiere of PROVING UP, adapted from the short story "Proving Up" by Karen Russell.

Cincinnati Opera, today announced the repertoire and casting for Cincinnati Opera's 2019 Summer Festival, which will run from June 13 to July 28. The company's 99th season begins with a charming production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Music Hall's Springer Auditorium.

The 2018 McCammon Voice Competition judges have chosen the semi-finalists for the eighteenth biennial competition, to be held on March 16, 2018 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The finals will be held March 17, 2018 at Bass Performance Hall. This year's competitors are David Araujo, Amanda Blue, Nicolette Book, Ryan Bradford, Rachael Braustein, Kathleen Buccleugh, Chelsea Coyne, Danielle Davis, Peter Scott Drackley, Helen Huang, Hao Hu, Emily Michiko Jensen, Abigail Kempson, Chonghwa Kim, Abigail Levis, Brandon Morales, Elizabeth Moran, Langelihle Mngxati, Chong Yoon Noh, Brittany Nickell, Yulan Piao, Anthony Reed, Michael St. Peter and Andrew Wannigman.

'Porgy and Bess' has been called the first great American opera, made all the more significant by being set in a black American community and performed by black artists in 1935, a time when black culture was exoticized by the country's white majority.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants to 11 opera companies through the Repertoire Development Grants program, supported by The Opera Fund. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new American opera and music-theater works.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants to 11 opera companies through the Repertoire Development Grants program, supported by The Opera Fund. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new American opera and music-theater works.

It's Christmas in August. Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) world premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's opera It's a Wonderful Life is now available for audio streaming, high resolution download, and CD pre-orders on the PENTATONE website. The CD will be released worldwide on September 1. It's a Wonderful Life is the newest addition to PENTATONE's American Opera Series. 

The Glimmerglass Festival opened its 2017 season last night with The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess.  Due to popular demand, The Glimmerglass Festival has added a performance to the Festival schedule on Tuesday, August 15, at 8 p.m. in the Alice Busch Opera Theater.

The Glimmerglass Festival opened its 2017 season last night with The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Due to popular demand, The Glimmerglass Festival has added a performance to the Festival schedule on Tuesday, August 15, at 8 p.m. in the Alice Busch Opera Theater.

Who needs an excuse to leave NYC in the blistering days of summer? It's especially true if you head north to some of the bucolic opera and vocal venues within driving distance.

Will Crutchfield, longtime director of the Bel Canto at Caramoor series, announced today the formation of a new organization, Teatro Nuovo, that will continue and expand that program's work as it departs from Caramoor next year. 

On May 25, following the "resounding success" (New York Observer) of its world premiere before an audience of thousands last summer, The Hubble Cantata comes to the Kennedy Center, where VisionIntoArt/National Sawdust (VIA/NS) and Beth Morrison Projects present its DC premiere.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere presentation of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, now through December 17. This timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel teaches him the lesson of realizing the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Houston Grand Opera continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel shows him the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us.

Houston Grand Opera continues its cycle of holiday operas with the world premiere of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The timeless tale follows a troubled banker whose guardian angel shows him the lasting impact our lives can have on those around us.