OPERA America has awarded $220,000 in Repertoire Development Grants to The American Opera Project (New York, NY) in consortium with Seagle Music Colony (Schroon Lake, NY), Beth Morrison Projects (New York, NY), Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera and The Dallas Opera. The grants provide technical and financial support to OPERA America Professional Company Members and their producing partners to enhance the quality, quantity and creativity of new American opera and music theater.
Baritone Gordon Hawkins will sing the role of The Reverend in Washington National Opera's upcoming co-commissioned production of Tazewell Thompson and Jeanine Tesori's Blue, March 15a?"28, 2020. Hawkins replaces the previously-announced Lester Lynch, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.
On Sunday, November 3, at 3 PM, at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, MassOpera presents a special concert performance of Freedom Ride by Boston-based composer Dan Shore.
Ma-Yi Theater Company's world premiere of Felix Starro, a new musical by Jessica Hagedorn and Fabian Obispo, opened at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd St.) last night. Scroll down for photos of the opening night party at The Brazen Tavern.
A summer's trip to Cooperstown, NY, is for two distinct audiences: Those who come for the Baseball Hall of Fame and those, like me, who come for the opera--the Glimmerglass Festival, under General Director Francesca Zambello, where i caught up with the John Corigliano-William Hoffman THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES, the brand-new BLUE by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson and a program with Supreme Court Justice (and opera buff) Ginsburg commenting on some of her favorite works.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces select cast members for upcoming productions as part of the company's 2019/20 Season in advance of single tickets going on sale July 30, 2019.
More artists and activities have been added to the REACH Opening Festival, the free 16-day celebration highlighting the many and varied ways that the Kennedy Center's newly expanded campus will connect, inspire, and engage audiences and artists. Please see below for an updated artist roster, and visit https:cms.kennedy-center.orgfestivalsreach for additional information.
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat opened at The Glimmerglass Festival July 6 in the company's first-ever production of America's original "musical play."
Something old, something new…there's still plenty going on for fans of opera and classical vocal music in the Northeast now that summer is upon us. Here's a taste of what to look for.
Klea Blackhurst will perform her one-woman show featuring tunes made famous by Ethel Merman at The Glimmerglass Festival on Sunday, July 28, at 6:00 p.m. Additionally, Blackhurst will portray Parthy Ann Hawks in the Festival's performances of Show Boat, running July 6 through August 24. Blackhurst replaces Christine Ebersole, whose commitments have changed this summer due to professional reasons, including her role in the new CBS comedy series Bob Hearts Abishola.
There's a glorious sound coming from Arena Stage.
From out of the mists of time, in monochromatic colors as if from a tintype, comes the sublime harmonizing of 13 voices, giving an idea of the transporting power of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presented the American Voice Award to U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) on Thursday, May 9, 2019.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will present the American Voice Award to U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) on Thursday, May 9, 2019. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. the evening will include a cocktail reception in the Bank of America Lower Lobby with a seated dinner in the Molly Smith Study. Tazewell Thompson, playwright and director of Jubilee, will give remarks. Jubilee is inspired by the world-renowned a cappella African American ensemble born on the campus of Fisk University. Rep. Lewis is a graduate of Fisk University. The seated dinner will feature the presentation of the American Voice Award to U.S. Representative John Lewis.
Mezzo Joyce DiDonato knows quite a bit about being Cinderella--after all, she's played the title characters in Rossini's CENERENTOLA and Massenet's CENDRILLON at the Met and other major opera houses. But it also appears she's a first-rate “fairy godmother,” as she proved with a group of emerging artists in a series of Master Classes in Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Room of the Resnick Education Wing last week.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater announces today its 2019/20 Season-featuring an expansive line-up of plays, musicals, new work, and presentations from around the globe to engage one of the broadest audiences of any theater in America today.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson's inspirational a cappella music infused play, Jubilee. Inspired by the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, this uplifting new work chronicles the bold African American ensemble as they travel the world, captivating kings, queens and audiences with hymns and spiritual songs supported by their rich voices. Written and directed by Thompson with vocal arrangements and music direction by Dianne Adams McDowell, Jubilee runs April 26 - June 2, 2019 in the Kreeger Theater.
Can opera be a medium for social commentary and change? I've been thinking about this lately--or, more accurately, yet again--since attending a preview of the new Jeanne Tesori-Tazewell Thompson opera, BLUE, which was part of the Guggenheim Museum's fascinating Works & Process series. The performance of excerpts and roundtable with its creators were part of preparations for the work's world premiere this summer at the Glimmerglass Festival.
Chicago Opera Theater's Orli and Bill Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya and Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General Director Ashley Magnus today announced the plans for the company's 47th season, to include productions of two exciting contemporary operas, a Chicago premiere by Rachmaninov, and the company's second world premiere commission. Yankovskaya will conduct each of these Chicago Opera Theater (COT) productions.
