Houston, January 13, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of The Root of the Wind Is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, directed by Matthew Ozawa, on May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Wortham Theater Center and on May 15 at 7 p.m. at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. Presented under the auspices of HGOco, the company's community collaboration and education initiative, The Root of the Wind Is Water explores the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf Coast through the eyes of the residents who call the region home. The opera will be HGO's 61st world premiere.
Following its critically acclaimed, award-winning Broadway run, ALL THE WAY, a riveting behind-the-scenes look at President Lyndon B. Johnson's tumultuous first year in office in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination, comes to HBO this May, while the exclusive presentation of Broadway's LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL, starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, will air Saturday, March 12.
San Francisco Opera Center presents the culminating concert of the 2015 Adler Fellowship season, The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert, tonight, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
The musicians of the Houston Symphony are spreading holiday cheer during this most wonderful -- and busy -- time of year. POPS, family and classical concerts will transpire on the Jones Hall stage in the name of holiday celebration from December 10-20, including the annual traditions Very Merry Pops and Handel's Messiah, as well as A Free Holiday Concert and a special presentation of A Frosty & Frozen Christmas for the little ones.
DALLAS, TX, December 8, 2015 – The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.
The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.
San Francisco Opera Center presents the culminating concert of the 2015 Adler Fellowship season, The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert, on Saturday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
After a 44-year career at the Met, during which he has led performances of more than 85 operas, James Levine expands his company repertory with his first-ever Met performances of the sparkling Johann Strauss operetta Die Fledermaus.
New York, NY (November 11, 2015) – Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the Met stage on Monday, November 23 for the first of seventeen performances throughout the season. The November and December performances, conducted by Paolo Carignani,will star Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, opposite American soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta in her first Met performances since 2005. Romanian baritone Levente Molnár makes his Met debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro.
LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include the company premiere of Moby-Dick, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, opening tonight, October 31, 2015.
HOUSTON (October 29, 2015) – This December, the Houston Symphony will deck the concert hall with the sounds of holiday cheer to celebrate the festive time of year. Now in its 15th season, the annual Houston holiday tradition Very Merry Pops will once again delight audiences big and small with favorite holiday carols and the holiday classic Handel's Messiah also returns with full glorious choruses that tell the story of Christmas through the fine masterpiece. New this year is the live orchestral accompaniment to the film Home Alone to celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary.
Verdi's Rigoletto returns to the Met October 20 for fifteen performances. Michael Mayer's 2013 production, set in a 1960s Las Vegas casino, will star George Gagnidze in the title role opposite two singers in company role debuts: Olga Peretyatko as Gilda and Stephen Costello as the Duke. Spanish maestro Pablo Heras-Casado will lead the initial performances of the opera, which also feature Štefan Kocán as Sparafucile and Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Leoson, in her Met debut, as Maddalena. Later performances this season will star Željko Lu?i? in the title role and Piotr Beczala as the Duke, roles both sang in the new production premiere of Mayer's staging, opposite 2009 National Council Auditions winner Nadine Sierra in her Met debut as Gilda. Roberto Abbado conducts a cast that also features Russian bass Dimitry Ivashchenko in his Met debut as Sparafucile and Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Maddalena.
(Los Angeles) October 13, 2015 — LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will include the company premiere of Moby-Dick, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, opening on October 31, 2015.
Vancouver, BC ~ Vancouver Opera kicks off the exciting 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi's thrilling blockbuster, Rigoletto. Powerful baritone Gordon Hawkins will sing the title role, with international superstar soprano Simone Osborne as Gilda and acclaimed tenor Bruce Sledge as the Duke. Sensational melodies, heartbreaking drama and vivid characters make this dark, tender drama of love and revenge irresistible.
With the season's first performance of Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA--that's Henry VIII's Anne Boleyn to all you Masterpiece Theatre fans--at the Met, the big news is that it's soprano Sondra Radvanovsky's first part of the Tudor Trilogy, with MARIA STUARDA and ROBERTO DEVEREUX to come later in the season. Alongside her, as Jane (here, Giovanna) Seymour, Boleyn's successor as consort to Henry, is mezzo Jamie Barton, this year's winner of the Richard Tucker Award, a past winner of the Met Council Auditions (and many other major awards) and a sensation when she sang her first big role at the Met two years ago, Adalgisa in Bellini's NORMA.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of O Columbia, a chamber opera created by an acclaimed team of artists: composer Gregory Spears, librettist Royce Vavrek, stage director Kevin Newbury, and conductor Timothy Myers-tonight and tomorrow, September 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Bayou Music Center.
Il Trovatore returns to the Met September 25, starring Anna Netrebko as the heroine Leonora in her long-awaited Met role debut. Dolora Zajick sings her signature role of the mysterious gypsy Azucena, with Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Manrico's rival Count di Luna, and Štefan Kocán as Ferrando. In later performances, Angela Meade stars as Leonora, Marcello Giordani sings Manrico, Vitaliy Bilyy sings Count di Luna, and Kwangchul Youn sings Ferrando. Zajick and Hvorostovsky reprise their roles with Marco Armiliato leading all performances of David McVicar's 2009 production at the Met this season. The October 3 performance of Il Trovatore will launch the tenth season of the Met's Live in HD series when it is transmitted to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world.
The Houston Grand Opera Studio, one of the most highly respected young artist programs in the country, will offer its fall Studio Showcase at 8:00 p.m. this weekend, September 10 and 12.
Vancouver, BC ~ Vancouver Opera kicks off the exciting 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi's thrilling blockbuster, Rigoletto. Powerful baritone Gordon Hawkins will sing the title role, with international superstar soprano Simone Osborne as Gilda and acclaimed tenor Bruce Sledge as the Duke. Sensational melodies, heartbreaking drama and vivid characters make this dark, tender drama of love and revenge irresistible.
WASHINGTON)—Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced details for the fourth season of the American Opera Initiative, its comprehensive commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering the talents of rising American composers and librettists. Three pairings of new opera composers and librettists—Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos, David Clay Mettens and Joshua McGuire, and Sarah Hutchings and Mark Sonnenblick—will premiere new one-act operas, each based on a contemporary American story, in a semi-staged concert performance on December 2, 2015 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Caitlin Vincent, an alumnus of the program's second season, will present their new hour-long work Better Gods—based on the life of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii—on January 8 and 9, 2016 in the Terrace Theater.
