Thomas Richards News

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. 

This October 'Twelfth Night: A Gender Experiment' is coming to the Rose Playhouse. Four versions of the show will play in rep - all female, all male, cast play their own gender and cast play the opposite gender.

Nineteen of the best young opera singers in the country will be competing in The Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition presented by The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild. The talented performers are competing for thousands of dollars in prize money and prestigious honors including the “People's Choice” award selected by audience ballot.

DALLAS, JANUARY 22, 2014 –The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild are proud to announce historic levels of participation in the first phase of the newly expanded Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, scheduled to take place on the weekend of April 18-19, 2015 in the acoustically acclaimed setting of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Gotham Chamber Opera presents the final production of the 2014/2015 season, The Tempest Songbook, comprised of incidental music for The Tempest composed in 1695 and attributed to Henry Purcell and Kaija Saariaho's 2004 Tempest Songbook for soprano, baritone and period instrument ensemble, in its U.S. and World Stage Premieres.A co-production with The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Tempest Songbook will be performed in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with three performances from March 27 - 29, 2015. Performances: Friday and Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets range from $30 to $175 and are available at metmuseum.org/tickets.

Tickets are now on sale for Gotham Chamber Opera's final production of the 2014/2015 season, The Tempest Songbook, comprised of incidental music for The Tempest composed in 1695 and attributed to Henry Purcell and Kaija Saariaho's 2004 Tempest Songbook for soprano, baritone and period instrument ensemble, in its U.S. and World Stage Premieres.A co-production with The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Tempest Songbook will be performed in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with three performances from March 27 - 29, 2015. Performances: Friday and Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets range from $30 to $175 and are available at metmuseum.org/tickets.

Gotham Chamber Opera announces the final production of the 2014/2015 season, The Tempest Songbook, comprised of incidental music for The Tempest composed in 1695 and attributed to Henry Purcell, and Kaija Saariaho's 2004 Tempest Songbook for soprano, baritone and period instrument ensemble, in its U.S. and World Stage Premieres.A co-production with The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Tempest Songbook will be performed in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with three performances from March 26 - 28, 2015 at 7pm. Tickets range from $30 to $175 and will be available at ?metmuseum.org/tickets.

Glimmerglass Festival presents An American Tragedy, July 20 - August 24, 2014. Check out a first look below!

After a worldwide search, Houston Grand Opera has chosen the members of the 2014–15 HGO Studio program. One of the most respected and highly competitive young artist programs in the world, the HGO Studio provides comprehensive career development to young artists who have demonstrated potential to make major contributions to the field of opera. The HGO Studio received applications from 552 artists; of those, about 250 were heard in Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and San Francisco. From these auditions, six candidates were awarded positions in the Studio for the 2014–15 season.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) consistently brings the best the opera world has to offer to Houston stages. Time and time again, they cast operas with incredible talent and put on productions that are visually stunning as well. Their latest production of RIGOLETTO is no exception. Everything that makes performances at HGO exciting was perfectly in place. The auditorium was buzzing with excitement about the show, the cast was vocally impressive and on point, and the orchestra was playing with all the gusto and pizzazz that Giuseppe Verdi's darkly toned score requires.

On Sunday afternoon March 10, the air was buzzing with anticipation at the Met, before the performances by the ten singers who had made it to the Grand Finals of the opera company's National Council auditions. No, this wasn't the opera equivalent of American Idol, where the emphasis is on the judges as much as the performers. It was a grown-up affair.

After an intense semi-final round of competition, the Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of ten finalists who will sing on the Met stage in the 2013 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 10 at 3:00 p.m., with the MET Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato. The auditions, which are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, have been an important stepping stone in the career of many of the opera world's leading artists. 20 gifted young singers from around the country arrived in New York on Thursday afternoon to prepare for today's semi-final round, in which they sang on the Met stage for the first time in their careers before a panel of judges. After deliberations, the panel has narrowed the field to ten singers who will move to the final phase of the competition.

Twenty young singers who won regional competitions around the United States will come to New York to sing on the Met stage in the semi-finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The Met Auditions, this year celebrating their 60th anniversary, are a major stepping stone to a career as an opera singer and were crucial in introducing many of today's best-known stars, such as Renee Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Samuel Ramey, Deborah Voigt, and Dolora Zajick.

Houston Grand Opera today announced the finalists for the annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, to be presented in the Cullen Theater on Thursday February 2, at 7:30p.m.

A series of symposia, screenings, and special events will complement the schedule for Lincoln Center Festival 09 which opens this Tuesday night, July 7, with the U.S. premiere of Le Theatre du Soleil's compassionate Les Éphémères, staged by Ariane Mnouchkine, and the N.Y. premiere of Ivanov by Anton Chekhov, performed by Budapest's Katona József Theatre and staged by Tamás Ascher.

Yale Summer Cabaret has announced the second production of its 2007 season: Nelson Rodrigues' Pornographic Angel, translated by Alex Ladd and directed by Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento.