Faust 1867

Opera San José will launch its 40th anniversary season with an all-new production of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, directed by OSJ General Director/CEO Shawna Lucey, in her first production since taking the helm of the company. Romeo and Juliet follows on the heels of Lucey's critically acclaimed La Traviata for San Francisco Opera, which is scheduled to be remounted at Los Angeles Opera this fall.

Opera Naples, one of Naples' leading performing arts organization, is excited to welcome patrons back this fall with a performance of “Roméo et Juliette” by Charles Gounod at Artis—Naples, featuring the Naples Philharmonic conducted by Opera Naples' Artistic & Music Director Ramón Tebar.

The Ridgefield Playhouse and Atria Senior Living Classical HD Series present an encore in HD screening of Gounoud's Romeo et Juliette on Sunday, June 30 at 4pm. The electrifying team of Vittorio Grigolo and Diana Damrau reunites for a new production of Gounod's opera based on the Shakespeare play. Damrau makes her role debut as Juliette in Bartlett Sher's new production, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Elliot Madore sings Mercutio and Mikhail Petrenko sings Frere Laurent.

Theatre Royal will tomorrow celebrate its 150th birthday, an extraordinary milestone that will be honoured over the next few months with a range of events.

The Met's new production by director Bartlett Sher also features Virginie Verrez as Stéphano, Elliot Madore as Mercutio, and Mikhail Petrenko as Frère Laurent. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the sumptuous score.

Hailed by The New York Times for singing 'with white-hot sensuality and impassioned lyricism,' Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo star as the tragic lovers in Shakespeare's classic story. Gounod's Romo et Juliette airs on Great Performances at the Met Friday, April 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

McDaniel College offers a variety of art, music, theatre, literary, film and other events during the fall of 2016.

On May 5, at 17:00 Moscow time [14:00 GMT], the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, conducted by People's Artist of Russia Valery Gergiev, held the 'Pray for Palmyra. Music Revives Ancient Ruins' concert on the stage of Palmyra's world-famous amphitheater.

This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera,theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights. These include a rare, fully staged production of Iris, a forerunner of Madama Butterfly by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni; the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, four newly unearthed puppet plays from leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as reimagined by Dan Hurlin;the world premiere of Fantasque, a new ballet set to the music of Respighi and Rossini by John Heginbotham and Amy Trompetter; a film series on "Puccini and the Operatic Impulse in Cinema"; and the return of Bard's authentic and sensationally popularSpiegeltent,hosted by the inimitable Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. Taking place between July 1 and August 14 in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's stunning Hudson River campus, SummerScape's 2016 offerings provide new opportunities to discover that, as Time Out New York puts it, "the experience of entering the Fisher Center and encountering something totally new is unforgettable and enriching." Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 15; click here for more information.

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 24th season with the World Premiere of LITTLE ERIK. Written and directed by award-winning Bay Area auteur Mark Jackson (The Letters, The Arsonists, Salomania), LITTLE ERIK features Marilee Talkington, Joe Estlack, Wilma Bonet, Greg Ayers, Mariah Castle, and Jack Wittmayer. LITTLE ERIK plays January 29 through February 28 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

French pianist Nicolas Horvath is heard in his recording debut with this fascinating solo piano version of Liszt's monumental oratorio Christus. This world premiere recording retraces the Life of Christ via a series of musical frescoes in which the composer seemingly runs through the entire history of music — from Gregorian chant through Romantic virtuosity to avant-garde expressionism. “I could not begin my recording career with anything better than a world premiere by Liszt,” Horvath told Piano Bleu, “I have admired the music and the life of Franz Liszt for so many years: his large generosity of spirit, a limitless curiosity … his music was a mirror of his time.” The new recording from Editions Hortus is available from Allegro Classical on May 14.

German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has recently returned to the US after an absence of almost a year and is poised to once again grab the attention of opera fans.

Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents The Voronezh State Ballet Theatre of Russia, Thu, Feb 3 at 7:30 pm at Northrop at the University of Minnesota.

Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents The Voronezh State Ballet Theatre of Russia, Thu, Feb 3 at 7:30 pm at Northrop at the University of Minnesota.

London's National Theatre has announced two literary adaptations for its winter 2006 season--stage versions of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin and of Virginia Woolf's The Waves