BroadwayWorld has a first look at THE SUMMER KING from Pittsburgh Opera! Check out the photos below! Pittsburgh Opera is proud and privileged to present the world premiere of Daniel Sonenberg's opera, The Summer King, the story of baseball legend Josh Gibson. This very first world premiere in Pittsburgh Opera's distinguished 78 year history hits close to home as Josh went from the sandlots of Pittsburgh's North Side to the pinnacle of greatness in the Negro Leagues, before ultimately being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Featuring AlFRed Walker in the title role, Denyce Graves, Sean Pannikar, Kenneth Kellogg, Norman Shankle, Jacqueline Echols and many more, led by Maestro AnTony Walker and directed by Sam Helfrich. Sonenberg collaborated on the libretto with Daniel Nester and Mark Campbell provided additional lyrics. The Summer King runs Saturday, April 29th (8pm), Tuesday, May 2nd (7pm), Friday, May 5th (7:30pm) and Sunday, May 7th (3pm) at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts.

Jonathan Eaton, longtime Artistic and General Director of Pittsburgh Festival Opera (formerly Opera Theater of Pittsburgh) is taking on a new position in addition to his duties as Artistic Director in Pittsburgh. In August 2107 Eaton will also become the Professor of Music and Margot and Bill Winspear Chair in Opera Studies at the University of North Texas in Dallas, which boasts one of largest and most respected music colleges in the country.

The very first world premiere in Pittsburgh Opera's distinguished 78 year history hits close to home. The Summer King tells the story of baseball legend Josh Gibson. Josh went from the sandlots of Pittsburgh's North Side to the pinnacle of greatness in the Negro Leagues, before ultimately being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Opera Philadelphia continues to combine cutting-edge new commissions with fresh takes on the classics. To conclude a 2016-17 season highlighted by the knockout success of its world premiere production of Breaking the Waves, the company turns to iconic Mozartean comedy, with a new co-production of The Marriage of Figaro (April 28–May 7). With Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leading five performances at the historic Academy of Music, celebrated young singers Brandon Cedel, John Chest, Layla Claire, Ying Fang, and Cecelia Hall anchor a stellar cast in the new Stephen Lawless staging that has already proven “as beautiful as it is humorous, as sophisticated as it is raunchy” (Kansas City Star).

Pittsburgh Opera is offering ticket holders to The Summer King – the Josh Gibson Story -  a chance to see the Pittsburgh Pirates take on the New York Yankees from one of the Pirates Owners' Suites on Sunday, April 23rd.

Opera Philadelphia's celebrated 2016-2017 Season comes to a humorous conclusion with a new production of one of the greatest operas ever written, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, with five performances at the historic Academy of Music from April 28-May 7. The screwball comedy complete with disguises, surprises, and compromises, comes to life with an impressive cast of singers, many making their company debut under the leadership of conductor Corrado Rovaris, Opera Philadelphia's celebrated Jack Mulroney Music Director.

Opera Philadelphia announced today that Lawrence Brownlee, whose lead performance in the 2015 world premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD kick started the company's “big commitment to new repertoire” (The Wall Street Journal), has joined the company as an Artistic Advisor.

Breaking the Waves had its World Premiere at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, September 29, 2016. This chamber opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek is based on the 1996 Academy Award-nominated film by Lars von Trier.  It is now available as a free audio stream.  Check it out below!

Let Pittsburgh Opera take you to ancient China with Pittsburgh Opera's lavish production of Puccini's Turandot. Prince Calaf falls in love with the icy Princess Turandot. To marry her, he must solve three riddles; a single wrong answer results in death.

Let Pittsburgh Opera take you to ancient China with Pittsburgh Opera's lavish production of Puccini's Turandot. Prince Calaf falls in love with the icy Princess Turandot. To marry her, he must solve three riddles; a single wrong answer results in death.

Pittsburgh Opera is again partnering with students, alumni, and faculty from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music, School of Drama, and the Master of Arts Management (MAM) Program on the innovative Co-Opera program.

David B. Devan, General Director & President of Opera Philadelphia, announced today the appointment of Marita Altman as Vice President of Development. Ms. Altman begins her tenure in Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 15, after stepping down from her post as Director of Major Gifts at the Metropolitan Opera, where she has worked since 2008. Altman will manage all of the company's fundraising operations while working alongside members of Opera Philadelphia's senior management team.

When Opera Philadelphia's new adaptation of Lars von Trier's searing Oscar-nominated film,Breaking the Waves made its world premiere in September 2016, the New York Times declared the opera "ambitious, accomplished, [and] dramatically direct.'

The runaway success of Opera Philadelphia's world premiere production of Breaking the Waves marked a catalytic moment last fall, “changing many of the people who brought the piece to the stage – and the company itself” (Philadelphia Inquirer). The new adaptation of Lars von Trier's searing Oscar-nominated film scored a nomination for the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere, and Opera News declared it “among the best 21st-century American operas yet produced.” Now home audiences the world over can hear the spellbinding production in its entirety at operaphila.org, starting next Wednesday, March 29 at 1pm, when Opera Philadelphia unveils a free on-demand audio stream of the world premiere production that took the opera world by storm, capping an online celebration of Women's History Month.

Three new operas developed by American Opera Projects to premiere:  two on race relations in America and one on the future of sex.