Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera will present its fifth annual “Home for the Holidays” on Dec. 14, 2024. The event will feature Leah Edwards and Dimitri Pittas in performance alongside Alva Anderson, Fouché Sheppard, Dennis Shuman, Sam Stevenson, and a children’s ensemble. “This event is about more than music; it’s about community,” Edwards said per an official press release. {…}
(Photo by Michael Haug) Schubert Club in St. Paul, MN will host “New Songs for the New Year” on Jan. 2 and 3, 2025. The showcase will feature mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski and pianist Casey Rafn as they premiere a new song cycle, “Death Suite for Jackie O,” by Steve Heitzeg. “With ‘Death Suite for Jackie O,’ I feel fortunate to {…}
The Zellerbach Playhouse in Berkeley, CA will host a new production of Max Giteck Duykers and Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Both Eyes Open” on Feb. 15 and 16, 2025. The opera spotlights the suffering of the Japanese American incarceration during World War II on U.S. soil. The work is directed by Melissa Weaver and conducted by David Milnes. Baritone Suchan Kim, soprano {…}
Opera Revue has rereleased its “Ontario Place For(d) All” video in response to continued controversy. Nearly two years ago the company released its parody opera, “Ontario Place For(d) All” in protest of Doug Ford who has not backed down on the plans to build a spa center and large-scale renovations over the majority of Ontario Place. This iteration of the {…}
Loadbang is set to give the world premiere of Michael Hersch’s new vocal cycle, ‘that I wanted to find you here.’ This 30-minute score was written in the period immediately following the composers recovery from a near-death experience early last year. The work sets texts by Abdellatif Laâbi, Anja Utler, Stav Poleg, and Shane McCrae. Of this piece Hersch says, {…}
The nonprofit Guarneri Hall in downtown Chicago is set to present “Pierrot Unmasked.” The concert series, which explores the poetic and theatrical context of Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal melodrama, “Pierrot Lunaire” will be shown on Dec. 9 and 10 2024. “Pierrot Unmasked” presents two different performances around the tragic-comic character Pierrot from Commedia dell’Arte, one with a reading of Albert Giraud’s {…}
The Jackson Heights Orchestra is set to present a full orchestra arrangement of Vaughan Williams’ “On Wenlock Edge” on Dec. 11, 2024. The performance, which will be presented at Trinity Lutheran Church in Astoria, NY, will feature tenor Ryan Allais as Housman’s protagonist. A New Mexico native, Allais is a media consultant for the Art Song Center for Poets and {…}
The Fourth Wall Ensemble has announced its return to Carnegie Hall. This time the Fourth Wall Ensemble performs with Irish tenor and leading member of Celtic Thunder, Emmet Cahill. The program consists of songs from the Emerald Isle woven together on the emigrant journey to America. The program is directed by Christopher Allen. The Ensemble recently made its Carnegie Hall {…}
(Photo credit: James Matthew Daniel) Michael Hersch’s latest opera, “and we, each,” created in collaboration with poet Shane McCrae, makes its New York premiere at National Sawdust on Feb. 6. Soprano Ah Young Hong and baritone Jesse Blumberg perform the two singing roles. Tito Muñoz will conduct a five-piece ensemble comprised of New York players. James Daniel, who previously staged Hersch’s {…}
Midwinter Revels: The Selkie Girl and the Seal Woman – A Celtic and Cabo Verdean Celebration of the Solstice is to take place Dec. 13-28, at Harvard University’s historic Sanders Theatre. “The Selkie Girl and the Seal Woman” is a meld of Irish and Cabo Verdean traditions by Debra Wise, Patrick Swanson, and Aidan Parkinson. Set in a small fishing {…}
White Snakes Projects will present its third annual “Let’s Celebrate” on Dec. 14-15, 2024. The showcase features three 20-minute operas highlighting family and holiday traditions from various global cultures. “Thirty Angels,” a musical celebration of Navruz—the Uzbek and Persian New Year—was composed by Uzbekistan-born pianist Liliya Ugay, whose heritage includes Korean and Tatar roots. The opera narrates the story of {…}