“Four Nights of Dream” is the first full-length opera by Moto Osada. After premiering at Sweden’s Vadstena Academy in 2008, where it was praised for both its beauty and simplicity, the work will make its North American premiere on September 13, 2017, also marking the opening of Japan Society’s 110th Anniversary season and its newly-renovated theater. Adapting the libretto from {…}
On August 2nd, Opera Breve brought a fascinating concept to life with their new production of Bizet’s “Carmen.” Stripped of its spoken dialogue and most of its music, this shortened version of the opera found most of its substance through the narration of a fictional psychoanalyst, Dr. Eva Stone. The details presented in the narration helped create an atmosphere in {…}
The Hudson Hall at the Hudson Opera House will partner with The Millay Colony for the Arts to celebrate the centenary of Women’s suffrage with a presentation of Virgil Thomson’s “The Mother of Us All.” The production of the opera will be showcased on Nov. 11, 2017, with subsequent performances on the 12th, 15th, 18th, and 19th, all of them {…}
Starting on August 31, 2017, The New Generation Festival will take over the Corsini Gardens in Florence for four days of music and opera. The event is co-founded by the conductor Maximilian Fane and features violinist Charlie Siem as artistic director. Siem will perform throughout the weekend in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. That concert will also include the {…}
The Mirror Visions Ensemble has announced its 2017-18 season. The season, which kicks off on August 7, 2017 runs through March 2018, with performances in Quebec, Maine, Philadelphia, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York. The ensemble includes soprano Vira Slywotzky, tenor Scott Murphree, baritones Jesse Blumberg, and Mischa Bouvier, and pianists Grant Wenaus, and Margaret Kampmeier. There will also be a plethora of guest artists {…}
American Opera Projects and Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood has announced the selection of six composers and three librettists who will receive fellowships for the upcoming ninth season of “Composers & the Voice.” The composers include Matthew Browne, Scott Ordway, Frances Pollock, Pamela Stein Lynde, Liliya Ugay, and Amber Vistein, while the librettists are Laura Barati, Kim Davies, and Sokunthary Svay. These artists will get a chance to {…}
Opera America continues its busy summer, recently announcing 13 participants from the U.S., Canada, and Latin America that will join its 2017 Leadership intensive Program. The 13 include Lyric Opera of Chicago’s director of community programs Alejandra Boyer, Austin Opera’s chief development officer Jennifer Dubin, Minnesota Opera’s assistant production director Julia Gallagher, Opera Memphis’ director of development Jason Hardy, Opera Philadelphia’s {…}
Portland Opera’s dedication to breaking new ground continues this coming week with the West Coast premiere of a double bill of two contemporary works, “The Difficulty of Crossing a Field” and Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Little Match Girl Passion” on July 28, 2017. The two operas will be showcased for a total of four performances on July 30, August 3, and 5. {…}
The dell’Arte Opera Ensemble will kick off its 2017 UNTAMED! Opera Festival in just a matter of weeks at New York City’s La MaMa Theatre. The festival, which starts on August 12 and runs through the 27th, will begin with a six-performance run of Francesco Cavalli’s “La Calisto.” The opera will feature sopranos Marie Marquis and Emily Hughes in the title role with {…}
The Pacific Opera Project will continue its 2017 season with five performances of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” in September. The company will present the opera on Sept. 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 outdoors at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, overlooking the city of Los Angeles. Sopranos Jamie Chamberlin (September 9,15, and 17) and Bevin Hill (September 10 and 16) will share the title role while {…}
American Opera Projects has announced the six singers who will comprise the organization’s Resident Ensemble for the upcoming ninth season of its Composers & the Voice training program. They include soprano Tookah Sapper, soprano Jennifer Goode Cooper, mezzo-Soprano Blythe Gaissert, tenor Blake Friedman, baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco and bass Adrian Rosas. For one year, these young artists with work with composers and librettists who have received fellowships. The Resident {…}