Pittsburgh Opera has announced that Tarek Abdalla has joined its board of directors. A partner at the law firm Jones Day, Abdalla bring with him experience in representing contractors, owners, developers, equipment suppliers, engineers, and architects in notable public and private projects in the industries of energy and construction, including power plants, pipelines, and forms of energy infrastructure. Abroad, Abdalla {…}
The American Opera Project has been awarded $9,000 by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers: Commissioning Grants. The grant will be used toward the commissioning of “Precipice,” a new work by Rima Fand. “Precipice” is an object theatre/chamber opera that tells the story of one woman’s struggle to find her authentic voice in American’s mountain west. Fand is a {…}
Rolando Villazón has published his latest novel “Amadeus auf dem Fahrrad (Amadeus on a bicycle).” The novel was published by Rowohlt and is intended to be a love letter to Mozart. The book is currently only available in German and tells the story of a Mexican adolescent Vian Maurer, who dreams of becoming an opera singer but failed due to {…}
The Festival Música en Villafranca 2020 has announced its summer edition. The festival, which will be held from July 8 through August 22, will hold concerts at the Villafranca del Bierzo in the province of León, Spain. The edition will include 13 concerts at the San Francisco Church and two at Gil y Carrasco. Ainhoa Arteta will be among the {…}
(Image Provided by Marquee TV) Marquee TV has announced that it will be presenting two operas on its platform this month. Both works, classics from the standard repertory, can be viewed on Marquee TV’s official website. It begins with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” in a production from Glyndebourne. The opera is conducted by Omer Meir Wellber and features Olga Busuioc in {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 17th week of its nightly streams. This week’s streams include such opera stars as Anna Netrebko, Luciano Pavarotti, Ben Heppner, and Eva Marton. Monday, July 6 – Puccini’s La Bohème Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, Alexey Lavrov, Matthew Rose, and Paul Plishka, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From February 24, 2018. Tuesday, {…}
Artist Elizabeth Peyton has started an online exhibition of her new works, with the first two in the series emphasizing scenes from opera. Peyton, who has painted such subjects as David Bowie, Leonardo Di Caprio, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth II, David Hockney, has taken on images of Otello and Isolde. For the “Otello” painting, Peyton was inspired by famed tenor Jonas {…}
(Credit: Cliff Roles) Sarasota Opera has announced that Scott Guinn will become the company’s new Director of Development starting on July 1, 2020. Guinn, a former singer, first appeared with the company in 2006 in the role of Schaunard in “La Bohème” before becoming an outreach singer in 2007. From there, he joined the company in an administrative capacity as {…}
(Credit: Lorenzo Gaudenzi) “Powder Her Face” by Thomas Adès premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival on July 1st, 1995. While the opera was well-received by music critics, “Powder Her Face” became notorious for its sexually explicit content. With a libretto by Philip Hensher, the opera tells the story of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, a famous British socialite of the twentieth {…}
Victorian Opera has announced that it will be canceling several productions originally planned for the fall season. Among the productions affected are “Margaret Fulton: The Musical,” which was originally scheduled to take place on Sept. 15-19 at Arts Centre Melbourne. The same goes for Franz Schubert’s “The Friends of Salamanca,” which was slated for performance between Sept. 25-26 at Arts {…}
Pacific Opera Project has announced that on July 15, 2020, it will be presenting a watch party for its production of “Madama Butterfly.” The party, which kicks off at 5 p.m. PST, will feature interviews with Artistic Director Josh Shaw and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura as they relate the first-ever interpretation of this famed opera that {…}