Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” has always been the gold standard for Italian opera buffa as it is based on the Figaro plays of 18th-century French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais. It seems that the buffa-style laughs and gags endemic to this masterpiece were not enough for Spanish director Joan Font, whose version is currently running at Houston Grand Opera. What {…}
The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey forced the Houston Grand Opera out of its regular space in the Wortham Theater Center and into a temporary one, dubbed HGO Resilience Theater inside the cavernous George Brown Convention Center in downtown. Experiencing a performance in such an unusual setting wasn’t a unique experience for me after seeing a production of “Tannhauser” inside a {…}
The Houston Grand Opera is primed for an exciting 2018-19 season after a tumultuous fall of 2017. Combining major classics with some unique modern works. What makes these productions all the more exciting are the artists themselves. And the company did a tremendous casting job this season. Here are the five artists that will make some major headlines this season {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2018-19 season featuring six productions of German, Italian, Spanish and French repertoire. There will also be a world premiere, the first for the company in over a decade. The season opens with “The Flying Dutchman” on Oct. 19 with Andrzej Dobber in the title role and Rachel Willis-Sørensen in the role of Senta. Kristinn Sigmundsson sings {…}
As we go deeper into January, we see more and more opera companies returning to business. The Metropolitan Opera is still very much at the forefront of some of the richest opera experiences of the weekend, but this weekend we will turn to other exciting companies taking on projects with greater risk. The majority of this weekend’s list consists of {…}
OPERA America has announced the grant awards for 11 opera companies through the Repertoire Development Grants program, supported by The Opera Fund. A total of $225,000 was awarded to 11 opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera’s upcoming opera “Eurydice” by composer Matthew Aucoin and librettist Sarah Ruhl. The work will be based on the play by Sarah Ruhl and tells the Orpheus story from the perspective of {…}
It’s December and that means that most companies are gearing up for the holiday season with the shows they put on. This week alone is proof of that with a number of major companies turning to the holiday spirit to inspire their new productions. There is even one opera making a world premiere with the theme in mind. Shockingly, there {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced reconstruction at the Wortham Theater Center will take longer than expected. As a result, the company will present its winter season at the HGO Resilience Theater at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The company will present Strauss’s “Elektra” from Jan. 19–Feb. 2, 2018 and Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” from Jan. 26–Feb. 10, 2018 as well as {…}
This weekend will feature a ton of opera across North America, with companies opening a number of productions and others closing them up. First, let’s take a look at the new runs opening this week. Saratoga Opera’s “La Traviata” gets its first performances on Friday and Sunday while Opera Omaha presents its only two “Tosca” showcases of the year those {…}
The weekend will be jam-packed with a slew of unique operas, some of them appearing for the first time this season. Giancarlo Menotti’s “The Medium” opens on Friday, with subsequent performances on Saturday over at Pacific Opera Project. Canadian Opera Company continues its run of “L’Elisir d’Amore” on Friday and Sunday and finishes off its run of “Arabella” on Saturday. {…}
Another operatic weekend. Another set of opening performances around North America. The big one on the radar is “Samson et Dalila” at the Dallas Opera, which is set to star Olga Borodina. The opera opens on Friday with another performance set for Sunday. Houston Grand Opera opens its production of “La Traviata” on Saturday. Additionally, the Florentine Opera opens its {…}