OPERA America Onstage has announced its 2023-24 season with a lineup of big name artists Terence Blanchard, Anthony Davis, Samantha Hankey, and Jake Heggie are just a few of the luminaries included in this year’s season. Audiences can either attend events in-person at OPERA America’s National Opera Center in New York, or watch the free livestreams. Here’s what OPERA America {…}
OPERA America has announced the six recipients of its Next Stage Grants program. In sum, the grants total $200,000. Among the winners are Chicago Opera Theater’s production of “Book of Mountains and Seas” by Huang Ruo; Los Angeles Opera’s “Highway 1, USA” by William Grant Still and Verna Arvey; New Orleans Opera’s “Blue” by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson; Opera {…}
(Photo credit: Billy Diaz) OPERA America has announced the addition of new members and officers to its Board of Directors. Here is a full list of the new board members. Angel Blue, Soprano Cheryl Slay Carr, Board President, Nashville Opera Antonio C. Cuyler, Professor, University of Michigan Barbara Lynne Jamison, General Director and CEO, Kentucky Opera Christopher Koelsch, President and {…}
OPERA American has announced that Deborah Brevoort has won the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize. She will take home $7,000 for creative development and career advancement. Brevoort is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and has written librettos for nine operas including “The Knock,” Embedded,” “Steal a Pencil for Me,” and “Dinner 4 3.” Her works have {…}
The New York Opera Alliance (NYOA) will launch a five-borough opera series in New York City. The inaugural event, NYOANext: The Bronx, will highlight the Bronx’s opera community with a public showcase on April 22, 2023. Local Bronx singers will perform alongside several opera companies from around the city, including Bronx Opera, International Brazilian Opera Company, and Opera Praktikos, NYC’s {…}
“Liederabend With Felix Jarrar & Friends” will give a concert at Opera America featuring 14 world premiere pieces. Composer and pianist Jarrar with collaborators mezzo-soprano Jessica Trainor-Tasucu, contralto Allison Gish, tenor Ryan Mangan, and baritone Miguel Angel Vasquez will present a concert of the works written throughout the pandemic. The program includes “Wild West,” song cycles “French Kisses” with texts {…}
OPERA America has announced the departure of its chief programs officer. In an e-blast the company announced that Laura Lee Everett had been appointed to the role of executive director of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). She will assume her new role starting on March 21, 2023. “I am thrilled to be joining the team at USITT,” {…}
Image Source: OPERA America OPERA America has been undertaking a project that can be considered a tremendous service to anyone interested in, working in, or studying the opera industry—now and in the future. It’s their Oral History Project, focused on American opera’s progress over the past 50 years and coinciding with OPERA America’s 50th anniversary in 2020. Supported by the {…}
Soundstreams is a semifinalist for the Opera America’s Award for Digital Excellence in Opera. The company was hailed for its production of “Garden of Vanished Pleasures” by composers Cecilia Livingston and Donna McKevitt. The work was directed by Tim Albery and features design by Michelle Tracey, digital projections by Cam Davis, and musical direction by Rachael Kerr. The work is {…}
OPERA America has issued an apology after emails were leaked that showed transphobic comments. In a statement, the organization said, “We apologize. Language used last weekend by participants on one of our listservs, an OPERA America platform, was hurtful, disrespectful, and plainly transphobic. In our statement of response, we did not effectively call it out for what it is. We’re {…}
UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, it has been brought to OperaWire’s attention that the emails as leaked online, were out of order and hence some of the responses, mainly those of Pamela Jones, Laurie Rogers, and Peter Kazaras, were out of context. OperaWire has since communicated with Opera America’s Dan Cooperman who provided the accurate context of the {…}