(Credit: Ticanda Thompson) 12-year-old, Caleb Thompson will understudy the role of “Char’es Baby” in Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in my Bones” at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2021-22 season. Thompson is a voice student at Stax Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. Here, he has also been a part of an opera class that started after the cancelation of Opera Memphis’s {…}
Opera Memphis has announced that it will present “Scalia/Ginsburg” for one night only on June 12, 2021. The showcase will take place at the Germantown Performing Arts Center and starts at 7 p.m. with a preshow talk kicking off at 6:15. The opera will star Dane Suarez in the role of Justice Anton Scalia with Stephanie Doche as Justice Ruth {…}
Opera Memphis has announced that it will present “In Real Life” on May 21 and 22. The showcase, which will take place at the Clark Opera Memphis Center, features 12 characters all struggling to find love in the digital age. They will be personified by four singers, including Jake Stamatis, Marcus King, Tracy Thomas, and soprano Tess Altiveros in her {…}
Opera Memphis has announced several upcoming live and free events. First up will be “Drive Thru Arias,” a concert set to take place on April 24 from 2-4 p.m. and will feature a number of artists performing music by Puccini, Bizet, and Mozart among many others. The artists include Dane Suarez and Stephanie Doche will be joined by Philip Himebook, {…}
Opera Memphis has announced its fall season. The company will open its fall season on Sept. 26 at The Grove at GPAC with “Opera Goes to Broadway,” a celebration of operas that have inspired musicals, as well as operas and musicals that share the same inspiration. The season will continue on Oct. 10, the company will present “Arias in the {…}
(Opera Memphis/ Ziggy Mack) Committed to bringing opera to modern audiences in a meaningful and accessible manner, Opera Memphis is underway with a number of artistic initiatives which bring together matters of race, equity, and music. Currently halfway through its 30 Days of Opera program, the company has taken its passion to local venues and markets throughout the city of {…}
Madame Florence Cole Talbert McCleave will be inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame on Nov. 8, 2019. McCleave was known as the “First Lady of Grand Opera” and the “Queen of the Concert Stage” during her life. Born in 1890, she was the first African-American woman and opera singer to perform internationally to critical acclaim. She eventually settled {…}
Opera Memphis has announced its 2019-20 season featuring two main productions and a variety of programs and festivals. Opera Memphis opens with “30 Days of Opera” which features dozens of free opera performances across Memphis and the MidSouth, turning the opera house inside out and taking the music to you. Performances will be held at the Cooper-Young Festival, Germantown Festival, {…}
Opera Memphis has announced its 2019 Midtown Opera Festival. The event kicks off in April with “The Falling and the Rising,” an opera that follows the imagined journey of a soldier suspended inside a coma after a roadside attack. The work was composed by Zach Redler with a libretto by Jerre Dyne. Performance Dates: April 6, 12, 13, 2019 The {…}
As expected, the opera companies are coming back in full force as the spring season sets in. This week we go around the continent with a mix of different operas, including classic works and modern operas. The Nightingale – Canadian Opera Company The Igor Stravinsky opera gets its first set of performances on Friday and Saturday. The production will be {…}
Opera America has announced the recipients of the second cycle of Innovation Grants. The grants, which are “generously funded by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation,” were launched in 2016 in support companies that have shown tremendous innovation in diverse areas of the art form. The grants total $1.5 million. This year, 20 companies were awarded the prestigious grants. They {…}