Billy Budd News

Mickey Rowe and Laurie Roberts, Arts on the Waterfront coordinators, hope to revitalize and reinvent this event to include both theater and visual art as well as of course the live music that made the series such a staple of the Seattle scene years ago. Arts on the Waterfront will be located next door to the Seattle Aquarium and blocks west of the Seattle Art Museum. Buy local produce at the Pike Place Market and enjoy it next door to the Aquarium while watching free public theater followed by live music and moonlit dancing. There will be performances by local bands SolBird, The Horse Thieves, Country Lips, Fortune Dwellers and more. The event will run June 15-July 1. (more...)

Billy Budd, BrittenÂ’s opera about murder on the high seas, returns to the Met stage for the first time since 1997, with David Robertson conducting and Nathan Gunn in his first Met performances of the title role. (more...)

The Los Angeles Philharmonic welcomes to the Don Giovanni production team hairstylist Odile Gilbert, make-up artist James Kaliardos for NARS Cosmetics and Lighting Designer Adam Silverman. (more...)

Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct music from two secular cantatas: selections from Falla’s Atlantida, and Orff’s complete Carmina burana — which the Orchestra has not performed since 1995 — Thursday, May 31, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 1, at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 2, at 8:00 p.m. The international cast that Mr. Fru?hbeck has assembled for these performances features American soprano Erin Morley, American tenor Nicholas Phan (in his Philharmonic debut), South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo (debut), the Spanish chorus Orpheo?n Pamplone?s, Igor Ijurra Ferna?ndez, director (debut), and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director. (more...)

The Dallas Opera GuildÂ’s 24th Annual Vocal Competition for young opera singers ended on a high-note last evening when ten outstanding finalists (with Texas connections) were awarded a total of $20,000 in prize monies. It is only the second time this spring musical event has graced the stage of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Arts District. (more...)

Thomas Hampson will make his Met role debut as the power-hungry title character in a revival of Verdi’s Macbeth opening March 15. Star soprano Nadja Michael makes her Met debut as the bloodthirsty Lady Macbeth. Adrian Noble returns to the Met to direct the first revival of his 2007 production, which will be conducted by Gianandrea Noseda for the first time at the Met. Dimitri Pittas reprises his acclaimed portrayal of Macduff, and Günther Groissböck makes his Met role debut as the vengeful Banquo. (more...)

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced details of its new world premiere. Bel Canto, by the gifted young Peruvian composer Jimmy López, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is based on the best-selling novel by Ann Patchett. To premiere in Lyric’s 2015-16 season, the new opera, commissioned as part of Lyric’s Renée Fleming Initiative, will be conducted by Lyric music director Sir Andrew Davis and directed by Stephen Wadsworth. (more...)

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. "Show Boat" and "South Pacific" in the Loop, the Grammys, Whitney Houston's showtune connections, "Charlie Brown," "Pippin" and more.... (more...)

Kyle Ketelsen and Bryn Terfel will sing four performances each of the role of Leporello in the upcoming performances of Don Giovanni, replacing John Relyea who is now on vocal rest at his physician's instructions. Ketelsen will sing the role on February 21, 24, 29, and March 3; Terfel will sing the role on March 7, 10 mat, 14, and 17. (more...)

VerdiÂ’s grand masterpiece set in Ancient Egypt, Aida, will return to the Met February 9 with Violeta Urmana in the title role of an enslaved Ethiopian princess. (more...)

VerdiÂ’s grand masterpiece set in Ancient Egypt, Aida, will return to the Met February 9 with Violeta Urmana in the title role of an enslaved Ethiopian princess. (more...)

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Russell Crowe's Chicago vocal coach, a hot new Broadway star, three productions at the North Shore Center, "Show Boat," Jessie and Darren's dreams come true and more.... (more...)

The Glimmerglass Festival will hold GLIMMERATA!, the 2012 Spring Gala, on April 10 at The Metropolitan Club in Manhattan to benefit the companyÂ’s Young Artists and Summer Internshipprograms. The evening will feature music, dinner and dancing, as well as performances by 2012 Glimmerglass Artist in Residence Eric Owens, David Daniels, Dwayne Croft, Sean Panikkar, Elizabeth Futral, Young Artist Dominick Rodriguez and more. (more...)

David Robertson will conduct the MET Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall on May 29, 2012, replacing James Levine, who is continuing his rehabilitation after a fall last September. (more...)

As previously reported, Michael Grandage will be stepping down from his post as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse at the end of the year. Today, the New York Times' ArtsBeat reports that Grandage will form his own theater company. In an interview with the London's Evening Standard, Grandage spoke of his longevity in the industry and said, “It seems entirely appropriate to think about what I can take from those years, form a company that’s buildingless and go out and make work." (more...)

Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will lead his first Met performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni, in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage in his Met debut. (more...)

Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will lead his first Met performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni, in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage in his Met debut. (more...)

The first London production for 90 years of St John Ervine's searing Belfast tragedy Mixed Marriage, first seen at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, plays for a four-week season beginning tonight (Press Night: Thursday, 6 October 2011 at 7.30pm) at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre. (more...)

The first London production for 90 years of St John Ervine's searing Belfast tragedy Mixed Marriage, first seen at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, plays for a four-week season from Tuesday, 4 October 2011 at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre, with an outstanding cast including Daragh O'Malley (Sergeant Harper in ITV's Sharpe) and Nora-Jane Noone, the award-winning star of The Magdalene Sisters in her professional stage debut. (more...)

The Metropolitan OperaÂ’s 2011-12 season will feature the worldÂ’s leading singers, conductors, and stage directors in seven new productions, including a world premiere, a Met premiere, and the first complete performances of a new Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Lepage. (more...)