Maria Nockin - Page 4

LA Opera's newest digital short film, Death, unites the striking visuals of celebrated filmmaker Nadia Hallgren, the Emmy-nominated director of the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming, with the intriguing harmonies of composer Tyshawn Sorey, a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship.

On Sunday, March 21 at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time,  San Francisco’s acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, continues its Virtual Recital Series with Anything for Love and Honor, featuring dramatic tenor Issachah Savage, a 2013 Merola alumnus.

On February 14, 2021, Valentine’s Day, Pittsburgh Festival Opera presented seven singers in a romantic concert entitled Some Enchanted Evening.  James Lesniak and Robert Frankenberg provided thoughtful and supportive piano accompaniment and Festival Opera Board members added charming love stories.

In April, 2019, Pacific Opera Project performed Puccini’s Madama Butterfly 蝶々夫人 in Japanese and English at the Aratani Theatre, part of the Japanese-American Cultural Center of Los Angeles’s “Little Tokyo. With a new libretto by Josh Shaw and Eiki Isomura. See the film in which ll Japanese roles were sung in Japanese, English roles in English.

On the evening of February 10, 2021, The Broad Stage presented Breathing Free, an auditory and visual online love letter to freedom produced by Heartbeat opera to tell the stories of those who who have experienced various versions of its absence. Through an inquisitive collaborative process with a diverse community of artists, Heartbeat breaks down traditional barriers to reimagine opera for artists and audiences of the twenty-first century.

In celebration of Valentine's Day, on Saturday, February 13, at 5:00 P.M. PST, Russell Thomas, Los Angeles Opera’s new Artist in Residence, welcomes Ashley Faatoalia, Tiffany Townsend, Alaysha Fox and pianist Leonard Hayes to the On Now digital stage for the first episode in its After Hours series, 'Black Love.” Enjoy sweet renditions of works by composers such as H.T. Burleigh, Undine Smith Moore, and Margaret Bonds.

Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins’ Lumee’s Dream, is the expansion of Lumee’s Act II short monologue sung while smoking outside a nightclub in p r i s m. She says she “hurls herself out the window” into the blue from which she eventually returns tired and wet. In the Dream, Lumee speaks of her favorite dream, her imagined reality.

The unforgettable world of Ellen Reid’s      p  r  i  s  m returns to LA Opera for two weeks. This time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning piece is streaming on your home screen.  Composer Reid and librettist Roxie Perkins' sobering story follows a mother and daughter as they explore the trauma of sexual abuse and the elasticity of memory that follows.

On January 28, 2021, Los Angeles Opera streamed a newly filmed version of Roxie Perkins and Ellen Reid’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera  p r i s m. An operatic tapestry, p r i s m tells of the psychological dreams, desires and struggles of Bibi, a sexual assault survivor.

Soldier Songs is a filmed opera that tells about the life and memories of a returning soldier. Composer and librettist David T. Little says Johnathan McCullough approached him about a production in an Airstream.

Soldier Songs is a filmed opera that tells about the life and memories of a returning soldier. Composer and librettist David T. Little says this concept took shape when Johnathan McCullough approached Little with an idea for a production of the opera involving an Airstream. When the pandemic happened and programming had to get shifted around,

Los Angeles Opera was the first to launch original programming in response to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Because of the success of its online  programming, LAO decided to make that feature a permanent part of its offering and to give it a name that reflects fresh and innovative interpretations of the art form. Welcome to LA Opera On Now.

The West is a Land of Infinite Beginnings will stream for free Jan. 15-29. The promise of the American dream runs up against hard realities and uncontrollable forces in this new digital short from Missy Mazzoli, composer of Song from the Uproar and Breaking the Waves. James Darrah directs this video that tells of a ghostly sodbuster.

On January 8, 2021, Opera Philadelphia presented Bon Appétit! a Sweet Soirée. Mezzo-Soprano Jamie Barton portrayed  Julia Child and Jonathan Easter accompanied her with Hoiby’s sparkling, decorative piano score. Keep the Music Going Directors Ryan and Tonya McKinny provided the superb audio and video production.

On January 8, 2021, Opera Philadelphia presented BON APPETIT! A SWEET SOIREE. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton portrayed Julia Child and Jonathan Easter accompanied her with Lee Hoiby’s sparkling, decorative piano score. Keep the Music Going Directors Ryan and Tonya McKinny provided the superb audio and video production.

Los Angeles Opera’s Modulation, presented in collaboration with the Prototype Festival, adapts opera and theater to a new interactive format. The voices of extraordinary artists show us the irrepressible power of music to provide comfort and instigate contemplation of ourselves, our art, our world. Access to Modulation, available January 8–16, 2021, costs $25 per viewing household. Access will enable you to enjoy Modulation for one week.

Both Los Angeles and San Francisco Opera companies are closed right now, but there is still a wealth material to see and hear on each of their websites. LA has recitals and Coffee with Conlon. SFO has links to Eun Sun Kim’s conducting dates at La Scala. https://www.laopera.org/discover/la-opera-on-now/ https://sfopera.com/opera-is-on/

 Los Angeles Opera has a wealth of operatic and recital material on its website page On Now.  A must see link is the company’s inaugural event, the virtual company premiere of The Anonymous Lover, an unjustly neglected 1780 chamber opera by Joseph Bologne, better known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

On Saturday evening, December 19, 2020,  Arizona Opera premiered its third  Studio Spotlight Series Concert online at no charge. The first part of the program featured tenor Bille Bruley, soprano Kaitlyn Johnson, and bass-baritone Brandon Morales singing opera arias. The second part was a performance  of César Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major.

This holiday week the Virtual Opera Tour’s Magic Opera Flying Carpet is making its first stop at Opera San Jose for their magnificent online performance of Three Decembers. It costs $40 to watch on demand.The price is a bit steep, but the story is affecting, the music is fabulous and the performances are riveting.