Today is World Opera Day!

Today, October 25, is World Opera Day, an international initiative to showcase the ways opera companies and artists enrich the livelihood and civic fabric of their communities and for operalovers to show their support for this unique art form. This annual event is a collaboration between OPERA America, Opera Europa and Opera Latinoamerica.

Forget any misconceptions about opera being old-fashioned or thing of the past. DEAD MAN WALKING by Heggie and McNally started out the Met season, where such recent works as X by Davis and Davis, FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS by Catan, THE HOURS by Puts and Pierce, FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES by Blanchard and Lemmons will also be heard in the coming months. 

Among the other contemporary operas to be heard this season are GROUNDED by Tesori and Brant, 10 DAYS IN A MADHOUSE by Orth and Moscovitch (Philadelphia), THE SHINING by Moravec and Campbell (Atlanta),  PROXIMITY by Shaw and Clarke; Roumain and Deavere Smith; JL Adams and Haines (Chicago), THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS by Bates and Campbell (San Francisco), ANGEL ISLAND by Ruo (Prototype Festival), CASTOR AND PATIENCE by Spears and Smith (Cincinnati Opera) and ADORATION by Kouyoumdjian and Vavrek (Prototype Festival).  

For more information, see the World Opera Day website.

Photo: Todd Rosenberg/Lyric Opera of Chicago