The American Opera Project Selects Fellows & Resident Singers For Innovative Training Program
a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The American Opera Project (AOP), announces its selection of eight composers and librettists to receive fellowships for its 10th cycle of the Composers & the Voice training program. Composers Alaina Ferris, Matt Frey, Michael Lanci, Mary Prescott, Jessica Rudman, Tony Solitro, and librettists Amanda Hollander and Jonathan Turner, will each receive a 2-year, tuition-free fellowship that provides experience writing for the voice and opera stage. The fellows will work collaboratively with the following six singers, named as the 10th Composers & the Voice Resident Ensemble: Lyric Coloratura Soprano Justine Aronson, Lyric Soprano Jasmine Muhammad, Mezzo-Soprano Augusta Caso, Tenor Timothy Stoddard, Baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco and Bass-Baritone Brandon Coleman.
Production Recording Of PAUL'S CASE Released
National Sawdust Tracks released the recording of the chamber opera Paul's Case, composed by Gregory Spears, libretto by Kathryn Walat and Gregory Spears and conducted by Robert Wood.
Theatre And Dance At Wayne Offers Free Children's Theatre Tour To Detroit Community Public Schools
This summer the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, a program within the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University, presents the Touring Children's Theatre production of 'Miss Electricity' by Kathryn Walat. This colorful and fast-paced show tours for free to nearly 30 Detroit Community Public Schools as part of the department's ongoing community outreach program. The public is invited to purchase tickets to a performance at the Hilberry Theatre on on June 8th at 11 a.m.
BWW Overview: A Look-Back at Opera's Many-Colored Dream Coat of Performance Highs in 2018
Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.
Cincinnati Opera Announces Gregory Spears + US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith's CASTOR & PATIENCE
Evans Mirageas, The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director of Cincinnati Opera, today announced that the company has commissioned a new evening-length opera, Castor and Patience, from composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States. Castor and Patience will premiere at the Corbett Theater in the School for Creative and Performing Arts in July 2020, highlighting Cincinnati Opera's centennial season. It will be Spears' second work for the company, following the extraordinary critical and popular success of Fellow Travelers, with librettist Greg Pierce, in 2016. Smith, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Life on Mars, is one of the most lauded poets of her generation; her original story for Castor and Patience is both timeless and topical, setting a prototypical family conflict against the backdrop of recent events.
Keen Company Announces 2018 KEEN TEENS FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK
Today Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein of the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company announced the Twelfth Season of Keen Teens. This season's offerings will be Winifred & Myrtle Go to High School by Leah Nanako Wrinkler, directed by Michael Goldfried; Around 2 by James Anthony Tyler, directed by Estefania Fadul; and The Caribbean Queen with book & lyrics by Jamie Cowperthwait, music & lyrics by Salomon Lerner, directed and choreographed by Ilana Ransom Toeplitz with musical direction by Salomon Lerner. An-Lin Dauber will provide scenic design, with costume design by Karen Boyer, lighting design by Kate August and sound design by Karl Berntson.
BWW Review: NY City Opera's Moving, Lively CRUZAR and 'What is an Opera?'
In many areas of the arts in New York, January is a quiet month. But in the opera world, the last few weeks certainly have been jumping. It has also been a fine time for asking 'What is an Opera?' For me, January started with Prototype 2018's ACQUANETTA and ended this past weekend--with many in between--with New York City Opera's 'first mariachi opera,' CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA (TO CROSS THE FACE OF THE MOON).
Atlanta's Synchronicity Theatre to present 2018 SHEWRITES New Play Festival
In association with the Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis and Atlanta's Working Title Playwrights, Synchronicity Theatre will present SheWrites, a national playwriting competition for women, February 12 23, 2018 at Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. The plays that will be workshopped this year are Medica by Daryl Lisa Fazio, Romeo & Naomi Ramirez by Kathryn Walat, and Hands of Color by Kimberly Monks. Tickets to public readings are free, but reservations are required. For more information, please visit synchrotheatre.com or call 404-484-8636.