Paul Bentley

San Francisco Opera Center Announces 2025 Adler Fellows
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 16, 2024

The San Francisco Opera Center has announced the 2025 Adler Fellows, highlighting emerging artists in opera.

Video: First Look at The San Francisco Opera's THE HANDMAID'S TALE
by Joshua Wright - Sep 25, 2024

Get a first look at San Francisco Opera's West Coast premiere of composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood. Check out the video!

Photos: THE HANDMAID'S TALE at San Francisco Opera
by Blair Ingenthron - Sep 15, 2024

San Francisco Opera is presenting the West Coast premiere of composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood. Check out production photos here!

San Francisco Opera Opens 102nd Season With Opera in the Park
by Stephi Wild - Sep 6, 2024

San Francisco Opera will celebrate the opening of its 102nd season with San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park on Sunday, September 8 at 1:30 p.m. The free concert—a beloved annual Bay Area tradition now in its 49th year—takes place at Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE Comes to San Francisco Opera This Month
by Stephi Wild - Sep 6, 2024

San Francisco Opera will present the West Coast premiere of composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood.

Video: San Francisco Opera Releases Teaser Trailer for THE HANDMAID'S TALE
by Blair Ingenthron - Aug 10, 2024

Watch a teaser trailer for San Francisco Opera's The Handmaid's Tale, running September 14-October 1, 2024, in the video here.

San Francisco Opera Announces 2024�"25 Season Including CARMEN, LA BOHÈME and More
by A.A. Cristi - Feb 21, 2024

The 2024–25 Season includes six mainstage opera productions along with concert presentations including a one-night-only performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on October 26, honoring the work's 200th anniversary and, in the summer of 2025, a special Pride Concert celebrating San Francisco's LGBTQIA+ community.

Review: THE HANDMAID'S TALE, English National Opera, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - Feb 2, 2024

Paul Ruder's opera, based on Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel, has, frighteningly, gained more relevance since its premiere in 2000

Juliet Stevenson Joins the ENO's THE HANDMAID'S TALE
by Stephi Wild - Jan 17, 2024

This February, multi award-winning actress Juliet Stevenson makes a highly anticipated return to the West End in the English National Opera’s (ENO) acclaimed operatic adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE Returns to the ENO in February
by Stephi Wild - Jan 4, 2024

The Handmaid’s Tale opera will return to the ENO in a highly anticipated production. Read more about the upcoming show including how to get tickets, and all about the new arrival.

BWW Review: THE HANDMAID'S TALE, English National Opera
by Franco Milazzo - Apr 11, 2022

Poul Ruder's 1998 operatic take on The Handmaid's Tale takes flight once again at the English National Opera featuring a new production and the West End debut of Camille Cottin (Killing Eve, Call My Agent).

Deutsche Grammophon To Release World Premiere Recording Of Jóhann Jóhannsson's Oratorio Drone Mass
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 3, 2022

The previously unrecorded Drone Mass was described by its composer, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, as “a contemporary oratorio.” Written for voices, string quartet and electronics, it was commissioned and premiered by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, aka ACME, who toured and recorded with Jóhannsson for almost ten years.

Alexander Neef Appointed Next General Director Of Opéra National De Paris
by Stephi Wild - Jul 24, 2019

Today, Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef was named the next General Director of Opéra national de Paris. The official announcement was made in Paris at a meeting of the French Cabinet. Neef's term will begin in the 2021/2022 season, succeeding Stéphane Lissner as current head of Opéra national de Paris; until then, the COC General Director will remain in Toronto, guiding the company through to the close of its 2020/2021 season.

BLO Announces Free Student Tix For THE HANDMAIDS TALE
by A.A. Cristi - Apr 26, 2019

Boston Lyric Opera will offer 50 free student tickets for each performance of its upcoming production, The Handmaid's Tale.  High school and college students may reserve tickets online (one per student), and pick them up at the box office starting 90 minutes (and no later than 15 minutes) before curtain time.  Additionally, BLO will offer $25 tickets for teachers, professors and other educators (limit two per order with code TEACHER). Details and links to student online order forms are available at blo.org/mayday.  ("Mayday" is the code word used by revolutionaries opposing the authoritarian laws of Gilead in Atwood's book.)

Margaret Atwood Discusses BLO's THE HANDMAID'S TALE At CitySpace
by Stephi Wild - Apr 10, 2019

One day before the East Coast premiere of the opera "The Handmaid's Tale," Boston Lyric Opera and WBUR bring author Margaret Atwood and composer Poul Ruders to WBUR CitySpace at the Lavine Broadcast Center to discuss the galvanizing 1985 novel, its resurgence in contemporary culture, and its reimagining as a contemporary opera.

Theatre Of Voices Performs World Premiere Of David Lang Work On March 20
by A.A. Cristi - Feb 26, 2019

Contemporary vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices, along with Artistic Director Paul Hillier, return to Zankel Hall on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. for the world premiere of the complete cycle of David Lang's the writings. Also on the program is the New York premiere of Songs from the Soil, with music by Arvo Pärt and a visual poem by award-winning Danish filmmaker Phie Ambo. On this program, Theatre of Voices is joined by Yale Voxtet.

Boston Lyric Opera Announces Spring 2019 Season - THE HANDMAID'S TALE, LUCRETIA, and More!
by Stephi Wild - Jan 30, 2019

Boston Lyric Opera's (BLO) season of rebels and dissenters continues into Spring 2019 with tales of strong women helmed by women directors. BLO's productions of THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and THE HANDMAID'S TALE tell startlingly relevant stories -- both with extraordinary music, and both produced in distinctive, non-traditional spaces. Artistic and General Director Esther Nelson says the spring season highlights stories from which female characters emerge as moral and societal touchstones.

COC Announces New Commission THE OLD FOOLS By Composer Ana Sokolovi And Librettist Paul Bentley 
by A.A. Cristi - Dec 12, 2018

The Canadian Opera Company announced today a new mainstage commission: The Old Fools by celebrated Montreal-based composer Ana Sokolovi? and seasoned British librettist Paul Bentley. La Reine-Garcon, first announced in 2015, is moving forward as a co-commission with the Opera de Montreal; it's the first mainstage collaboration of its kind between the two major Canadian opera companies and at its helm are two exceptional Canadian artists: Julien Bilodeau as composer and Michel Marc Bouchard as librettist.

BWW Review: Saariaho's SOUND, Directed by Sellars, Says Yes to Noh at White Light Festival
by Richard Sasanow - Nov 22, 2018

With a formidable cast of three, and a brilliant ensemble of voices and instrumental musicians, Kaija Saariaho's ONLY THE SOUND REMAINS swept through town last weekend, created with director Peter Sellars. Once again, she left us in awe of how she can fill an impossibly large theatre with what seems on paper to be the tiniest of works.

American Contemporary Music Ensemble in Three Shows at Big Ears
by Julie Musbach - Mar 9, 2017

ACME, American Contemporary Music Ensemble, will perform three concerts at this year's Big Ears Festival, on March 23 and 24, 2017, celebrating their new album, Thrive on Routine, released in February on Sono Luminus, as well as collaborating with Icelandic composer and performer Johann Johannsson, Denmark's Theatre of Voices, and Blonde Redhead.