The Marriage of Figaro - Articles Page 20

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) Music Director Designate Jaime Martin makes his only appearance this season on LACO's Orchestral Series when he conducts the West Coast premiere of the LACO-co-commissioned song cycle Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner, known to many as a guitarist with Grammy Award-winning alternative rock band The National and one of the most sought-after composers of his generation, on Saturday, April 27, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre, and Sunday, April 28, 2019, 7 pm, at Royce Hall. Dessner's work was written for and features Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, who is also spotlighted in Mozart's Requiem with soprano Sarah Shafer, tenor Thomas Cooley, bass Dashon Burton and the USC Thornton Chamber Singers. Martin begins his tenure with LACO in the 2019-20 season.

Since 2011 Mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson has sung the title role in 12 different productions of Bizet's Carmen. She will star in yet another this month for San Diego Opera. From here it's on to rehearsals for nine performances of Bizet's masterwork at Seattle Opera. Is the singer tiring of Carmen? Not even close. She loves the character's sense of freedom and empowerment, and works with each new director to make her performance even more convincing.

American Opera Projects (AOP) announces the return of its popular Composers & the Voice program for its 2019-21 seasons. Created and led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, six composers and up to three librettists will be selected for two-year fellowships to learn the fundamentals of writing for the voice and opera stage. Workshop sessions with professional opera singers, mentors, and instructors are held at AOP's home base in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Applications and complete information will be available beginning March 18 at www.aopopera.org/composers_voice. The deadline for applications is April 26 with fellowships announced by July 16.

Opera Colorado invites members of the community to apply for a non-singing supernumerary role in its upcoming season-closing production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. A supernumerary (usually referred to as a "super") contributes their time and talent to the production by acting in a non-speaking/non-singing role, similar to being an extra in a movie.

Hanna-Elisabeth Muller has withdrawn from The Royal Opera's forthcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro and the role of Susanna will now be sung in all performances by Joelle Harvey.

After an international search, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce the three new singers and one new pianists for the 2019 20 HGO Studio. One of the most respected and highly competitive young artist programs in the world, the HGO Studio provides comprehensive career development to young singers, pianist/coaches, and conductors who have demonstrated potential to make major contributions to the field of opera. Seven up-and-coming opera stars remain active in the HGO Studio as well for the 2019 20 season.

Cincinnati Opera today announced news of a major transition to come in 2020: Patricia K. Beggs, The Harry Fath General Director and CEO, will retire at the close of the company's 100th anniversary season, after 35 years at the company. A national search for a new general director will begin immediately, to ensure a smooth transition.

Mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught to sing    Marguerite in Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'S Damnation of Faust March 8-10 New York - International Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught will step in this week with the acclaimed Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall, where she will perform Marguerite in the symphony's March 8 and 10 concerts of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust.

Following the enthusiastically received 2018 May Festival, the first with Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena, the Cincinnati May Festival announced a three-year contract extension for Mr. Mena. He will now serve as Principal Conductor into the May Festival's 150th anniversary in 2023.

Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced the programming, initial casting, and creative teams for Utah Opera's 2019-20 season, sponsored by the George S. and Dolores Dor Eccles Foundation. In its upcoming season, Utah Opera produces four operas at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre: Verdi's La traviata in October 2019, Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's Silent Night in January 2020, Rossini's The Barber of Seville in March 2020, and Massenet's Tha s in May 2020. Both Silent Night and Tha s are company premieres. Season subscriptions are on sale now by calling (801) 533-6683 or visiting utahopera.org. Single-opera tickets go on sale to the general public on June 14, 2019 through Utah Opera and ArtTix outlets.

With the original run and first extension completely sold out, Steep Theatre is extending the run of Ike Holter's Red Rex through March 30. Jack Miggins, who was nominated for a Jeff Award for his work in Steep's 2014 production of The Vandal, will join the cast in the role of Adam beginning on March 13. Tickets are on sale now at steeptheatre.com/redrex, and they're expected to sell very quickly. 

On Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm, the curtain will rise on Rita (Two Men and a Woman) and Susanna's Secret, two one-act operas that are sure to bring a smile to the audience. The light evening of comic story lines and beautiful music is perfect for the first-time goer, while the rarity of the pairing and authenticity of the production will satisfy even the most sophisticated opera lover. A playful look at marital discord is at the heart of both Donizetti's Rita and Wolf-Ferrari's Susanna's Secret, but the conflicts resolve themselves in very different ways, both musically and dramatically. The darkly comic Rita (originally titled Two Men and a Woman) is about a mercurial and domineering woman who has re-married after mistakenly thinking her first husband has died. When he reappears unexpectedly, a showdown arises between her two husbands to decide the outcome-who has to remain married to Rita, and who gets to leave the exasperating situation. In Susanna's Secret, a jealous husband smells tobacco on his wife's clothes and is convinced that she is having an affair. He searches and searches but can't seem to catch her in the act. What could her secret be?

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 2018-2019 season with Mozart's sophisticated comedy Cosi fan tutte March 16, 20, 22 and 24 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in Italian with English subtitles. 

Welsh National Opera will return to their English home of Birmingham Hippodrome this March with another sensational season of Opera including Un ballo in maschera (6 Mar), The Magic Flute (7 & 9 Mar) and Roberto Devereux (8 Mar).

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) announces its 2019-2020 Season celebrating Music Director Rossen Milanov's 10th Anniversary. Mr. Milanov is honored to have recently been named the inaugural Edward T. Cone Music Director.

The Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada's premier training program for young opera professionals, welcomes four new artists for the 2019/2020 season: tenor Matthew Cairns, bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian, mezzo-soprano Jamie Groote, and Alex Soloway as a pianist and intern coach. The four will join the Ensemble Studio in August 2019 and become part of a program that has launched the careers of over 230 Canadian opera professionals.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. This is the third year the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, and the second for livestreaming on YouTube. The livestream was hosted by HGO Studio alumna Andrea Carroll. She is currently performing in The Pearl Fishers as Le la and placed first in the 2012 Concert of Arias. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the finalists for the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on February 1, 2019, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.