Christopher Alden News

San Francisco Opera will present its first virtual event, Celebrating the Summer Season, on Friday, July 10 at sfopera.com. The three-part, 90-minute program will honor the artists and operasa?"Verdi's Ernani, Handel's Partenope and Mason Bates and Mark Campbell's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobsa?"from the Company's 2020 Summer Season which was canceled due to the pandemic. Celebrating the Summer Season will be available beginning at 7:30 pm on July 10 and on demand through 11:59 pm on Sunday, July 12 (all times PDT).

Opera Omaha announces its third annual ONE FESTIVAL. The ONE Festival is a place for wild dreams, wilder execution, and exploration of those ideas on a grand scale. Programming is driven by the artists, not the executives. With an emphasis on experimentation and new worka?'yet not tethered to premieresa?'ONE fosters an environment that encourages and celebrates bold risks and transformative storytelling. At a glance, one might assume this is happening in NYC or LA; but this opera hothouse sizzles in the dead center of our country, far from the coasts. 

San Francisco Opera's 2020 Summer SeasonSan Francisco Opera presents a trio of masterworks spanning the 18th century to the present for its 2020 Summer Season at the War Memorial Opera House June 7a?"July 3. In an update announced today, Caroline H. Hume Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani replacing James Gaffigan who has withdrawn from the production due to family reasons. The summer season will also include George Frideric Handel's Partenope in Christopher Alden's popular production and the Bay Area premiere of composer Mason Bates' kaleidoscopic exploration of life, love and creativity, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

Calixto Bieito's critically praised production of Carmen returns to the London Coliseum this January.

High Tides is the second album by  Constance Hauman. Her critically acclaimed recording, Falling Into Now, made The Guardian's list of the 10 Best Albums of 2015. High Tides features eight new songs written by Hauman and two covers, Everlong by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Les Chemins de l'Amour by French composer, Francis Poulenc. High Tides was produced by Constance Hauman and Ross Pederson - who was also the recording and mix engineer and performs throughout the album on drums, bass and midi.

Trinity Church Wall Street's Time's Arrow festival (March 5-9), known for its signature combination of early and new music, focuses this spring on amplifying the voices of female artists and exploring sensitive contemporary themes. The centerpiece of the festival is a juxtaposition of two musical portraits of the biblical figure Susanna: Handel's oratorio Susanna, and Artemisia, an opera by Laura Elise Schwendinger, with a libretto by Ginger Strand. Complementing these large-scale pieces is a concert centered on works by Barbara Strozzi, the most prolific composer of secular vocal music in Venice in the mid-17th century and a renowned poet who likely wrote many of her own texts. Performed by Trinity Choir soprano Molly Netter, the concert also features world premieres by Jessica Meyer, Doug Balliett, Alyssa Weinberg, and others (March 8). A Pipes at One concert on that same day, featuring Trinity Associate Organist Janet Yieh, will also reflect the Time's Arrow theme, with compositions by Rachel Laurin, Florence Price, Lili Boulanger, Clara Schumann, and others. All performances take place in the intimate surroundings of St. Paul's Chapel, a Georgian-era gem just a few blocks north of Trinity, and the oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan.

The Canadian Opera Company offers three bold new productions in 2019/2020 that hone in on the stories and myths that shape our perceptions and the ones that offer escape from all things ordinary. This 69th season features new productions of Puccini's Turandot, Dvo k's Rusalka, and Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel, as well as COC revivals of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Verdi's Aida, and Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

Choreographer Stephen Mills and Ballet Austin are pleased to present the world premiere of Grimm Tales, a full-length work inspired by the visual art of Natalie Frank

The Dallas Opera is extremely proud to present the season opener of the company's grand 2018-2019 "Swept Away" Season: Richard Wagner's haunting nineteenth-century masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Hollander), a work not seen on The Dallas Opera stage since January of 1994.

If you can't get enough of operas, symphonic concerts and a few musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure, have I got a summer for you! Start in New York City and head north--almost around the corner, or a weekend (or more) away--and you'll find more than enough to keep you happy during the sultry weather ahead. (Even if it doesn't turn out quite so sultry…) It covers the gamut from Handel to Puccini, from serial podcasts to light opera, from dramma serio to musical comedy, with an added emphasis on Leonard Bernstein as the music world celebrates his 100th birthday.

On August 25 this year, Leonard Bernstein would have celebrated his 100th birthday. To honor this centennial, the 2018 Bard SummerScape festival launches with the first major revival of the composer's Peter Pan. Commissioned from Olivier Award-winning director and Bernstein specialist Christopher Alden, and presented complete in an intimate new chamber arrangement, Bard's new production is the only one of Bernstein's theatrical works to be staged in the New York area during the centenary year. Alden's psychologically gripping treatment reveals the childhood fantasy's darker side, combining new choreography from Jack Ferver, with Bernstein's joyous, shimmering score. By turns whimsical and sinister, the production's cast is led by William Michals as Captain Hook,  Peter Smith as Peter Pan, Erin Markey, as Wendy, and Ferver as Tinker Bell.

 American Lyric Theater concludes the 10th Anniversary of its nationally acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program this season with InsightALT: Opera in Eden, a one-night-only concert featuring three new one-act operas written by ALT Resident Artists, hosted by composer/librettist Mark Adamo and producing artistic director Lawrence Edelson.

The Dallas Opera is proud to announce its spectacular 2018-2019 Season, "Swept Away," consisting of five captivating mainstage productions, including a passionate Puccini pairing during the month of March, designed to melt the last blast of winter, followed by the company's first-ever Falstaff.

Brooklyn Music School presents the 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute concert hosted by renowned baritone and BMS advisory board member Lester Lynch. Inspired by Dr. King's legacy and message, the program will feature selections from Mr. Lynch's recent recording On My Journey Now: Spirituals & Hymns as well as performances by BMS faculty and students.

Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program pairing the New York Premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams's Dark Waves with Act I of Wagner's Die Walk re (in concert), with soprano Heidi Melton as Sieglinde, tenor Simon O'Neill as Siegmund (in his New York Philharmonic debut), and bass John Relyea as Hunding.

Brooklyn Music School (BMS) presents Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute: Spirit of Hope on January 13, 2018 at 5pm. BMS is located at 126 Saint Felix Street, Brooklyn.

Verdi's Rigoletto, a searing exploration of patriarchy, power, and commerce, returns to the Canadian Opera Company this winter with a production from acclaimed American director Christopher Alden. A tragedy on a Shakespearean scale, the opera is brought to life by an all-star cast and conducted by pre-eminent American maestro Stephen Lord. Ten performances take place at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on January 20, 27, February 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 17, 21, and 23, 2018.

New York Festival of Song continues its 30th anniversary season today, December 2, 2017 from 1:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., when NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett hosts a monumental eight-hour concert to celebrate Leonard Bernstein as part of the worldwide 'Bernstein at 100' festivities.

New York Festival of Song continues its 30th anniversary season on Saturday, December 2, 2017 from 1:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., when NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett hosts a monumental eight-hour concert to celebrate Leonard Bernstein as part of the worldwide 'Bernstein at 100' festivities.