Matthew Ozawa News

Cincinnati Opera, today announced the repertoire and casting for Cincinnati Opera's 2019 Summer Festival, which will run from June 13 to July 28. The company's 99th season begins with a charming production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Music Hall's Springer Auditorium.

On June 30, 2018, Santa Fe Opera continued the season begun the night before with a revival of the 1904 Brescia Version of Giacomo Puccini's tragic MADAMA BUTTERFLY. The late Lee Blakeley put together the original 2010 production with simple visual lines and a bold structure. Eight years later, Matthew Ozawa restated it poetically for a new audience.

Opera Theatre St. Louis continues its 43rd season of exceptionally fine opera with another world premiere. An American Soldier is their twenty-seventh such premiere, a record which sets OTSL among the forefront of producers of new opera in America.

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER--music by Huang Ruo and libretto by David Henry Hwang, directed by Matthew Ozawa--opened at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) on June 3. The opera asks the powerful question: What does it mean to be an American? It is based on the true story of a young Chinese American, who enlisted in the Army during the war in Afghanistan and became victim of military hazing that led to his suicide. The artists spoke about the creation of the piece at the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series.

From Sunday, June 3 through Friday, June 22, 2018, conductor Michael Christie will lead the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere performances of An American Soldier, the new two-act opera by Huang Ruo and Henry David Hwang, at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road). Tenor Andrew Stenson (Danny Chen), mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu (Mother Chen), and soprano Kathleen Kim (Josephine Young) make debuts with OTSL and join bass-baritone Wayne Tigges (Sergeant Aaron Marcum) and director Matthew Ozawa for this production.

Des Moines Metro Opera's (DMMO) General and Artistic Director, Michael Egel, has announced the full casting for the Company's 45th Summer Festival Season, which runs from June 23 through July 16, 2017, and offers 17 performances of four different operas.

With stylized sets inspired by Japanese theater and lush, colorful kimono worn by singers, Seattle Opera's grand production of Madame Butterfly coming this August may seem like business-as-usual. But there's a dramatic difference that sets this Butterfly apart: the broader conversation taking place on cultural appropriation, yellowface, and Asian American representation. While certainly not new to many Asian and Pacific Islanders, these conversations have permeated the Puget Sound theater scene for the past several years following a production of The Mikado that made national news.

Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street arrived at the Skylight Music Theatre last weekend to dazzle audiences with the American songwriter's brilliant, exquisite lyrics and melodies complimented by Hugh Wheeler's book.  A story resurrected from an old three penny publication titled 'String of Pearls' adapted from a 1976 Christopher Bond play retells dark, almost demonic yet ultimately redemptive tale revealing the horrors of revenge and the power of love through this award winning musical with songs such as "Johanna," "Pretty Women," and "By the Sea." 

Lyric Opera of Chicago released today new behind-the-scenes rehearsal images from its production of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, starring Richard E. Grant and Lisa O'Hare as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. The production runs April 28 through May 21 (press opening April 29) at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Scroll down for a peek at the company in rehearsal!

Skylight Music Theatre closes the 2016-17 season with Stephen Sondheim's Tony-Award winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The musical thriller runs Friday, May 19 through Sunday, June 11, 2017 in the Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, Historic Third Ward, Milwaukee.

Arizona Opera kicks off 2017 with Puccini's masterpiece, Madama Butterfly, in Tucson on January 28 at 7:30 pm and January 29 at 2:00 pm in Tucson Music Hall at 260 S. Church and in Phoenix on February 3 & 4 at 7:30 pm and February 5 at 2:00 pm in Symphony Hall, 75 N. 2nd St., Phoenix.

Des Moines Metro Opera's (DMMO) General and Artistic Director, Michael Egel, has announced the full casting for the Company's 45th Summer Festival Season, which runs from June 23 through July 16, 2017, and offers 17 performances of four different operas.

Arizona Opera kicks off 2017 with Puccini's masterpiece, Madama Butterfly, in Tucson on January 28 at 7:30 pm and January 29 at 2:00 pm in Tucson Music Hall at 260 S. Church and in Phoenix on February 3 & 4 at 7:30 pm and February 5 at 2:00 pm in Symphony Hall, 75 N. 2nd St., Phoenix.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the delightful and touching tale ofDon Quichotte by French Romantic composer Jules Massenet in a new-to-Chicago production, opening Saturday, November 19. Lyric will offer six performances throughDecember 7. Performance dates are November 19 and 28, and December 1 and 7 at 7:30pm; and November 23 and December 4 at 2:00pm. Performances are in French with English subtitles at Lyric's Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets start at $34 and are available now at lyricopera.org/Quichotte or at 312-827-5600.

Houston, January 13, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of The Root of the Wind Is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, directed by Matthew Ozawa, on May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Wortham Theater Center and on May 15 at 7 p.m. at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. Presented under the auspices of HGOco, the company's community collaboration and education initiative, The Root of the Wind Is Water explores the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf Coast through the eyes of the residents who call the region home. The opera will be HGO's 61st world premiere. 

CHICAGO - Subscriptions go on sale February 1 at 10:00am for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 62nd season. Next season offers world-renowned artists, nine tremendous new-to-Chicago productions, and the start of Wagner's famed Ring cycle, Das Rheingold.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi's twisted tale of politics, power, forbidden love, and religion, best known for its stirring chorus 'Va, pensiero.' Nabucco opens tomorrow night, Saturday, January 23 for seven performances through February 12.  Check out a first look below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago's general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis confirmed today the repertoire and casting for the company's 2016/17 season - the second season that they have fully planned together.  

Houston, January 13, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of The Root of the Wind Is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, directed by Matthew Ozawa, on May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Wortham Theater Center and on May 15 at 7 p.m. at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. Presented under the auspices of HGOco, the company's community collaboration and education initiative, The Root of the Wind Is Water explores the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf Coast through the eyes of the residents who call the region home. The opera will be HGO's 61st world premiere. 

Lyric Unlimited presents the world premiere of Second Nature, a new opera for youth from the acclaimed composer/librettist Matthew Aucoin, at Café Brauer at Lincoln Park Zoo (2021 N. Stockton Dr., Chicago). Four world-premiere performances will take place today, August 19 at 10am and 12pm, and tomorrow, August 20 at 4pm and 6pm.