Michael Mayes News

Puccini's Madame Butterfly will launch Nashville Opera's 2019-20 season, which is described as "a compelling mix of beloved favorites and important 20th century works."

Proving the enduring vibrancy and relevancy of the art form (while celebrating a milestone for its leader), Boston Lyric Opera's 2019/20 Season of new productions spans three centuries of composers -- focusing on works that reflect the highs and lows of power and politics, bringing passionate opera installations to new neighborhoods, and introducing audiences to rising stars from diverse backgrounds. Among the season highlights, Russian-born soprano Elena Stikhina returns to BLO, where she made her 2017 American debut, to sing the lead role in NORMA. Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director Esther Nelson marks her 10th programming season, which the company will commemorate throughout the year.

"Dangerous liaisons" is the overarching theme of The Atlanta Opera's landmark 40th anniversary season. From Puccini's Cio-Cio San to Rodriguez's Frida Kahlo, most of the featured protagonists share a propensity for self-destructive relationships that threaten to bring about their downfall.

On May 19, 2019 in Seattle, and four days later in San Francisco, Music of Remembrance (MOR) will present the premiere of The Parting, a new opera it has commissioned from Tom Cipullo with a libretto by poet David Mason. MOR will unveil this stunning new work as part of its program on Sunday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Tickets are $55 and available online at www.benaroyahall.org. They will bring the same program to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on Thursday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $60-$75 and available online at www.musicofremembrance.org.

This winter, The Atlanta Opera presents the company premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking in an original production "of the very highest level" (Opera News) from General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun. Georgia native Jamie Barton - winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition - makes her eagerly anticipated role debut as Sister Helen Prejean, and Michael Mayes reprises the iconic portrayal of condemned murderer Joseph De Rocher that the composer himself has called "definitive," anchoring an all-star cast that also features Maria Zifchak, Wayne Tigges, Kevin Burdette, and Jay Hunter Morris. Marking the second presentation in Atlanta's mainstage season, the opera will be mounted in four performances led by Kentucky Opera principal conductor Joseph Mechavich at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (Feb 2-10).

A not-for-profit arts organization since 2001, Swift Creek Mill Theatre is governed by a volunteer board of directors. The directors are members of the community that oversee the major changes and direction of the theatre.

Pittsburgh Opera opens its 80th season with Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Set in early 1900s Japan, Madama Butterfly is often considered the pinnacle of operatic tragedy, and has become one of today's most beloved operas.

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." So said Oscar Wilde's Salome, anticipating the theme running through all six of the works that make up The Atlanta Opera's 2018-19 season. The six are linked also by their novelty, for under the leadership of Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, Atlanta's new season consists entirely of stagings conceived over the past few years. Created in collaboration with leading opera companies from around the world, four are ambitious mainstage productions: the blockbuster musical West Side Story, 19th-century classics Eugene Onegin and La traviata, and the Southeast premiere of Dead Man Walking, a major 21st-century addition to the canon. Rounding out the season, Charlie Parker's Yardbird and Maria de Buenos Aires will be presented in the Discoveries series, which breaks down barriers between artists and their audience by providing authentic, intimate and immersive experiences in nontraditional spaces. The winner of a "Best of Atlanta" award from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an International Opera Award nomination, the series represents one of the many innovations behind the company's current wave of extraordinary creative and economic resurgence.

The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Check out photos of the production below!

The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This production of Sweeney Todd remains faithful to the original Broadway show, and features an all-star cast, including Michael Mayes in his role debut as Sweeney Todd, and Maria Zifchak as Mrs. Lovett. Timothy Myers will conduct in a company debut, and Albert Sherman, who has directed Sweeney Todd under the mentorship of Harold Prince, will serve as production director.

The Atlanta Opera closes its 2017-18 mainstage season with Stephen Sondheim's seminal musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This production of Sweeney Todd remains faithful to the original Broadway show, and features an all-star cast, including Michael Mayes in his role debut as Sweeney Todd, and Maria Zifchak as Mrs. Lovett. Timothy Myers will conduct in a company debut, and Albert Sherman, who has directed Sweeney Todd under the mentorship of Harold Prince, will serve as production director.

As part of Pittsburgh Opera's commitment to bring new, American operas to the Benedum Center stage, we are very proud to announce the Pittsburgh premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's critically acclaimed opera Moby-Dick.

The Atlanta Opera presents its most exciting season to date in 2018-19. The mainstage season will be bookended by two of the greatest blockbusters in the repertoire, as well as the most performed American opera of the 21st century, and Tchaikovsky's timeless masterpiece. The Discoveries series features two distinct styles in a jazz-infused 'Be-Bopera' and a tango opera presented at beloved local venue, the red velvet cabaret Le Maison Rouge.

As part of Pittsburgh Opera's commitment to bring new, American operas to the Benedum Center stage, we are very proud to announce the Pittsburgh premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's critically acclaimed opera Moby-Dick.  

Retells the death of 15 climbers in 1996 as they attempt to summit Mt. Everest.

The Atlanta Opera will present From Opera to Opry: Liquor, Love and the Lord on Tuesday, December 5th at The Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. Now in its second year, the holiday concert, in collaboration with ADA Ovations, will feature renowned professional opera singers as well as the bluegrass and country stylings of Cletus McHatfield and the McHatfield Fambly Singers. From Opera to Opry thrilled a packed house in December 2016, bringing the crowd to its feet on multiple occasions to applaud, as well as dance in the aisles.

Central City Opera's 2018 Summer Festival, which runs from July 7 to August 5, 2018, features Mozart'sThe Magic Flute and Verdi's Il trovatore in repertory. Also performed in smaller venues throughout Central City are one-act productions of Handel's Acis and Galatea and the 40th Anniversary of Henry Mollicone's Face on the Barroom floor, a Central City Opera commissioned work.

Creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs whose Ouroboros Trilogy, produced last September, was the most ambitious opera undertaking Boston has ever seen (Berkshire Fine Arts) premieres her new opera REV. 23, composed by Julian Wachner, on September 29 at Boston's John Hancock Theater, as the centerpiece of the first Boston New Music Festival, hosted by Juventas New Music. REV. 23 is Wachner's second full-length opera; the first, the colorful and assured (Boston Globe) Evangeline Revisited, was showcased at New York City Opera's VOX Festival in 2010. Directed by West Edge Opera General Director Mark Streshinsky and conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, recently named as the new Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, REV. 23 marks a first outing for the newly reconfigured production company White Snake Projects, headed by Boston producer Georgia Lyman with Jacobs as Executive Producer.

General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler has announced the selection of the artists for the Resident Artists Program for the 2017-2018 season.

Central City Opera's 2017 Summer Festival, which runs from July 8 through August 6, features Bizet's Carmen and Mozart's Così fan tutte performed in repertory in the historic Central City Opera House, and three one-act operas with limited runs—Britten's The Burning Fiery Furnace, Douglas Moore's Gallantry, and Amy Beach's Cabildo—performed in smaller venues located around the town of Central City. Complementing these five widely different operas are pre-performance lectures and talkbacks, staged opera scenes, elegant opening night dinners, and post-performance socials, which make for a full and enriching experience of entertainment and culture in one of Colorado's most historic mountain settings.