opera

Hudson Hall in Hudson, New York has commissioned an ambitious multi-year series of operas by Handel with the daring, internationally acclaimed director (and Hudson resident) R.B. Schlather.The first in the series, Rodelinda, premieres at the hall on October 20. There will be 6 performances between October 20-29.

The Berkshire Opera Festival will be performing Puccini’s "La Bohème" on August 26, 29 and, September 1 at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA. The unbridled passion of this ageless tale has made it a favorite of audiences for over a century.Berkshire Opera Festival artistic director, conductor and co-founder Brian Garman joins us to tell us this morning. We also welcome the star of "La Bohème," singing the role of Mimi, Soprano Whitney Morrison.

J’Nai Bridges will perform at Tanglewood tonight in a prelude concert in Ozawa Hall, and this Sunday, August 20, she’ll join the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in The Shed for a performance of Michael Tippet’s “Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time” and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Saint-Saëns’s opera "Henry VIII" will run as part of the 20th Bard SummerScape, July 21–30, in the Sosnoff Theater at the Fisher Center at Bard. This, the first fully staged production of Henry III in the United States will be sung in French with English supertitles. Leon Botstein conducts the American Symphony Orchestra.Internationally acclaimed stage director Jean-Romain Vesperini helms the production at Bard and he joins us.

Opera Saratoga’s 2023 summer festival season will be anchored in the heart of Saratoga Springs. They are excited to be partnering with Universal Preservation Hall this season for their Main Stage performances.General and Artistic Director for Opera Saratoga Mary Birnbaum joins us.

Musicians of Ma’alwyck is a flexible-size chamber ensemble in residence at the Schuyler Mansion New York State Historic Site and Schenectady County Community College. The first concert of this season, "A Stranger in Your Own Land" is this coming Saturday. The centerpiece on the program is the lamentation cantata Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Roy Harris. We welcome Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz.

“Seeds Under Nuclear Winter: An Earth Opera" shows stories of rebirth in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The theme centers on “finding light and beauty in the darkest times, and remembering how connected we all are to each other,” says Elizabeth Clark, composer/producer/performer of this immersive theater/performance art.

On August 20, 23, and 26, Berkshire Opera Festival's 2022 season culminates with Mozart's comedy-tragedy masterpiece Don Giovanni at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera "Dear Erich" was inspired by letters written in Germany between 1938 and 1941 by Herta Rosenthal to the composer’s father. Dear Erich depicts a family’s dual fates.

The Seagle Festival in Schroon Lake, New York is producing “Fellow Travelers”, an opera based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon. It takes place during the McCarthy era and deals with the “Lavender Scare” where gay people are forced out of their government jobs. The opera will be performed at the Seagle Festival on August 3 – 6.They are also doing a joint event with The Linda and the Pride Center of the Capital Region at The Linda on July 26 from 6:00 – 8:00. It will be a preview and panel discussion about Fellow Travelers and the Lavender Scare then and now. It will feature scenes from the opera, with comments by the composer and comments from Nathaniel Gray, Executive Director of the Pride Center.We are joined by Artistic Director of Seagle Festival Darren Woods and Director of "Fellow Travelers" Richard Kagey.