Erin Wall News

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2016–17 Season repertory and roster of international guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House, as well as initial programming for SF Opera Lab 2017 presentations at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Taube Atrium Theater. The Company's 94th Season will also mark Matthew Shilvock's inaugural year as San Francisco Opera's new general director, succeeding his mentor and internationally respected impresario, David Gockley, who will step down on July 31, 2016.

Toronto –  Canadian Opera Company audiences find themselves ensnared in a web of erotic passions with a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro this February. One of the most beautiful and convincing operas about the fluid enchantments, maze-like confusions and bouts of sheer blindness brought on by love, this new staging is directed by one of the most sought-after and critically acclaimed artists of his generation, Claus Guth, with equally celebrated musical leadership by COC Music Director Johannes Debus. The Marriage of Figaro is on stage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for 11 performances, including a special presentation starring the young artists of the COC's Ensemble Studio training program, on February 4, 7, 9, 13, 17, 19, 21, 22*, 23, 25 and 27, 2016.

Following the success of its first series at City Winery in the 2014-15 season, cp2 (Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players) returns to the venue for a fall series pairing unique mixed instrumental groups with vocalists. Three one-hour programs at noon on October 25, November 22, and December 20 each feature a different singer showcasing styles including classical, soul, and jazz. Brunch will be available for purchase before and during the performances, and patrons are encouraged to dress casually.

Canadian soprano Erin Wall, who in August was featured in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra's performance of Mahler's “Symphony of a Thousand” led by Andris Nelsons, and American baritone Steven LaBrie, a 2013 George London Encouragement Award winner who has sung Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin with Jessica Lang Dance at BAM and Jacob's Pillow, are the two artists who will open the 2015-16 season of the George London Foundation for Singers. 

Following the success of its first series at City Winery in the 2014-15 season, cp2 (Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players) returns to the venue for a fall series pairing unique mixed instrumental groups with vocalists. Three one-hour programs at noon on October 25, November 22, and December 20 each feature a different singer showcasing styles including classical, soul, and jazz. Brunch will be available for purchase before and during the performances, and patrons are encouraged to dress casually.

John Hauser, formerly Director of the Rehearsal Department of the Metropolitan Opera, has joined the George London Foundation for Singers in the new position of Artistic Director, assisting the foundation's president, Nora London, with artistic planning.  Stephanie Lamprea continues as General Administrator.  Founded in 1971, the New York-based George London Foundation supports and nurtures young opera singers with an annual competition and recital series.

?The 2015-16 season marks two milestones for the George London Foundation for Singers, which has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971:  the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition, which gives George London Awards to young singers each year; and the 20th year of its acclaimed recital series, which presents pairs of singers, both established stars and recent George London Award winners, at The Morgan Library & Museum.

Subtitled "The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert" in homage to Bernstein

CHICAGO - American mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges is one of 20 international finalists for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015 competition. Bridges, a third-year member of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, is currently portraying Vlasta in Lyric's mainstage premiere of Mieczys?aw Weinberg's The Passenger.

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago celebrates its 40th season with its annual Rising Stars in Concert program tonight, March 21, at 7:30pm at the Civic Opera House. The talented singers and pianist of the 2014-15 ensemble will perform with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra in works of Bellini, Berg, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Donizetti, Floyd, Gounod, Handel, Korngold, Mozart, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Rossini. Rising Stars in Concert is offered in celebration of an exceptionally successful year of study and performance for these up-and-coming artists.

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago celebrates its 40th season with its annual Rising Stars in Concert program Saturday, March 21, at 7:30pm at the Civic Opera House. The talented singers and pianist of the 2014-15 ensemble will perform with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra in works of Bellini, Berg, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Donizetti, Floyd, Gounod, Handel, Korngold, Mozart, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Rossini. Rising Stars in Concert is offered in celebration of an exceptionally successful year of study and performance for these up-and-coming artists.

CHICAGO - American mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges is one of 20 international finalists for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015 competition. Bridges, a third-year member of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, is currently portraying Vlasta in Lyric's mainstage premiere of Mieczys?aw Weinberg's The Passenger.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its exhilarating 57th season with the Kansas City premiere of composer Kevin Puts' 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Silent Night, beginning tomorrow, February 21 and continuing February 25 & 27 and March 1 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in English, German, French, Italian and Latin with English titles. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) announced its 2015-16 season, presented by Dawn and Jacques Lipson, this evening in grand style in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. With the entire orchestra performing selected excerpts on stage, 12th Music Director Ward Stare previewed his inaugural -- and the RPO's 93rd -- season to an enthusiastic full house that included longtime patrons, local VIPs, media, and the general public.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its exhilarating 57th season with the Kansas City premiere of composer Kevin Puts' 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Silent Night, February 21, 25 and 27 and March 1 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in English, German, French, Italian and Latin with English titles.

Toronto – The world premiere of a new Canadian work was one of the many operatic highlights revealed today at the public launch of the Canadian Opera Company's 2015/2016season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The COC's 65th season is once again comprised entirely of company productions, four of which are new to Toronto audiences, and features the COC's first mainstage world premiere since 1999, COC premieres of opera rarities and the revival of classic masterpieces.

The 2015 Tanglewood season, June 20-Labor Day Weekend, boasts an abundance of musical riches with concerts by the incomparable Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras, the Tanglewood Music Center, and internationally acclaimed guest artists from the worlds of classical, jazz, the American Songbook, Broadway, pop rock, dance, and film, as well as performances spotlighting special anniversaries, thematic programming, and theatrical presentations.

This fall, Seattle Opera brings audiences one of the most popular operas of all time: Don Giovanni. Set to glorious music, Don Giovanni tells a cautionary tale of an unrepentant Casanova who must pay the price for his misdeeds. Seattle Weekly called Seattle Opera's production 'Sleek, chic and colorful' when it first played to packed houses in 2007. The Everett Herald wrote: 'Seattle's production pulses with scenic delights and compelling staging that never drags. It's a big story to tell: Don Juan seduces and worse, even murders, without remorse.… In this production, it's a great ride.'

This fall, Seattle Opera brings audiences one of the most popular operas of all time: Don Giovanni. Set to glorious music, Don Giovanni tells a cautionary tale of an unrepentant Casanova who must pay the price for his misdeeds. Seattle Weekly called Seattle Opera's production "Sleek, chic and colorful" when it first played to packed houses in 2007. The Everett Herald wrote: "Seattle's production pulses with scenic delights and compelling staging that never drags. It's a big story to tell: Don Juan seduces and worse, even murders, without remorse.… In this production, it's a great ride."