Morris Robinson News

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2017-2018 season with a new production of Verdi's grand Egyptian epic Aida, September 9-23, 2017, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado, celebrating its 30th season, for the Orchestra's 15th annual summer residency, July 21-28, 2017. The residency will include six orchestral concerts that honor the Philharmonic's legacy on the occasion of its 175th anniversary season and the conclusion of Alan Gilbert's tenure as Music Director.

The Dallas Opera announces its magnificent kick-off event of the 2017-2018 Season FIRST NIGHT. Dedicated philanthropists Dianne and Mark H. LaRoe chair the festivities and Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger are Honorary Chairs. The Presenting Sponsor is Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado, celebrating its 30th season, for the Orchestra's 15th annual summer residency, July 21-28, 2017. The residency will include six orchestral concerts that honor the Philharmonic's legacy on the occasion of its 175th anniversary season and the conclusion of Alan Gilbert's tenure as Music Director.

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

The Dallas Opera will open single ticket sales for the five outstanding productions of the 2017-2018 “Motives Unmasked!” Season on Monday, July 10, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. (Central).

The Dallas Opera is proud to announce the names of the six distinguished professionals selected to participate in the third annual residency of the Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera taking place November 5 - 19, 2017 in Dallas, Texas:

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the winner of the 2017 "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year" Award: luminous Italian-American soprano Marina Costa-Jackson.

Just after hearing the wonderfully well sung, semi-staged DAS RHEINGOLD at the NY Philharmonic, under departing Music Director Alan Gilbert, I saw the current Broadway revival of THE LITTLE FOXES. It seemed Richard Wagner's gods and Lillian Hellman's Hubbards had lots in common: The small-minded, self-serving gods of this production, at least, could have been friends and neighbors of the mendacious, corrupt Southerners in Hellman's play (or even of a would-be-royal family in Washington, DC).

 The Music Academy of the West launches its 70th anniversary season on June 12. To celebrate this major milestone anniversary, the Festival will launch three important new initiatives - the Commissions and Premieres program, the Enterprise Awards program for alumni, and the Steinway Competition and tour - besides presenting the inaugural Evolution/Revolution Conference and the largest classical music event in the history of Santa Barbara, California, for which Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in the final performance of his eight-year tenure with the orchestra. This year's four Mosher Guest Artists, Matthew Aucoin, David Daniels, Renee Fleming, and Stephen Hough, will take part in major Academy performances and share their expertise through masterclasses. Taking place from June 12 through August 5, 2017, the 70th Season Festival will comprise more than 200 masterclasses, recitals, performances, and events in Santa Barbara, many of which are free to the public. Festival events will feature the Summer School's 137 fellows, drawn from 22 states and eight countries, as well as nearly 70 faculty and guest artists.

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic (photo: Chris Lee) In 2009, the year Alan Gilbert took over as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker: “Simply put, the orchestra is playing better than it has in the seventeen years that I've been a critic in New York.” The intervening years have seen Gilbert go from strength to strength, with critics and audiences alike responding with generous enthusiasm to the superb quality of the performances and to the new initiatives that transformed the orchestra into “a force of permanent revolution” (New York magazine).

In the third of Alan Gilbert's final four subscription weeks as New York Philharmonic Music Director, he will lead an enhanced concert production of Wagner's Das Rheingold. Soloists include bass-baritone Eric Owens as Wotan, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Fricka (in her New York Philharmonic debut), baritone Christopher Purves as Alberich (debut), tenor Russell Thomas as Loge, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor as Erda, bass Morris Robinson as Fasolt (debut), bass Stephen Milling as Fafner (debut), soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Freia (debut), tenor Brian Jagde as Froh (debut), bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Donner (debut), tenor Peter Bronder as Mime (debut), soprano Jennifer Zetlan as Woglinde, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano as Wellgunde, and mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford as Flosshilde. The enhanced concert production will be directed by Louisa Muller with costume design - featuring character-based treatment of modern concert attire - by David C. Woolard. The performances will take place Thursday, June 1, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce the line-up for the 2017 season of 'HD at the Opera House'.  This weekly Sunday afternoon series of filmed performances, which debuted in 2014, has allowed Sarasota Opera to expand its programming from the fall and winter season to year-around.

There is a fragile eeriness to the opening measures of Aida (1871), as the composition by Verdi continues to draw all ears forward, especially as magnetically conducted by Daniele Rustioni for the 1,158th performance of the classic at The Metropolitan Opera.

James Levine, Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel, Susanna Malkki, Kent Nagano, a "virtual" Esa-Pekka Salonen, and three conductors making Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts take the podium. 

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado, celebrating its 30th season, for the Orchestra's 15th annual summer residency, July 21-28, 2017. The residency will include six orchestral concerts that honor the Philharmonic's legacy on the occasion of its 175th anniversary season and the conclusion of Alan Gilbert's tenure as Music Director.

General Director Placido Domingo announced that LA Opera's next production-Mozart's sparkling comedy The Abduction from the Seraglio, conducted by Music Director James Conlon-will take audiences on a delightful journey aboard the fabled Orient Express, thanks to a cleverly updated staging by director James Robinson.

The Dallas Opera is proud to announce its ambitious 2017-2018 Season, "Motives Unmasked!" consisting of five entertaining and varied mainstage productions, including a dazzling U.S. premiere and a new Dallas Opera production of a very early opera by Viennese wunderkind Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

General Director Placido Domingo announced that LA Opera's next production-Mozart's sparkling comedy The Abduction from the Seraglio, conducted by Music Director James Conlon-will take audiences on a delightful journey aboard the fabled Orient Express, thanks to a cleverly updated staging by director James Robinson.

General Director Placido Domingo announced that LA Opera's next production-Mozart's sparkling comedy The Abduction from the Seraglio, conducted by Music Director James Conlon-will take audiences on a delightful journey aboard the fabled Orient Express, thanks to a cleverly updated staging by director James Robinson.  BroadwayWorld brings you a first look below!