The National Symphony continues the initiative begun in the 2023–2024 season of producing an opera in concert led by Gianandrea Noseda. The Jan. 30-Feb. 1 offering is Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, with a cast including Sondra Radvanovsky (NSO debut), mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Matthew Polenzani, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and baritone Thomas Hampson. https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/noseda-barber/
North Carolina Opera’s company premiere of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas marks the first time NCO has presented a Spanish-language opera. Featuring Vanessa Vasquez and Richard Ollarsaba. Joseph Mechavich conducts this production by John Hoomes. (Jan. 31-Feb. 2) https://ncopera.org/2024-2025-season/
As part of its 30th-anniversary season, Opera Lafayette, in collaboration with OperaCréole, will give the world-premiere concert performance of Edmund Dédé’s Morgiane, the first complete opera by a Black American. The four acts in French cover themes from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. Patrick Quigley directs a transcription co-written by OperaCréole founder Givonna Joseph […]
Opera Carolina will open its 75th season with Carmen on Feb. 6-9. This is also the 25th year of James Meenan’s role as artistic director. https://www.carolinatix.org/events/detail/opera-carolina-carmen
Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents its New Works Collective, a trio of new short operas: Black Coffee, by Concert Black and Alicia Revé Like, deals with building a life after a move. Family Style, by Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien, deals with sacrifices made by immigrant parents. Tim Amukele and Jarrod Lee’s Kandake takes […]
It’s the perfect Valentine date opera: The Dallas Opera presents Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice. Gluck’s original 1762 score will be conducted by music director Emmanuel Villaume, leading The Dallas Opera Orchestra and Chorus. This new production is directed and designed by Joachim Schamberger and will feature countertenor Hugh Cutting and soprano Madison Leonard. (Feb. 7-15) […]
What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day! Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera will perform Handel’s Acis & Galatea Feb. 14-16. Francesco Milioto conducts members of the Milwaukee Symphony in this production directed by E. Loren Meeker. https://www.florentineopera.org/season-events/acis-galatea-24-25
With music by Chandler Carter and a libretto by Diana Solomon-Glover, This Little Light of Mine is inspired by the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, a former Mississippi sharecropper’s daughter who rose to national prominence at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Kentucky Opera will present this work Feb. 21-23. https://kyopera.org/this-little-light/
On Feb. 23, Turtle Island String Quartet will appear as a guest of St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, which does not perform on the program. The evening features a chamber-concert verson of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, by Terence Blanchard, with vocalists Nicholas Newton and Adrienne Danrich. https://content.thespco.org/events/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones-with-the-turtle-island-quartet/
