Week of Events
1887 African-American Opera Premieres in DC
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 […]
Stutzmann and Eberle Debut in Boston’s Beethoven Concerto
Nathalie Stutzmann makes a fiery Boston Symphony debut on Feb. 6-8 conducting Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Also making her debut is violinist Veronika Eberle, who will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Between those two masterworks is Alborada del gracioco, originally a movement from Ravel’s Miroirs piano suite and later orchestrated by the composer. https://www.bso.org/events/beethoven-ravel-stravinsky?performance=2025-02-06-19:30
Dallas Premieres Raven Chacon Work
Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony will give the world premiere of a new work by Native American, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon Feb. 6-9; it will be Chacon’s first major composition for orchestra. In that same program, Alexander Kerr will play the Bruch Violin Concerto, and Luisi will lead Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. https://www.dallassymphony.org/productions/beethovens-5th-symphony/
Opera Carolina Turns 75
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
Three New Short Operas in St. Louis
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 […]
Candillari Makes Kansas City Podium Debut
Daniela Candillari makes her conducting debut with the Kansas City Symphony on Feb. 7-9, leading the orchestra in Ellen Reid’s Floodplain and the Shostakovich 10th Symphony. Karen Gomyo will solo in Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto. https://tickets.kcsymphony.org/22169
Toledo Premieres Goodyear’s Tribute to Mom
Toledo Symphony will play the U.S. premiere of Steward Goodyear’s Life, Life, Life, a tribute to his mother, on Feb. 7-8. Goodyear will also be the piano soloist for Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Alain Trudel also conducts Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Liszt’s Les Préludes. https://www.artstoledo.com/masterworks-24-25
‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ Are Valentines In Dallas
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) […]
Hazel Scott Featured in New World Symphony Cabaret
New World Symphony’s 2024-25 season marks the fourth year of its “I Dream a World” festival, centering on the transition between the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement. On Feb. 8-9, conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson, founder and artistic director of the Philadelphia-based Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra in her NWS debut, leads a special cabaret […]
Chen Debuts on Des Moines Podium
The Des Moines Symphony welcomes the debut of conductor Mei-Ann Chen on Feb. 8-9 in a wide-ranging program. The concert opens with Florence Price’s Dance of the Canebrakes, a lively work inspired by African American folk music. Anne Marie McDermott performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Rachmaninoff’s dramatic Symphonic Dances close the evening. https://www.dmsymphony.org/concerts-events/chen-conducts-rachmaninoff/
