Ken Howard News

Placido Domingo has announced final details about the company's upcoming presentation of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, conducted by James Conlon

You'd never know that the Met's production of Francis Poulenc's DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES is over 40 years old, except for a few giveaways. There are no dancing nuns, no nudity, no screeching train whistle as the women go to their deaths (a la SWEENEY TODD). This fictionalized version of the story of Carmelite nuns who were martyred during the French Revolution, sent to the guillotine, is certainly the most simple and eloquent work on the Met's stage these days.

Judging by the number of small opera companies in New York alone--see the 2019 New York Opera Fest that starts performances next month--there's no shortage of up and coming opera singers trying to make their way on the scene. But there's no showcase like the Finals Concert of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions to give a singer a leg up--and this year's group of talented performers seemed to give us more hope than usual that all's right with the world…at least when it comes to opera.

After a months-long series of auditions involving more than 1,000 singers at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize.

If Robert Lepage's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle (formally, DER RING DAS NIBELUNGEN) had worked as smoothly when it opened in 2010 as it did at this season's marvelous premiere of its prologue, DAS RHEINGOLD, on Saturday afternoon, there probably still would have been complaints--not about its focus on technology but on its traditional approach. Personally, i liked it.

Wagner's visionary initial installment of the Ring Cycle depicts the original sin of the theft of the sacred golden treasure, the vanity of the gods, the greed of the Nibelungen, the fratricide of the giants, and the building of Valhalla. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley sings the role of Wotan, the conflicted lord of the gods. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton sings her first Wagner role at the Met as Wotan's embattled wife, Fricka.

The Mason Bates-Mark Campbell opera, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS--which debuted at the Santa Fe Opera in summer 2017--walked off with this year's Best Opera Recording at the Grammys on Sunday night. Michael Christie conducted the Santa Fe Opera orchestra, and the cast. Directed by Kevin Newbury, included Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson & Wei Wu. It was produced by Elizabeth Ostrow.

Music by Bay Area composer Mason Bates, libretto by Mark Campbell, originally premiered at Santa Fe Opera in July 2017

After several years and multiple attempts to obtain the rights, tenacity and perseverance prevailed.  Co-Producers Tom Vitorino and Alice L. Walker (www.ThursdayNightTheaterClub.com), are pleased to announce they are bringing one of the most important plays of the second half of the twentieth century, The Elephant Man, by Bernard Pomerance, back to Los Angeles at The Historic El Portal Theatre. Opening March 21 - 23 and April 3 - 14, 2019

As Seattle Opera gears up to present The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the company is asking hard questions about the effects of Big Tech, both in Jobs' life, and in our rapidly expanding community. Prior to the production's Feb. 23 - March 9 run at McCaw Hall, the public is invited to join the dialogue at two free panel discussions. Both events take place in Tagney Jones Hall, in the newly opened Opera Center.

On New Year's Eve, the Metropolitan Opera unveiled a new production of Cilea's ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, with a high-powered, audience-pleasing cast--headed by Anna Netrebko--in a production by Met favorite David McVicar, appealingly designed and costumed, and played elegantly by the Met orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda's sweeping baton.

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

Talk about baptism by fire! That's what Gustavo Dudamel--that wunderkind of the classical conducting world--faced as he reached the podium of the Met for the first time Friday night. Not only was he conducting Verdi's great opera, OTELLO, but he was doing so with a last-minute substitute in the title role. The result: All went well with the Met's production of the masterwork.

LOOKING FOR CHRISTMAS, the new Clint Black musical at The Old Globe is like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day; it's a sweet, holiday confection.

There is a magic and mischief in the air in The Old Globe production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, now playing through November 18th around the San Diego community.  .

The Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi's towering Shakespearean masterpiece Otello, with performances December 14, 2018, to January 10, 2019. Otello marks the Met debut of conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who over the last decade has transformed the Los Angeles Philharmonic into one of the most closely watched classical ensembles in the world. Starring in the title role of Shakespeare's doomed Moor is Stuart Skelton, with Sonya Yoncheva as the devoted Desdemona and Željko Lu?i? as the treacherous Iago. The cast also features Jennifer Johnson Cano as Emilia, Alexey Dolgov as Cassio, and Met stalwart James Morris as Lodovico. Julianna DiGiacomo sings the role of Desdemona on December 28.

San Diego's favorite holiday tradition, back for its 21st incredible year, is a wonderful, whimsical production that will once again jump right off the pages of the classic Dr. Seuss book and onto the Old Globe's stage.

Fall under the spell of Shakespeare's most uproarious and popular comedy. Filled with magic, humor, music, and magnificent poetry, this dream unfolds in an enchanted forest where fairies play tricks on unsuspecting lovers, and bumbling actors are transformed beyond their wildest imaginings.

Nico Muhly's MARNIE, aided and abetted by Nicholas Wright's libretto, dramaturg Paul Cremo and the sweeping production of Michael Mayer--which had its US premiere Friday night at the Met--is that fabled “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Nothing is quite what it seems or results in easy answers--for the characters or the audience.

Anyone who was expecting the equivalent of Bette Midler's arrival as Dolly in the Harmonia Gardens when Jonas Kaufmann finally returned to the Met, on October 17, after four years and some high-profile cancellations, must have been wildly disappointed. Oh sure, Kaufmann looked like a glamorous buckaroo and compared to some of the star tenor misfires already this season at the Met, he had a triumph.