William Sharp News

Opera Lafayette, renowned for its interpretation of early French opera, announces the release of its ninth recording on the Naxos label, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's 1762 opéra-comique to a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine, Le Roi et le fermier. Artistic Director Ryan Brown conducts the Opera Lafayette Orchestra in this world premiere recording featuring tenor Thomas Michael Allen and baritone William Sharp in the title roles, with sopranosDominique Labelle and Yulia Van Doren, mezzo Delores Ziegler, tenors Tony Boutté and Jeffrey Thompson, and baritone Thomas Dolié. The recording has been selected as a Key Release by the Naxos label for August 2013 and will be available worldwide on August 27, 2013. The recording is now available digitally on iTunes, Amazon, and the Naxos Music Library.

On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2012, Sing for Hope marked the twentieth anniversary of the classical music world's first organized response to the AIDS crisis with the celebratory concert 'AIDS Quilt Songbook @ TWENTY.' The evening featured impassioned performances by many of the country's leading classical vocalists, including Amy Burton, Adrienne Danrich, Heather Johnson, Suzanne Mentzer, Sidney Outlaw, Randall Scarlata, Michael Slattery, Monica Yunus, Camille Zamora, and two of the baritones of the 1992 premiere, Kurt Ollmann and William Sharp. Scroll below for photos from the concert!

Sing for Hope will present AIDS QUILT SONGBOOK @ TWENTY at the Great Hall at Cooper Union today, December 1st, 2012, in observance of World AIDS Day and to mark the 20th anniversary of the first AIDS Quilt Songbook performance, which took place on June 4th 1992 at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.

Sing for Hope will present AIDS QUILT SONGBOOK @ TWENTY at the Great Hall at Cooper Union on December 1st, 2012, in observance of World AIDS Day and to mark the 20th anniversary of the first AIDS Quilt Songbook performance, which took place on June 4th 1992 at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.

SongFest is a festival for singers and collaborative pianists, which covers all aspects of the art of song: musical interpretation, literary interpretation, and effective public presentation. Master classes are taught to singers and pianists by distinguished artists of international stature. Each master class focuses thematically on specific vocal repertoire, presenting and studying it in new and challenging contexts.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

The WFMT Radio Network in Chicago, producer of radio programs for the New York Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wigmore Hall and other major national and international organizations, will produce a new 13-hour series, 'No Song Is Safe From Us,' highlighting the unique and renowned musical programs of New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org).

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), recently acclaimed by TimeOut New York for its 'A-list artistry,' will present its 2010 Gala, Let Yourself Go, a celebration of the rich musical legacy of America's foremost composer/lyricist, Irving Berlin, on Monday April 12 at 7 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 154 West 57th Street, New York City.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), acclaimed by New York Magazine as 'The best classical music programming in New York,' will present an all-new program on May 4 and 6 at 8 PM of American composers, including the premiere of Beautiful Ohio, a song cycle by 2009 Pulitzer Prize- finalist Harold Meltzer, with texts of poet James Arlington Wright and composed specifically for the young American tenor Paul Appleby.

New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), recently acclaimed by TimeOut New York for its 'A-list artistry,' will present its 2010 Gala, Let Yourself Go, a celebration of the rich musical legacy of America's foremost composer/lyricist, Irving Berlin, on Monday April 12 at 7 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 154 West 57th Street, New York City.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present a special non-subscription program, The Sweetest Path, on Tuesday, March 16 at 8 PM at Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present a special non-subscription program, The Sweetest Path, on Tuesday, March 16 at 8 PM at Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall.

On Tuesday and Thursday, February 16 and 18 at 8 PM, Kaufman Center and New York Festival of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present The Voluptuous Muse, a celebration of the lush tonality and decadent Romanticism of late 19th- and early 20th- century song.