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Bat Soars At Opera Opera San Jose bids farewell to Montgomery Theater with superlative Strauss By Scott MacClelland JOHANN STRAUSS' Die Fledermaus can be one of the most treacherous operas to stage. Opera San Jose director Irene Dalis expresses her own reticence about the gem: "It's like a souffle it can fall flat." To be a success, "The Bat" needs great singing, great acting and great comedy.
— Read more at the metroactive.com

The theater is intriguingly located upstairs in the abandoned Night Court building, known to generations of drunken sailors - and, more recently, to theatergoers as the birthplace of the innovative hit Urinetown. The elevator is broken, another sign that the cutting edge must be near.

Once you're in the packed-to-the-rafters American Theater for Actors, a new pop opera titled Bare, about burgeoning sexuality in a Catholic prep school, is about to unfold. A success in Los Angeles, it's enjoying extraordinary buzz in the gay press, with an up-to-the-minute production number depicting a fantastical gay wedding ceremony.
— Read more at the Philadelphia Inquirer

'Darling' ban for opera workers Workers at a UK opera company have been banned from using the theatrical greeting "darling".

The English National Opera confirmed they had issued staff new guidelines on using the term of endearment.

They fear use of the word "darling" could constitute sexual harassment in the workplace.

An ENO spokesman said: "Some people may have used the term 'darling' to each other for years, but there are others who may consider it inappropriate."
— Read more at the BBC NEWS

Sometimes the strangest partnerships work wonderfully well.

Think peanut butter and chocolate, or Tony Blair and George W. Bush. You can't always predict where synergy will strike.

That's the case with Opera Pacific's revival of its pairing of two very different musical pieces, Ruggiero Leoncavallo's beloved one-act opera "I Pagliacci" and Carl Orff's dynamic song cycle "Carmina Burana." The first time Opera Pacific presented these two works together, some six years ago, the combination won rave reviews and enough enthusiasm to earn them a second go round. The "Pagliacci" "Carmina" pairing is onstage through Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.
— Read more at the San Bernardino County Sun

VERONA, Italy — How do you make the long journey from being an opera hater to an opera lover? When does the shrieking of sopranos and bellowing of tenors resolve into lovely music?

For me, that journey took place on a real trip — to Italy, where opera was born.
— Read more at the Naples Daily News

AS BRINKMANSHIP, the funding stand-off between Scottish Opera and the Scottish Executive might have qualified in the masterclass stakes. Only something has gone very seriously wrong. Scottish Opera's finances are now so dire that the auditors have delayed signing off the accounts as a going concern. As a result, the company cannot call an annual meeting and cannot undertake any commitments for the new season starting in September.
— Read more at the Scotsman.com

IN La Belle Helene (1864) Offenbach chose the Greek legend of the elopement of Helen of Troy and Paris (which precipitated the Trojan War) to satirise the decadence he perceived in Napoleon III's Second Empire.

In its previous visits here Opera della Luna has scored big hits with its Gilbert and Sullivan romps, and last night was again rewarded with a virtually full house.
— Read more at the The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A new opera company aimed at West End audiences opened tonight with a production of The Barber of Seville.

The Savoy Opera is the brainchild of impresario Raymond Gubbay, who is determined to rid opera of its elitist image.
— Read more at Scotsman.com

NEW YORK -- For many, the name Gioacchino Rossini may instantly conjure "The Barber of Seville," the composer's most famous work and a masterpiece of comic opera. But this season, New York City Opera presents the New York premiere of a serious, and nearly forgotten, Rossini opera -- "Ermione" -- putting on a production generously sprinkled with dazzling singing.
— Read more at nj.com

In a season that includes such standard opera fare as La Boheme, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro and Madama Butterfly, the 2004-2005 New York City Opera Season will also see two productions of particular interest to theatregoers.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and Leonard Bernstein's Candide will both be part of the upcoming season at the famed Manhattan opera company.
— Read more at Playbill News

WALES' latest singing sensation has shot to the top of the classical music charts.

Katherine Jenkins's debut album Premiere is number one after breaking records in the classical chart.

Her spokeswoman said the 23-year-old schoolteacher had become the fastest-selling female opera singer since Maria Callas with "record-breaking" first-week sales.
— Read more at icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Pauline Viardot's charming mini-operetta, "Cendrillon", comes to life in Lyric Opera of Los Angeles' latest production featuring a phenomenal cast of singers!
— Read more at lyricoperala.org

Most of America knows Keith Lockhart as a Pops Guy, thanks to his nearly 10-year leadership of the Boston Pops. In Utah, where Lockhart has been music director of the Utah Symphony since 1998, he has earned solid credentials as a Symphony Guy. Now, Lockhart can add Opera Guy to his resume, thanks to enthusiastic reviews for his conducting of Puccini's "Tosca" with Boston Lyric Opera.
— Read more at the The Salt Lake Tribune

Like the ballet "The Nutcracker," Johann Strauss' popular operetta "Die Fledermaus" has been the financial salvation of many a company. So it was for Ann Arbor's Comic Opera Guild, which, soon after its 1973 start, put every penny in its pocket toward floating a "Fledermaus" production.
— Read more at the The Ann Arbor News

Keith Jurosko, as a heavyweight in light opera, is part of a vanishing world. Possessed of a rich, classically trained baritone voice, an imposing athletic frame and the most commanding, subtly ironic stage presence this side of Barrymore, Jurosko is one of the leading Savoy specialists in America, a roving star player in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas across the nation.
— Read more at the Anchorage Daily News

Benjamin Britten has been England's best-known modern opera composer for more than half a century, yet his works have not become staples of many American companies.

Here in the Midwest, Indiana University Opera Theater has helped carry the torch for Britten.
— Read more at the indystar.com

The Cabrillo Opera and Theater Arts Department are collaborating to offer a delightful and visually stunning spring presentation of Mozart's charming "The Magic Flute" at the College Theater through April 18.

Although this is the first time the Theater Arts Department has ever presented an opera, according to costume designer Maria Crush, the production was such a success that we hope they'll consider the idea again in the future.
— Read more at the santacruzsentinel.com

David Byrne has taken his share of musical journeys in three decades, turning Talking Heads from egghead rockers into a funk orchestra, playing Latin music and scoring films and a ballet.

But opera?

Even his new record company was suspicious when Byrne submitted a disc that includes a piece from "La Traviata" sung in Latin and a duet with Rufus Wainwright on a Georges Bizet piece sung in French. They play a key role in "Grown Backwards," Byrne's most melodic and accessible solo album.
— Read more at the Kansas City Star

Larger-than-life soprano Deborah Voigt said there was a silver lining in the cloud of her "hurtful" sacking by London's Royal Opera for being overweight...the rush of world publicity.
— Read more at the Scotsman.com

VIENNA, Austria -- The Vienna State Opera will offer new productions next season of Verdi's "Don Carlos," Bellini's "Norma," Korngold's "Die Tote Stadt," Massenet's "Werther" and Puccini's "Manon Lescaut."

"Don Carlos," presented in the original French, opens Oct. 18 in a Peter Konwitschny production, the company said during a news conference last week. Ramon Vargas sings the title role, with Rene Pape as Philip II, Bo Skovhus as Rodrigue, Iano Tamar as Elisabeth and Nadja Michael as Eboli. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
— Read more at the Metromix.com

The Washington National Opera opened the second stanza of its spring season at the Kennedy Center Opera House this Saturday past with a retro 1950s production of Gioacchino Rossini's "La Cenerentola" ("Cinderella"). Frequently, such updates of old classics seem contrived. But this one was lots of fun, bubbling with life and filled with good singers who seemed comfortable in their sitcom roles.
— Read more at the The Washington Times

A sneak peak at a New Jersey composer's opera that won't be staged until 2006 has revealed some promising music.
Montclair State University's Robert Livingston Aldridge has finished the bare-bones score to "Elmer Gantry," based on Sinclair Lewis' Nobel-prize-winning 1927 novel, and he allowed three scenes to take shape at another state school's new music concert.
— Read more at the THE STAR-LEDGER

STOUGHTON WI --How about a little Puccini to go with your dinner order of baked salmon with almond crust? That would be live Puccini served up from a singing waitstaff, several of whom have professional opera experience.
— Read more at the stoughtonnews.com

Launching on the 7th of April is a brand new opera company for London. The Savoy Opera based at the wonderful Savoy Theatre in London's Strand is to stage seven operas in a year. Kicking of this unique company is Rossini's opera 'The Barber Of Seville' starring Sally Wilson as Rosina, Owen Gilhooly as Figaro and Darren Abrahams and Mark Wilde in the role of Count Almaviva.
— Read more at the soundgenerator.com

EXETER RI - Opera isn't just for adults anymore. Students at the Exeter-West Greenwich Academy for Alternative Learning and Metcalf Elementary School are reaping the benefits of a $3,000 grant from VSA arts of Rhode Island that allows a performer from Opera Providence to visit once a week.
— Read more at the The Standard Times

When Josh Groban comes to Manhattan tonight, he'll have Radio City Music Hall to himself.

But in the music marketplace, the 23-year-old baritone, known for his operatic voice and soft pop ballads, is about to have company.

With his latest album, "Closer," selling nearly 3 million copies, Groban has become the poster boy for the classical crossover genre, an oft-derided but increasingly popular style of music. But there's a growing pack of similar artists looking to steal some of his limelight. Some are younger than Groban, some are sexier, and some are already rewriting the rules of this relatively new genre. Among the competitors: the Norwegian singer Sissel, 16- year-old Hayley Westenra, the five-member Amici Forever and the alluringly named Opera Babes.
— Read more at the Newsday.com

Who would dare to create a sequel to a masterpiece of opera? Noted composer Shigeaki Saegusa braved this challenge to compose a sequel to Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Butterfly's son as the new opera's lead character. Titled Jr. Butterfly, this new three-act opera will be performed on April 6, 8 and 10 at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan in Ueno. The premiere performance falls by chance on the very centenary of the premiere of Madama Butterfly in Milan.
— Read more at the Daily Yomiuri On-Line