Verismo Clients in Audi Magazine
"Atlanta is home not only to some of the most progressive and competent fine arts institutions in the U.S. but also to uniquely engaged creative communities. The fearless and empathetic role of the artist in Atlanta makes the place a paragon of a new American art mecca..." Mezzo Jamie Barton and The Atlanta Opera are featured in Audi Magazine's "Art x ATL" piece.
August 1, 2017
““Now, he’s been able to realize big, emotional blockbusters—like the epic wartime piece we saw—responsibly, by shrewdly collaborating with many other production companies. Not to spoil anything, but I cried a second time during the second act of Zvulun’s production of “Silent Night,” the performance completely overwhelming my expectations.””
As part of its "Art x ATL" feature, Audi Magazine interviewed mezzo Jamie Barton and The Atlanta Opera's Tomer Zvulun.
The Atlanta Opera Announces 17/18 Season
In the coming season, The Atlanta Opera will showcase its vision as a regional leader in the arts through innovative, theatrical productions of diverse works. The 17/18 season will also feature the first fully staged performances of Jake Heggie's Out of Darkness, in TAO's fourth consecutive season offering a contemporary work by an American composer.
February 8, 2017
Early look at The Flying Dutchman, designed by Jacob Climer with projections by S. Katy Tucker
““In 2017-18, we will collaborate with visionary theatrical and visual artists to ensure that everyone who comes through our doors can have a transformative experience. We will also perform 50 percent of our season in English, ensuring that newcomers to opera have a welcoming introduction. This season, we are focusing on the theme of ‘The Outsider,’ with programming that responds to our present moment, where so many communities feel on the fringe. This will include both contemporary stories and timeless works that resonate today.””
Centering on opera's fascinating outsider characters, The Atlanta Opera's 2017/18 mainstage season opens November 4 with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, in a new production by Zvulun, followed by Bizet’s Carmen, Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. With these productions, TAO celebrates its 10th anniversary at the stunning, acoustically superior Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center.
The Discoveries Series returns in the fall for its fourth season. In response to quickly sold-out spring 2017 productions, this season will feature an expanded number of performances. The series includes Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, directed by Serenbe Playhouse Artistic Director Brian Clowdus, and the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Out of Darkness: Two Remain, directed by Zvulun and starring Theatrical Outfit Artistic Director Tom Key.
Zvulun spoke with Schmopera about discovering Wagner and what he's most excited about in 2017/18.
The Atlanta Opera Scores Artistic And Business Wins
The Atlanta Opera’s Silent Night “revealed a company unafraid to move in bold new directions, and with more than enough talent on hand to take a captivated audience along with it into the 21st century."
November 11, 2016
“The Atlanta Opera’s Silent Night revealed a company unafraid to move in bold new directions, and with more than enough talent on hand to take a captivated audience along with it into the 21st century.”
The Atlanta Opera's bold artistic and business moves are earning notice:
- General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun was nominated for an ArtsATL Luminary Award, a commemoration of the passionate, creative and innovative spirit of Atlanta's arts community.
- Behind the scenes, TAO reached a three-year labor agreement with its orchestra, ensuring that the company's growing quantity and quality of productions can be sustained.
- Onstage, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night was 'a stirring and ambitious performance (ArtsATL), at once 'heart-rending' and 'unforgettable' (AJC.com).
The Atlanta Opera Opens Its Boldest Season Ever
The Atlanta Opera opens its largest, most innovative season yet, featuring new repertoire, a new Young Artist Program, smart collaborations, and must-see talents.
September 30, 2016
Image of "Winterreise" by Raftermen for The Atlanta Opera
The Atlanta Opera's expanded 2016-17 season features new repertoire, a new Young Artist Program, smart collaborations, and must-see talents.
Under the leadership of General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, this season will be the largest and most wide-ranging in the company’s history. TAO will stage four mainstage works, including a U.S. premiere production of 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Silent Night, and two site-specific Discoveries series productions, including a collaboration with New York’s On Site Opera. The season includes a total of 27 performances, including 16 on the mainstage, 8 in the Discoveries series, and the annual Opera with an Edge season preview, Holiday Concert, and new work creation event 24-Hour Opera.
This season marks the launch of The Atlanta Opera’s first young artist program, The Atlanta Opera Studio. Four singers, one pianist, and one stage director on the cusp of major careers will receive in-depth training in performance skills, foreign languages, and career development. In addition, they will participate in masterclasses with leading artists and perform alongside international talent in mainstage productions. They will also star in the Studio Tour, which reaches more than 10,000 students, and in a variety of community events throughout the metro-Atlanta area.
In his fourth season, Zvulun affirms his commitment to new and rediscovered works. On the mainstage, he will direct a U.S. premiere production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell. A co-production with the Wexford Festival Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival, it was awarded the Audience Choice Award and Best Opera Award at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in its 2014 Wexford premiere.
Successfully launched in 2014 under Zvulun, the Discoveries series – which emphasizes new works, new ideas, and fresh perspectives – returns for its third season with an expanded offering of nine performances. This year, the series brings opera to communities throughout the Atlanta area with site-specific productions of Maria de Buenos Aires by composer Astor Piazzolla, and Mozart’s The Secret Gardener.
The Spanish-language Maria de Buenos Aires follows the seductive title character, who falls in love with tango dancing in the heart of the Argentine capital. Composed and first presented in 1968, Maria de Buenos Aires makes for a vibrant evening of opera by combining sensual tango music with a surreal, adventurous story.
The Discoveries series partners with On Site Opera to bring Mozart’s The Secret Gardener to life in a new co-production tailored to its botanical setting. Now in its fifth season of producing immersive site-specific opera, On Site Opera has been praised by BBC News as "innovative" and The New York Times as a "vital" and "visionary company.”
The Discoveries series’ 2015 productions of contemporary operas Three Decembers by Jake Heggie and Soldier Songs by David T. Little were highlighted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Best of 2015 list. This season, The Atlanta Opera’s celebrated production of Soldier Songs will be restaged at San Diego Opera. The company will collaborate again with the Wexford Festival Opera as a co-commissioner of the world premiere of William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, along with the Minnesota Opera, where the work will receive its premiere in March 2017.
American Western Opera Launches Digital Homestead
Riders of the Purple Sage, based on Zane Grey's iconic Western novel, will receive its world premiere at Arizona Opera in 2017.
April 29, 2016
Riders of the Purple Sage, an American Western opera composed by Craig Bohmler with a libretto by Steven Mark Kohn, will receive its world premiere at Arizona Opera in 2017.
Based on Zane Grey's most famous novel, the story of Riders is remarkably relevant today – tackling issues of women's independence, faith vs. fundamentalism, abuse of power, and guns in society. Complex issues are given human faces, with sharply drawn characters like Jane Withersteen, our morally incorruptible heroine, and Lassiter, the "John Wayne of Opera.”
Riders is a visceral experience that raises Big Questions and allows audiences to seek their own answers through the pure emotional experience of opera. The music style is influenced by Carlisle Floyd, Stephen Sondheim, and Kurt Weill, and utilizes the musical idioms of Western film soundtracks.
The world premiere production will star baritone Morgan Smith (Starbuck in Jake Heggie's Heggie's Moby-dick) as Lassiter, opposite the Jane Withersteen of Karin Wolverton (Anna Sorensen in Kevin Puts's Silent Night). Sets will be designed by famed Southwest landscape artist Ed Mell, with stage direction by Fenlon Lamb and Keitaro Harada conducting.
2016 Tucson Desert Song Festival Delivers World-Class Talent to Sonoran Desert
“In a modern world in which classical music is facing a tough battle for continued funding, TDSF is giving smaller regional organizations an opportunity to thrive.” The Tucson Desert Song Festival brings the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and Grammy winners to the Old Pueblo.
February 8, 2016
Photo by Mike Sultzbach
““Few music festivals can claim the leadership position or forward thinking of the Tucson Desert Song Festival (TDSF). In a modern world in which classical music is facing a tough battle for continued funding, it is the TDSF that is giving smaller regional organizations an opportunity to thrive.” LATIN POST”
By attracting vocal stars from around the world to the stunning Sonoran Desert each winter, the Tucson Desert Song Festival is earning a reputation as a destination arts festival.
The 2016 Festival featured 23 performances over 18 days, including those by Grammy winner Sasha Cooke and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and Richard Tucker Award winner Jamie Barton, pictured here.
Barton and soprano Amber Wagner, as well as husband-and-wife team of mezzo Daniela Mack and tenor Alek Shrader, were presented in duo recitals by Arizona Opera, which also produced Carmen. Barton, Wagner, and Shrader were all winners of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, which were captured in the 2009 documentary "The Audition".
Cooke joined tenor Richard Cox for "Mahler and Martial Arts" with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, while guitarist Adam del Monte and baritone Bernardo Bermudez collaborated with Ballet Tucson and the Tucson Guitar Society on "Rhythms of the Americas".
Other guest artists for the fourth annual TDSF included the Grammy-winning a capella group Cantus, The Broken Consort, Marie-Josée Lord, and a quartet of young artists from the Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute.
See what the press are saying:
“Whether you’re an opera fan, a devotee of early music, or you enjoy everything symphonic, the Tucson Desert Song Festival will give you plenty of reasons to stand and applaud.”
Tucson Lifestyle Magazine
“Living in Southern Arizona, we don’t often experience some of the world’s best classical vocal talents live, and in person. This dilemma was addressed in 2010 with the founding of Tucson Desert Song Festival.”
Zocalo Magazine
“The Tucson Desert Song Festival is a bonanza of gorgeous music. Arts groups and the fest folk have teamed up to bring us internationally known talent, as well as rising stars in the art song field."
Arizona Daily Star