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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Opera Memphis to Receive $25,000 Grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts
Memphis, TN— National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $25,000 to Opera Memphis for their 30 Days of Opera program and The McCleave Project , a multi-pronged effort to...
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at Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Opera Memphis Announces 2019-20 Handorf Company Artists:
tahanee aluwihare & Jake Stamatis
After an amazing 2018-19 Season with Handorf Company Artists Stephanie Doche and Philip Himebook, Opera Memphis welcomes 2019-20 Handorf Company Artists: Mezzo-soprano Tahanee Aluwihare and Baritone Jake Stamatis to Memphis. Learn more about these emerging singers below.
Tahanee Aluwihare
A native of Sri Lanka, Tahanee Aluwihare (mezzo-soprano) made her debut with the Symphony...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
From Michael Sakir | Music Director:
I grew up without any emotional connection to the United States Armed Forces. I was born on the “Left Coast” to two Baby Boomer hippies. I attended a small liberal arts college in the 2000s where we protested the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I lived most of my life detached from and even slightly distrustful of the military. That is, until very recently when this perspective was challenged in a rather unexpected way.
...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Opera Memphis to celebrate our troops with premiere of The Falling and the Rising at Midtown Opera Festival 2019.
This April, Opera Memphis’ seventh annual Midtown Opera Festival will be anchored by premiere performances of The Falling and the Rising , a new American story written by Memphis playwright Jerre Dye and composed by Opera Memphis favorite Zach Redler . The Falling and the Rising takes the stage at Playhouse on the Square April 6, 12, &...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Opera Memphis Announces Full Line-up for Midtown Opera Festival 2019
The seventh annual Midtown Opera Festival is upon us, and this year Opera Memphis is celebrating more than just opera. From the anchoring opera The Falling and the Rising celebrating our nation's troops, to the Festival Fringe Events celebrating everything from aerialists to Bugs Bunny to improv theatre to Broadway showtunes, this year's festival has something for everyone. CLICK...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Opera Memphis Trustee Charlie Schaffler One of Five Recipients of OPERA America 2019 National Trustee Recognition Award.
From Nicholas Wise at OPERA America:
February 6, 2019 (New York) — OPERA America , the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2019 National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards. Now in their...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Monday, January 28, 2019
BREAKING NEWS: Dick Deadeye of H.M.S. Pinafore and Gary/Jerry/Larry/Terry Gergich/Gengurch of Parks and Rec actually related!
Local researchers and art enthusiasts find "undeniable proof" that Jerry Gergich is great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Dick Deadeye.
After weeks of late-night Netflix binges and scouring the internet for any scrap of information to support their claims, these researchers say the truth...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Monday, January 28, 2019
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
World-renowned baritone Robert Orth returns to Opera Memphis after nearly two decades.
The year was 1980. The hair was big, the shoulder pads bigger, and Opera Memphis was celebrating its 25th anniversary with an exceptional season including performances of Lucia Di Lammermoor , La Périchole , Madame Butterfly , and La Traviata . That November a young man with an indomitable moustache took the stage as Don Pedro in Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole and wowed...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Opera Memphis celebrates the holiday season with a new interactive operatic experience, A Victorian Holiday with Opera Memphis.
This one-of-a-kind experience puts guests in the center of an 1890's holiday party with interactive characters and games, opera singers, caroling, Victorian Conjurer Jeffrey Day performing illusions on stage and amongst party-goers, and festive libations being served. The evening is tied together by an ongoing story of love lost and found that...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
A guide to your perfect Victorian-inspired outfit!
A Victorian Holiday with Opera Memphis is right around the corner! This immersive, interactive theatrical experience will send you back in time to the Victorian Era where you will join socialites, singers, performers, conjurers, and more characters at a festive holiday party! Our Costume Designer, Sona Amroyan-Peric has put together a list of items you probably have in your closet that you can use to dress like our performers to...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Monday, November 12, 2018
Thanksgiving is almost here!
Which opera matches your family gathering?
It's that time of year again for turkey and mashed potatoes, travel plans and airline tickets. Here at Opera Memphis we've compiled a short list of Thanksgiving gatherings along with the perfect opera for each of these dynamics. Read through and find your opera for Turkey Day!
1. The Friendsgiving
For this reason or that, family just can't/won't be in the picture this year....
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Monday, November 12, 2018
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Jonathan Ealy named one of MBJ's 40 Under 40
Opera Memphis Venue Director Jonathan Ealy named one of Memphis Business Journal's 40 Under 40 for his work with OUTMemphis : The LGBTQIA Center for the Mid-South.
Ealy joined the staff of Opera Memphis in November of 2009. He was first introduced to opera by his late high school choral teacher, Charlotte Polk.
"My first Opera ever was an Opera Memphis production of Buoso's Ghost written by then...
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Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
"With her strong, forthright soprano, Yunah Lee brought unflagging stage presence and confidence to Butterfly, demonstrating the geisha's spine, not her victimhood,"
- The Wall Street Journal
Opera Memphis opens its 2018-19 Season with Puccini's classic Madama Butterfly on Oct. 26 & 27 with internationally-acclaimed soprano Yunah Lee performing the title role of Cio-Cio-San, Madama Butterfly.
Since her first performance of ...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Opera Memphis' Shirley Hill named "Women to Watch"
Shirley Hill, Community Relations Associate for Opera Memphis, featured in Memphis Magazine 's "Women to Watch" spread in their October 2018 issue.
From the article:
"Shirley Hill first joined Opera Memphis in 2009 as a chorus member. This year she will be the Project Manager for the McCleave Project. The McCleave Project seeks to deepen Opera Memphis' engagement with issues of equity...
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Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
"I'm a singer first, actor second, dancer never." - Philip Himebook
Say, "Hello!" to Opera Memphis Company Artist Philip Himebook. A tenor who grew up in Huntsville, AL and Atlanta, GA, and a self-proclaimed rookie in the professional opera realm, Himebook grew up surrounded by music. His parents both have degrees in Music Education, his mother's parents were symphony musicians (violin and cello), his father's father was a member of the ...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Say, "Hello!" to Stephanie Doche, one of our 2018 company artists.
Stephanie Doche (rhymes with posh), was born in France and moved to the United States with her parents when she was 4 years old. Her love for music and opera began around this time between listening to Luciano Pavarotti and Friends on the stereo and encouragement she received from her grandmother to play piano and pursue music. Doche received her first solo during a kindergarten performance, and in high...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Opera Memphis joined the Memphis Redbird's as the Lipscomb & Pitts' featured Non-profit of the game last Friday, August 17.
The Redbirds faced off against the Nashville Sounds for an exciting evening of baseball! And although the Redbirds put up a good fight, the Sounds won the game 11-8.
Opera Memphis favorite, Chelsea Miller, took the field to sing "God Bless America," while McCleave Fellowship winner Dennis Whitehead Darling threw the opening pitch at the top...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Past Opera Memphis artist, Margaret Bridge, returns to Ireland to perform as Melanto in Opera Collective Ireland's production of The Return of Ulysses by Monteverdi.
You may remember Margaret, a stunning mezzo, from Opera Memphis's 2017 production of Later the Same Evening where she appeared in the role of Elaine O'Neill. She also performed in that season's Midtown Opera Festival. She is now based out of Boston, MA but has performed all over...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Opera Memphis's co-commissioned opera The Falling and the Rising gains national recognition with a featured 2-page spread in Opera America's summer 2018 magazine.
Composed by Zach Redler and Memphis's own Jerre Dye, The Falling and the Rising is a new american opera conceived by "Staff Sgt. Ben Hilgert, a tenor in the Soldiers' Chorus of the U.S. Army Field Band." It explores the sacrifice, duty, and human connection experienced by...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Congratulations to our very own Christine Amon, a prize-winning finalist at the 20th Anniversary Lotte Lenya Competition!
You may remember Christine and her "sweet, powerful voice," in Opera Memphis productions like Hansel and Gretel, The Music Shop, The Mikado, The Ghosts of Crosstown, and countless others. Christine studied at the renowned Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, received her Bachelor of Music from Grand Valley State University,...
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Posted by
Jillian Barron
at
Wednesday, August 1, 2018