FREE Live concert featuring Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, NYC; presented in collaboration with the resident organizations of Lincoln Center.
August 18 & 19, 2022 at 7.30 pm
Donations are encouraged to organizations supporting the resettlement of Ukrainians
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra / Image courtesy of the MetOpera
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will play at Lincoln Center in two free concerts, August 18 & 19. The powerful and symbolic international Freedom Tour includes recent refugees of the war, members of orchestras in other parts of Europe, and the leading musicians of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odesa.
In solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine, the Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera brought these musicians together to create an orchestra for a European and American tour. The American performances will be held at Lincoln Center in a co-presentation of all eleven organizations on campus and, following, at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
The Ukrainian government is supporting the project by addressing the issues of allowing male musicians to put down weapons and take up their instruments in a remarkable demonstration of the power of art over adversity.
Live concert featuring Ukrainian and Bulgarian musicians at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria at 121 East, 62nd Street, NY, NY
Monday, April 11, 2022 at 6 pm
All proceeds will benefit Ukrainian musicians and artists seeking refuge in Bulgaria
The event is organized with the help of the Bulgarian Consulate General, https://www.bceny.org/concert-for-ukraine. The funds raised at the event will go to the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria to provide housing, education, services to the Ukrainian musicians and their families, so that they can live in Bulgaria for the foreseeable future.
The program will include music by the Ukrainian composers and is part of the Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York.
The concert is presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in New York, Hon. Maya Hristova, Consul General, American Foundation for Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Music Association.
Sixth Annual New York Opera Fest 2021: June-July-August
Hailed as “a remarkably strong and diverse exploration of everything opera can be in the city (The New York Times),” the New York Opera Fest celebrates its sixth season with both virtual and in-person performances by 20+ local, New York City-based opera companies. Presented by the New York Opera Alliance, with support from OPERA America, this annual festival runs for two months May-June 2021 starting with a special kick-off event April 29th. For a complete list of events, fans can turn to NYoperafest.com.
(preliminary schedule in chronological order | subject to change)
*world premiere
WHEN: May 1-June 30, 2021 except when listed with specific dates
WHERE: Streaming online on companies’ respective digital platforms
HOW: Tickets range from FREE-$60. Tickets may be purchased by contacting NYOA at newyorkoperafest.org. Tickets go on sale April 1, 2021.
Regina Opera Company
May 1 – June 30, 2021
Broadcast: Recorded at the company’s Sunset Park theater
Tickets: FREE
Regina Opera presents their “2021 Spring Concert.” This is a half-hour video concert (available to stream for two months) of popular opera arias and songs featuring four of Regina Opera’s soloists, Lisa Bryce, soprano; Galina Ivannikova, mezzo-soprano; Lindell Carter and Hyunho Cho, tenors; accompanied by pianist Dmitry Glivinskiy, recorded in Sunset Park theater on December 13, 2020. Among the selections are arias by Puccini, Verdi, and Massenet.
Hunter Opera Theater
May 1 – June 30, 2021
Broadcast: Pre-recorded
Tickets: FREE
Hunter Opera Theater presents the Richard Burke Pocket Opera at Hunter College. This year’s operas are: The Taxi Driver, libretto and music by Joe Young, The Blue Bird Opera: The Pursuit of Happiness, libretto and music by Alyssa Regent, Panic Room, libretto and music by Deshawn Withers, and Prince Danila Govorila, music by Matthew Sandahl, with a libretto by Alkiviades Meimaris.
Verdi’s final opera Falstaff fills the house with magnificent ensemble singing. Bring the Metropolitan Opera’s magnificent experience to your home via streaming
The review and the cast is based on the 2019 performances
Ailyn Pérez as Alice and Ambrogio Maestri in the title role of Verdi’s “Falstaff.” Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera
Robert Carsen’s vibrant and colorful 2013 production of Verdi’s Falstaff brings together a powerful ensemble of opera stars with Ambrogio Maestri, baritone, in the title role, Ailyn Perez, soprano as Alice Ford, and Golda Schultz, soprano as Alice’s daughter Nannetta. Carsen’s clever shift from Shakespearean time to the mid-20th century expresses complex themes of renewal, gender equality, fidelity, and trust while telling an enlightening and joyful story full of lighthearted jokes, fateful misunderstandings, and a happy ending.
Falstaff, the last of Verdi’s operas, was based on Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. The majestic music by the Italian master combined with a witty storyline in the libretto written by Arrigo Boito, an opera composer in his own right, makes for a triumphant career finale for Verdi. In this season’s MetOpera production, Maestri’s confidence and gusto in the portrayal of a fateful Falstaff fit perfectly with the rest of the powerful cast. Brightly colored stage design and vivid costumes add hilarity and buoyancy to the plot. The free-flowing ensemble singing creates a production that is a lively fete for the actors and a delight for opera lovers.
Russian Arts & Theater Studio has suspended the performances from March 10, 2020
Russian Arts & Theater Studio presents new play Lambs for Slaughter on March 1 – March 21, 2020 at Pushkin Hall in New York City
Russian Arts & Theater Studio cast in a scene from Lambs for Slaughter / Photo credit Tom Schubert
Aleksey Burago is never tired of expending the repertoire of Russian Arts and Theater Studio. After mounting a dynamic interpretation of Marquez’s The Rise and Fall of Macondo(One Hundred Years of Solitude), he turns to the short stories by Roald Dahl. Dahl, universally known as the author of the beloved children’s books “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda,” and “James and the Giant Peach,” also wrote grotesque stories for adults. Four of his stories, The Man From The South, The Landlady, Mrs. Bixby And The Colonel’s Coat and The Great Switcheroo are adapted for the stage by the playwright Fred Pezzulli. Commonplace character shortcomings from deception to greed make for an eccentric and captivating theatrical spectacle.
Barring the stubborn desire to outsmart others, there are no lambs and no one gets slaughtered on stage. The vignettes, widely diverse in time and place, are connected mainly by satirizing crass arrogance.
The show starts with the high suspense of “The Man From The South”. A banal encounter leads to a ridiculous bet which ends up in a bizarre finale. The segment owes to the great stage presence by Christofer Zach (Carlos) who sets the bar for the artistic aptitude. Di Zhu, well-known to the audience for her successful prior roles with the theater most notably in Bunin/Berberova play, shines as Mrs. Bixby in “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat”. Two powerful actors, Paulo Quiros and Riccardo Ripani play one against the other with gusto and dynamism in “The Great Switcheroo”.
Burago’s creative addition of the sound-making crew to the stage, inventive use of props, and the soundtrack full of familiar melodies from the past fit organically into the storylines. Instructive and funny, each situation progresses from innocuous to risky to rout. With a little more zest and at least one more story in the sequence, the play could reach enough potency and rigor.
Lambs for Slaughter
Russian Arts & Theater Studio cast in a scene from Lambs for Slaughter / Photo credit Tom Schubert
Based on the short stories by Roald Dahl
Directed by Aleksey Burago
Adapted for the stage by Fred Pezzulli
Featuring: Luisa Menzen, Paulo Quiros, Riccardo Ripani, Christopher Zach, and Di Zhu
