By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
The Washington National Opera (WNO) is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. - Source: Wikipedia
"Show Boat" is Francesca Zambello's directing debut in her role as artistic director of the WNO, succeeding Placido Domingo.
They're changing the guard at the Kennedy Center. Two key shapers of Washington's cultural life have stepped in, soon to be followed by a third. The full impact of these changes at the nation's busiest performing arts institution won't be felt for some time, as program schedules are sometimes set years in advance. Still, the purpose of the new appointments was certainly not to maintain the status quo.
Two American sopranos _ one established, one up-and-coming _ showed off their considerable talents in roles new to them at the Washington National Opera over the weekend.
A lot has been written and said about the phenomenon of people with otherwise clear larynxes who feel the urge to cough once seated in a theater, opera house or concert hall. There clearly has been a downward shift in audience etiquette.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is planning its first major expansion since it opened in 1971 as a "living memorial" to President John F. Kennedy, with new features including pavilions to house rehearsal halls and classrooms, a memorial garden and a floating stage on the Potomac River.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is planning its first major expansion since it opened in 1971 as a "living memorial" to President John F. Kennedy, with new features including pavilions to house rehearsal halls and classrooms, a memorial garden and a floating stage on the Potomac River.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is planning its first major expansion since it opened in 1971 as a "living memorial" to President John F. Kennedy, with new features including pavilions to house rehearsal halls and classrooms, a memorial garden and a floating stage on the Potomac River.
Never mind the "fiscal cliff," here's what's at the top of the mountainous schedule of music and arts events in store for Washingtonians and visitors this spring.
The Washington National Opera is naming Francesca Zambello as its permanent artistic director beginning in 2013, as the company continues to shift to new leadership following 15 years under famed tenor Placido Domingo.
When the financially strapped Washington National Opera became affiliated with the Kennedy Center a year ago, some skeptical WNO members likened it to putting one's head into the open mouth of a lion that hadn't had its lunch. What a difference a year can make.
Banks do it; schools do it; Mitt Romney and Barack Obama do it; so why not symphony orchestras, theaters and other cultural institutions?
It's summertime, and the living is ... boring? Well, you don't have to just sit at home and watch reruns on TV. Every summer, it seems, there is more to see, hear and enjoy in the Washington area.
For the first time since 1996, the Washington National Opera is bringing Jules Massenet's tragic opera, "Werther," to the Kennedy Center Opera House. The company's production stars the exciting tenor Francesco Meli as the opera's title character, a Romantic poet doomed by love.
Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, "Nabucco," is a surprisingly relevant look at political issues — including religious fundamentalism, nation-building, conflict in the Middle East, resistance to foreign occupation, even genocide — that are as critical now as they were in 587 B.C., when the story takes place.
There's opera, and there are musicals, but whatever happened to "never the twain shall meet"? These days they do meet — in the Washington National Opera's forthcoming season and elsewhere — and world-class opera singers are happy to appear in them.
