We can hardly believe it, but we are at the end of our 2023/24 mainstage season! Opera is a team sport, and we could not be more grateful for the artists, directors, designers, dramaturgs, BLO staff, backstage crew, board members, volunteers, and audiences that make what we do possible. THANK YOU! For the first time since August, our team has an opportunity to look back and see all that we’ve accomplished — and we’re pretty proud, if we do say so ourselves! Here are some of our favorite moments from the past year. A groundbreaking Madama Butterfly This September, [...]

Anne Bogart to be Presented with Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) Gordon Davidson Award for Lifetime Achievement and Distinguished Service in the American Theatre (New York, March 7, 2024) Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), announces that director and theatre visionary Anne Bogart will receive its 2023 Gordon Davidson Award. Named in honor of the founding artistic director of Los Angeles's Center Theatre Group and one of the visionary leaders of the resident theatre movement, the Gordon Davidson Award recognizes a director or choreographer for lifetime achievement and [...]

BLO Artistic Advisor and Boston Conservatory faculty member, Vimbayi Kaziboni joins a group of legendary conductors who have received the esteemed honor of the Ditson Conductor's Award. Columbia University has announced that Vimbayi Kaziboni has won the 2024 Alice M. Ditson Fund Conductor’s Award, a prestigious honor recognizing conductors who have a distinguished record of performing and championing contemporary American music. The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University established the Conductor’s Award in 1945. It is the oldest continuing award honoring conductors for distinguished contributions to American music. The Zimbabwean-born conductor becomes the 79th recipient of what is [...]

Even with centuries of classical music available to us, Black composers and their works are still underrepresented, both on the opera and concert stage. It’s time we celebrate and bring in the voices of Black composers who have helped influence our musical landscape! In February, we celebrate Black History Month, a time for us to honor the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Even though we are only highlighting five composers in this blog post, there have been hundreds of notable Black composers throughout American history, and thousands more we may never have the opportunity to [...]

Dear friends,  As the curtain has closed on our fall Season, I find myself reflecting on the shared moments we have had these past few months. I am continually struck by the power of opera to create an atmosphere of connection, whether to speak to complex historical moments, prompt a belly laugh, or celebrate the bonds of family and friendship.  Some of my favorite highlights of our Fall season include:  Our largest audiences at Madama Butterfly since our 2016/17 Season  Over 2000 people engaging with our Butterfly exhibit, lectures, and partnership programs  Nearly 1000 student and community attendees at [...]

La Cenerentola begins with a radical act of kindness. In the opening scene, Alidoro, tutor to the prince Don Ramiro, knocks on the door, dressed as a beggar and asking for food. While her stepsisters want to send him away, Angelina (Cinderella) gives him bread and coffee. In the fairytale world, we’d all do the same. But what does this act look like in our modern world? If a stranger knocked on your door, begging for something to eat, what would you do?  Set in modern-day Boston, our new production of La Cenerentola allows us to explore the traditional themes in Cinderella [...]

The halls of BLO’s rehearsal space have been filled with music and laughter since our cast and creative team arrived, and we can’t wait to share La Cenerentola with you! Rossini’s sparkling music requires immaculate comic timing and vocal fireworks from the entire cast, and our singers are up to the challenge. A true ensemble cast, this team of internationally acclaimed artists will wow you with their voices, make you laugh, and warm your heart. Let’s meet them! Cecelia Hall as Angelina (Cinderella) Cecelia Hall sings leading roles as a member of Oper Frankfurt's prestigious ensemble and appears regularly [...]

The cast and creative team of La Cenerentola are hard at work, and our rehearsal halls are filled with laughter, high notes, and sparkling coloratura. There’s nothing not to like about spending a month with the music of one of opera’s greatest stars: Gioachino Rossini.  Rossini is most known for his operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. Though he retired from large-scale composition while still in his thirties - at the height of his popularity - his work set many standards for both comic and serious opera. Opera fans know [...]

We’re still riding high on the success of our Butterfly, but there’s no rest for the weary in opera! We’re already hard at work on our next production: Rossini’s charming take on Cinderella, La Cenerentola.  The story of Cinderella has inspired writers, poets, artists, playwrights, and composers for thousands of years. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23, about an enslaved Greek woman who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known version of the Cinderella story. The Chinese fairy tale Ye Xian, in which the main character [...]

Welcome to Boston Lyric Opera’s 47th Season! On behalf of all of us at Boston Lyric Opera, I extend a hearty welcome to the beginning of our 2023/24 season. This season, we embark on a journey of love – exploring the idea “All I have, I give for love.” This quote comes from our closing opera of the season, Eurydice, a new work by Boston-born composer Matthew Aucoin, based on the famous play by Sara Ruhl, and has become a theme that has resonated as we prepare these productions for the stage. Each story this season asks the question, [...]