Pandora

The latest from Toronto-based FAWN Chamber Creative, the new opera-ballet sees its world premiere run from May 23-25 at Geary Lane (260 Geary Ave.). Pandora is the product of librettist David James Brock, and composers Joseph Glaser, Kit Soden, and David Storen.

“Although this piece isn’t directly about the myth,” says stage director Amanda Smith, “I imagine that in Pandora we see what happens when the jar, or box, is opened a second time.”

Click for tickets and details.

Lucretia

May 23-25, New York-based Cantata Profana presents a concert anchored around Handel’s “genre busting” oratorio, Lucretia. “Handel was one of the greatest dramatists to ever compose for the voice. This piece is proof,” says Jacob Ashworth, Artistic Director of Cantata Profana.

Sharing the programme are works spanning ten centuries, including music from the poet-composers that gave us the original Carmina Burana.

La Lucretia runs for three performances at HERE, 145 6th Ave.

Chunky in Heat

A team effort by the aptly named Experiments in Opera and chamber orchestra Contemporaneous, Chunky in Heat gets its premiere run at New York’s The Flea (20 Thomas St), May 31-June 2.

Chunky in Heat marks the first libretto by author A.M. Homes, set to music by six composers: Jason Cady, Paula Matthusen, Erin Rogers, Aaron Siegel, Shelley Washington, and Matthew Welch. It’s a 14-scene coming-of-age story set in Los Angeles, which follows a single family over three decades.

“Together with six composers and director Alison Moritz we have put together a rare breed among new operas—a work that is funny, dark, hallucinatory, and full of portent for our troubled times.”

Chunky in Heat runs for three performances, May 31-June 2.

New York Festival of Song

Acknowledging Pride month and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, New York Festival of Song presents two notable events.

On June 11, Laura Kaminsky & Friends on Stonewall offers a programme of music by women and lesbian artists, curated by composer Laura Kaminsky (As One). Happening June 22 and 25 is Manning the Canon: Songs of Gay Life, an evening of songs (and drag acts) compiled by NYFOS Artistic Director Steven Blier, each by and about gay men.

Both concerts are co-presented by NYFOS and Five Boroughs Music Festival. Click for details and tickets.

Music of Kline, Spears, and Eastman

On June 8 at New York’s Roulette, The String Orchestra of Brooklyn presents Music of Kline, Spears, and Eastman, a night of newly commissioned music. On the programme is a new arrangement of Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla, and the world premieres of Gregory Spears’ Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings, and Phil Kline’s Four Songs from Florida Man.

“Florida Man embraces a kind of American craziness that seems to do especially well in the sun,” says Kline of his new piece.

The concert is one-night-only, June 8, Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave.).

Vancouver Bach Festival

An appetizer for Early Music Vancouver’s newly-announced 50th anniversary season, this summer’s Vancouver Bach Festival runs July 30 to August 9. A few highlights: the complete Brandenburg Concertos (performed in two parts, July 30 and 31), Before Bach: 17th Century Music for Strings & Winds (August 7), and Strozzi 17th Century Divas, featuring sopranos Suzie Leblanc and Dorothee Mields performing music by Barbara Strozzi.

There’s plenty to peruse in the line-ups for the Vancouver Bach Festival, EMV’s 2019-20 Masterworks Series (presented at the Chan Shun Centre for the Performing Arts and the Vancouver Playhouse), and EMV’s 2019-20 Cathedral Series (presented at Christ Church Cathedral).