Monthly Archives: October 2013

HOT Opera Express – The Mikado

DSC_0324

The HOT Opera Express is on the road and in full effect bringing The Mikado to keiki around the island with a tour leading up to a performance for Ohana and the public at the Hawaii Theatre on November 6, 2013 at 700p!  Tickets prices range from $2.00 – $7.00 and are on sale now!

Don’t miss it!

To purchase your tickets and for more info check out the Hawaii Theatre’s website.

131106-IMAGE-10.2.13-300x206

From Hawaii Theatre:

“Hawaii Opera Theatre’s Opera Express ingenious adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta will offer one public OHANA! Series performance at the Hawaii Theatre!

Every year the excellent Education staff at HOT streamline full-length operas into kid-friendly introductions to the world of classical opera.  This year they have chosen the witty vehicle Gilbert and Sullivan created to lampoon the English 19th century fascination with the Orient.  Their story is set in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu, with character names like Nanki-Poo, Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo and Yum-Yum. The plot is as playful as the music that carries it along, and families will love the comic misadventures that result from disguise and mistaken identities.”

HOT’s Website Wins Design Award

1383322_10151761245267712_1955169908_n

On October 26, 2013, it was announced that HOT’s website was recognized for its Design by Ikayzo at the 2013 Hawaii 5-0 Awards!

1380744_10151761239037712_1493557105_n

 

The Hawaii 5-0 Awards is a biennial event put on by Honolulu’s design community, AIGA, and it highlights the best 50 designs from the past two years.

Bravo and Mahalo to Ikayzo for creating such a ‘HOT’ look!

1385330_10151761238972712_1457921125_n

Closing Tonight – Turandot!

LUM_8816

 

Tonight is the last opportunity to see HOT’s production of Puccini’s final masterpiece, Turandot!

The performances have been headlined by stars Soprano Susan Foster (Turandot), Tenor Jay Hunter Morris (Calaf), and Soprano Janai Brugger (Liu), who all have graced the stage at New York’s famed Metropolitan Opera.  This is a production you do not want to miss!!!

Tonight’s performance starts at 700p and there are still a few tickets available at the Blaisdell Box Office.  Buy them now!

 

Opening Night – Turandot

1379667_10100745028294316_623116255_n

 

Susan Foster stars as Turandot in Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production of Puccini’s final masterpiece, Turandot.  The ‘Ice Princess’ sat down recently with Steven Mark from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and this is the cover feature for the publication’s weekend highlights insert, TGIF.

You can check out the whole article online at Honolulu Pulse.

The All-Star cast includes Jay Hunter Morris debuting as Calaf and Janai Brugger revisiting her role as Liu, which she last performed by gracing the stage at the Metropolitan Opera over a year ago.

Buy your tickets to Turandot at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center Box Office for tonight’s show!  For other dates call the HOT Box Office at (808)596-7858 of visit www.hawaiiopera.org!

Turandot is here!

HOT’s packed the house for tonight’s Opera for Everyone, which marks the Final Dress Rehearsal for the Cast and Production Team of Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production of Puccini’s final masterpiece, Turandot!

1375813_10151724951552712_683255539_n

Featuring an All-Star cast lead by Susan Foster as TurandotJay Hunter Morris debuting as Calaf, and the award-winning  Janai Brugger as Liu, this is one production that you do not want to miss!

Buy your tickets now – online at www.hawaiiopera.org or at (808) 596-7858! 

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s ‘Opera for Everyone’ program

HOT Logo Small

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:  Jason M.A. Walter | 808-596-7372 ext. 211 | j_walter@hawaiiopera.org

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s ‘Opera for Everyone’ program

Honolulu, HI – The Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT) Education Program will once more bring Opera for Everyone to the Blaisdell.  Since 1991, HOT’s Opera for Everyone Program offers students from elementary through high school and college classes (age 24 and under) the opportunity to enjoy the live opera experience for $7 at the Final Dress Rehearsal of each production. Teachers and others working with Hawaii’s youth may reserve seating for the final full orchestra dress rehearsal.  The last day to sign up for tickets is October 7, 2013.

The first Opera for Everyone of the 2013-2014 Opera season features Turandot and will be held on Wednesday, October 9, starting at 7pm. Turandot was composed by Giacomo Puccini, who died before its completion.  It was first performed in 1926 after Franco Alfano used Puccini’s own notes and outlines to complete the opera. Famously on its opening night, Maestro Arturo Toscanini did not perform Alfano’s ending. During the performance, the conductor laid down his baton right after Liù’s final scene and addressed the audience, saying, “Here the Maestro died.”

Turandot is based upon Gozzi’s dramatic fairy-tale about a barbarian prince who journeys to an unknown city. There, he is reunited with his father and a faithful servant. He also encounters a cold but beautiful woman, the Princess Turandot, and decides to undertake his greatest challenge—winning her love… Should he fail, the price is death! This story also focuses on the questions of family loyalty, faithfulness to duty, openness to emotion, and honesty with oneself.

HOT’s Education team will also be conducting backstage tours on the morning of the final day of production October 15 (tours at 900a, 1000a, 1100a) for students of its School Residency Program.  The HOT Residency program is available for elementary, middle and high schools. During the Residency Program, the HOT Education team leads students and teachers through the process of producing and performing an opera.  Schools participating this year include Waikele Elementary, Pearl Highlands Elementary, and Blanche Pope Elementary.

Sung in Italian, with English language translations projected above the stage, HOT’s production of Turandot will be performed by an award-winning cast including Soprano Susan Foster, whose renowned performances as the title character in productions around the world, include stops at San Francisco Opera & Opera Australia.  Grammy Award winning Tenor Jay Hunter Morris, whose vaunted performance as a late-addition to Wagner’s Ring Cycle on 8 days notice made him a rising star, returns to HOT, where he last performed in La boheme (2003).  Mr. Morris will be making his debut as the courageous Calàf, who despite the odds against him, aspires to win the heart of his beloved Turandot.

To learn more about HOT’s Education Program, please contact Erik D. Haines, Director of Education, at e_haines@hawaiiopera.org.  For tickets to Opera For Everyone, please contact Blythe Kelsey, Education Coordinator, at b_kelsey@hawaiiopera.org.

-#########-