Mezzo-soprano Michaela Wolz (B.M. '17, voice, M.M. '19, opera) was one of five winners selected from a group of nine finalists in the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, one of opera's most prestigious competitions.

Set around an enigmatic consulate in Eastern Europe, Gian Carlo Menotti’s three-act opera The Consul constructs a gloomy world in which a family’s desperate attempt to flee totalitarian rule is met with an indifferent bureaucracy. Here are some interesting tidbits to know about both the opera and Menotti before seeing The Consul, running March 28 through March 31 as part of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Center Stage collection.

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Executive Director Cathy Young will present an honorary doctorate to Tony Award–winning actress, singer, and dancer Sutton Foster at Boston Conservatory’s commencement ceremony on May 11. She will deliver commencement remarks for the Boston Conservatory at Berklee class of 2019 at the ceremony.

“You’re not one of our people. You’re not our concern.” These lines, from Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1950 opera, The Consul, echo current events from around the world, as asylum seekers are regularly denied refuge. The opera will be presented by Boston Conservatory at Berklee from Thursday, March 28 through Sunday, March 31 as part of the school’s Center Stage performance collection.

Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Center Stage programming continues with a piece that rings true to today’s political environment, operatic masterpiece The Consul. The Pulitzer Prize–winning opera originally premiered at Philadelphia’s Schubert Theater before moving to Broadway in 1950, with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti. Performances will take place at Boston Conservatory Theater from Thursday, March 28 through Sunday, March 31.

The 2019 New Music Festival, running February 21 through 26, features Boston Conservatory contemporary classical performance students and ensembles alongside world-class guest artists. Featuring works by Mario Davidovsky, Igor Stravinsky, Saunder Choi, Steve Reich, David Bowie, and multiple premieres of student compositions.

Hydrogen Jukebox director Nathan Troup shares his vision for adapting and staging Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg's experimental opera for today's audience.

Fun facts about Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg’s operatic "portrait of America."

Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Center Stage season will begin its spring semester of programming with the contemporary American opera Hydrogen Jukebox, composed by Philip Glass based on the writings of beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Performances will take place at the Boston Conservatory Theater from Thursday, February 7, through Sunday, February 10.
 

Michael Shinn joined Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2017 at a remarkable time in the school’s history: it had just celebrated its 150-year anniversary; joined the larger Berklee organization; and enlisted the visionary Cathy Young as the school’s first-ever female leader. A year into the job, Shinn has set some impressive initiatives in motion, having had the time—and support—to evaluate the Music Division’s strengths and develop a strategy that reaches far beyond academic enhancements and opportunities.