Lyric Opera House

Saving the day comes naturally to Antonello Palombi. Tosca opens at 8:15 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 13 at the Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. $45-$127. 410-727-6000 or baltimoreopera.com.

YouTube is killing me," Renee Fleming says. On stage Renee Fleming will perform with the Baltimore Opera Orchestra, conducted by Ya-Hui Wang, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Limited ticket availability. 410-727-6000 or baltimoreopera.com.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, the Lyric Opera House plays host to a concert by R&B stars Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill and Raheem DeVaughn. Last month, Sweat released a Christmas album, A Christmas of Love. Gill, who replaced Bobby Brown in the group New Edition, is best known for his ballads. And DeVaughn, a Beltsville native who attended Coppin State University, released his first album, The Love Experience, in 2005, and his song "Woman" was recently nominated for a best male R&B vocal performance Grammy Award.

Lupe Fiasco What do the Roots, Lupe Fiasco (pictured) and Little Brother have in common? Unique styles infused with heavy-duty lyrical content. These musicians have proved that lyrical content is their No. 1 priority, and whether they are receiving Grammy nominations or being otherwise praised for their musical efforts, these musicians have all made their mark in the hip-hop world. They perform at 7:30 tonight at the Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Tickets are $28-$48. Call 410-547-SEAT or go to ticketmaster.

Musicals, comedy, magic and even a trip to the circus will highlight Performing Arts Productions' 1999-2000 season at the Lyric Opera House.The shows range from such classic American musicals as "The Sound of Music" and "Annie" to the Native American extravaganza, "Spirit," and the Big Apple Circus' first purely theatrical, non-tent production -- "OOPS."In all, eight different shows will be offered in subscription packages consisting of three or five productions -- a change in format aimed at attracting broad as well as more specialized audiences.

The dramatic power in the ampersand that connects "Cav & Pag," as Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Ruggiero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" are affectionately known, runs in only one direction. That was my conclusion Thursday evening in the Lyric Opera House when the Baltimore Opera Company reversed the usual order in its staging of this familiar double bill by beginning with "Pagliacci."There is historical precedent for this. The first time these pieces appeared together, the order was Leoncavallo followed by Mascagni.

The Baltimore Opera Company's current staging of Bellini's "Norma" may be the finest production of an opera I've heard this company give since its "Salome" about 10 years ago. It is brilliantly sung, well played, beautifully costumed and intelligently directed.The BOC is one of many American companies that is benefiting from the floodgate of superbly trained, enormously gifted Soviet singers. In this production, however, the company has hit the jackpot.The Yerevan- and Moscow-trained Hasmik Papian, who sang the title role on Thursday night in the Lyric Opera House, is only 35, and I suspect we will be hearing about her for years to come.

A few years ago, Chita Rivera was asked to write her autobiography. "They wanted a tell-all book and that's not what I'm interested in," the two-time Tony Award winner said recently from Richmond, Va., where she was appearing in "Chita & All That Jazz." The revue opens a one-week run at the Lyric Opera House tomorrow."Chita & All That Jazz" is, in part, her substitute for an autobiography. "I was coming towards the end of 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' and I realized that one doesn't dance forever," said Rivera, 65, whose career would appear to disprove that statement.

"Stomp" is street percussion: push brooms in counterpoint, a tattoo on a teapot, a well-tuned team of toilet plungers."Stomp" is eight performers -- five men, three women -- banging on every kind of imaginable object, and some that aren't. And sometimes "Stomp" is softness itself, tickling the ear with a xylophone of Zippo lighters or the snap-top cap of a Snapple flavored tea played like a castanet."Stomp" is grunge clothes, pierced ears, big pants, sweat-soaked T-shirts and tank tops. Stomp is everything but the kitchen sink -- and, in one number, it is the kitchen sink.

The Baltimore Opera Company's 1998-1999 season will include Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci," the company has announced.The two operas, which open the 48th season in October, will be performed together each night, in a new co-production with Opera Seville designed and directed by Roberto Lagana.Starring are Ghena Dimitrova, Paul Lyon, Elena Filipova, Gegam Grigorian and Jon Fredric West.In November, there will be a new production of Bellini's "Norma" with sets and costumes by the Argentinean team of Anibal Lapiz and Roberto Oswald.

The demise of the Baltimore Opera Company last season left a sizable void at the venue where the organization had long made its home. But losing a valued tenant hasn't taken the opera out of the Lyric Opera House. The theater has lined up its own operatic activity for the 2009-2010 season. Although modest in terms of quantity - just three performances - the series has the potential of delivering on the quality end, and of laying the groundwork for more extensive seasons in the future. "The Lyric is thoroughly committed to having opera here," says Jim Harp, former artistic administrator and education coordinator of the Baltimore Opera.

This week's high drama at the Senator Theatre reminded me that owning and maintaining an old entertainment palace is not easy. Put your name on a theatrical mortgage at your own financial and mental peril. The lights of the marquee may impart excitement and glamour. But the anxiety involved with keeping up a roof, walls, furnace and upholstery in a house that seats hundreds of people is a killer. And what about the bank that holds the deed? Two summers ago, I was walking along Baltimore Street and spotted an open door at the Morris Mechanic Theatre, which, at that point, had ceased being an operating entertainment venue.

No, I haven't stopped thinking about Baltimore's opera future. And, thanks to some others in the area similarly focused, I've got a lot more to think about. Last week, Giorgio Lalov and Jenny Kelly announced the debut season of their Baltimore Opera Theatre at the Hippodrome - Rossini's The Barber of Seville in November and Verdi's Rigoletto in March. This will not be the all-local company Lalov and Kelly initially announced. These inaugural presentations, using an orchestra and chorus from Europe augmented with area musicians, suggest a version of the couple's longtime touring company, Teatro Lirico d'Europa.

The first time Placido Domingo stood on the stage of Baltimore's Lyric Opera House, he sang. When he returns on Tuesday, after 43 years, he won't open his mouth. Instead, the eminent Spanish-born singer, who has performed at all of the world's leading opera houses and who, with Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, rocked the global market in 1990 as part of the storied Three Tenors phenomenon, will be on the podium. He will conduct Puccini's Turandot with soloists, orchestra and chorus of Washington National Opera.

Baltimore needs an opera company it can believe in now that the venerable Baltimore Opera Company has closed up shop. For 58 seasons, the company's singers and musicians performed what has been called "the most extravagant art" - a lavish collage of symphonic music, theater and dance - with great panache and brio, to the delight of enthusiastic and intensely loyal local audiences. The roster of stars who have performed under its auspices reads like a Who's Who of 20th-century musical theater: sopranos Birgit Nilsson, Renata Scotto and Beverly Sills; tenors Placido Domingo and Carlo Bergonzi; baritone Thomas Hampson and bass-baritone James Morris.

Despite being kicked off American Idol during Season 3, Jennifer Hudson has become one of the most celebrated performers of her generation. The Chicago native's ascension to pop superstardom has been nothing short of meteoric. Her first acting turn, a memorable performance in Dreamgirls, won her an Academy Award for best supporting actress. Her first album, a sometimes-vibrant but mostly spotty self-titled effort, earned a Grammy. Her first tour, which stops at the Lyric Opera House on April 4, has been packing venues across the country.

Three months after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and canceling the remainder of the 2008-2009 season, the board of trustees of the Baltimore Opera Company voted yesterday to pursue Chapter 7 liquidation instead and dissolve the 58-year-old organization. The company's assets, including a warehouse, scenery, costumes and technical equipment, will be sold, and the proceeds will be distributed among creditors. "We had some promises of money, but there just wasn't enough out there," said general manager M. Kevin Wixted.

Just announced Robin Williams DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, May 6-7. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Also, Teena Marie, along with The Whispers and comedian Mike Brooks, are there May 8. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Kathy Griffin Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on June 25. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. No Doubt Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., on June 14. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday. Also, Def Leppard is there July 12. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

After 58 years and more than 200 productions, the Baltimore Opera Company will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-law protection today amid dwindling ticket sales and contributions. The remaining two productions of the 2008-2009 season, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess have been canceled. Ticket-holders will not receive refunds. Singers engaged for next season are being released from their contracts, but the company plans to continue fundraising in an effort to resume productions in the future.

City voters were on their way to approving loan authorizations for $125 million in projects, including construction at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and Lyric Opera House, and renovations at the downtown courthouse and other buildings. Based on incomplete returns, voters also backed a charter amendment to create a Department of General Services.