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Pittsburgh Opera to Stage World Premiere That Tackles the Issue of School Violence

Left to Right: High school students in Anytown USA - Tyson, an injured football player (Erik Nordstrom); Bailey, a responsible and sweet spirit (Shannon Crowley); Alona, the new girl (Timothi Williams); José, an actor (Logan Wagner) Credit: David Bachman Photography Classical opera most frequently lends itself to themes that discover human responses to love, tragedy, rivalry, revenge, heroism, often through the depiction of intense human emotion made even more vivid by powerful music and inventive narrative. Contemporary opera often employs the same foundational themes but through the exploration of topical issues relative to today’s world. In Pittsburgh Opera's upcoming world premiere production, Time to Act , the narrative couldn’t be timelier, or more vital, in its exposition of the ramifications of school violence. Set in present-day America, the opera follows a group of high school students staging Sophocles’ Antigone, whose rehearsal process is upended by the arrival o...
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Time to Act opens this weekend!

  On set at the Bitz Opera Factory for  Time to Act . (photo credit: David Bachman)   Time to Act  opens Saturday Limited tickets remain for  Time to Act ! Join us at the  Bitz Opera Factory  for FIVE performances ( new Saturday, March 7th matinee performance just added ),  February 28-March 8 . Several performances are already sold out, so if you want tickets, it's  time to act !   Want to learn more? The  Pittsburgh Opera Podcast (POP)  is back to talk  Time to Act ! Host  Matthew Hrdlicka  is joined by librettist and director  Crystal Manich  to discuss the world premiere of  Time to Act . Together they discuss the immense undertaking of creating an opera from the ground up and the powerful impact of this poignant story. Learn more about this innovative, new production: This and other episodes of the POP are now  available on Spotify , along with other  fun playlists ! "I want people t...
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18th Annual Race For Grace

  The Reflections Of Grace Foundation will host the 18th Annual Race For Grace, presented by C. Harper Auto Group, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Norwin High School in North Huntingdon. One of the region’s longest-running charity races, the event has raised more than $2.11 million to support families facing pediatric brain cancer and to fund critical research. This year’s fundraising goal is $185,000. The Race For Grace honors the life of Grace Ekis, who was just five years old when she battled Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and terminal form of childhood brain cancer, in 2008. What began as a small community effort has grown into a major annual event drawing families, runners, and supporters from across Western Pennsylvania. “Every year, Race For Grace reminds us how powerful a community can be when it gathers united for a cause bigger than itself,” said Tamara Ekis, President of the Reflections Of Grace Foundation and Grace’s mother. “The support behind Race...
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The Latest from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

  Maestro Honeck Accepting the Julio Kelenyi Medal of Honor from the Bruckner Society of America. Credit: Iris Holleran with all Photos. When I saw that the Pittsburgh Symphony was doing Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 in C Minor (1890 revised version) I made a special effort to make it to the concert. I had already heard Bruckner’s 3rd, 4th and 6th Symphonies and wanted to fill in my experiential gap with another of his works, one he felt, according to the program notes, to be his greatest composition. A second inducement to make the concert was the addition of a work on the program by Samy Moussa, a contemporary composer whose Elysium I very much enjoyed when the PSO included it in their program in a January 2025 concert. Samy Moussa with Maestor Manfred Honeck. Soussa’s Adgilis Deda, a Hymn for Orchestra commissioned by the PSO, referenced a Georgian deity revered as the protective spirit of the hearth, family, motherhood, healing and fertility, was included in the weekend’s con...
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