We’re so excited that we have a new website.  Thanks to Sideways Designs for the great new look!

How do you follow the frothy fun of “Follies of 1915?” If you’re Marigny Opera Ballet, you do something that challenges and stretches the ability of your dancers and choreographers. No performing arts group in the region takes the risks involved in presenting original material that Director Dave Hurlbert and his team do. And that’s… Read More

The Q&A with Lauren Guynes Dancer, Follies of 1915 Lauren Guynes returns to her third season with the Marigny Opera Ballet as Violet in Follies of 1915. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she choreographed and performed with the Repertory Dance Company. Guynes continues to… Read More

The Q&A with Kellis McSparrin Oldenburg Choreographer, Follies of 1915 Currently in her fourth season dancing with the Marigny Opera Ballet, McSparrin Oldenburg serves as a dancer, choreographer and rehearsal director. She has choreographed two works for the company in past seasons — “Ain’t She Sweet?” (March 2016) and “Tells” (January 2018). As a choreographer,… Read More

The award winning production from 2016 is back for a three performance run beginning Friday, March 23 at Marigny Opera House “To dance the title role is an immense challenge.” In her third season with Marigny Opera Ballet, Gretchen Erickson choreographed “Silk and Smoke,” one of three jazz ballets that premiered in January and plunged… Read More

Two composers new to Marigny Opera Ballet make their debuts in Jazz Ballets, opening Thursday (January 25) for a three-performance run. Russell Welch and Rex Gregory join Nutria (Byron Asher, Trey Boudreaux and Shawn Myers) whose work on last season’s Wary Heat will be reprised in Jazz Ballets. RUSSELL WELCH, COMPOSER “Silk and Smoke” (Choreography:… Read More

A holiday celebration of three dances opens December 1   When you start out with a vision of each dance as a cocktail, it doesn’t take long for things to get merry. And, that’s just what Company Director Dave Hurlbert has in mind.  He’s envisioned Marigny Opera Ballet’s second production of the season as pure… Read More

The score for the Book of Saints, composed by Tucker Fuller, is a cantata for soloists and chorus. The lyrics are poems, prayers and historical accounts illustrating the lives of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Sebastian and St. Francis of Assisi. Unfortunately, they could not be included in the performance program booklets, but are listed here… Read More

Dancing the Lives of Sts. Teresa, Sebastian and Francis By the time  the avant-garde opera “Four Saints in Three Acts “opened in 1934, Gertrude Stein had expanded its cast to more than 20 saints and added an extra act. Prepping for the Friday October 6th opening of his Book of Saints ballet, producer and librettist… Read More

A winning mix of past season favorites, new works and newcomers In 2014 the Marigny Opera House became home to the city’s only professional resident dance company offering a full season of performances. Now, three seasons later, Marigny Opera Ballet continues to raise the bar for regional dance companies. Capping three successful seasons of sold-out… Read More

In ballet, music is almost always second fiddle, necessarily subservient to choreography. So, why then are pop composers as diverse as Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and the Pet Shop Boys composing ballet scores?  Is ballet music finally getting some respect? Yes but. There’s also another trend that sees ballet companies reviving classical works and tweaking… Read More

The Marigny Opera Ballet holds annual open auditions each April. And, every company member has a story. Soon to dance her second “Orfeo,” hometown girl Gretchen Erickson was living and dancing in London when she first heard the news about the formation of Marigny Opera Ballet. “I was so excited to hear that New Orleans was… Read More

If you were lucky enough to see Marigny Opera Ballet’s amazing “Orfeo” last season, you may well wonder if the reprise can recapture the magic of the original. Choreographer Maya Taylor, composer Tucker Fuller, conductor Francis Scully and producer Dave Hurlbert are betting that it can. Having three new dancers in the cast is allowing… Read More

Maya Taylor has been instrumental to the phenomenal success of the Marigny Opera Ballet, serving as its Rehearsal Director for the company’s first three seasons, and as choreographer of some of the Ballet’s most important works, including the full-length contemporary ballets, “Orfeo” and “Giselle Deslondes.” Now, at the end of a highly successful and active… Read More

Dancing to a New Beat: Diego de Lima and Nutria Create Wary Heat for The Art of Jazz Crunch time! Final rehearsals for The Art of Jazz — three world premiere productions that combine the control of ballet with the freewheeling improvisation of jazz performed by well-known live jazz trios. Director Dave Hurlbert has teamed… Read More

Dancing to a New Beat: 3 Choreographers + 3 Composers = The Art of Jazz                        Marigny Opera Ballet is busy prepping three world premiere productions that combine the control of ballet with the freewheeling improvisation of jazz performed by well-known live jazz trios. David… Read More

Dancing to a new Beat: Jazz Musicians and Dance Company Create Three New Works No, you don’t have to go to New York to catch three world premiere productions that combine the control of ballet with the freewheeling improvisation of jazz performed by well-known live jazz trios. Not when the award winning Marigny Opera Ballet teams… Read More

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. From the elegant Arbor House wreaths on the St. Ferdinand Street doors to OperaCréole’s authentic Creole Christmas tree on stage, the joyful sounds of the season are peeling out from Marigny Opera House.   Two unique holiday programs by artists familiar to MOH supporters will bring down… Read More

Founder and Director, New Resonance Orchestra Music Director, Marigny Opera Ballet Over Coffee by Sharon O’Brien At CC’s on Esplanade Avenue, Francis Scully is reflecting on a range of topics – from his singular approach to classical music to the special challenges of being music director for the Marigny Opera Ballet’s “Giselle Deslondes.” What’s particularly… Read More

Dancing Giselle Deslondes by Sharon O’Brien Kellis McSparrin Oldenburg — dancer, choreographer and teacher– will dance the title role in Marigny Opera Ballet’s world premiere of Giselle Deslondes.  The Clinton, MS native received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2010. Following her undergraduate studies, she moved… Read More

Since 1847 when architect Theodore Giraud designed the former Holy Trinity Church, generations of New Orleanians have passed through its iconic doors on St. Ferdinand Street.  From baptism at the beginning of life through the funeral mass at the end, the structure was a familiar, well-loved portal in the spiritual life of Marigny and Bywater… Read More

OVER COFFEE by Sharon O’Brien Early afternoon at Café Fatoush in The Healing Center on St. Claude. This is a Turkish coffee shop/restaurant with an air of the mildly exotic about it. It is a good place to meet because it’s usually quiet. Even on weekends when it’s packed with chess players hovering over chess… Read More

OVER COFFEE Midmorning in Café Luna. Not much happening. Whirrs and beeps of coffee machines, low murmur of convo, nothing out of character for a cozy, uptown coffee shop except for maybe one thing. There’s a bitcoin ATM next to the counter, an anachronism all the more consequential because it’s likely one of a few… Read More

Marigny Opera Ballet Begins Its Third Season November 18th by Sharon O’Brien After last season’s rave reviews and SRO performances, it’s a good idea to buy season and individual performance tickets well in advance. Now is not too soon.  Giselle Deslondes  World Premiere  November 18-20, 2016  Choreography: Maya Taylor  Music: Tucker Fuller  New Resonance Chamber… Read More