Posted on 10/01/2013 1:18:25 PM PDT by Olog-hai
New York City Opera said Tuesday it is shutting down and filing for bankruptcy protection after seven decades as a fixture on the metropolitan cultural scene.
The company announced Sept. 12 that it needed to raise $7 million by the end of September. Spokeswoman Risa Heller said about $2 million had been raised, plus another $301,019 was pledged from 2,108 donors in an online campaign. …
Junior to and often feistier than the Metropolitan Opera, City Opera was a spawning ground for top opera talent that included Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming and Samuel Ramey.
But it was derailed by a series of decisions by its board, which included going dark for the 2008-09 season while its auditorium at Lincoln Center was reconstructed; hiring Gerard Mortier as artistic director only to have him back out before starting; and leaving Lincoln Center after the 2010-11 season and playing at various venues throughout the city under general manager George Steel. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I had friends who were members of City Opera (the chorus). I’m sorry to hear this. Of course, the last production I saw was several years ago “Candide” with John Cullum. Then they moved out of Lincoln Center. I often wonder if it was in some stupid liberal reaction to the Koch Brothers buying the building. That plus unions.
Yes, the Met is still okay. Costs an arm and a leg to go to a performance there, but it’s still one of the best in the world and good for a very occasional treat.
Pretty much the price is comparable to many Broadway shows and the Broadway shows usually have canned music. The Met Orchestra alone is one of the best in the country, so when you go to the Met you get one of the best orchestras in the country plus the best singers the world has to offer. So when you think of that angle, maybe it’s not so pricey for what you get.
It’s very hard to get people interested in opera. I used to teach acting to opera singers (they need it!) and became involved in the whole scene. A great art but the prices and the lack of understanding of the librettos and complex music seems to put people off.
Yes, Spear not sword...
Lyrics to “What’s Opera, Doc?”
Featuring Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc), and Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q Bryant)
Elmer: Be vewy quiet. I’m hunting wabbits.
(spoken) WABBIT TWACKS!! WABBIT HOLE!!
(thrusting spear) KILL THE WABBIT! KILL THE WABBIT! KILL THE WABBIT!
Bugs (spoken): Kill the wabbit?
Elmer: YO HO HO! YO HO HO! YO HO...
Bugs: Oh mighty warrior of great fighting stock
Might I inquire to ask eh... what’s up doc?
Elmer: I’m going to kill the wabbit!
Bugs: O mighty warrior, ‘twill be quite a task
How will you do it, might I inquire to ask?
E: I will do it with my spear and magic hewmet.
B: Spear and magic hewmet?
E: Spear and magic hewmet.
B: Magic hewmet?
E: Magic hewmet!
B (spoken, disparagingly): Magic hewmet.
E: Yes, magic hewmet, and I give you a sample!
(exit Bugs at warp speed)
E (spoken): That was the wabbit!
(Then a chase, followed by:)
E: Oh, Bwoonhilda, you’re so wovely.
B: Yes, I know it, I can’t help it.
E: Oh, Bwoonhilda, be my wove...
(A dance, then... )
E: Weturn, my wove... a fire burning inside me...
B: Return my luv, I want you always bee-side me.
E: Wove wike ours must be...
B: Made fer you and fer me...
E: Return, won’t you return my love... for my love is yours.
(As they embrace, Bug’s helm falls to the ground... revealing his ears)
Elmer (spoken, outraged): I’ll KILL the wabbit!!
E (spoken): North winds bwow, south winds bwow. typhoons, Hurricanes...
SMOG!!!!!!
E (spoken): Thunder, wigtning, stwike the wabbit!!
(Lightning flashes, striking in the distance — now moving in, we see
the limp and lifeless form of Bugs — a drop of water clings to a
crushed flower)
E: What have I done?.... I’ve killed the wabbit... Poor wittle bunny...
(sob)
(Bugs is carried off in Elmer’s arms... )
B (spoken): Well, what did you expect from an opera, a happy ending?
-————————— The End... That’s all Folks -——————
Dear randita,
Thanks for the ping.
Classical Music Ping List ping.
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Thanks,
sitetest
The magic helmet in Siegfried had different powers; it could render the wearer invisible, allow him to shapeshift, and even teleport the wearer to any location.
American Opera Projects, Inc. Brooklyn
Bronx Opera Bronx
Brooklyn Academy of Music Brooklyn
Chelsea Opera Manhattan
Center For Contemporary Opera Manhattan
Dicapo Opera Theater Manhattan
Encompass New Opera Theatre Manhattan
Gotham Chamber Opera Manhattan
Harlem Opera Theater Manhattan
Il Piccolo Teatro Dell'Opera Brooklyn
Juilliard School Manhattan
Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York Manhattan
Metropolitan Opera Manhattan
Music-Theatre Group Manhattan
New York Grand Opera Company Manhattan
New York Opera Forum Manhattan
Opera Company of Brooklyn Brooklyn
Opera Ebony Manhattan
Opéra Français de New York Manhattan
Opera Orchestra of New York Manhattan
Regina Opera Company Brooklyn
Riverside Opera Ensemble Manhattan
Teatro Grattacielo Manhattan
St. Anne's Warehouse Brooklyn
Village Light Opera Group Manhattan
Vineyard Theatre Manhattan
Imagine a helmet that makes SMOG on demand or wightning!!!
Imagine a helmet that makes SMOG on demand or wightning!!!
"Mayor deBlasio" is a frightening thought, but the New York City Opera has been slowly failing for the past decade.
I live near a medium size city (Louisville, KY), and the local opera organization (Kentucky Opera Association) does a good job of putting on decent productions at a reasonable price. My daughter, I, and couple of friends of mine just attended a production of La Boheme for $63 a head, and that was the highest price for a ticket. It's not the Met, and there are only three operas per year, but it is pretty darn good.
I used to enjoy the Opera Company of Boston when it was under Sarah Caldwell. Some excellent (and daring) productions, especially when compared with the staid old MET. Sort of similar to the NYC Opera I guess.
Now, being kind of far away from the cities, I enjoy opera on DVD and don't feel too bad when a Eurotrash clinker comes in the mail. Other than that, we have good access to excellent chamber music performances and an occasional trip to Boston for the Boston Early Music Festival and the like.
Fitting in oh so many ways...explains the demise..
Some business strategy they got, don’t opera lovers usually have a lot of money? Can’t they afford to buy tickets?
She died in 2007 from inoperable lung cancer. She would be devastated about the closing of "her" opera house.
The NYC Opera was an integral part of the city's culture for many decades. It helped introduce fresh, young singers like Sills, Placido Domingo and the great bass, Samuel Ramey.
Our country's iconic cultural places across the fruited plain will collapse one by one due to Obama's marxist economic policies. We're actually in a depression right now (though no one dares to speak the word)...... and more and more folks can no longer afford outside entertainments and amusements other than those in their own television, music, movie and electronic set-ups in their homes. It's both scary....and saddening.
Leni (classical music lover of the first order)
They need to make their customers cover the difference or cut their costs.
Went to NYC Opera many times. A highlight was Samuel Ramey as Mephostophlies in 1977. And incredible night at the opera.
It’s obvious to all but them.
Could be from all the Peter King singing.
I saw Ramey in that three times. If you remember, the great “Prolouge in Heaven” was basically a light show-and it was not unusual to sniff out the seeming odor of Cannibis burning in the Lincoln Plaza those days shortly before the performance began. Of course, I did not inhale!
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