As we look forward to Gerard Mortier's inaugural season in 2009-2010, we will continue to share articles with you about Mr. Mortier's vision for the future of New York City Opera. This week, we feature a story by The New York Times' chief musical critic, Anthony Tommasini, that ran on Sunday, May 11, 2008. Below is an excerpt:
"Mr. Mortier becomes general manager and artistic director of the people's opera, as this essential company has been called, in 2009. You can't blame City Opera regulars for worrying about what [he] has in mind. Not many American opera buffs have direct experience with his work, which has been seen predominately in Europe. But those who follow the field have certainly heard about him, especially from his 10-year tenure as director of the prestigious Salzburg Festival. For Mr. Mortier, the City Opera appointment is a natural next step. 'It brings me back to the beginning of my career, working in smaller houses. I like [the New York State Theater] and come very often. I support the company's basic precepts. I want to bring change, but not change everything.'"
"When Mr. Mortier became director of the Paris National Opera in 2004, there was similar trepidation among operagoers in the city. But having just attended three of the company's productions, I can attest to the success he appears to be having, at least recently, in making opera a living and visceral experience. All three shows played to packed houses and elicited vigorous ovations. The audiences were diverse and noticeably younger than is typical at opera houses. So he is doing something right."
"Mr. Mortier's plans for City Opera, as they slowly emerge, look enticing..."
The New York Times' chief classical music critic, Anthony Tommasini, recently spent time at the Paris Opera, currently under the direction of our General Manager-designate, Gerard Mortier. As we look forward to Mr. Mortier's inaugural season at New York City Opera in 2009-10, we wanted to share with you some excerpts from Mr. Tommasini's reviews of the productions he saw, to give you a flavor of the kind of experience you can expect to have at City Opera in the seasons to come:
"Gerard Mortier, the brilliant director of major European music festivals and opera houses, is poised to shake up the cultural scene when he takes charge of New York City Opera. A tireless champion of contemporary works and a provocative impresario with a penchant for radical productions that have alternately thrilled and scandalized audiences, Mr. Mortier has said he is eager to take the helm of City Opera.
For insight into his work, a visit to the Paris Opera seemed in order. My immersion began when I attended a new production of Berg's Wozzeck. Even tradition-minded fans in New York, wary of what Mr. Mortier has in mind for City Opera, might have been swept away by this production -- a bleak, audacious and humane staging of Berg's masterpiece. The compact, 90-minute score to Wozzeck, with its lush orchestral colorings, piercing atonal harmonies and ruminative, aching lyricism, presents formidable challenges, fully met here by the renowned French conductor Sylvain Cambreling, who drew an urgent and inexorable account of the music from the impressive orchestra."
"In late 2005, when years of resentment among youths of African and Arab descent erupted into riots across France, Gerard Mortier, still early in his tenure as director of the Paris Opera, decided that cultural institutions had to respond and foster healing. He began a venture to take affordable opera to the suburbs of Paris.
The latest offering is an up-close, vividly theatrical Nozze di Figaro, in a full-fledged staging with a top-notch cast, directed by Christoph Marthaler, with sets and costumes by Anna Viebrock, vividly conducted by Sylvain Cambreling -- the creative team responsible for the company's gripping new production of Wozzeck. The house was packed with a diverse and noticeably young audience. At the end of this 4-hour performance (with just one intermission), the audience broke into a prolonged ovation, including uncommonly vigorous rhythmic clapping."
[Click here to read the full review of Nozze di Figaro.]
"Many directors of American opera companies would never even consider presenting Luigi Dallapiccola's one-act Il Prigioniero, a 12-tone, boldly modernistic work. Butunlike many of his timid counterparts, Gerard Mortier has faith in audiences. How many operagoers have actually heard Il Prigioniero or know about it other than from its intimidating reputation? So Mr. Mortier has mounted a new Italian-language production, directed by Llus Pasqual at the opulent, Old World Palais Garnier.
I attended an enthusiastically received performance, and in this stark staging, with a compelling cast and the conductor Lothar Zagrosek drawing a rhapsodic, shimmering performance from the fine orchestra, Il Prigioniero emerged as an intensely dramatic, musically arresting and grimly moving work."
[Click here to read the full review of Il Prigioniero.]
New York City Opera's VOX program offers emerging composers and librettists the opportunity to see their works performed by a full orchestra and excellent singers. On May 10th and 11th, VOX will present excerpts from ten new works by American composers in a 2-day festival presided over by City Opera music director George Manahan. All performances are FREE and open to the public. For ticket reservations, visit www.vox-nyco.com.
To learn more about this year's VOX composers, please click the links:
New York City Opera's VOX program offers emerging composers and librettists the opportunity to see their works performed by a full orchestra and excellent singers. On May 10th and 11th, VOX will present excerpts from ten new works by American composers in a 2-day festival presided over by City Opera music director George Manahan. All performances are free and open to the public. For ticket reservations, visit www.vox-nyco.com.
This week, composer Steven Potter talks about his new work, The Officers, which will premiere at this year's VOX festival in May.
The Gallarus Oratory in Ireland
Your percussion needs for the show encompass a wide range of everyday objects, including pencil sharpeners, basketballs, and tearing paper. You use a synthesizer to create the sound of a doorbell and phone ringing. What does this do for the environment of the piece?
My goal was to create an artifice that closely resembles the banal reality of our everyday lives, or at least everyday life as I've experienced it at one time or another. It's a way of affirming life, recreating on stage stuff that regularly takes up our time. Bits of reality that we take for granted as trivial or unworthy of attention, are regarded here as deserving heightened attention. That said, this material isn't present at every moment of the piece, and harmony and musical gesture actually play a much bigger role than everyday noises, especially in the excerpt to be performed at VOX.
From an article by Jamie Bernstein, daughter of composer Leonard Bernstein:
The history of Candide the musical is as picaresque and convoluted as Voltaire's narrative itself. And I would add that Candide the musical is an excellent demonstration of crankiness being channeled to good use -- the crankiness in question being that of that world-class curmudgeon, the playwright Lillian Hellman.
It was originally her idea to adapt Candide. Voltaire's satire of the Spanish Inquisition, with its religious hysteria and official torture, struck her as a perfect way to demonstrate the folly of the Communist witch-hunts of the 1950's, which sported their own imperiously hurtful inquisitory body, the House Un-American Activities Committee. You may recall that it was Lillian Hellman who, when summoned before that committee, refused to testify against her colleagues. What was her famous line? "I will not cut my conscience to fit the political fashion of the times."
What began as Hellman's notion in 1953 took three years to come to fruition -- and over the years since the first Broadway production of Candide, there have been dozens of revisions, additions, subtractions, tantrums, permutations and transmogrifications. And don't worry; I'm not going to list them all for you.
Candide is baseball-like in its tendency to sprout statistics. There are over two hours of music in Candide, comprising an incredible 30 musical numbers. Writing the show's book, Lillian went through 14 different versions. My father saw at least seven different versions of the show over the course of his life. The original Broadway production ran a paltry 73 performances, barely two months' worth of shows, for a total gross of $340,000. For his three years of labor, my father made $10,000. (Voltaire, by the way, wrote his novella in 3 weeks.)
Please click HERE to read the entire article by Jamie Bernstein.
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Alex Park discusses his experience at Candide. Here's a short excerpt:
"Last Tuesday night was the opening of New York City Opera's Candide, the final work for this spring season. And what a way to finish the year! If you are within 100 miles of the State Theater, there is absolutely no reason you can't come down and see this marvelous, historic, trend-setting production. Also -- New York City Opera's "Opera for All" program is offering $25 orchestra level seats! Seriously now, if you come to Candide because of my gushing response and find yourself truly disappointed, then contact me and we'll do a depression screening on you. If everything checks out and you still have heavy-duty problems with spending 25 bucks to see theater so thrilling and polished, then I'll convince New York City Opera to give you a refund. Except to prove your dissatisfaction, you're going to have to sit through another performance with me next to you. And if you smile just once during the performance, bet's off! It's impossible to watch this production without grinning like a goon."
Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which The New York Post hailed as "beautifully conducted by the versatile George Manahan," has returned to the New York State Theater for a limited engagement through April 20th. This week, the City Opera blog staff went backstage before the show to take pictures and get the inside scoop. Just how does the cast of this fast-moving production prepare themselves for the stage? Please see below for highlights.
On Lielle Berman's first night playing Candide's Mademoiselle Cunegonde, there is a bit of trauma with her fake eyelashes. "One of them won't stick properly," she tells the makeup artist, who then reapplies the eyelash glue and evens out her foundation. Lielle tries out a few test-blinks and gives her makeup artist the thumbs-up. Afterwards, she sips water and reads a "good luck" card from the director. When she's asked about her pre-show routine, she is thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm... what do I do before a show? I guess that depends on the day. Usually, I'm just running around annoying the hair, makeup and costume people. Or maybe that's more during the show," she jokes. "I actually don't have much of a routine. I just do whatever feels good that particular day. I keep trying to remember to eat something before I get my makeup on, because I usually forget, and then I'm starving by intermission! But the one thing I always do is a slow and leisurely vocal warm up."
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Sonia Roubini discusses her experience at Candide. Here's a short excerpt:
"I walked into school on Monday morning, the morning after I saw New York City Opera's production of Candide, and was greeted by a few of friends who asked how I had liked Candide. I could not think of a response. I stared at them, completely mute, for a good minute until one of them repeated, 'Sonia... how was Candide?'
'How was Candide?' I asked, 'HOW was CANDIDE? It was Voltaire's genius plus Bernstein's genius plus New York City Opera's production genius. It was geniusly genius!'
'Right...' they all said, backing away slowly. 'Geniusly genius...'"
New York City Opera's VOX program offers emerging composers and librettists the opportunity to see their works performed by a full orchestra and excellent singers. On May 10th and 11th, VOX will present excerpts from ten new works by American composers in a 2-day festival presided over by City Opera music director George Manahan. All performances are free and open to the public. For ticket reservations, visit www.vox-nyco.com.
This week, composer Alice Shields talks about her new work, Criseyde, which will premiere at this year's VOX festival in May.
Chaucer reciting Troilus and Criseyde
at Corpus Christi College, early 15th
century
Your piece is written in "funky middle English." What is that, exactly?
Middle English is of course medieval English, a variety of dialects spoken in England after the Norman invasion. The English spoken before the Norman invasion, Old English or Anglo-Saxon, is truly foreign to modern speakers of English, and has to be studied as a foreign language in every way. Middle English is earliest version of English that we modern English-speaking people can still largely understand when we hear it, although there are significant differences in the way vowels were pronounced. When you look at a page of Chaucer, you see basically a phonetic spelling, where each letter represents an actual sound, unlike our Modern English spelling, in which many words are spelled in ways that no longer match the way we pronounce those words. Middle English is sort of "funky" because it's like when we moderns use special slang spelling that actually represents the sounds of the word when it's spoken, like when someone writes "I luv ya!" or "''cuz" instead of "because." Middle English is "real" in a way that modern English is not: when Chaucer is read aloud, you can actually hear the language largely as Chaucer would have pronounced it. Middle English is funky because it's street-smart and real -- it's the sound of how at least some people 600 years ago actually spoke English, even though in the case of Chaucer it's coming to us through the skill of an astonishing poet.
This past Friday, April 11th, New York City Opera held its first ever Boys Night, a networking event for gay men. Guests of this event enjoyed refreshments and drinks on the Promenade of the New York State Theater before attending the evening performance of Candide.
If you've seen City Opera's poster art for Candide, you may have noticed the inclusion of a sheep wearing a tiara in the left-hand corner of the image. While at first glance this may seem a bit odd, the sheep of El Dorado are part of Candide's journey -- and what could possibly be better than a pair of sheep who also sing?
Sopranos Jennifer Piacenti and Sarah Moulton, both making their City Opera debuts this season as pink sheep, maintain that they are proud to be a part of this production of Candide -- arguably, "The best of all possible productions."
"From the very beginning," says Piacenti, "Deborah [Lew, returning pink sheep] told me that this show was nothing but fun, and she was right. I mean, how serious can you be when you're wearing a costume fashioned from pink bath mats? 'Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy,' is basically what she said -- 'Oh, and whenever you don't have to be on all fours, go ahead and walk!'"
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Daniel Jones discusses his experience at the opening night performance of Candide. Here's a short excerpt:
"When I entered the theater, I was overcome with immense anticipation. What would the set look like, since the show is already so appealing by itself? The set, as it turned out, succeeded in engaging the audience even more. In this production of Candide, the story is presented as if by a troupe of traveling actors on a pageant wagon. The effect is very welcoming; the production fully embraces the fact that we are all sitting in a darkened room to watch a story. In fact, the cast walks through the audience at many times during the performance!"
New York City Opera's VOX program offers emerging composers and librettists the opportunity to see their works performed by a full orchestra and excellent singers. On May 10th and 11th, VOX will present excerpts from ten new works by American composers in a 2-day festival presided over by City Opera music director George Manahan. All performances are free and open to the public. For ticket reservations, visit www.vox-nyco.com.
This week, composer Scott Davenport Richards talks about his new work, Charlie Crosses The Nation, which will premiere at this year's VOX festival in May.
Your piece walks that precarious line not just between musical theater and opera but jazz and opera. Certainly, there are precedents of this in American opera, most conspicuously Porgy & Bess, but what drew you to this kind of hybrid writing?
"Precarious line" conjures up the image of a vast chasm on each side of a piece of tennis court tape (at least to me). Ordinarily, I might respond "Precarious? Why should it be precarious?" but recent events surrounding Senator Obama remind me that though the chasm may have shrunk to the size of a drainage ditch, it is still an obstacle. If we are going to tell stories about America and Americans, how can we ignore American musical language? We don't write the librettos in Italian. I thought John Gay put an end to that 280 years ago.
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Here's an excerpt from Frances Dewey's latest entry:
"Recently, I sat down with Katherine Benfer and Beth Pensiero, two of City Opera's chorus members. It was incredibly fun chatting with these two longtime choristers who love their job and had some great things to say. And they were very gracious with a novice interviewer! Afterwards, they gave me a backstage tour and took me around the State Theater. I snapped a few shots as we ran around before they got ready for Tosca..."
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Emil Narciso discusses his trip to the City Opera thrift shop and his excitement about going to see Candide. Here's a short excerpt:
"After seeing the ad for the New York City Opera Thrift Shop numerous times in the opera playbills, I finally decided to stop by and check out their merchandise. The City Opera's thrift shop, located at 222 E. 23rd Street, offers (but is not limited to) the usual variety of secondhand men's and women's clothing. Prices were reasonable and reflected the quality fo the garments, many of which were from high-end designers."
Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which The New York Post hailed as "beautifully conducted by the versatile George Manahan," has returned to the New York State Theater for a limited engagement through April 20th. This week, the City Opera blog staff went backstage before the show to take pictures and get the inside scoop. Just how does the cast of this fast-moving production prepare themselves for the stage? Please see below and return back for highlights.
To get into character as The Old Lady in Candide, Judith Blazer arrives at City Opera's hair and makeup department one hour prior to curtain. As a member of the hair & makeup department applies color to her eyebrows, other members of the cast wander in for microphones and wigs, and Judith says hello with her eyes shut. She's soon ordered by makeup artist Amy Porter not to move too much or her eyebrows may go awry.
No need to fear new music when it comes to VOX, City Opera's free annual showcase of new American operas. Visually exciting and informative video introductions precede each new work performed at VOX, giving the audience a rare chance to see how an opera is conceived. This video gives you an idea of what to expect.
For more information on VOX, which will present its showcase on May 10th and 11th at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, please click HERE.
Candide opened on Tuesday evening and the good reviews have begun to pour in -- full of praise for this ultimate revival of what Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times called "Leonard Bernstein's richest musical theater work":
"It's grand to see City Opera's colorful production of Candide return. Thanks to its dazzling yet melodious Leonard Bernstein score and humorous story by Hugh Wheeler via an 18th-century classic by Voltaire, Candide is an ideal work for introducing young spectators to the glories of opera. It's a fast-moving series of picturesque scenes -- designer Clarke Dunham's cartoon vistas look as witty as ever -- accompanied by memorable music."
- Sommers, Star-Ledger
To see what else the critics said about City Opera's acclaimed production of Candide, please click HERE.
This Sunday, April 13th, New York City Opera presents the final "Big Band Social" event of the season. Following the matinee performance of our critically acclaimed production of Candide, patrons can enjoy an unforgettable afternoon of dancing, food, drinks and maybe even a surprise or two! Our first Big Band Social of the season -- much to the delight of patrons and City Opera staffers -- actually became the site of an impromptu wedding reception for some out-of-town opera aficionados. (They are pictured to the left.) One City Opera staffer fondly recalls the story:
"Fiancees Tal and Avita, visiting New York from Israel, had such a wonderful experience at City Opera's production of Tosca that they choose to return for the Big Band Social that Sunday. Having enjoyed their time in New York City so much, they decided to 'make it official' while they were here, and picked up a marriage license at City Hall. They then used the Big Band Social as their impromptu wedding reception, enjoying their first dance ('It Had To Be You'), a champagne toast, and warm wishes from all who attended. They even asked a NYCO staff member to be their witness at the ceremony the next day!"
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Alex Park discusses Madama Butterfly and why he loves City Opera debut artist Yunah Lee. Here's a short excerpt:
"Thankfully, New York City Opera's production on Wednesday proved to me that you have to keep going to live performances despite old prejudices. Every once in a great while, you'll see something on stage that is simply electrifying and makes you fall in love with the theater all over again. I imagine it's a lot like being a physician -- one takes care of a lot of mundane disorders and ailments, but every so often, something truly life-threatening comes in and you discover once again what a privilege it is to take care of patients and their families in such times..."
New York City Opera
Monday, May 19, 2008 | 8:13 AM
"Mr. Mortier becomes general manager and artistic director of the people's opera, as this essential company has been called, in 2009. You can't blame City Opera regulars for worrying about what [he] has in mind. Not many American opera buffs have direct experience with his work, which has been seen predominately in Europe. But those who follow the field have certainly heard about him, especially from his 10-year tenure as director of the prestigious Salzburg Festival. For Mr. Mortier, the City Opera appointment is a natural next step. 'It brings me back to the beginning of my career, working in smaller houses. I like [the New York State Theater] and come very often. I support the company's basic precepts. I want to bring change, but not change everything.'"
Your percussion needs for the show encompass a wide range of everyday objects, including pencil sharpeners, basketballs, and tearing paper. You use a synthesizer to create the sound of a doorbell and phone ringing. What does this do for the environment of the piece?
What began as Hellman's notion in 1953 took three years to come to fruition -- and over the years since the first Broadway production of 
"Last Tuesday night was the opening of New York City Opera's Candide, the final work for this spring season. And what a way to finish the year! If you are within 100 miles of the State Theater, there is absolutely no reason you can't come down and see this marvelous, historic, trend-setting production. Also -- New York City Opera's "Opera for All" program is offering $25 orchestra level seats! Seriously now, if you come to Candide because of my gushing response and find yourself truly disappointed, then contact me and we'll do a depression screening on you. If everything checks out and you still have heavy-duty problems with spending 25 bucks to see theater so thrilling and polished, then I'll convince New York City Opera to give you a refund. Except to prove your dissatisfaction, you're going to have to sit through another performance with me next to you. And if you smile just once during the performance, bet's off! It's impossible to watch this production without grinning like a goon."
On Lielle Berman's first night playing Candide's Mademoiselle Cunegonde, there is a bit of trauma with her fake eyelashes. "One of them won't stick properly," she tells the makeup artist, who then reapplies the eyelash glue and evens out her foundation. Lielle tries out a few test-blinks and gives her makeup artist the thumbs-up. Afterwards, she sips water and reads a "good luck" card from the director. When she's asked about her pre-show routine, she is thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm... what do I do before a show? I guess that depends on the day. Usually, I'm just running around annoying the hair, makeup and costume people. Or maybe that's more during the show," she jokes. "I actually don't have much of a routine. I just do whatever feels good that particular day. I keep trying to remember to eat something before I get my makeup on, because I usually forget, and then I'm starving by intermission! But the one thing I always do is a slow and leisurely vocal warm up." 
"I walked into school on Monday morning, the morning after I saw New York City Opera's production of Candide, and was greeted by a few of friends who asked how I had liked Candide. I could not think of a response. I stared at them, completely mute, for a good minute until one of them repeated, 'Sonia... how was Candide?' 
Your piece is written in "funky middle English." What is that, exactly?
If you've seen City Opera's poster art for Candide, you may have noticed the inclusion of a sheep wearing a tiara in the left-hand corner of the image. While at first glance this may seem a bit odd, the sheep of El Dorado are part of Candide's journey -- and what could possibly be better than a pair of sheep who also sing? 
"When I entered the theater, I was overcome with immense anticipation. What would the set look like, since the show is already so appealing by itself? The set, as it turned out, succeeded in engaging the audience even more. In this production of Candide, the story is presented as if by a troupe of traveling actors on a pageant wagon. The effect is very welcoming; the production fully embraces the fact that we are all sitting in a darkened room to watch a story. In fact, the cast walks through the audience at many times during the performance!"
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Here's an excerpt from Frances Dewey's latest entry:
We have created a second blog which features daily reports from our five Student Correspondents. Today, Emil Narciso discusses his trip to the City Opera thrift shop and his excitement about going to see Candide. Here's a short excerpt:
This Sunday, April 13th, New York City Opera presents the final "Big Band Social" event of the season. Following the matinee performance of our critically acclaimed production of Candide, patrons can enjoy an unforgettable afternoon of dancing, food, drinks and maybe even a surprise or two! Our first Big Band Social of the season -- much to the delight of patrons and City Opera staffers -- actually became the site of an impromptu wedding reception for some out-of-town opera aficionados. (They are pictured to the left.) One City Opera staffer fondly recalls the story: