New York’s first opera with audience since Covid will be…
NewsRossini’s The Barber of Seville on July 27 and 28 on the summer stage at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.
The opera will be performed with a few cuts to keep it under three hours (with intermission). It will be semi-staged – fully acted, but without stage director, in conformity with the practice of Rossini’s day.
Nuovo will use an orchestra of 35 players – the number employed at its 1816 premiere in Rome. Artistic Director Will Crutchfield said: ‘Teatro Nuovo is about empowering the individual singers and players who create the core experience of opera. As we return after the longest interruption in the history of the artform, our most important job is to make sure we know what that core experience is, and how to bring it forth.’
The first opera is not using the MET? That’s a pretty bold statement by Lincoln Center to put on the first opera withOUT the MET or NYC Opera involved.
Follow up, isn’t Crutchfield that former critic for the NY Times who got fired after writing a huge review of a concert that never happened? Conducting is a PERFECT next step for this charlatan.
hE IsN’t ConDuCtIng
The Metropolitan Opera won’t begin performances until the fall, at the earliest. They are also amid intense labor negotiations which must be completed before they can present performance at Lincoln Center. New York City Opera has not been a constituent of Lincoln Center in ages.
Gelb has damaged the reputation of the Met among singers since he is too narcissistic to work with anybody else let alone support them in their time of need.
It’s abridged to an hour-long version, but New York City Opera will be doing Carmen at Bryant Park on July 2.
See https://bryantpark.org/events/2021/07/02/carmen
The statement about it being a “hour-long version” seems inconsistent with their website that states that “The opera will be performed nearly complete, with a few cuts to hold running time under three hours (with one intermission).” Uncut, the opera generally last between 135 to 150 minutes of music.
I think Andy refers to NYC Opera’s Carmen and not Teatro Nuovo’s Barbiere, which in fact will be about 2,5 hrs of music.
My mis-reading of his comment…
Good to see New York coming back to life! Kudos to this company for making it happen. Barber should do well with the NY audience. I hope the other companies can come back soon too.