NY’s dead City Opera dumps one boss, inserts another
OperaCity Opera has parted company with Michael Capasso, its general director. Contrary to the usual bromides, we hear the board voted him out. Either way, Capasso says he’s going to live in Italy.
The next Executive Director and Music Director is to be Constantine Orbelian (pic).
Orbelian…Oundjian….the Armenians are in the news today.
Orbelian is excellent – I haven’t heard Oundjian live. Let’s hope Orbelian is able to play a role in bringing back the NYC Opera.
Oundjian is an outstanding conductor – he played some magnificent Shostakovich a few years back on tour in Montréal with the TSO.
As for Orbelian, for many years he was the go-to conductor for Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s recitals. Competent, was never going to be the star of the show, but can hold things together and support singers convincingly.
I forgot about that – I have a recording of them which is wonderful. But the credit (mostly) goes to Hvorostovsky. I will never forget the live recital we heard from DH in Boston. What a rare talent he was!
And as fantastic as DH was in the live performance of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death (which was amazing), he was bested by another recitalist I heard who was even more electrifying: (the late) Ewa Podles.
The question about Orbelian for this particular job is whether he can hire good singers — something Capasso was dreadful at.
From what I know of Orbelian, I have faith that he’ll be much better at it.
Not to mention Alain Altinoglu and Domingo Hindoyan are both excellent conductors of Armenian origin.
FINALLY. This man is such a charlatan and tarnished the brand, such that it is…Constantine is quite talented and I am wishing him well. Is there even any staff there?
Capasso killed New York City Opera–and then kept kicking it while it was bleeding out on the ground. And numerous artists are still owed money. He is a disgrace.
Susan Baker and company killed the real City Opera many years ago. This was a fledgling opera company bearing the old name.
Susan Baker. Susan Baker. Susan Baker.
Lest we forget.
I’ve known Michael for years and was on his board at DiCapo, the chamber opera company he founded a number of years ago. I’ve also been in contact with him over the years including recently and was aware the announcement was coming out yesterday and spoke with him this morning. There are of course two sides on every coin. While there was money at first, the NYCO never had enough cash to generate full seasons, nor a real opera theater to present the performances. Michael did as much as he could with the money they raised. Orbelian has now taken on a task that I presume will fizzle quickly, the board will rely on his name to fund raise, though I doubt it will be successful, very sad of course. BTW, Michael recently bought a home outside of NYC, if he spends time in Italy, it will be part time.
Capasso leaves NY with years of disgrace behind him. He only managed to keep a tiny handful of singers on his side despite working in the city for decades. And there’s a loooong list why. It was ridiculous that he ever had any kind of command over a major opera company. He’s a complete charlatan. He won’t be missed.
Much as I admired and enjoyed the (original) New York City Opera for fifty years, I have finally come to terms that it no longer exists, except in my memory. Sadly, due to bad decisions over the past 20 years by its leadership, the name is a pejorative for opera lovers in NYC.
Please give up trying to revive that which is dead and gone. Instead, create a new company, with a fresh mission, a fresh approach, a fresh repertoire (old and new)…with nothing to do with the storied NYCO. There is an audience in New York City.
Perhaps create a brand new company with younger voices under the auspices of Lincoln Center, Inc. (although they don’t seem inclined these days to promote traditional musical forms) or City Center.
There is a whole generation of singers, composers, directors, and designers who could benefit from a more creative organization. Countless young artists programs (a good source of fungible funding and cheap labor for opera companies everywhere) keep churning out these singers who have nowhere to go when their apprenticeship ends.
First and foremost, a new opera company needs to define its long-term mission. Ad hoc performances of repertoire that individual conductors want to champion is not productive.
The guiding principle for any new company should be to promote the art of singing. Without the singers, there is no purpose. The rest is window-dressing.
That new NYC opera company you’re wishing for is celebrating its 30th anniversary season.
https://operawire.com/teatro-grattacielo-2024-review-beyond-the-horizon/
As mentioned, Orbelian worked a lot with Hvorostovsky and not just in recitals. They made quite a number of discs together, both with orchestrally accompanied works and a few operas. with his Moscow Chamber Orchestra and his larger Russian orchestra (a freelance one, I think). He has recorded also with a number of prominent singers like Radvanovsky, Fleming, Obratsova and in earlier years the wonderful Polish contralto Ewa Podles, although her Handel interpretations are not to everyone’s taste! He is a fine accompanist and hopefully may attract some excellent younger singers to NYCO if he has the management and funds to do so.
The first thing that needs to be said about this farce is that the company calling itself “The New York City Opera” has nothing whatever to do with the New York City Opera. It is a name bought at a bankruptcy auction – nothing more and nothing less than that.
The second is that Capasso is generally agreed, by practically everyone working in opera in New York, to be a poor manager and scandalously unreliable about paying people who work for him. He had a few decent ideas for the new company, but he couldn’t rally the community behind them–none of the performances rose above mediocrity; some fell well below it (one of the last sputters was a poorly sung abbreviation of Rigoletto with what was billed as “The New York City Opera Orchestra” consisting of five string players and an electric keyboard.)
One assumes that Orbelian is coming into this situation with some financial backing attached. He is, as described by other commenters, a reliable if routine conductor, but he has shown a talent for getting projects funded, and that’s a necessity here.