Gotham Chamber Opera
| Company type | Non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Opera company |
| Predecessor | Henry Street Chamber Opera |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Neal Goren |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Fate | Discontinued operations due to financial liabilities |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | New York City, United States |
Key people | Neal Goren (Artistic Director), Edward Barnes (Executive Director), David Bennett (former Executive Director) |
| Products | Opera performances, educational outreach programs |
Gotham Chamber Opera was a New York City-based professional opera company. Established in 2000 under the name Henry Street Chamber Opera by Artistic Director Neal Goren, the organization focused on performing seldom-staged chamber opera works spanning from the Baroque period to modern compositions. In 2003, it became an independent 501(c)(3) organization and adopted the Gotham Chamber Opera (GCO) name. Edward Barnes served as Executive Director, following David Bennett. The company discontinued operations in 2015.
Henry Street Chamber Opera
The company's inaugural production was the American premiere of Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione (1771), directed by Christopher Alden in 2001 at the Playhouse within Manhattan’s Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side. This debut was succeeded by a double feature of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas alongside Darius Milhaud's Les malheurs d'Orphée (1924). In 2002, GCO introduced U.S. audiences to Bohuslav Martinů’s Dada opera Les larmes du couteau (1928) and his 1935 work Hlas lesa.
Gotham Chamber Opera
Following its transition to a non-profit entity in 2003, GCO staged the premiere of Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister's 1935 opera Die schwarze Spinne. The 2005 production of Handel's Arianna in Creta attracted sold-out audiences and garnered critical praise. The company collaborated with Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto Festival USA to co-produce Ottorino Respighi's La bella dormente nel bosco, which incorporated puppetry crafted by Basil Twist. In 2006, GCO presented Benjamin Britten's comic opera Albert Herring, marking its first professional New York staging in over three decades, followed by Rossini's Il signor Bruschino in 2007.
The 2007/08 season featured New York City's inaugural fully staged rendition of Astor Piazzolla's tango opera María de Buenos Aires, an evening showcasing song cycles by Janáček and Dvořák entitled Scenes of Gypsy Life, and Ariadne Unhinged, a reinterpretation of the Ariadne legend through compositions by Monteverdi, Haydn, and Schoenberg. In 2009, Mark Morris directed the U.S. stage premiere of Haydn's L'isola disabitata.
In January 2010, GCO presented Haydn’s Il mondo della luna at the Hayden Planetarium, utilizing moon travel visuals generated by NASA projected onto the dome. Later that year, in October, the U.S. premiere of Xavier Montsalvatge's El gato con botas was staged at the New Victory Theater under Moisés Kaufman’s direction, featuring bunraku puppetry from London's Blind Summit Theatre.
November 2010 saw Gotham Chamber Opera join forces with Music-Theatre Group and Opera Philadelphia to commission Dark Sisters, with music composed by Nico Muhly and a libretto by Stephen Karam. Conducted by Neal Goren and directed by Rebecca Taichman, it debuted in November 2011 at John Jay College’s Gerald W. Lynch Theater and was subsequently performed at Opera Philadelphia’s Perelman Theater in June 2012. Gotham facilitated workshops and staged readings to support this contemporary American opera.
Gotham Chamber Opera engaged its audience through broadcasts on WNYC, installations at high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Prada, partnerships with the Gagosian Gallery, and performances hosted at venues throughout Manhattan. Its outreach programs included educational residencies in schools, interactive workshops, and complimentary rehearsals. GCO held membership in OPERA America.
On October 1, 2015, Gotham Chamber Opera announced its shutdown due to undisclosed financial liabilities.
Productions
- 2001: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione (1771), directed by Christopher Alden at The Abrons Art Center, marking its first U.S. stage presentation
- 2002: Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689), under the direction of Laurence Dale at The Abrons Arts Center
- 2002: Les malheurs d'Orphée (1924) composed by Darius Milhaud, directed by Laurence Dale at The Abrons Arts Center
- 2002: Bohuslav Martinů’s Les larmes du couteau (1928), staged by Ned Canty at The Abrons Arts Center for its U.S. debut
- 2002: Hlas lesa (1935) by Bohuslav Martinů, directed by Ned Canty at The Abrons Arts Center, also a U.S. premiere
- 2004: Heinrich Sutermeister’s Die schwarze Spinne (1935), with direction by Robin Guarino at The Abrons Arts Center, presented for the first time in the United States
- 2005: George Frideric Handel’s Arianna in Creta (1733), directed by Christopher Alden at The Abrons Arts Center, marking its U.S. stage premiere
- 2005: Ottorino Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco (1922), staged by Basil Twist at Lincoln Center, debuting on the U.S. stage
- 2006: Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring (1947), directed by David Schweizer at The Abrons Arts Center
- 2007: Gioachino Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino (1813), under the direction of Robin Guarino at The Abrons Arts Center
- 2007: Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires (1968), directed by David Parsons at the Jack H. Skirball Center, New York University
- 2007: Scenes of Gypsy Life, featuring compositions by Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček, directed by Eric Einhorn at the Morgan Library
- 2008: Ariadne Unhinged, incorporating music from Monteverdi, Haydn, and Schoenberg, directed by Karole Armitage at The Playhouse, Abrons Arts Center, presented as a world premiere
- 2009: Joseph Haydn's L'isola disabitata (1779), directed by Mark Morris at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, marking its New York stage premiere
- 2010: Il mondo della luna (1777) by Joseph Haydn, directed by Diane Paulus and performed at the Hayden Planetarium
- 2010: Xavier Montsalvatge’s El gato con botas (1946), staged under the direction of Moisés Kaufman at the New Victory Theater, making its U.S. stage debut
- 2011: World premiere of Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (2013)
- 2012: A tenth-anniversary production of Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione, directed again by Christopher Alden at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
- 2012: Gotham @ (Le) Poisson Rouge presented Orientale, featuring works by Monteverdi, Rameau, Delibes among others
- 2012: Staging of Francesco Cavalli's Eliogabalo (1668) at The Box Soho
- 2012: Daniel Catán’s La hija de Rappaccini (1991)
- 2013: Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d'Orphée aux enfers (1686)
- 2013: A program titled Baden-Baden 1927, featuring music by Milhaud, Toch, Hindemith, and Weill
- 2013: Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (1624) alongside Lembit Beecher's world premiere work I Have No Stories to Tell You
- 2013: U.S. premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's The Raven, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem
References
Notes
Sources
- Michael Cooper, "Gotham Chamber Opera Presents Rare Arias on a Limited Budget", The New York Times, December 24, 2013
- Anthony Tommasini, "Cavalli's Eliogabalo: An Emperor in Drag and Other Decadent Elements, Performed by Gotham Chamber Opera at the Box", The New York Times, March 18, 2013
External links
- George Grella, "Currently, Gotham Chamber Opera Chooses to Stay Small but Impactful", interview with Director David Bennett on newyorkclassicalreview.com, February 24, 2014