Opera Orchestra of New York
Encyclopedia
The Opera Orchestra of New York (also known as OONY) specializes in the performance of opera
in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory. Among the numerous American premieres it has presented are Puccini’s Edgar
, Boito
’s Nerone
, and Smetana’s Libuše
.
Founded in 1971 by Eve Queler
, who remains its conductor
and music director
, the Orchestra presented its first season in 1972 with two operas - Rossini's William Tell
and Meyerbeer's L'africaine
- performed at New York
's Carnegie Hall
. Since then it has gone on to present more than ninety different operas there, with the season now consisting of three to four operas, which are also broadcast on National Public Radio. In the past, tickets came with a complete libretto of the opera being performed. However, the 2007/2008 season introduced surtitles
for the first time.
Financial difficulties in early 2007 threatened to close the company or severely curtail its 2007/2008 season to one opera. However, these were overcome, and the 2007/2008 season of three operas opened as planned on December 13, 2007 with Verdi's I due Foscari
. An additional Gala concert celebrating Eve Queler's 100th performance conducting the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall was presented in March 2008.
Many prominent opera singers have performed with the Orchestra including Plácido Domingo
, Nicolai Gedda
, Montserrat Caballé
, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto
, Alfredo Kraus
, José Carreras
, Dmitri Hvorostovsky
, Bryan Hymel
, Samuel Ramey
, James Morris, Grace Bumbry
and Ghena Dimitrova
, many of them in the very early stages of their careers. (José Carreras made his OONY debut in 1972 on his twenty-fourth birthday.)
In 1978, The Opera Orchestra of New York instituted a Young Artists Program to train and showcase young singers. Participants sing small roles in the Carnegie Hall performances and understudy the principal ones. Notable past participants in the program include Renée Fleming
, Vivica Genaux
and Deborah Voigt
.
Address:
Opera Orchestra of New York, 239 W 72nd St # 2R, New York, NY 10023
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory. Among the numerous American premieres it has presented are Puccini’s Edgar
Edgar (opera)
Edgar is an operatic dramma lirico in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse La Coupe et les lèvres by Alfred de Musset...
, Boito
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito , aka Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito, pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello and Falstaff, and his own opera Mefistofele...
’s Nerone
Nerone (Boito)
Nerone is an opera in four acts composed by Arrigo Boito, to a libretto in Italian written by the composer. The work is a series of scenes from Imperial Rome at the time of Emperor Nero depicting tensions between the Imperial religion and Christianity, and ends with the Great Fire of Rome...
, and Smetana’s Libuše
Libuše (opera)
Libuše is a '"festival opera" in three acts, with music by Bedřich Smetana. The libretto was originally written in German by Josef Wenzig, and was then translated into Czech by Ervin Špindler. In Czech historical myth, Libuše, the title character, prophesied the founding of Prague. The opera...
.
History
Eve Queler
Eve Queler is an American conductor and the current Artistic Director of the Opera Orchestra of New York . She founded the OONY in 1971 after having worked on the staffs of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera....
, who remains its conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
, the Orchestra presented its first season in 1972 with two operas - Rossini's William Tell
William Tell (opera)
Guillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years...
and Meyerbeer's L'africaine
L'Africaine
L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
- performed at New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. Since then it has gone on to present more than ninety different operas there, with the season now consisting of three to four operas, which are also broadcast on National Public Radio. In the past, tickets came with a complete libretto of the opera being performed. However, the 2007/2008 season introduced surtitles
Surtitles
Surtitles, also known as supertitles, are translated or transcribed lyrics/dialogue projected above a stage or displayed on a screen, commonly used in opera or other musical performances. The word "surtitle" comes from the French language "sur", meaning "over" or "on", and the English language word...
for the first time.
Financial difficulties in early 2007 threatened to close the company or severely curtail its 2007/2008 season to one opera. However, these were overcome, and the 2007/2008 season of three operas opened as planned on December 13, 2007 with Verdi's I due Foscari
I due Foscari
I due Foscari is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play, The Two Foscari by Lord Byron....
. An additional Gala concert celebrating Eve Queler's 100th performance conducting the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall was presented in March 2008.
Many prominent opera singers have performed with the Orchestra including Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
, Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
, Alfredo Kraus
Alfredo Kraus
Alfredo Kraus Trujillo was a distinguished Spanish tenor of partly Austrian descent, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles...
, José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
, Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky , is a leading baritone opera singer from Russia.Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. He studied at the Krasnoyarsk School of Arts under Yekatherina Yofel and made his debut at Krasnoyarsk Opera House, in the role of Marullo in Rigoletto...
, Bryan Hymel
Bryan Hymel
Bryan Hymel is an American operatic tenor who was born and raised in New Orleans.-Early years:Bryan Hymel came to the attention of opera houses at the age of 19, when he was a winner in the Verdi Aria Competition at the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado...
, Samuel Ramey
Samuel Ramey
Samuel Edward Ramey is an American operatic bass with a long, distinguished career.During his best years, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, yet power...
, James Morris, Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry , an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano for many years...
and Ghena Dimitrova
Ghena Dimitrova
Ghena Dimitrova was a Bulgarian operatic soprano. Her voice was known for its power and extension used in operatic roles such as Turandot in a career spanning four decades.-Early career:...
, many of them in the very early stages of their careers. (José Carreras made his OONY debut in 1972 on his twenty-fourth birthday.)
In 1978, The Opera Orchestra of New York instituted a Young Artists Program to train and showcase young singers. Participants sing small roles in the Carnegie Hall performances and understudy the principal ones. Notable past participants in the program include Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
, Vivica Genaux
Vivica Genaux
Vivica Genaux is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. Her father, an American of Belgian-Welsh descent, was a biochemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her mother, Mexican-born of Swiss-German extraction, was a language teacher...
and Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt is an American operatic soprano. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.- Early life and education :...
.
Administration
- Eve Queler, Music Director
- Italo Marchini, chorusmaster/asst.cond.
- Deborah Surdi, General Manager
- Katherine Gulick, Assistant Development Manager
- Norman Raben, President, Board of Directors
- Sandra Wagenfeld, Vice-President
- Francine Goldstein, Secretary/Treasurer
Address:
Opera Orchestra of New York, 239 W 72nd St # 2R, New York, NY 10023
Recordings
- Gaetano Donizetti: Gemma di VergyGemma di VergyGemma de Vergy is a tragedia lirica or tragic opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Emanuele Bidéra. It is based on the tragedy Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux by Alexandre Dumas père, which was later to become the subject of the opera The Saracen by the Russian composer...
(Montserrat Caballé (Gemma di Vergy), Paul Plishka (Guido), Luis Lima (Tamas), Louis Quilico (Count di Vergy), Natalya Chudy (Ida), Mark Munkittrick (Rolando), Schola Cantorum (Hugh RossHugh Ross (musician)Hugh C. M. Ross , was a choral director and conductor of the Schola Cantorum of New York....
, Director); Opera Orchestra of New York; Conductor: Eve Queler). World premiere recording, recorded live at Carnegie Hall (March 14, 1976). CBS/Sony
- Jules Massenet: Le CidLe Cid (opera)Le Cid is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille....
(Grace Bumbry (Chimene), Plácido Domingo (Rodrigo), Paul Plishka (Don Diego), Clinton Ingram (Don Arias), Theodre Hodges (Don Alonzo), Arnold VoketaitisArnold VoketaitisArnold Voketaitis is an American bass-baritone of Lithuanian descent who had an active singing career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He enjoyed a particularly successful partnership with the New York City Opera and has performed with most of the...
(The Count de Gormas), Eleanor Bergquist (The Infanta), Jake Gardner (The King), Peter Lightfoot (The Moorish Envoy), John Adams (St. James), Byrne Camp Chorale (Bryne Camp, Director); Opera Orchestra of New York; Conductor: Eve Queler). World premiere recording, recorded live at Carnegie Hall (March 8, 1976). CBS/Sony
- Giuseppe Verdi: AroldoAroldoAroldo is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on and adapted from their earlier 1850 collaboration, Stiffelio...
(Montserrat Caballé (Mina), Gianfranco Cecchele (Aroldo), Juan Pons (Egberto), Louis Lebherz (Briano), Vincenzo MannoVincenzo MannoVincenzo Antonio Manno is an Italian American tenor opera singer and voice teacher.-Education:Manno completed music studies in 1970 at Oberlin College under the tutelage of Richard Miller having previously studeied with John Shurtleff and Burton Garlinghouse while attending the Cleveland Music...
(Godvino), Paul Ragers (Enrico), Marianna Busching (Elena), Oratorio Society of New York, Westchester Choral Society (Lyndon Woodside, Director); Opera Orchestra of New York; Conductor: Eve Queler). World premiere recording, recorded live at Carnegie Hall (April 1979). CBS/Sony