tales of the city

Casting is announced for the New York City Opera’s 2009-10 season. It’s all on their website, but here are a few highlights:
The “American Voices” concert features “a roster of stars including Joyce Castle, Anna Christy, Joyce DiDonato, Lauren Flanigan, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Samuel Ramey, all of whom appeared [note the past tense] at New York City Opera during their illustrious careers.”
George Manahan conducts Esther with Flanigan and Beth Clayton. Don Giovanni brings back Gary Thor Wedow, leading debut artists Daniel Okulitch, Stefania Dohvan, Joélle Harvey and Kelly Markgraf.
New faces in L’étoile include Julie Boulianne, Liza Forrester, Dominic Armstrong and François Loup. Sharing the role of Cio-Cio-San will be Shu-Ying Li and Yunah Lee.
Partenope boasts the debuts of conductor Christian Curnyn and singers Cyndia Sieden, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Nicholas Coppolo. Familiar faces (finally) include Laura Vlasak Nolen and Daniel Mobbs.
Cyndia Sieden a debut? She sang Cunegonde in 1989.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/20/theater/review-music-re-revival-of-candide-by-new-york-city-opera.html
The Pamela Myers who used to sing lyric soprano roles with City Opera and the Pamela Myers who created the role of Marta in Sondheim’s Company are not the same person.
Dang, I’m sorry I was told that they were and she went into opera later. Anyways she was a fine singer.
Well folks the reason there is no Pinkerton in the cast list is because “Opera is not trivial pursuit.” If you insist on seeing your “Butterfly” with a Pinkerton than you are hopelessly bourgeois and probably don’t even “get” NYCO’s superhip black hole logo. As far as the completely unrelated photos used in the marketing materials, no amount of symbolic analysis will get around the fact that it makes no sense. NYCO is selling particular productions that are already built (except for the 46k “Don Giovanni” which I for one can’t wait to see- I predict a fog machine and a rented disco ball) these pictures have nothing to do with anything. So far as I understand this was Mortier’s vision I guess they didn’t have time (or money) to rethink them. How can they when they have to chase down a Pinkerton…you know how they get around?
Would someone please pull the plug on NYCO now and stop the madness! Enough already.
Really? Pull the plug on part of the cultural life of NYC and the possibility of a true vocation in music? What a philistine…
“part of the cultural life of NYC…” used to be, not anymore.