Among the productions planned by George Steel are Armida, Der Vetter aus Dingsda, Don Giovanni, Don Pasquale, Fidelio, Idomeneo, Kiss Me Kate, La Bohème, La Périchole, La Traviata, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Land of Smiles, Orlando, The Queen of Spades, Rigoletto, Rusalka, Salome, The Bartered Bride, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Love of Three Oranges, The Marriage of Figaro, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and the U.S. premiere of Rufus Wainwright‘s Prima Donna. The season will open on September 24 with a gala new production of The Abduction from the Seraglio directed by Stefan Herheim and featuring, for one night only, David H. Koch in the role of Pasha Selim.

In other music news, everyone down at Danceteria is just wild for that new girl singer Madonna.

The argument over how nit-pickily critical an aficionado should be (hello, cher public!) misses the point, if slightly, since in every generation there will be a dearth of something or another. Yes, it’s all worth keeping track of and being smart about — and yet, each age also has its peculiar strengths, even if they’re not one’s preferred strengths. And so, mightn’t we admit, “sure, we may not be living in an era of big voices, but goddamn: isn’t there a gratifying amount of programming ingenuity coming from Lincoln Center right about now?”

Most everyone is, at this point, familiar with the Peter Gelb backlash, as well as the backlash to the backlash. But even Gelb’s boosters and detractors might agree on one point: composer diversity has fared well under his watch. Even in a down economic year, with the Corigliano opera canceled, he still provided us rare looks at Janacek and Shostakovich.

Across the plaza, George Steel has more to prove and less of a track record, though his first small City Opera season notched a proportional small success. His next run of offerings — boasting curiosities from the likes of Bernstein and Strauss, plus an evening of modernist monodramas — suggests that he understands something important about the proper scale of his company’s relationship to the house next door. The rivalry is only useful to New York’s musical life so long as it is engaged on the question of how best to go about being interesting, as opposed to questions of budget or glitz. Given last fall’s sexy, minimalist gloss on Don Giovanni (the premiere of which drew a sneaking-into-his-seat-at-the-last-second Mr. Gelb), it’s a competition Steel is showing he knows how to make compelling. Advantage: audiences.

And now Alan Gilbert is telling us he wants to be interesting in the field of opera, too. The musical director of the New York Philharmonic has programmed a bold first season by any definition: the likes of Ives and Beethoven—or Webern and Schumann—sit comfortably not only in the same subscription series, but in the same concerts. And now he’s somehow got it in his head that he can stage important local operatic premieres in Avery Fisher hall. Even five years ago, this may have seemed a ludicrous idea. But there’s now reason to believe that a full operatic meal might be served at Gilbert’s theater, even with an orchestra in full view. The recent renaissance of video projection as something other than a poor-cousin of traditional stagecraft is what makes this prospect more than a hope against hope.

Los Angeles Opera’s recent U.S. premiere of Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten reportedly was brought in for a “low six figures” in part because video projections conjured so much of the work’s complex, dreamlike world. The shots below show how easily (and quickly) director Ian Judge and lighting designer Daniel Ordower were able to change settings without even dropping a curtain. Video art provided audiences with an exterior view of Alviano’s Elysium, his indoor study stuffed with treasured canvases, and Carlotta’s studio in Genoa, with only a few pieces of furniture needed in the foreground for each scene. (Photos courtesy of Los Angeles Opera.)

In April, I entered the theater wondering how well this extensive reliance on video would play. I left hugely encouraged about a more cost-effective, less real-time labor-intensive way for companies to perform riskier repertoire.

Gilbert sees video as the critical ingredient that may allow for the Philharmonic’s ability to present staged operas, without needing to lean on the prefix apology of “semi-” in the brochure. The first opera he has programmed, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, is close to a perfect test case for Gilbert’s hypothesis. It’s neither a grand opera nor a reduced-force “anti-opera,” a form with which some 20th century composers were much enamored. (Ligeti even called Macabre an “anti-anti-opera.”)

The orchestra required is sizable, but the scope of the piece is not: its sardonic, lyrically lewd narrative about the supposed end of the world is quite compact, running at just over 100 minutes without an intermission. (The Phil may have to take an intermission, due to union rules, though the night will still come in at the length of a regular concert.)

The punning qualities of the character names will offer a clue as to the work’s overall reliance on cheek. Nekrotzar, who believes himself to be death incarnate, rises from a grave in the run-down city of Breughelland one evening, and decides to kick off the apocalypse, with the help of a comet that can be seen barreling down upon the horizon. Aiding his quest is what Ligeti described as a “realistic Sancho Panza,” in the drunken character of Piet the Pot, who takes up with Nekrotzar on his journey. Their first stop is to the house of the court astrologer, Astradamors, who they discover is being mercilessly beaten by his sadomasochistic wife, Mescalina. Once Nekrotzar relieves Astradamors of his cross (by disposing of Mescalina, vampire-style), he has himself another trusty aide.

Scene from Le Grand Macabre, Budapest 1998

They progress to the offices of Prince Go-Go, a hapless ruler who must constantly mediate disputes between the ministers of the country’s two parties, White and Black. With an alarmed populace gathering outside his palace, Prince Go-Go admits his astrologer and his odd traveling companions. While proclaiming their unswerving devotion to Nekrotzar, the group secretly undermines him with wine, thus attempting to avert the world’s final end. The whole story takes place while a couple (described by Ligeti as if from “a Bottecelli painting”) fucks in the grave from whence Nekrotzar emerged in the first scene. The couple, a soprano and a mezzo in a pants-off role, emerges at the end to sing a harmonically unsettled passacaglia.

Scene from Le Grand Macabre, director Barrie Kosky

By the 1970’s (when the first version of Le Grand Macabre was composed), Ligeti’s music was firmly post-Darmstadt, in that it was less austere — more open to humor, generally speaking — than was the first wave of postwar, Eastern European serialism. After pieces such as his 1962 Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes, Ligeti had also developed a love for what he called “mechanical pieces” (somewhat Reich-like in “process”-oriented conception, if not sound). This compositional mood is featured in the “Up! Drink! Up!” scene in which Nektrotzar gets drunk.

But other flashes of Ligeti’s sound world are also present in Macabre. The harmonies shared by Amanda and Amando, in their passacaglia as well as Scene 1 finale “Melting snow is thy breast!” recall bits and pieces of “Lux Aeterna,” the Ligeti choral work appropriated by Stanley Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Trailer for Le Grand Macabre, La Fura dels Baus production

Dramatically, Macabre’s comedy is post-Marx Brothers. (The scene in which two bumbling politicos exhaust the alphabet to discover new and better insults for one another may remind some of Groucho’s “upstart” scene in Duck Soup). Just as ragtime gets appropriated here, or Beethoven gets remixed there, Ligeti’s libretto also tweaks the mid-century sonic arsonists who came to declare opera a dead form. (You could view the character of Nekrotzar — who promises to rid the earth of old forms, but overestimates his strength — as vaguely like a young Boulez.)

Several other compositional gestures may entertain specialists: a prelude for 12 car-horns that spoofs Monteverdi, a coloratura soprano role (for the chief of secret police, interestingly) that features a wide range and long-held high notes, and a bass role (to be sung by Eric Owens in New York) that includes arioso passages and a bit of falsetto work.

Given the work’s bizarre subject matter, its mix-and-match modernist style, and its lack of a natural constituency among the public, it’s not particularly surprising that the Gilbert performances will be the New York premiere of Macabre, despite its stature as something of a staple in Europe. (The Philharmonic claims it’s the “most-performed” contemporary opera outside the U.S., though your guess is as good as mine as to what their definition of that term might entail.)

To the extent that the piece doesn’t quite “fit” our other houses, the fact that it can at last be seen here is a welcome development. Only one recording of the composer’s 1997 revision is currently in print (and by in-print, I mean it’s available on-demand via ArchivMusic). On that Sony release, Esa-Pekka Salonen presides over the score’s many hairpin turns with precision, but in a way that perhaps underplays some of the piece’s humor. It will be interesting to see if Gilbert can find additional nuance in the score, especially since the Philharmonic plans to release a recording of Macabre via its iTunes season subscription pass.

The work’s staging history in the U.S. is not terribly extensive: a 2004 run of a Royal Danish Opera production in San Francisco is the only other time it’s been seen here. Even abroad, the opera has occasionally been tough to realize. Ligeti reportedly despised a 1997 Salzburg production mounted by Peter Sellars.  This makes a certain amount of intuitive sense, even without seeing the production. For better or worse, Sellars is often trying to tell you something tres genuine about human relationships. The heart is always on a (neon) sleeve.

For the Philharmonic, Doug Fitch will direct and design Macabre. The YouTube preview above gives some sense of how the staging will be rendered in fully dramatic form: via a live-animation/puppetry combination that seems to suit Ligeti’s rambunctious and absurd creation.

The composer set his story, adapted from Michel de Ghelderode, in a world he called Breughelland, after the demonic world depicted in the Breughel’s late drawings. But Ligeti’s musical collage actually behaves more like a Robert Rauschenberg “combine” painting. That Fitch will have his production minions on-stage, manipulating the visual effects live, seems properly in the junkyard spirit of a work taking place in what the composer described as an “entirely run-down but nevertheless thriving principality.”

In sum, I’d argue that, even if you don’t much care for Ligeti, you ought to root for this production. Not for Gilbert’s sake, or the Philharmonic’s, but for your own. Gilbert has already planned his next stab at staged opera for next season: Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. But the extent to which they’re able continue producing inventive opera productions will surely depend audience support. So, if that means taking a flyer on something you’re not 100% sold on beforehand, then perhaps you can get worked up over the bigger, post-Ligeti picture.

Gilbert has already hinted to Opera News that if his first two operas come off well, he wants to program Hans Werner Henze’s The Bassarids in a coming season. I’m sure parterriani will have nominations, in the comments, for future Philharmonic productions. While we’ll always want the grandly stylized, madly cost-inefficient productions at the Met (and elsewhere), there’s no reason not to be excited about new ways to get a wider range of operatic repertoire in front of audiences.

Or, as the realist said to the arts administrator: “Hundert große Meister, die wir auf den Knien bewundern, haben ihre erste Aufführung mit noch ganz andern Opfern erkauft!”

Alan Gilbert conducts Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre May 27, 28 and 29 at Avery Fisher Hall.

According to the company’s press release, the season (beginning October 28) features mostly 20th century works, including

New York premieres, in new productions, of Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Stephen Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon; a daring triple bill of Monodramas (including the US stage premiere of “Neither” by Morton Feldman and Samuel Beckett, and the world stage premiere of John Zorn’s “La Machine de l’être”, performed with Schoenberg’s “Erwartung”); and the return of Strauss’s Intermezzo and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love

What apparently began life as a revival of the company’s venerable Turandot has evolved into “An Evening with Christine Brewer” season opening gala.

Gushes NYCO GM/AD George Steel, “Most of all, I love the incredible range of compositional styles this season: from the transparent simplicity of Donizetti to the opulent middle-period Richard Strauss to the blend of the popular and classical worlds in Bernstein and Stephen Schwartz—all this topped off by the delicious trio of Schoenberg, Feldman and Zorn. This is what City Opera was made to do, and what makes City Opera unique.”

(Funniest bit: “Jeremy Gerard is an editor and critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.”)

Pentiti!

I finally had a chance to see the new Don Giovanni at City Opera, which closed today. Since Ercole Farnese wrote an excellent review of the premiere for parterre, I’ll be brief.

What I did encounter, though boobless, was rather a surprise: a rigorous and excellently thought-out presentation by Christopher Alden, and probably one of my best experiences at City Opera in recent years.

It is somewhat ironic that in spite of all the sex in the plot, Don Giovanni is not a particularly sensual opera, musically or otherwise. Its primary theme is honor. It functions only secondarily as a morality play with mildly puritanical overtones, which Alden accentuated by inventing a 20th-century setting and vaguely Frontier aesthetic. The excellent costumes, by Therese Wadden, suggested the depression-era American south, with lots of cheap wool and rumpled fedoras. (Squirrel couldn’t help but be reminded of this, but most of all this.) Friends, it really worked.

Alden has fascinating and  thoughtful solutions to the thorniest dramatic problems in the piece. Rather than tidying up scenes that ask the audience to suspend their disbelief, he went the other way, placing characters on stage together who were not privy to one another’s dialogue, and making “asides” out of certain lines, which created an atmosphere of irony and disbelief that softened much of what today reads as camp. One of many examples is Don Ottavio (Gregory Turay) sitting onstage through the judgment scene, as if willing his vengeance to completion, though we know he does not attend the dinner.

Daniel Okulitsch inhabits the Don perfectly, and gave even Peter Mattei a run for his money. Of the others in this uniformly good cast, special notice should go to Kelly Markgraf, who sang Masetto with a wonderfully resonant, clear, and colorful baritone, and could have excelled in the title role.

Remember when a certain G___ M___ was going to become the General Manager of this company, and some predicted a kind of competition between City Opera and Peter Gelb‘s Met for forward-thinking, theatrically viable opera? Well, based purely on this production, i would say it’s on!

Stephen Kechulius (Xerxes), Margaret Thompson (Zeresh), Roy Cornelius Smith (Haman) and Lauren Flanigan (Esther) in the New York City Opera's caftan-rich production of Weisgall's "Esther." Photo: Carol Rosegg.

It was a time of tightening belts for City Opera. They spent the summer grappling with a deficit, renegotiating union contracts, and scaling back production costs. Sound familiar? It was 1993. Hugo Weisgall’s Esther was co-commissioned with San Franscisco Opera for the spectacularly ambitious 1992 season that included 108 performances of fourteen different operas. After San Francisco backed out, it was finally premiered in New York in October of 1993, amid fiscal crunch.

Fast forward, through the Golden Years, to 2009. Coming to the rescue in a downward spiral, George Steel has turned to Esther to remind audiences of New York City Opera’s mission, which if you don’t remember, is to be a catalyst for new American operas, to present works outside the standard repertoire, and to nurture young talent.  After a dark year for theater renovation work, a troubled succession of artistic directors, and a painful summer budget crisis that will doubtless have a long impact, they are being challenged to justify their very existence.

In spite of these woes, the audience was primed for pleasure as it strode into the newly renovated former New York State Theater on Saturday night. Its transformation into the “David H. Koch Theater” means plush red carpeting, a beautiful new ironwork proscenium and front curtain, space-age backlit wall paneling, and business-class seats. Oohs and ahhs were audible everywhere.

Esther did little to reward this good will. The opera comes across not so much as modern or challenging, but frustrating and tedious. For all its angular, uncompromisingly atonal musical materials, Esther is a deeply conservative work. Written for a modest-sized (roughly Tchaikovskian) orchestra and very reasonable staging demands, it was evidently composed with the hope that it might become a repertory piece. Weisgall may have fared better as an orchestral composer, and Esther might have fared better as an orchestral work without voices or plot – though the vocal writing is idiomatic and humane, the work is a colorful and daring display of orchestral acrobatics, with the inconvenience being that it is a work for the stage.

The story (familiar if you were a regular attendee at Bible school) tells of Esther, a Jew, who is chosen to become the bride of King Xerxes, then capitalizes on his affection for her to rescue her people from extinction. The dichotomy of the jealous, deposed Queen Vashti and Esther, an infiltrator of the royal court, as well as Esther’s “negotiation” scene with Xerxes, in which he offers her carte blanche, invite rather unfortunate comparisons with Aïda and Salome, respectively.

Unfortunately, Aïda + Salome ≠ Esther. The stage business borrows much from stock Grand Opera, revenge tragedy, and historical pageant, as if Weisgall would hedge his bets on immortality: If it looks like Nabucco, but I can’t hum a note of it, it must be a Modern Masterpiece!

For decades, New York composers north of SoHo were held in thrall by a delusion that Serialism was the final word on serious composition. By the 1990s, most had woken up. Esther sounds like an opera written thirty or forty years earlier than it was, and is reminiscent of the musical language of Britten’s War Requiem, 1960s Martha Graham ballets, Stravinsky’s Agon, Copland’s confused, dissonant middle period, and Samuel Barber’s less lyrical strokes.

This is not to say Esther belongs in the same category. In Lulu and Wozzeck, Alban Berg softened atonality’s effect by using serial technique as a means of constructing pseudo-Leitmotivs that aid in the development of characters and dramatic continuity. In Esther, Weisgall gives the poor listener hardly a single recurring motive.  And where composers like Berg, Britten, and Barber (with whom Weisgall shared an early teacher, Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute) had a way of setting text idiomatically regardless of the musical idiom, Weisgall’s work is an awkward and matter-of-fact arrangement of text upon jagged musical gestures. (The prosaic libretto, wordy and all plot, is by Charles Kondek.)

While setting voices to music remains the most elusive art form, the composers who define our age in 2009 seem better skilled at the compromises necessary to connect “art music”, which insists on a kind of specialized musical rhetoric, with the sort of entertainment that welcomes audiences.

"Esther" gets political at times. Photo by Carol Rosegg, NYCO.

Lauren Flanigan (Esther) and James Maddalena (Mordecai) are both stalwart interpreters of this kind of repertoire, blessed and cursed to be in constant demand for roles in American contemporary operas because of their rare technical prowess and musical versatility. Ms. Flanigan sang the premiere production here in 1993.  Reprising the role after sixteen years, her voice astonishingly retains a girlish quality perfect for the teen queen, and she sang with ease and attractively colored sound through a maze of technical feats.  Maddalena was sympathetic in the “Amonasro” role of Esther’s uncle Mordecai, singing some of the less jerky vocal writing found in this opera with warm, shapely lyricism. Xerxes was well suited to the darker baritone of Stephen Kechulius, who sang the part with gravitas.

Mezzo-soprano-to-watch Beth Clayton’s portrayal of Queen Vashti was a special delight. Her voice, though small, is darkly hued, velvety, and clear, and she made real music out of Vashti’s vengeful declamations. Haman, an unforgiving role full of bluster and blood thirst, was sung by Roy Cornelius Smith, a powerful tenor with a resonant middle register and metallic top, in his City Opera debut. Margaret Thomson, also in her debut, was bracing as Haman’s wife, Zeresh.

Comprimari were strong, but across the board somewhat green. So too, the countertenor Gerald Thompson (as a eunuch harem-keeper), though he sang with an appropriately innocent, airy quality. The choral writing, which has some of the lovelier bars in the piece, was delivered precisely and with devotion by the New York City Opera Chorus. The production, by Christopher Mattaliano, was all scrims and pattern light projections, which moved and changed frequently but had a “budget” look  – appropriate, perhaps, under the circumstances. The costumes dated themselves worse than the staging, at times looking borrowed from an Otto Schenk Verdi production across the Plaza.

Approaching this work virtually anew after 16 years, the orchestra sounded not yet comfortable with the feat. Weisgall’s skill at keen, economical orchestration means a streamlined, restrained use of the orchestra, where grander statements may have had a better effect. The score is replete with virtuosic instrumental writing, including some very high and exposed solo horn licks, held down admirably by Stewart Rose. George Manahan pushed and pulled the ensemble through the tricky score, and managed not to let the seams show.

“It’s my job to make every night at NYC Opera as thrilling as it can be” says Steel, City Opera’s new General and Artistic Director in an interview reprinted in Saturday’s program.  He has also said that, upon taking the reins at City Opera, Esther was one of the first pieces he wanted to revive. While these utterances may not be congruous from the perspective of many attendees on Saturday night, the current City Opera season should not be held too strongly against them. They are, in a time of uncertainty, rightly revisiting productions that put them on the map as an innovative and useful company, and doing well under the circumstances.

Misgivings about Esther notwithstanding, it says much about City Opera’s commitment to new works that they have brought it back for a second go. Audiences change over the course of 16 years – some works may resonate better the second time around, and some may sour.  To accept a certain degree of risk is an important part of the creative process. The fact that City Opera understands this is precisely what makes them unique and necessary, not just for New York City, but for the climate of opera in this country.

According to the always reliable Zachary Woolfe, among the beans spilled at the NYCO “Koch” Gala last night was the strong suggestion (from no less than Rufus Wainwright himself) that a production of Prima Donna is planned for an upcoming George Steel-planned season. [New York Observer]

No, cher public, you’re wrong, because I’m not talking about barihunks; NYCO hasn’t a monopoly on those, and the Times scribe in fact has of late moderate his wonted zeal for the strapping earthy darlings of the lyric stage. No, no: it’s something else. 

For the longest time, Tony’s tip-top topic, amounting almost to an obsession one might say, was the subject of the sound enhancement system installed in the New York State Theater a decade ago.

Over the past ten years, TT has returned to his subject, uh, occasionally.

If La Cieca were feeling less charitable, she might call the Tommasini v. Microphone feud an idée fixe, but La Cieca is feeling charitable, so she’ll just say, well, at last Tony has got his wish.

Though, as TT himself notes, an acoustic theater does not necessarily mean a voice-friendly theater; so we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

Is there no end to the talents of George Steel? Boy soprano, Bernstein protégé, conductor, impresario, endive fancier — and now matchmaker!

Whenever La Cieca (center) feels afraid, she doesn’t just hold her head erect or whistle a happy tune (though she’s been known to do both on occasion), she reminds herself, “You know, things could be a lot worse than what they are!”   For example, during the late unpleasantness of the George W. Bush regime, while it was true that our country was plunged into a quagmire of a war, civil liberties were being flouted left and right, such important causes as health care reform and marriage equality were being systematically swept under the rug, and, well, a lot of other unpleasant stuff was going on, La Cieca never took her eye off the bluebird. And what did that little birdie always chirp to her?  “Cheer up! Cheer up! The housing market is booming and real estate prices never go down! Never go down!”

Soon enough, La Cieca found out that, in fact, things could and did get a lot worse, the way things always seem to have a way of doing. And so, it is no surprise for her to hear that no matter how slipshod a way you may have thought New York City Opera may have been run over the last couple of years, it could have been quite disastrously worse.

According to a piece by Zachary Woolfe in this week’s New York Observer, some members of the NYCO board last spring sought to oust Susan Baker (La Cieca can hear you right now saying, “is there a down side to this?” — but, wait for it) and replace general manager George Steel with Joe Volpe. And you know that to La Cieca that idea sounds about as palatable as “President Giuliani.”

So, the next time you’re down and out, or if you’re sitting in the middle of a performance of Esther thinking to yourself, “There surely must be something on HBO right now,” just recall these magic words that will snap you right out of your funk:

“It could be Joe Volpe.”

Well, all La Cieca can think is that the New York City Opera has just plain decided to win your doyenne over, because otherwise how can you explain why the company would present an art installation that combines her two very favorite things in the entire universe, i.e., couture and explosions?

The installation, part of the “exploding couture” series by E.V. Day, will adorn the Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center with “dynamic sculptures made from a selection of vintage City Opera costumes and costume accessories… dramatically suspended overhead in exuberant simulated motion.”

I mean, it’s like they are reading my mind.

This exhibition will definitely rank as a must-see even if it is one-tenth as, ahem, exuberant as the artist’s description of her work:

I want the sculptures to channel and release the energy that flows into these garments from the characters who wear them. I want to fill the space with the lyricism and bravura of opera, and show off the fascinating architecture of panniers, bustles, crinolines and codpieces.

The only thing more mad! mad! mad! that La Cieca can imagine would be to hear that previous blockquote read aloud in George Steel‘s dulcet tones, but probably it’s just as well he didn’t say it because she would probably just keel over with delight.

Mrs. Vreeland is smiling somewhere. La Cieca just knows it.

George Steel manages to hold out for 140 words before dropping the inevitable name in this month’s issue of Edible Manhattan.

The Man of Steel continues:

The places that are famous tend not to be good. People are looking for an experience of authenticity and not really using their mouth.

La Cieca should note that he’s probably not talking about NYCO here.  But do be sure to check out who was present when George had his first endive salad.

Since Alan Gordon and George Steel so ably brought to fruition what at one point seemed a hopeless project, La Cieca suggests that now they lend their persuasive talents to the cause of health care reform.

George Steel recently gave Anthony Tommasini a sneak peak at his bulging Koch Theater. The Times scribe, “dodging sparks from welders and ducking under hanging cables” soon realized that the “boyish” intendant is just like President Obama, sort of. [NYT]

La Cieca is dubious about the effectiveness of City Opera’s new advertising campaign.

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.

Don’t expect much in the way of art at NYCO for the next few seasons, but, on the bright side, George Steel probably has sufficient water-treading skills to avoid drowning. [NYT]

Among the glitterari at last night’s opening of “a Madison Avenue pop-up thrift shop benefiting the renovated New York City Opera” were Austin Scarlett (Project Runway) and Alex McCord (Real Housewives of New York City). As they (and others less celebrated) perused the gently-used frocks, George Steel discussed tube steak with the Wall Street Journal:

There are no good chili dogs in New York, he said, “but I just had an incredible chili dog in St. Louis” at the Goody Goody Diner. For regular franks in the city, Steel says he likes Schaller & Weber’s wieners and Hallo Berlin.

Meanwhile, the pundits mull Steel’s plans for NYCO’s coming season: “a more sensible course than Mr. Mortier’s wholesale reinvention,” says Heidi Waleson; but “caution always fails,” thunders Norman Lebrecht.

At the last meeting of the AGMA bargaining unit at NYCO, we advised you all of our basic legal position: That AGMA is not obligated to enter into negotiations with NYCO until the 2010 expiration of our contract. That remains our position. As you know, NYCO has a completely different legal position and, if we were to tell NYCO that we are simply not going to negotiate, we would quickly become involved in litigation as to which position is correct. While our lawyers and the Negotiating Committee may develop a recommendation for you, ultimately the members of the NYCO bargaining unit will determine which course of action we will pursue.

We also told you that, following the conclusion of the negotiations between NYCO and Local 802, we would probably meet with George Steel on an informal basis to listen to his arguments as to why we should consider making concessions to help NYCO achieve viability. While we all share a desire to consider concessions that would assure NYCO’s continued operation, any concessions we might consider should not be more than those accepted by the orchestra.

On Monday June 22 Bruce Simon, Candace Itow, Deborah Allton-Maher and I, along with the delegates, met with Steel and his attorneys. At that meeting, Steel gave us a formal set of proposals which, he said, “reflected the same agreement NYCO had reached with the orchestra”. In fact, however, his proposals to AGMA were far more destructive in effect than the ones he made to the orchestra and would, if accepted, decimate the AGMA bargaining unit.

Consequently, we told Steel that there was no point in continuing the meeting, that we would not ever consider negotiating from his proposals and that, in due course, we would get back to him.

According to a recipient of the email, the missive continued with details about NYCO’s proposals for revisions to the current contact with AGMA, including

a quarter of the chorus gone, all weekly soloists… fired, ten orchestra positions eliminated, all dancers and movement people fired, 4 weeks eliminated from the choristers pay, reduction in stage management staff, associate chorus completely eliminated, no health care for stage managers or [assistant directors], health care reduced for chorus and orchestra, no annual coverage of health care, only work weeks, overtime basically eliminated.

La Cieca is informed by her source that there will be another shop meeting to discuss options “shortly,” but that at this point “AGMA is not currently talking to Steel or NYCO.”

La Cieca’s insider whispers (or, more accurately, shouts): “AGMA walked out of the meeting on Monday.  They refused to negotiate.  Gordon said Steel‘s demands were more destructive then expected, worse than 802′s.”

The New York City Opera season is scheduled to begin in 135 days.

“I don’t see how they could not close…There is a slight chance that they can remain open, but where would the money come from?”

That’s Robert W. Wilson, former New York City Opera chairman, deftly nabbing the takeaway quote from Robin Pogrebin‘s NYT analysis of what went wrong for the company.  And wait until you hear the horror stories of “endowment invasion!” [NYT]

La Cieca hears that Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has reached an agreement with the New York City Opera. Since AGMA agreed in their meeting on May 18 that they would go with whatever 802 decided, “it looks like the season is safe for now,” says our informant.

“Well, you know, this will sound crazy, but because I spent many, many years as a choirboy, I think about service music all the time.”

The Man of Steel is Mad About Music on WNYC with Gilbert Kaplan.

Saving New York City Opera?

New York City Opera is currently enmeshed in controversy over contract issues with the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, the union that represents the singers and production staff at NYCO. The outcome has yet to be determined, but the question has been raised whether NYCO can survive the current crisis. Both NYCO and AGMA have issued press releases, letters, and e-mails, taking their fight into the public forum.

It has been interesting to hear comments and read postings on Web sites such as Facebook and Parterre Box — many by people not directly involved in either NYCO or AGMA. I won’t go into all of the various viewpoints and opinions, but one of the recurring sentiments is that NYCO needs to be saved at all costs. I will leave dollar amounts and budget issues to those who are equipped to deal with them, but I wonder if people have contemplated what “at all costs” truly means. What exactly are we trying to save? 

NYCO, under the newly appointed General Manager and Artistic Director, George Steel, has announced a greatly reduced 2009/2010 season which — in spite of the existing legal AGMA contract guaranteeing 26 weeks of work for the chorus — calls for only 33 total performances of five operas and one gala concert in a greatly curtailed season. While Esther would use the entire 32 members of the regular chorus plus 20 associate choristers, Don Giovanni, L’Ètoile, and Madama Butterfly use partial choruses, and Partenope uses no chorus at all.

Peruse any operatic catalog, and you will see the vast majority of operas use chorus. In an e-mail sent to company members on May 5, Mr. Steel praised the work done in the 2009 VOX Festival, but made no mention of using the chorus in next year’s festival, which could help satisfy the contractual guarantees. The unconscionable choice of next season’s productions — seemingly selected to underutilize the chorus — combined with other recent actions, raises the question as to whether the NYCO administration ever intended to honor the signed legal contract with AGMA.

It is interesting to note that NYCO had been in a similar situation before, when it was also believed the company would not survive. In 1952, box office sales were down, donations were down, the company was in debt and funds were desperately needed. Additionally, the Company had just fought two protracted legal battles: one with New York State over theatre rent issues, and a nasty court case against Laszlo Halasz over his dismissal as Artistic and Music Director.

The newly appointed General Director, Joseph Rosenstock, had only a few short months to pull together a season. He sought to curtail the length of the season, but was prevented from doing so by the AGMA contract, which guaranteed performers fourteen weeks of work. Not only did NYCO honor the AGMA contract, but the 1953 season repertoire included La Cenerentola, Regina, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Hansel and Gretel, Tosca, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, The Trial, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Salome, The Tender Land, Show Boat, and Falstaff.

New York City Opera was founded in 1943 with the aim of being an opera company with performances financially accessible to a wide audience, innovative in its choice of repertory, and a home for American singers and composers. Unlike manufacturing companies, NYCO produces no tangible product such as a car, or a hamburger, or a pharmaceutical. The company exists to perform opera. The artists—the soloists, the chorus, the orchestral musicians, the dancers, the directors, the stage managers, the costumers, the stagehands — are the product. These people are the company.

When one thinks of NYCO, names are what come to mind. Names such as Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, Norman Treigle, Phyllis Curtin, Dorothy Kirsten, John Reardon, Frances Bible, Virginia Haskins, Sherrill Milnes, Shirley Verrett, Catherine Malfitano, June Anderson, Rockwell Blake, Carol Vaness, Sam Ramey, Jerry Hadley, Diana Soviero, Richard Leech — the list goes on and on. Many received their first significant exposure with City Opera. These singers were hired season after season, often for several productions within a season. The artists came to regard NYCO as their home. Audiences became familiar with them, and grew to love them as part of the NYCO family.

But in recent years, there no longer seem to be “house” soloists. For whatever reasons, NYCO has not reengaged leading performers as frequently as in the past. Present-day roster artists such as Carl Tanner, David Daniels, Mark Delavan, Mary Dunleavy, Lauren Flanigan, Elizabeth Futral, and Amy Burton are absent from NYCO more seasons than they actually perform there.

Therefore, the company identity is now sustained by those artists who still continue year after year: the chorus, the orchestra, the weekly soloists, the dancers, and the behind-the-scenes stage directors and stage managers. Audiences recognize and cheer these artists, even if they are not performing the title roles. Collectively, these professionals represent hundreds of years of NYCO experience and expertise. Most have a Bachelor or Master Degree in their field, and have spent years studying their craft. They cannot be replaced by hiring people off the street.

NYCO has been slowly reducing its company members. Fifty choristers were hired for the first NYCO season. There are only 32 currently, and Mr. Steel would like to cut the number even further. The company once had a permanent corps of dancers. There is only one salaried dancer left. The only two remaining weekly artists, Don Yule and William Ledbetter — who have a combined ninety-three years of history with the company — have not been reengaged next season. NYCO has slowly bled away its pool of experienced company talent.

Yet, George Steel and NYCO want to do away with even the few remaining members of the company and/or the guarantees that protect them. This past year, the AGMA contract kept NYCO from losing its vital talent while renovation work to the Koch Theater precluded a normal season. If Mr. Steel and the board are successful in their efforts to break the AGMA contract, or through negotiations slash the chorus, cut the weekly solo artists, do away with the dancers, and halve the number of stage directors — what exactly will be left of New York City Opera? An empty shell? A booking agency? Just a name?

Who would be left to carry on the essence of New York City Opera? The administration staff members? Many are new to their job in the last two years, and have not yet fully integrated into the company. The Board? It has guided NYCO to the point of ruin with their ill-advised decisions of the last three years. The Artistic Director? Tony Amato is Amato Opera. Michael Spierman still is the guiding force behind the Bronx Opera. George Steel, on the other hand, has not yet been responsible for even one staged production at NYCO. It remains to be proven if he can become an identifying force for the company.

I submit that no organization, not even an “institution” like New York City Opera, deserves to continue if it has lost everything that made it worthwhile in the first place: the dedicated performing artists who return every season to give the company its identity and history. The fight between NYCO and AGMA is not just about money and guarantees. Yes, the outcome could determine whether the company lives or dies. But, if all that survives is just the NYCO name, its very soul will surely be dead.
George Steel and New York City Opera, even though confronted by seemingly insurmountable financial and administrative problems, must do everything possible to hold on to the talented, seasoned artists who make the company special. NYCO has been on the brink of ruin many times in its history. I believe it can be saved once again, still keeping the company — the people — together to thrill audiences with innovative, dynamic, and memorable opera.  — Douglas Purcell

The writer has been a member of the New York City Opera Regular Chorus since 2004. Previously, he sang with the NYCO Associate Chorus for six seasons. He has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Extra Chorus since 2006.

In what must be regarded as the season’s most startling volte-face, next month the New York City Opera will perform opera.

As part of the River to River Festival, the company will present a tab version of The Magic Flute, Massenet’s La Navarraise and a concert of the usual pops stuff. Performances June 25-27 will feature “the New York City Opera Orchestra and soloists.”