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NYTF and New York City Opera (Michael Capasso, General Director) join forces to present the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon‘s (Intimate Apparel, Ellen West) new opera The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, based on Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 novel (considered a modern classic which is also the basis for Vittorio De Sica’s 1970 film adaptation starring Dominique Sanda and Helmet Berger – a 1972 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film).
With a libretto by Michael Korie (Flying Over Sunset, War Paint, Grey Gardens), The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis begins on the eve of World War II and tells the story of an aristocratic Italian-Jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, who believe they are immune to the changes happening around them.
As they make a gracious haven for themselves in their garden, walling out the unpleasantness of the world outside, Italy forms its alliance with Germany and begins to enforce anti-Semitic racial laws. But the Finzi-Continis discover too late that no one is immune, no one is untouchable.
Based on Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 novel, The Garden of The Finzi-Continis is a modern classic. Vittorio De Sica’s 1970 film adaptation starred Dominique Sanda and Helmet Berger – and took home a 1972 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
“We are proud to co-produce the world premiere of The Garden of The Finzi-Continis by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie,” said Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. “This important new work illuminates an important part of Italian Jewish history, and sadly, its themes of discrimination and antisemitism still resonate in our world today.”
“The Garden of The FInzi-Continis continues New York City Opera’s mission to produce new and important works by American composers,” said Mr. Capasso.T
Music by
Ricky Ian Gordon
Libretto by
Michael Korie,
based on the novel by Giorgio Bassani
Directed and choreographed by
Richard Stafford
Conductor:
James Lowe
Set Designer:
John Farrell
Lighting Designer:
Susan Roth
Costume Designer:
Ildikó Debreczeni
Creative Team
Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956 in Oceanside, NY) studied piano, composition and acting at Carnegie Mellon University. After moving to New York City, he quickly emerged as a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. Mr. Gordon’s songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Nicole Cabell, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others.
A highly prolific composer, Ricky Ian Gordon’s catalog includes The House Without A Christmas Tree (2016, libretto by Royce Vavrek, premiered by Houston Grand Opera); Morning Star (2014, libretto by William Hoffman, premiered by the Cincinnati Opera), about Jewish immigrants in New York’s Lower East Side in the beginning of the 20th century; 27 (2014, libretto by Royce Vavrek, premiered at Opera Theatre of St. Louis), about Gertrude Stein’s salons at 27 rue de Fleurus; A Coffin In Egypt (2014, libretto by Leonard Foglia, premiered by the Houston Grand Opera, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Opera Philadelphia), a haunting tale of memory and murder, racism and recrimination; Rappahannock County (2011, libretto by Mark Campbell, premiered at the Harrison Opera House), inspired by diaries, letters, and personal accounts from the 1860s; Sycamore Trees (2010, libretto by composer), a musical about suburban secrets and family; The Grapes of Wrath (2007 and 2010, libretto by Michael Korie, 2007 premiere by the Minnesota Opera, 2010 premiered by The American Symphony Orchestra); Green Sneakers (2008, libretto by the composer, premiered by the Miami String Quartet), a theatrical song cycle for Baritone, String Quartet, and Empty Chair; Orpheus and Euridice (2005); My Life with Albertine (2003); Night Flight To San Francisco and Antarctica (2000) from Tony Kushner’s Angels In America; Dream True (1999); States Of Independence (1992); The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1996); Only Heaven (1995).
Recent projects include the opera Intimate Apparel with playwright Lynn Nottage, a commission from New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Mr. Gordon has been a visiting professor at colleges and universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Bennington, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Elon, Michigan State, University of Michigan, Point Park (McGinnis Distinguished Lecturer), Texas Lutheran University, Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Texas Christian University, and San Francisco Conservatory. He has been the featured Composer-in-Residence at Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, The Van Cliburn Foundation, Voices of Change, Santa Fe Song Festival, Songfest at Pepperdine University, Chautauqua, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia.
Among his honors are an OBIE Award, the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie-Mellon University, A Shen Family Foundation Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, The Gilman and Gonzalez-FallaTheater Foundation Award, The Constance KlinskyAward, The National Endowment of the Arts, The American Music Center, and many awards from ASCAP, of which he is a member.
Mr. Gordon’s works are published by Williamson Music, Carl Fischer Music, and Theodore Presser Company and available everywhere.
His works are also widely recorded on various labels. www.rickyiangordon.com
Michael Korie received The Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his work in both opera and musical theater. For musical theater, Korie wrote lyrics to Flying Over Sunset, book by James Lapine and music by Tom Kitt. It premiered at Lincoln Center Theater last month. Korie wrote the lyrics to composer Scott Frankel’s music for the Broadway productions of War Paint and Grey Gardens, both with books by playwright Doug Wright, and the Off- Broadway productions of Far From Heaven, Happiness, Doll, and Meet Mister Future. Korie and Frankel’s scores have been nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards, received The Outer Critics Circle Award, and have been produced on Broadway, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater, throughout the USA, in Europe and South America. Grey Gardens had its European premiere in London where it was awarded the Offie Award for Best Musical of the year. He collaborated with Lucy Simon, Amy Powers, and Michael Weller on Doctor Zhivago, on Broadway and subsequently produced frequently in Europe and in Asia.
For opera, he adapted Steinbeck’s novel for the libretto to The Grapes of Wrath composed by Ricky Ian Gordon. Korie’s original librettos to operas composed by Stewart Wallace include Harvey Milk, Where’s Dick?, Kabbalah, Hopper’s Wife, and SuperMax to premiere in 2022. A new version of Harvey Milk premieres in 2022 at Opera Theater of Saint Louis. Korie’s works for opera have been produced at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, BAM Next Wave Festival, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Michigan Opera, and abroad in Germany and Australia.
His lyrics have received the Edward Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award, and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. His songs with composer Scott Frankel were featured at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, and at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Broadway Today. He co-chairs the Dramatists Guild Opera Committee, and moderates the musical theater division of the Dramatist Guild Fund Fellows Program for emerging musical theater composers and writers. He teaches lyric writing at Yale University, and libretto writing at Columbia University School of the Arts. He is a Fellow of MacDowell and Yaddo. MichaelKorie.com
Michael Capasso is the General Director of the New York City Opera. He has produced, directed, and toured opera and musical theater productions in the U.S. and abroad for over 30 years. In June of 2014, he led the successful effort to bring the New York City Opera out of bankruptcy. The revitalized New York City Opera returned to the stage in January 2016 with a celebratory production of Tosca. In 1981, he, along with Diane Martindale, founded New York’s Dicapo Opera Theatre. Over the 30 years of his leadership, Dicapo Opera Theater presented a diverse programming to the New York public. In addition to his work with the Dicapo Opera Theatre, Mr. Capasso has directed operas at l’Opéra de Montréal; Mallorca Opera; Toledo Opera; Connecticut Opera; New Jersey State Opera; Opera Carolina; and Orlando Opera among others. Mr. Capasso founded the National Lyric Opera in 1991, a touring company that has brought fully staged operas to communities in the American Northeast.
Joseph Cullinane is delighted to join the creative team of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Off-Broadway: York Theatre, Theatre Row, New World Stages, New York City Opera. Tours: Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Hello Dolly starring Sally Struthers. Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Riverside Theatre, TUTS, North Carolina Theatre, Ogunquit Playhouse, Pioneer Theatre. Joey has served on the faculty of Reagle Music Theatre and Penobscot Theatre Company as well as the Joffrey Ballet Musical Theatre and Tap Spectacular Intensives. Namaste and love to Richard Stafford and this wonderful company, Corey and Trixie.
Ildikó Debreczeni has been designing costumes for theater, dance and film for over 30 years. In 1995 she established Jelmez-Art Ltd. in her hometown of Szolnok, Hungary. Starting out with only a handful of employees producing costumes for local theaters, the company has steadily grown in size and scope. In 2007, through an association with the Armel Opera Festival, Jelmez-Art began producing costumes for foreign clients. Having quickly established an international reputation, 80% of the company’s work is now devoted to international clients. Included among Jelmez-Art’s loyal partners are Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Bayreuth Festival, Bregenz Festival, Graz Opera, Bergen National Opera, New York City Opera, Dicapo Opera, and many more opera houses in Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium.
John is currently the Director of Production for New York City Opera. Since starting this position in 2015, he has been responsible for all the aspects of the physical production of the company as well as the resident Scenic Designer. During that time, he has designed dozens of productions for the company.
In New York, he was the resident designer for Dicapo Opera where he created over ninety productions from 1992-2013. At Radio City Music Hall, he was the scenic supervisor for the Spring Spectacular Easter Show for two years and the Christmas Show for one. Radio City productions outside New York were the Christmas shows in Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles as an associate designer.
Mr. Farrell was the exclusive Set and Illusion designer for the magician Criss Angel from 1993-2015. During that time, he has done three television specials: MindFreak for ABC Family, SuperNatural for The Sci-Fi Channel, and Mr. Marick vs. Criss Angel for Tokyo Broadcasting, followed by six seasons of Mindfreak for A&E totaling nearly 100 episodes. The production Criss Angel Believe produced by Cirque du Soleil at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in which John was the Director of Illusions ran from 2005 for seven and a half years then became Mindfreak Live for three years before moving to Planet Hollywood. For Criss, John was also the Production Manager for four years which included two live touring productions in addition to a TV series and the Vegas show, all running concurrently.
Other television credits include Supervising Art director for America’s Got Talent seasons 7 -10, the final season of Gossip Girl, For What it’s Worth for VH1 Classics, Toys ‘R: Us (commercial), The Dream Team 1996 Olympic Special for NBC, 1994 & 1995 Tony Awards, HBO’s Earthly Possessions and for MTV: Get Late with Kennedy and Squirt TV.
Internationally John designed the scenery for Turandot in Hong Kong and Emmeline and The Crucible for the Szeged National Theatre with Mezzo Television. For Mexico City, he has designed three productions for Morris Gilbert: Fiddler on the Roof, Sweet Charity, and Besame Mucho. He has worked regionally in the US for such theatres as The Walnut Street Theatre (16 years) and Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, PA; Theatre Under the Stars, The Fifth Avenue Theatre, WA; Tampa Bay performing Arts Center, Sarasota Opera, FL; Chautauqua Opera, NY; and Maine State Music Theatre, ME.
Dmitry Glivinskiy is a Ukrainian vocal coach and conductor. He is a graduate of Mannes College of Music and of the Peabody Institute where, among his teachers, were Pavlina Dokovska, Boris Slutsky and Scott Jackson Wiley. Most recently, he was a young artist assistant conductor at the Glimmerglass Festival and worked with OnSite Opera as a pianist for their What Lies Beneath project at the South Street Seaport. He is currently the Music Director of the Opera Theater at Brooklyn College.
James Lowe is a Grammy-nominated conductor who continues to garner praise for “beautifully sculpted” performances (Opera News). In recent seasons he has conducted at Lyric Opera of Chicago (West Side Story), San Francisco Opera (Sweeney Todd), Washington National Opera (Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn and Me), the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux (Candide), as well as on Broadway. This past summer he arranged, orchestrated and conducted Songbird, a new adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole in the style of 1920’s New Orleans jazz for the Glimmerglass Festival. On Broadway, James Lowe was the Music Director and Conductor of the Tony Award-winning revival of Anything Goes, as well as the recent revival of Les Misérables. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Anything Goes cast album, which he conducted and co-produced. He conducted the First National Tour of The Light in the Piazza, as well as the North American tour of the acclaimed National Theatre production of My Fair Lady. Mr. Lowe served as US Music Supervisor of the recent North American Tour of The Phantom of the Opera and made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy. Mr. Lowe has had a long relationship with Houston Grand Opera, where he has led La bohéme, Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sweeney Todd, Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair, and Copland’s The Tender Land. At HGO he also conducted the world premiere production of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. He has appeared at Utah Opera (Of Mice and Men, Florencia en el Amazonas, La voix humaine), Arizona Opera (El Milagro del Recuerdo), Pittsburgh Opera (Flight), and Tulsa Opera (Turandot, Madama Butterfly). He has led The Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet and the Jacksonville Symphony. Mr. Lowe has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, conducting his own orchestrations and choral arrangements (Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus), as well as with singer- songwriter Randy Newman (Houston Symphony) and the legendary Booker T. Jones (Memphis Symphony). His arrangements have been performed by Joyce DiDonato (Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall), Isabel Leonard, Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra (Metropolitan Opera’s “Three Divas at Versailles” concert), and many others. He is currently composing an opera entitled Poppea, a new work based on themes of Monteverdi’s seminal opera, reimagined with electric guitars and industrial electronics.
Originally from Tampa Bay, Florida, Loryn got her start in opera as a performer in Carmen with Opera Tampa, and her first taste of running wigs and makeup with St. Peter Opera 10 years ago. She holds an MFA in Wig and Makeup design from UNC School of the Arts, and was professionally mentored by Paul Huntley. Design credits include: Tootsie the Musical (First National Tour), Cullad Wattah (The Public Theatre), Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies (Broadway HD), Gilbert VS Sullivan (Opera Tampa) and Sweeney Todd (Manhattan School of Music). She is also a visiting professor of Adornment History, lecturing for the Academy of Makeup Arts in Nashville.
Susan Roth has designed lighting for theater, opera and dance. International opera credits include Emmeline and The Crucible, which were televised throughout Europe on the Mezzo network. For New York City Opera, Ms. Roth designed Tosca, Aleko/Pagliacci, La campana sommersa, Brokeback Mountain, and the New York premiers of Hopper’s Wife and Dolores Claiborne. US regional opera credits include Tampa Opera, Augusta Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Orlando Opera, Toledo Opera and Dicapo Opera in New York. Ms. Roth served as the lighting designer for the 75th Anniversary tour of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. US national theater tour credits include Dreamgirls, Cabaret, Purlie, Little Shop of Horrors and One Mo Time. International tours included Ain’t Misbehavin’, West Side Story and Crazy for You. Ms. Roth was resident designer for the Westport Playhouse for ten years. Other credits include the U.S. premier of Public Enemy by Kenneth Branagh, the New York premier of Three Mo Tenors, the world premiere of Feau Follet for the Elisa Monte Dance Company and the Peking Circus US tour.
Richard Stafford made his New York City Opera debut in 2017 as director and choreographer of the American premiere of Antonio Literes’s Los Elementos. He was immediately re-engaged and directed and choreographed the company’s critically acclaimed 2018 double bill of Rameau’s Pigmalion and the American premiere of Donizetti’s Pigmalione. Additional NYCO credits include choreography for Turandot (2018 with Opera Hong Kong) and, in 2019, choreography for Dear Erich and Stonewall. His Broadway credits include choreographer for In My Life at the Music Box Theatre, associate choreographer for Aspects of Love at the Broadhurst Theatre, and dance supervisor for CATS at the Winter Garden Theatre. Off-Broadway, he was choreographer for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at St. Clements and director/choreographer for Castle Walk for the NYMF festival. Internationally he was director/choreographer for The Full Monty and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Mexico City; CATS in Copenhagen, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro; choreographer for Jesus Christ Superstar in Mexico City; Evita in Sydney; and CATS in Mexico City and Buenos Aires. He has been choreographer for national tours of CATS, My Fair Lady, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Mr. Stafford won the Barrymore Award for outstanding choreography for La Cage aux Folles at the Walnut Street Theatre and the NYMF “Outstanding Choreography” award for Castle Walk.
Cast
D’Marreon Alexander is a native of Detroit, MI. An actor, singer, dancer, and teaching artist, he recently received his BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from Western Michigan University. Since graduating, D’Marreon has proudly joined The Price Group Talent Agency Family! He has been seen recently in A Charlie Brown Christmas as Linus, Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party, as well a Top Six finalist in Scott Coulter’s Give My Regards.. contest at 54 Below. www.dmarreonalexander.com
Robert Balonek, baritone, is thrilled to be back with NYCO as Ernesto in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. This season, Robert will be performing the title role in Rigoletto (Boheme Opera of NJ), Figaro in The Barber of Seville (Opera on the James), Marcello in La bohème (Opera Modesto), Soloist - Musical Theatre Concert (Penn Square Music Festival), and Bells of Dawn (CA Redwood Chorale). Due to COVID, Robert’s Carnegie Hall debut performance of the Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs was postponed until further notice. Robert’s recent roles include the title roles in Owen Wingrave (LOTNY), Saul (Canterbury Chorale), and Gianni Schicchi (PAC Purchase NY). He has also performed Shaunard in La bohème (NYCO, SDSO, & Piedmont Opera), Max / Captain in Candide (SDSO), Silvio in Pagliacci (NY Vocal Productions), Figaro in The Barber of Seville (Boston Midsummer Opera), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (NYOpera CoOperative), and Ford in Falstaff (Utopia Opera). www.robertbalonek.com
Tatev, native of Yerevan, Armenia, is making her mark in the US with her “warm and unique sound” and “soaring top notes.” She recently earned third place in The Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition after receiving an Encouragement Award from the Georgia District of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In 2021, Tatev returned to Teatro Nuovo as a Studio Artist where she covered the role of Berta in the first post-pandemic, full-cast, live concert production of Il barbiere di siviglia in NYC. As an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera, Ms. Baroyan appeared as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Other operatic roles include: Alaide study-cover (La Straniera) with Teatro Nuovo, Nuri cover (Tiefland) with Sarasota Opera, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Adele (Die Fledermaus) with Komitas Conservatory, Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and others. Some partial roles she has sung during her studies in the Komitas Conservatory: Manon (Manon), Nanetta (Falstaff), and Musetta (La bohème). In 2019, she was the winner of the Florida District of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In concert, she has performed the B Minor Mass (Bach) at the Church of St. Hagob, Exultate Jubilate (Mozart), and has been featured in Stabat Mater (Rossini).
Tenor Michael Boley is an exponent of the romantic Italian and French repertoire whose recent performance highlights include Calaf in Turandot, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Popular with audiences and critics alike, Michael has been praised for his “meaty tenor” and “vibrant, dramatically alert performances” (Mercury News), “firm-voiced” characterizations (Opera Today), and his “fine contributions” (Opera News). Mr. Boley has performed principal assignments for New York City Opera, Opera San Jose, Mississippi Opera, Little Opera Company of New York, Opera Charleston, and Opera Columbus, among others.
Praised for her “brilliant lyric soprano, apparent ease, and voluptuous phrasing,” (San Diego Story) Rachel Blaustein is poised as a bright, up-and-coming artist with a moving sensibility to drama and text. In the 2021-22 season, Rachel joins Chicago Opera Theater singing Frasquita in Carmen alongside Stephanie Blythe as Don José and Jamie Barton as Carmen. She will debut with Tulsa Opera as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. Previously in 2021, Rachel made her Santa Fe Opera debut as an Apprentice Artist singing Autonoe in John Corigliano and Mark Adamo’s world premiere, The Lord of Cries and Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She made her mainstage debut with Chicago Opera Theater as Queer Kid in the Midwest premiere of Taking up Serpents and was the recipient of the Musicians Club of Women’s Farwell Trust Award. Recent engagements of note include performances as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Bel Canto Chorus, covers of Eurydice in Orphée et Eurydice and Maria Celeste in Galileo Galilei (Des Moines Metro Opera), Nannetta in Falstaff (Chautauqua Opera), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Opera Santa Barbara), and Kenzie in the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lyric Unlimited’s touring production of Earth to Kenzie. She holds degrees from The Peabody Conservatory and Hofstra University.
A finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Northeast Region 2019, and a 2020 winner of an Encouragement Grant from the Wagner Society of New York, Jeremy Brauner has been described as having a “brassy rich, powerful and liquid flowing tenor with a spine-tingling squillo.” In 2016 he made his debut as Alfredo (La traviata) with Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. He has since performed such roles as Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca), Ricardo (Un ballo in maschera), Calaf (Turandot), B.F. Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Loris (Fedora), and Manrico (Il Trovatore). Most recently, Jeremy performed the role of Arrigo (I vespri siciliani) with New Amsterdam Opera. In 2022 he will join Boheme Opera of New Jersey to perform the role of the Duke of Mantua in their production of Rigoletto as well as Opera Modesto as Rodolfo in La bohème.
Floridian tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro is drawing attention for his Italianate sound and compelling stage presence. Mr. Ciaramitaro has been a member of the Domingo-Coburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera since 2019, where he has performed Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser, Ruiz in Il Trovatore, and Lord Cecil in Roberto Devereux. Mr. Ciaramitaro was an inaugural member of the Renée Fleming Fellowship at the Aspen Musical Festival, where he performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Mr. Ciaramitaro competed as a finalist in the 58th Tenor Viñas Vocal Competition in 2021 and a national semi-finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions in 2019. In 2018 and 2019, he was an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera, where he performed Toke in the world premiere of Poul Ruders’ The Thirteenth Child. Mr. Ciaramitaro previously appeared as an Apprentice Artist at Palm Beach Opera, a Studio Artist with Arizona Opera, where his roles included Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the Governor and Vanderdendur in Candide. Previously, he performed Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola as a member of the prestigious Merola Opera Program, and has been a Studio Artist with Chautauqua Opera and Wolf Trap Opera.
Bass-baritone Adam Cioffari recently returned to the Pittsburgh Festival Opera as Fasolt in Das Rheingold and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, followed by Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Other appearances include the Commentator in the world premiere of Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg at the Castleton Festival, the Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos at The Glimmerglass Festival, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Colline in La bohème with Knoxville Opera, and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Austin Opera. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Komische Oper Berlin. A former member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, he was also a participant in the Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Opera Theater, and is a graduate from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. www.randsman.com/adamcioffari
“Truly an anthem of our times,” said Classic FM in regards to Matthew’s (a.k.a. Matthew Choof) ‘Figaro’ parody. Matthew could be seen singing in the 10th Anniversary Concert of Broadway’s A Tale of Two Cities as Gabel and the Male Principal understudy. Ciuffitelli had the unique opportunity to perform with The Rolling Stones at Chicago’s United Center and to appear in the U.S. premiere of the mixed-media work Mountain Top by Dutch avant-pop composer Jacob Ter Veldhuis. His operatic roles include Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Sergeant Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Eisenstein and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Valentin in Faust, Marcello in La bohème, and Figaro in The Barber of Seville. Ciuffitelli appeared as Prince Yamadori in New Jersey Festival Orchestra’s Madama Butterfly as well as Angelotti in their Tosca. He also performed in The Telephone with Light Opera of New Jersey and at Sarasota Opera as a featured resident artist singing the Official Registrar in the company’s production of Madama Butterfly. Matthew was the recipient of the 2018 Career Bridges Grant as well as the winner of the 2018 New Jersey State Opera Competition Award. He can be seen touring internationally with the world-renowned Sharpe Family Singers. You can find him on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as @MatthewChoof
Baritone Peter Kendall Clark has created roles in numerous operas, including the title role in Ted Rosenthal’s Dear Erich at New York City Opera, for which The New York Times praised his “gravity and earthy sound.” He has sung leading operatic and musical theatre roles with Caramoor Opera, Anchorage Opera, Union Avenue Opera, Opera on the James, Charlottesville Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Virginia Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Chelsea Opera, Syracuse Opera, and Skylight Music Theatre: Sweeney Todd, Older Thompson, Henry Higgins, Fredrik Eggerman, King Arthur, MacHeath, Count Almaviva, and Eugene Onegin. A regular performer with New York City Opera, Clark was featured in Harold Prince’s production of Candide, Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America, La Fanciulla del West, Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain, and Iain Bell/Mark Campbell’s Stonewall. Since May of 2020, he has given nearly 200 outdoor concerts in Brooklyn Heights in the series “Songs from the Ledge,’’ which The New York Post has called “the hottest ticket in town.” As the “Brownstone Baritone,” Clark has been profiled on ABC News, CBS Inside Edition, Only Good Heroes for OGTV, Voice Of America, The New York Post, Japan Public Television’s (NHK) Catch! World Top News, and WQXR’s New York in Concert. Upcoming: Mahler and Copland songs with Greenwich Village Orchestra. Brownstone Baritone (YouTube), songsfromtheledge.com, peterkendallclark.com
Kate Fruchterman, soprano, is based in New York City. Ms. Fruchterman made both her Canadian debut and her role debut of Mimì (La bohème) with Mercury Opera in March 2020. OperaWire described her performance as “consistently endearing... Fruchterman displayed a demure bearing which was belied by her lovely, bolder vocal approach.” A revival of the production is planned for 2022 in New York City. This spring, she sang the roles of Young Micòl/Adriana in the workshop of Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, with New York City Opera. The 2019-20 season saw her London debut performing the Soprano Solo in the Lord Nelson Mass and Vivaldi Gloria with the Cantamus Bach Choir & Orchestra of London and her performance of Louise in the new operetta Story of an Hour based on Kate Chopin’s short story of the same name with Gramercy Opera in Brooklyn. She was praised for her “beautiful voice and acting finesse” in Frid’s monodrama The Diary of Anne Frank with Opera Pomme Rouge, and “flawless vocal performance” in her portrayal of the “delicate and enchanting” Marzelline (Fidelio) with West Bay Opera. A resident artist at the Teatro Regio di Torino through the Opera Foundation, she sang a “gentle and graceful” professional debut as Sacerdotessa (Aida). Other roles include Corinna (Il Viaggio a Reims), Despina (Così fan tutte), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). Ms. Fruchterman holds her Master of Music from Mannes College and Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California.
NYC/Tours; Cats (1st National) Jennyanydots / NYCO Candide and La Campana Sommersa. Regional; Mamma Mia (RCCL) Ali/Sophie cover, Legally Blonde and Singin’ in the Rain (PCLO), Theory of Relativity (Staged Reading-Goodspeed). BFA, Boston Conservatory. @danigstein
Hailed for his “rich and deep sound, robust and regal” regarding his Carnegie Hall debut, John Robert Green is a versatile bass-baritone with a wide-ranging concert and operatic repertoire. Recent operatic credits include the roles of Owen Hart and George Benton in Dead Man Walking with the Israeli Opera, a role and company debut as the endearing Caleb Plummer in Zandonai’s Il Grillo del Focolare with Teatro Grattacielo followed by an immediate invitation and return to the same company in a menacing performance of Bardo in the American premiere of Cilea’s Gloria. Of his performance as Jack Rance in La Fanciulla del West with Winter Opera St Louis, critics celebrated that “His powerful voice can seduce or snarl as required.” A favorite of the Norwegian public, Mr. Green has appeared at LidalNorth in Oslo, Norway for his role debut as Gunther in Götterdämmerung, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, as well as one of his signature roles as the Father in Hänsel und Gretel. He has appeared in the title role of Gianni Schicchi at the Tel-Aviv Summer Opera, as well as the reprisal of the Humperdinck for Sherrill Milnes Voice Festival in Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Green has been lauded for his performances as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Marcello in La bohème, Dr. Rappaccini in La Hija de Rappaccini, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Don Giovanni. For his performance of Germont in La traviata, he received the Opera Performance of the Year Award from Illinois Opera Theatre. John was an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera, where he was honored with the Ann O’Donnell Scholarship Award for Outstanding Apprentice
Spencer Hamlin has been praised by Opera News for his “scintillatingly smooth” and “dazzling Italianate voice.” Engagements in 2021 include a role and company debut as Mr. Angel in The Impresario with Syracuse Opera, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Theater of Connecticut, Messiah with Symphoria, and Monostatos in The Magic Flute and Ruiz in Il Trovatore with the Glimmerglass Festival where he previously sang Chekalinsky in The Queen of Spades and covered Bégearss in The Ghosts of Versailles. He sang Don José in a virtual production of Carmen with Brooklyn College Conservatory, and performed as a soloist in Playhouse on Park’s filmed production of All is Calm. Spencer was an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera during their 2019 Winter Season where he sang Il principe di Persia in Turandot. He sang Almaviva in New York City Opera’s Bryant Park series of Il barbiere di Siviglia, and made his NYCO debut as Detective Thibodeau in the New York premiere of Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne. He was tenor soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Waterbury Chorale as well as The Urgency of Love (Theofanidis) with the New Haven Chorale. Upcoming engagements include Second Nazarene in Salome with Tulsa Opera.
Praised as “darkly seductive” with a “smooth, rich tone,” mezzo-soprano Kristee Haney is quickly proving herself as an exciting talent to watch. Her genre- adventurous repertoire encompasses everything from core baroque and romantic roles, to cutting edge contemporary operas. Ms. Haney recently joined the Metropolitan Opera roster in productions of Janáček’s Jenůfa and Massenet’s Werther. Additional recent engagements include Carnegie Hall appearances as the alto soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, as well as a North American and European tour of Bizet’s Carmen with New York City Opera. Additionally, in 2021 Ms. Haney completed an original recording project and released her first solo album, Echos. Past highlights on the operatic stage include engagements at New York City Opera (Mrs. Beers / Brokeback Mountain), Tulsa Opera (The Fox / The Little Prince) Siena Music Festival (Cendrillon / Cendrillon), Trentino Music Festival (Giulio Cesare / Giulio Cesare), Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Flora / La Traviata, Second Lady / The Magic Flute, Secretary to Mao / Nixon in China), and Union Avenue Opera (Maddalena / Rigoletto). Equally at home in musical theatre, role highlights include Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Maria (The Sound of Music) and Countess Charlotte Malcolm (A Little Night Music).
Rebecca L. Hargrove is pleased to join the cast of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Previously this season she joined the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in Fire Shut up in My Bones (Blanchard), Die Meistersinger, and returned to Porgy and Bess, for which she is a 2020 ‘Best Opera Album’ Grammy Award Winner. She has also been featured in the companies of Evita and Cabin in the Sky at New York City Center. Along with co-creator Kedren Spencer, she is one half of KSRH Productions LLC and star of their upcoming short film, Last Call. In the 2019-2020 season Rebecca starred in The New York Times Critic’s Pick performances of Acquanetta as Acquanetta at Bard Summerscape, The Grey Land mono-opera as The Mother at Roulette Intermedium (album available on all streaming platforms), and as Yum-Yum in The Mikado with New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Previous engagements include Two Wings: The Music of Black America in Migration with Jason Moran and Alicia Hall-Moran at Carnegie Hall, In the Parlour as Nellie Quander at The National Black Theater, and a series of new plays at The Lucille Lortel Foundation. Follow her updates at www.RebeccaLHargrove.com and on Instagram @Rhargrov.
“Vocally striking and visually appealing” (The New York Times), mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel consistently “sets the stage ablaze with her vocal and dramatic pyrotechnics” (Houston Chronicle). Ms. Heltzel debuted with Seattle Opera as Siegrune and Flosshilde in their acclaimed Ring cycle. Recent performances include Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale (Melbourne, Australia), Carmen (Wichita Grand Opera), Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Dartmouth), and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Carnegie Hall). A frequent collaborator and interpreter of new works, this season she appears as Paul Vasile and Karin Coonrod’s Judith, Death in the east coast premiere of Tom Cipullo’s The Parting (Chelsea Opera) and as Olga Finzi-Contini in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (New York City Opera). Select opera credits include Eboli in Don Carlo and Maddalena in Rigoletto (Wichita); Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Indianapolis, Amarillo, Syracuse, Nevada, Opera on the James); Jo in Little Women, Musetta in La bohème, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Opera on the James); Komponist and Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos (Winter Opera St Louis, Toledo); Lola and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana (Amarillo, String Orchestra of Brooklyn); Desirée and Charlotte in A Little Night Music (Syracuse Opera, Phoenicia Festival); Flora in La traviata for Seattle Opera; Alice In Wonderland, Angels in America, and Brokeback Mountain (New York City Opera); and Carmen (Tacoma, Pacific Northwest Operas), Verdi’s Requiem (Syracuse, Wichita, Boston Back Bay Chorale). www.sarahheltzel.com
Tenor/composer Adam C.J. Klein has performed at the Met as Yniold (Pelléas et Mélisande), Elemer (Arabella), Chevalier Delaforce (Dialogues des Carmélites), Third Jew (Salome), Steva (Jenůfa), Chekalinsky (Pique Dame), the Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Yaryshkin (The Nose) and Loge (Das Rheingold); first cover for lead roles include Tom (The Rake’s Progress), Alwa (Lulu) and Gandhi (Satyagraha). His Seattle Opera debut was Tristan (Tristan und Isolde), which he reprised in concert in 2018 at the Opera America recital hall. Most frequent roles: Don José, Cavaradossi, Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Chekalinsky, Canio, and the Duke in cities including Atlanta, Buffalo, Central City, Charleston (WV & SC), Chihuahua, Dallas, Edmonton, El Paso, Indianapolis, Memphis, Portland (ME and OR), Regina, San Francisco, St. Petersburg (FL), Toronto, and Winnipeg. Favorite jobs: Rhiannon Giddens’ Omar and Lachenmann’s Little Match Girl at Spoleto Festival USA; Dusapin’s Faustus, The Last Night with RKF in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; singing Schubert’s Winterreise in a film by Eric Solstein, on Vimeo; and producing/singing the world premiere of his own opera Leithian in NYC. Currently creating art song videos, performance documentaries, and digitizing the TV painting show The Cable Easel starring Patricia Windrow. Website: www.adamcjklein.us; YouTube channel: “aldaron”.
Soprano Meredith Krinke is thrilled to be making her operatic debut in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. A sophomore drama major at the Professional Performing Arts School, Meredith is a private voice student of Lisa Tamagini. She has performed in musical theater and theater productions around the city, including live-streamed/filmed versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Wingspan Arts) and The Wolves (Children’s Acting Academy). Meredith is also a classically trained violinist who attended the Special Music School and Mannes Prep. She lives in the Bronx with her mother, sister, and three cats.
Baritone Brian James Myer has been praised as a stage animal of “both voice and character to make him stand out in the crowd” (Sarasota Observer). In the spring of 2021, Mr. Myer returned to New York City Opera as Alberto in their workshop of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Gordon / Korie) and in 2022, he will reprise the role in the piece’s world premiere, join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera covering Marcellus/Player 4 in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, return to the New York Festival of Song as a soloist in their Argentine concert and make his Berkshire Opera Festival debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni.
In the summer of 2020, Mr. Myer was slated to make his Hartford Symphony debut as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and a debut with Festival Opera as Moralès/Le Dancaïre in Carmen. During the 2020-2021 season, Mr. Myer was scheduled to: make his European debut with Opera North in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper; join Atlanta Opera as Figaro in their bilingual production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le Dancaïre in Carmen, and cover Mr. Peachum in The Threepenny Opera; make his New York Festival of Song debut in their NYFOS Next series; and curate a solo recital with Opera Las Vegas.
Melanie Long’s unique vocal prowess has been described as “easily switch-hitting from high coloratura to Broadway belt” (New York Post). In high demand as a soloist and for her and powerfully interpretive stagecraft, Ms. Long has been featured in several premieres including the East Coast premiere of Stewart Wallace’s Hopper’s Wife with New York City Opera. Ms. Long recently starred as Anna in Encompass New Opera Theatre’s world premiere of Anna Christie by Edward Thomas, and was featured on the cast album which was nominated for a Grammy in 2020. She recently made her Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre debut, creating several complex characters in the company’s commission of The Grant Wood Operas: Strokes of Genius, by Michael Ching and Jean-Francois Charles. Ms. Long performed in the ensemble cast of New York City Opera’s Stonewall by Iain Bell and is frequently featured in New York City’s annual PROTOTYPE Festival with Beth Morrison Projects. She will make her Arizona Opera debut this season as Petra in Steven Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. www.americandiva.com | @themelanielong
Violet Paris is a 14 year old soprano and composer from New York City working in opera and new music. She attends Special Music High School where she studies composition and voice. She is a member of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Performance Ensemble and has worked with composers and recorded works by Missy Mizzoli, Nathalie Joachim, and Philip Glass among others. She has also performed with the Manhattan Girls Choir, the Broadway Youth Ensemble, and the Bergen PAC Chorus. In the last year, Violet has won first place in competitions such as Young Virtuoso, Prima Volta, and the International Grande Music Competition. Violet’s performance experience includes appearances at Carnegie Hall, BAM, Miller Theater at Columbia University, and Merkin Concert Hall. Violet studies voice with the vocal team Amelia Damayo, Gulnara Mitzanova, and Liliana Sotirova. She studies composition with Max Grafe with a focus on composing choral music.
Praised as an artist who “exudes power in every detail of her body language and voice,” mezzo-soprano Elissa Pfaender is a dynamic artist whose experience allows her to successfully perform a variety of repertoire. This upcoming summer, Ms. Pfaender will be a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, debuting the role of Dr. Landau in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, as well as covering Third Lady (The Magic Flute). Ms. Pfaender has also performed with New York City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Savannah Voice Festival, Manchester Music Festival, the National Endowment for the Arts YoungArts Foundation and more. During her time as an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera for their 60th Anniversary Season, Ms. Pfaender was awarded the prestigious “Anne J. O’Donnell Outstanding Apprentice Artist Award” by the Sarasota Opera Guild for her talent, skills and musicianship. Equally at home with concert work, she has performed as a soloist for Bach’s Magnificat and Schubert’s Mass in G with orchestra. She has received awards and honors from the NEA YoungArts Foundation, the National Opera Association, the Houston Saengerbund, Riverside Opera Company, Tuesday Musical Association, Chicago Classical NATS, and New Jersey Classical NATS.
Mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips is closely associated with the music of Wagner and Verdi. She has sung many roles in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with The Metropolitan Opera, Canadian Opera, Scottish Opera, Seattle Opera, Hawaii Opera and Dallas Opera. Mary won a Grammy Award for her solo work in The Met Opera’s 2012 recording of The Ring Cycle. She sang Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde for Dallas Opera and Winnipeg Symphony. As a Verdi mezzo, Mary has performed Eboli in Don Carlos for Vancouver Opera, Canadian Opera Co., and Sarasota Opera; Amneris in Aida with Utah Opera, Hawaii Opera, Birmingham Opera, and Bob Jones University; Azucena in Il Trovatore with Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Austin Lyric Opera and BJU. Mary has been a regular artist on the Metropolitan Opera roster since 2005. Concert highlights include numerous performances of Handel’s Messiah with Atlanta Symphony, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Italy, Oratorio Society of NY at Carnegie Hall, The N.J. Symphony, and Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with New York Philharmonic; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Atlanta Symphony (recorded for Telarc), Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Upcoming performances of Beethoven 9 with The Seattle Symphony are scheduled for Dec. 2021. Ms. Phillips has a master’s degree from Yale University. She joined the distinguished voice faculty at Sarah Lawrence College in Sept. 2019.
Franco Pomponi; Hamlet, Liceu Barcelona, Opéra Marseilles, La Monnaie, Brussels; Don Giovanni, Bolshoï Moscow, Athens, Genève, Montpellier; Escamillo, Carmen, NYCO, L.A. Opera, Opéra Toulon, Bremen; “Four Villains” Les Contes d’Hoffmann & Golaud, Pelléas et Mélisande, Reisopera, Netherlands; Paolo, Simon Boccanegra, Grand Théâtre Genève; Germont La Traviata, Grant Park Music Festival; Ford, Falstaff, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera; Count di Luna, Il Trovatore, Austin Lyric; Michele, Il Tabarro Opera Festival of Chicago; Jack Rance, La Fanciulla del West, KYO; Zurga, Les pêcheurs de perles, Opernhaus Zürich; Marcello, La bohème, Opéra Lausanne, Opéra Vichy; Hérode, Hérodiade & Silvio, Pagliacci Dorset Opera; Count Dominick Arabella and Schaunard La bohème, Metropolitan Opera; Eugene Onégin, Florida Grand, Spoleto Festival; Nick Shadow, Rake’s Progress, Frank/Fritz the Pierrot Die tote Stadt, Teatro Massimo, Palermo; Guglielmo Così fan tutte & Belcore L’elisir d’amore, Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg; Argante, Rinaldo, NYOpera Fest; Ping Turandot, Mercutio, Roméo et Juliette & Malatesta, Don Pasquale, Lyric Opera of Chicago. Franco created a sensation as Pentheus in The Bassarids by Henze at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, returning in the title roles of Nixon, Nixon in China and Sweeney Todd; Prospero The Tempest Hungarian State Opera Budapest, Carbon in Cyrano Teatro Real Madrid. In concert: Carnegie Hall debut Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has been a soloist with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre du Paris, L’Orchestre Philharmonie de Radio France, Grant Park Symphony, Qatar Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Musiciens du Louvre. Franco received a full fellowship to the Juilliard Opera Center and was awarded the “DeRosa Prize” for achievement. Franco’s recording Death is the Cool Night, Heine lieder of Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms was the HPR International Art Song Winner. Franco is the cofounder and president of Opera Festival of Chicago.
Gabe Ponichter, 14, is thrilled to be creating the role of Young Giorgio and making his debut with New York City Opera and NYTF in the world premiere of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Gabe has previously performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Bergen PAC and Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse. Favorite recent youth theater credits include: Jean Valjean (Les Misérables) and King Claudius (Hamlet) with The Dalton School drama department and Evan (13) with Shuffles Broadway Tap and Musical Theater School, where he is also a member of the Studio AP teen musical theater company and was recognized with the Junior Joy Award in 2021. Additional acknowledgments include First Prize (Voice) in the International Grande Music Competition 2021 and Finalist in both Hal Leonard’s Musical Theatre and Art Song competitions several years in a row. Gabe has performed extensively with the Broadway Youth Ensemble, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. In addition to voice, he studies acting, advanced tap, ballet, jazz, musical theater, classical piano, guitar, and songwriting and has performed in several honors piano recitals, including at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He is the fastest runner on his school’s cross country team and is a Level 6 American Red Cross swimmer. Gabe extends much gratitude to voice teachers Amelia DeMayo, Gulnara Mitzanova, and Liliana Sotirova for their tireless efforts on his behalf, the whole team at Shuffles NYC and to Shine Talent Management NYC and The Stewart Talent Agency.
Tim Roller is proud to be making his debut with the New York City Opera. He has performed across the country on the national tours of Hello, Dolly! and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Selected favorite regional credits include Music City Christmas in 2019 and 2021, A Chorus Line (Mike), West Side Story (Riff), Broadway Holiday Spectacular (Transcendence Theatre Company), and Cabaret (Bobby). Special thanks go to Joey. Follow @timmyrolls for more!
Sami has had a steady career in theater for over 10 years in all roles, including but not limited to stage manager, makeup artist, supernumerary, marketing associate, and singer. She has been a loyal player for New York City Opera since she has been in New York, but has travelled around the country working at various opera houses and small theaters.
Richmond, VA native Drew Seigla is a standout among theatre and opera audiences, recognized for his “stunning tenor voice” by BroadwayWorld.com. He made his Off-Broadway debut as Matt; The Mute in The Fantasticks where he continued for a solid two-year stint. He gained his second NYC credit after joining the cast of Sweeney Todd as their Standby Anthony/Tobias/Beadle at Barrow St. Theatre. Regional Theatre highlights include Kiss Me Kate at Flat Rock Playhouse & Jack in Into the Woods at Barksdale Theatre. Seigla was last seen as Pertshik in the Off-Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at NYTF & Stage 42, directed by theatre legend, Joel Grey. Seigla made his Opera debut with Lyric Opera Virginia, where he sang Gastone in La Traviata. He finished their inaugural season singing Le Remendado in Carmen and returned the following year to cover Roméo in Roméo et Juliette. This past November, Seigla sang Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance as a guest artist for The University of Arkansas Monticello. Seigla has gone on to sing numerous tenor solos in classical oratorio masterpieces. His concert repertoire includes the Tenor Soloist in Messiah with The Arkansas Choral Society in Little Rock, Bob Chilcott’s Requiem, conducted by Maestro Chilcott himself, Beethoven’s C Mass Major, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem, as well as Mozart’s Missa in C with The Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut. Drew holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School and attended Elon University two years preceding. Thanks to God, Mom & Dad, Steph, my agent, my friends, and my teachers. @drewseigla | drewseigla.com
Baritone Markos Simopoulos from Chapel Hill, North Carolina has been praised for his notable “dark chocolate” vocal tone. His recent role as Parson Peele in Hunter College’s Patience and Sarah received a range of glowing reviews describing his performance as “comic and poignant” and having a “manly thrust with sparkle.” He has performed internationally since childhood from St. Lambertus Basilica in the Netherlands to The Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece, where he was honored with the Emerging Leading Artist Award. In 2017, he was a featured young artist for Woodstock’s Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice. His favorite roles include Silvio (Pagliacci), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale).
Rosy Anoush Svazlian, soprano, is an Armenian-American artist born in San Francisco, California. Her exposure to opera from a very young age, combined with her passion for theater and the arts led her to pursue a professional vocal career. She completed her master’s studies at the Conservatory of Milan “Giuseppe Verdi,” studying under the guidance of Maestros Gianni Mastino and Adalberto Tonini, with whom she learned the classical “bel canto” style of singing through traditional Italian, French, and German repertory. She also participated in the Young Artist program at the Academy of La Scala under the tutelage of Vincenzo Manno. She is currently under the guidance of Jack LiVigni, professor at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and Royal Opera House in London. Ms. Svazlian has debuted roles in various theaters in Italy and held concerts in Moscow, Finland, Germany, and the U.S. Productions include The Beggar’s Opera (Jenny Diver and Lady Di), K. Weill; The Little Sweep (Rose), B. Britten; La bohème (Musetta), G. Puccini; Il Signor Bruschino (Marianna), G. Rossini; L’elisir d’amore (Adina), G. Donizetti; Le Nozze di Figaro (Contessa), and La voix humaine, by F. Poulenc. She has also performed at Teatro dal Verme, Milano as the lead protagonist in the opera Savitri, G. Holst. In 2010, Rosy gave her debut concert in Yerevan, Armenia with Plácido Domingo. In 2013, she debuted as Anoush in the Armenian opera Anoush by Armen Tigranian at the Yerevan State Opera. In 2016, she made her Carnegie Hall debut and has continued to perform throughout Europe and America
Rachel Zatcoff recently completed a year and a half run Off-Broadway as Tsaytl in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey. She made her Broadway debut as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. She has also performed with the international tour of West Side Story in the role of Maria. Rachel made her New York City Opera debut in Candide directed by Hal Prince. She later made her principal debut at the company with the new jazz opera Dear Erich, in the role of Lili. Other performances include A Little Night Music at Syracuse Opera, The Secret Garden at TUTS, and Street Scene at Opera North. Her favorite roles are wife to Seth and mama to Alfie @rachelzatcoff / rachelzatcoff.com
Rachel Blaustein
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Left to right: Ricky Ian Gordon, Michael Korie, Richard Stafford © Sarah Shatz
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MICHAEL_KORIE_©Matthew Murphy
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Photo credit: Harold Shapiro
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National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the New York City Opera are thrilled to...
Read MoreJanuary 27 – February 6, 2022
Rachel Blaustein
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Left to right: Ricky Ian Gordon, Michael Korie, Richard Stafford © Sarah Shatz
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MICHAEL_KORIE_©Matthew Murphy
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Photo credit: Harold Shapiro
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National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the New York City Opera are thrilled to...
Read MorePlaybill | Logan Culwell-Block | March 3, 2022
The New Criterion | Jay Nordlinger | March 2022
ABC News | Ronald Blum AP | Feb 10, 2022
Opera Wire | Chris Ruel | Feb 10, 2022
BroadwayWorld | Richard Sasanow | Jan 29, 2022
New York Theater | Jonathan Mandell | Feb 1, 2022
BroadwayWorld | Richard Sasanow | Jan 29, 2022
The New York Times | Zachary Woolfe | Jan 31, 2022
DC Metro Theater Arts | Deb Miller | Jan 28, 2022
The New York Times | Zachary Woolfe | Jan 31, 2022
the New York Times | Elisabeth Vincentelli | Jan 21, 2022
Hadassah Magazine | Jane Levere | Jan. 2022
Jewish Telegraphic Agency | Andrew Slow-Carroll | Jan 25, 2022
Broadway World | Richard Sasanow | Jan 18, 2022
TimeOut | Adam Feldman | Jan 17, 2022
Opera Wire | Francisco Salazar | Jan 11, 2022
Broadway World | Chloe Rabinowitz | Jan 10, 2022
Jewish Standard | Curt Schleier | Jan 5, 2022
Forward | PJ Grisar | Jan 6, 2022
OperaWire | David Salazar | Sept 28, 2021
BroadwayWorld | Chloe Rabinowitz | Aug 22, 2021
BroadwayWorld | Chloe Rabinowitz | Aug 23, 2021
Since its founding in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as “The People’s Opera” New York City Opera (NYCO) has been a critical part of the city’s cultural life. During its history, New York City Opera launched the careers of dozens of major artists and presented engaging productions of both mainstream and unusual operas alongside commissions and regional premieres. The result was a uniquely American opera company of international stature.
For more than seven decades, New York City Opera has maintained a distinct identity, adhering to its unique mission: affordable ticket prices, a devotion to American works, English-language performances, the promotion of up-and-coming American singers, and seasons of accessible, vibrant and compelling productions intended to introduce new audiences to the art form. Stars who launched their careers at New York City Opera include Plácido Domingo, Catherine Malfitano, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Beverly Sills, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Vaness, and Shirley Verrett, among dozens of other great artists. New York City Opera has a long history of inclusion and diversity. It was the first major opera company to feature African-American singers in leading roles (Todd Duncan as Tonio in Pagliacci, 1945; Camilla Williams in the title role in Madama Butterfly, 1946); the first to produce a new work by an African-American composer (William Grant Still, Troubled Island, 1949); and the first to have an African-American conductor lead its orchestra (Everett Lee, 1955).
A revitalized City Opera re-opened in January 2016 with Tosca, the opera that originally launched the company in 1944. Outstanding productions during the four years since then include: the world premieres of Iain Bell and Mark Campbell’s Stonewall, which NYCO commissioned and developed, and Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera Dear Erich, (its first co-production with National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene); legendary director Harold Prince’s new production of Bernstein’s Candide; Puccini’s beloved La fanciulla del West; the New York premiere of Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, based on the Stephen King novel; Tobin Stokes’ Fallajuh, the first opera written about the Iraq War; the double-bills of Rameau’s Pigmalion & the American premiere of Donizetti’s first opera Il Pigmalione; and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci & Aleko, a rarely-heard Rachmaninoff work; and two other rarely heard works – Respighi’s La Campana Sommersa and Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei Tre Re. City Opera presented the New York premiere of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, inspired by the work of Gabriel García Márquez, as the first in its Ópera en Español series. Subsequent Ópera en Español productions include the New York premiere of the world’s first mariachi opera, José “Pepe” Martinez’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, Literes’s Los Elementos, and Piazziola’s María de Buenos Aires. In addition to the world premiere of Stonewall, the productions in City Opera’s Pride Initiative, which produces a LGBT-themed work each June during Pride Month, include the New York premiere of Péter Eötvös’s Angels in America, the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain, and the Laura Kaminsky-Mark Campbell-Kimberly Reed opera As One. New York City Opera has presented such talents as Anna Caterina Antonacci and Aprile Millo in concert, as well as concerts which premiered David Hertzberg’s Sunday Morning, celebrated the 90th birthday of composer Dominck Argento, and celebrated its own 75th Anniversary Concert in Bryant Park, one in a series of the many concerts and staged productions that it presents each year as part of the Park’s summer performance series.
New York City Opera continues its legacy at a new, state-of-the-art home at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater with revitalized outreach and education programs, and programming designed to welcome and inspire a new generation of City Opera audiences, as well as through revitalized outreach and education programs for New York City’s students, bringing the art form to an entirely new audience.
Upcoming productions include the musical Private Confessions (playwright Richard Nelson) and the opera Intimate Apparel, with a libretto by Lynn Nottage based on her play. Intimate Apparel was forced to shut down three weeks into previews in March of 2020; it will finally resume performances on January 13, 2022.
National Yiddish Theatre will require vaccinations for audience members, as well as performers, backstage crew, and theatre staff, for all performances through February 2022. Masks will also be required for audiences inside the theatre, except while eating or drinking in designated locations. Under the policy, guests will need to be fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine in order to attend a show and must show proof of vaccination at their time of entry into the theatre with their valid ticket and photo ID. “Fully vaccinated” means the performance date must be at least 14 days after the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or at least 14 days after a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
**Guests who do not comply with these policies will be denied entry or asked to leave the theatre.**
This policy is meant to provide flexibility in the event a guest may be unable to attend a show due to illness, travel restrictions, or any other circumstances.
Click here for the complete Exchange & Refund Policy
National Yiddish Theatre is located at:
Edmond J. Safra Plaza
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280
For directions click HERE
Yes, the theatre is wheelchair accessible. Please note there are steps to the balcony section.
Please follow this link to make a donation: DONATE HERE
The charge should appear as TMANIA TICKETS.
No. Not at this time.
NYTF – National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza
36 Battery Place New York, NY 10280
Administration: 212-213-2120
