Congratulations to Stephen Karam (librettist of "Dark Sisters") who was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, for his play "Sons of the Prophet".  Read the whole story here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75199.html

Renowed artist Cecily Brown created this image for our
Tenth Anniversary Revival of "Il sogno di Scipione". 

Take home a commemoration of this wonderful production
and support Gotham at the same time. Posters are $15. 

Visit our merchandise page for more information
and to make your purchase. 

Seeking New York's Next 'Other' Opera Company

by Zachary Woolfe

By now enough people have gotten on enough soapboxes about New York City Opera’s sorry financial state. But while the company remains in limbo, its precarious situation should be a reminder to look at the bigger picture.

Institutions come and go; what is important is the preservation of core values. So what do we want from opera in New York?

A variety of repertory, including a healthy diet of new works. Stimulating interpretations of the standards. Affordability. A range in the scale of performances, from grand to modest. Opportunities for young artists.

Aided by brilliant marketing, the Metropolitan Opera has in recent years pivoted to seem younger and fresher, concerned with theatricality and its connection to the broader cultural landscape. But with 3,800 seats it cannot provide intimacy, and its much-touted new productions of classic works have largely been old wine in new bottles. For reasons of size and temperament it doesn’t really do new opera.

There is ample room for an “other” company. In the 20th century the Met had nimble, progressive foils: Oscar Hammerstein’s Manhattan Opera, briefly, and then City Opera, which was founded in 1943 with a populist mandate and commitments to adventurous programming and cohesive dramatic values.

With City Opera’s decline it has fallen to a range of even smaller companies to provide variety and intimacy. Dicapo Opera has presented recent American works with consistent distinction; Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta,” which it performed in December, has a planned Met debut in a few seasons. Amore Opera (an outgrowth of the Amato Opera) is lovably scrappy, and it scored a coup this fall with the American premiere of Mercadante’s 1835 gem, “I Due Figaro.”

Opera Omnia does creative, tiny productions of Baroque repertory. The Opera Orchestra of New York offers concert versions of more esoteric grand operas and the spectacle of star singers stretching their comfort zones.

Perhaps most intriguing and promising is the Gotham Chamber Opera. Over the past decade, with ample praise but without much fanfare, Gotham has earned a reputation for being dependably creative and musically keen. Its production last year of Haydn’s “Mondo Della Luna,” ingeniously set amid star projections in the Hayden Planetarium, was one of the delights of recent seasons. Gotham’s founder and artistic director, Neal Goren, has a gift for spotting talented young singers, and its executive director, David Bennett, seems intent on ensuring financial stability.

The company opened in 2001 with the American stage premiere of Mozart’s “Sogno di Scipione.” (Christopher Alden’s production will be revived in April to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary.) Though it has since concentrated on overlooked corners of the Classical and modern periods, this season Gotham boldly moved into new American opera, presenting the premiere of a work by the composer Nico Muhly, commissioned with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Music-Theater Group.

With a donor base that shares several significant names with City Opera, including Mary Sharp Cronson, Brooke Hayward Duchin and the former City Opera board chairwoman Susan L. Baker, Gotham stands to benefit from any drop in support for the larger company. Mr. Goren, for his part, insists that more opera is better for everyone, and that City Opera’s situation has not affected his plans.

“We’re not doing anything differently,” he said in a recent interview. “We’re in expansion mode, but we’ve been continuously in expansion mode. We’re not changing our mission at all. We do works that go in intimate spaces.”

This season Gotham was prudent, with a two-production season consisting of Mr. Muhly’s “Dark Sisters” and the “Scipione” revival, since it is new to the challenges of commissioned opera. But in April the company is planning to announce a 2012-13 season that is its largest yet, with four productions: three during the regular season and one in the summer of 2013. That is conspicuously the same number that City Opera is doing in its abbreviated season this spring.

Read the entire article on The New York Times website: http://nyti.ms/AtMyk5

Keeping Operas, And His Life, In Brisk Motion

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

“WHAT role does the government have in the home?” the American composer Nico Muhly asked recently over tea in a Midtown cafe. “It’s a complicated and interesting question.”

Mr. Muhly, 30, whose high-profile commissions include a work for the Metropolitan Opera, said that as a gay man he is particularly interested in the government’s role in personal relationships. He explores a longstanding fascination with polygamy in his chamber opera “Dark Sisters,” a story of a polygamist family in a Mormon offshoot whose children are removed by state officials concerned about child abuse. A co-production of Gotham Chamber Opera, Music-Theater Group and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the work, with a libretto by Stephen Karam and sets and video projections by 59 Productions, will receive its premiere on Wednesday evening at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater of John Jay College.

Mr. Muhly, an engaging, funny man whose rapid-fire speech is peppered with profanities, said he wanted to give equal voice to Eliza, the character who decides to escape, and the women who choose to remain on the compound.

“I think an oratorio is where you can make a moral judgment,” he said, “but in an opera you want to ask questions.” He believes that forcing under-age girls into marriage and “essentially facilitating statutory rape” is wrong, he quickly added, but he didn’t want “Dark Sisters” to be “an oppression pageant.”

Mr. Muhly, whose life seems to unfold at fever pitch, is also determined to ensure that “Dark Sisters” doesn’t drag. “I’m kind of obsessed with keeping things moving,” he said. “Death for me is that moment when you’re watching an opera and you’re, like, looking at your watch.”

Read the entire article on-line: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/arts/music/nico-muhly-composer-of-dark-sisters-and-two-boys.html?pagewanted=print

Our Fall Newsletter features interviews and articles from the creative team, and a special messag from our Board President and our Executive Director.  An excellent way to prepare for your experience with Dark Sisters.

Staging a contemporary opera: Nico Muhly, Rebecca Taichman, and Neal Goren discuss how the staging of Dark Sisters draws inspiration from the score.

Notes from our Artistic Director: Neal Goren explains the five-year gestation process of a new American opera.

Photos from the September Preview, and more.

Opening Night is Wednesday, Nov. 9 and performances run until Nov. 19.

Download your copy of the Newsletter here.

In a series of video "vodcasts", composer Nico Muhly discusses the landscape as inspiration for much of the music in "Dark Sisters". The video includes footage from Nico's own trip to Colorado City and gives insight on the composer at work.  Stephen Karam discusses the story behind "Dark Sisters", and the 2008 raid at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, TX. Watch both videos in our "Learn More" section: http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/learn_more/podcast/dark_sisters

Gotham Chamber Opera has commissioned many noteworthy artists over the years to create unique works for our productions.  Limited edition signed posters are available from Matthew Barney, John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Vera Lutter, and Lisa Yuskavage.  NEW! Noah Scalin's original artwork for Dark Sisters is available in a 14" x 22" poster.  A number of these, signed by Nico Muhly and Stephen Karam, are for sale at a special price.  All signed posters are $150. Unsigned posters are $15.  Visit our store to make your purchase today!  Take me to the shop.

You can now subscribe to the podcast series for Dark Sisters through iTunes.  The series includes conversations with composer Nico Muhly and plural marriage scholar Ken Verdoia, an interview with librettist Stephen Karam, and an upcoming roundtable discussion between Nico, conductor Neal Goren and director Rebecca Taichman.  Download all the epsiodes to your iPod or iPhone. Click here to subscribe.

We begin our Tenth Anniversary season with Gotham's first ever world premiere, Dark Sisters, a new American opera by composer Nico Muhly and librettist Stephen Karam.  Dark Sisters is a co-commission and co-production of Gotham Chamber Opera, Music-Theatre Group, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the World Premiere will be November 9, 2011 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College.

Our Anniversary Celebration continues in April 2012, when we will revive Gotham's very first production, Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione. The original creative team of director Christopher Alden, set designer Andrew Cavanaugh Holland, costume designer Fabio Toblini, and lighting designer Allen Hahn will be reunited for this production, which will open on April 11, 2012, also at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater.

Tickets for all performances (except the opening night galas) are available through Ticket Central.

We look forward to seeing you at Dark Sisters and Il sogno di Scipione.   

Gotham Chamber Opera will celebrate its 10th anniversary by looking both to the future and to the past. Returning to a two-production schedule for the first time since 2008, the company will kick off the season with the world premiere of Dark Sisters, an opera by composer Nico Muhly and librettist Stephen Karam commissioned for the occasion. A co-commission and co-production of Gotham Chamber Opera, Music-Theatre Group, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Dark Sisters will premiere at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College in November 2011. Then, in April 2012, Gotham Chamber Opera will revive Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione, which announced the company’s arrival on the New York cultural scene ten years ago. The original creative team of director Christopher Alden, set designer Andrew Cavanaugh Holland, costume designer Fabio Toblini, and lighting designer Allen Hahn will be reunited for the production, to be conducted by Gotham Chamber Opera's Founding Artistic Director Neal Goren, at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College.

The goal of Gotham's Arts in Education program is to enhance students’ understanding and enjoyment of opera and classical music through direct interaction with our productions. Teaching Artists visit the class twice before students attend a free preview performance, followed by a post-performances discussion with the artists, stage director and artistic director, and a follow up classroom visit.  To learn more, visit our Education Page.