imported>BD2412: /* External links */ clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation, replaced: , → ,

2024-10-16T00:17:35Z

External links: clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation, replaced: , → ,

New page

'''Gotham Chamber Opera''' was a professional opera company located in New York City. The company was founded in 2000 under the name of the '''[[Henry Street (Manhattan)|Henry Street]] Chamber Opera''' by Artistic Director [[Neal Goren]] and specialized in producing rarely performed [[chamber opera]]s from the [[Baroque music|Baroque era]] to the present. In 2003, it changed its name to the Gotham Chamber Opera (GCO) after incorporating as an independent [[501(c)(3) organization]]. Its Executive Director was [[Edward Barnes (composer)|Edward Barnes]], who took over from David Bennett.<ref>[http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/about_us/ About Us on the company's website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234434/http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/about_us/ |date=2013-12-30 }}</ref><ref name="close">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/arts/music/gotham-chamber-opera-announces-that-it-will-close.html|title=Gotham Chamber Opera Announces That It Will Close|author=Shaun Walker|work=[[The New York Times]]|accessdate=1 October 2015|date=1 October 2015}}</ref> It closed in 2015.<ref name="close" /><ref name="fold" />

== History ==
===Henry Street Chamber Opera===
The company first presented the American premiere of Mozart's ''[[Il sogno di Scipione]]'' (1771), staged by [[Christopher Alden (director)|Christopher Alden]] in 2001 at the Playhouse at the [[Abrons Arts Center]], a 350-seat theater on the New Yorks's [[Lower East Side]].

Soon after, the company produced a double bill of [[Henry Purcell]]'s ''[[Dido and Aeneas]]'' (1689) and [[Darius Milhaud]]'s ''{{ill|Les malheurs d'Orphée|sv|Les Malheurs d’Orphée}}'' (1924). Two more American premieres followed in November 2002 with Czech composer [[Bohuslav Martinů]]'s 1928 [[Dada]] opera, ''[[Les larmes du couteau]]'' (''Tears of the Knife''),<ref>[http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/production/detail/les_larmes_du_couteau ''Les larmes du couteau'' on the company's website]</ref> and his 1935 ''[[Hlas lesa]]'' (''The Voice of the Forest'').<ref>[http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/production/detail/hlas_lesa Production details and photographs for ''Hlas lesa'' on the company's website]</ref>

===Gotham Chamber Opera===
After incorporating as a non-profit organization in 2003, the newly renamed Gotham Chamber Opera (GCO) presented the American premiere of Swiss composer [[Heinrich Sutermeister]]'s 1935 ''{{ill|Die schwarze Spinne (opera)|de|Die schwarze Spinne (Oper)|lt=Die schwarze Spinne}}'' (''The Black Spider'').

Gotham's February 2005 production of [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s ''[[Arianna in Creta]]'' played to full houses and drew favorable reviews.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}} That summer, in a co-production with the [[Lincoln Center Festival]] and [[Spoleto Festival USA]], the company performed [[Ottorino Respighi]]'s fantastical ''[[La bella dormente nel bosco]]'' (''Sleeping Beauty in the Woods''), featuring the puppetry of [[Basil Twist]]. In the spring of 2006, [[Benjamin Britten]]'s only comedy, ''[[Albert Herring]]'', received its first professional staging in New York in more than 30 years, and in the winter of 2007, [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]'s ''[[Il signor Bruschino]]'' received its first major professional New York staging in more than half a century.

In the 2007/08 season, the company presented New York City's first staged production of [[Astor Piazzolla]]'s 1968 [[tango]] opera ''[[María de Buenos Aires]]'', as well as ''Scenes of Gypsy Life'', a fully staged evening of [[song cycle]]s by [[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]] and [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]], and ''Ariadne Unhinged'', a retelling of the [[Ariadne|Ariadne myth]] through the music of [[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], and [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]. And in 2009, [[Mark Morris (choreographer)|Mark Morris]] directed the U.S. stage premiere of Haydn's ''[[L'isola disabitata]]''.

Gotham presented Haydn's ''[[Il mondo della luna]]'' at the [[Hayden Planetarium]] of the [[American Museum of Natural History]] in January 2010. The production, staged by [[Diane Paulus]], featured [[NASA]]-generated moon travel projections on the planetarium's 360-degree dome.

In October 2010, GCO with [[Tectonic Theater Project]] presented the U.S. premiere of [[Xavier Montsalvatge]]'s ''{{ill|El gato con botas|es|El gato con botas (Montsalvatge)}}''<ref>Vivian Schweitzer, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/arts/music/04gato.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=music&adxnnlx=1388249774-y3MOGzLrfjielNETnuiEwQ "From Wily House Cat to Lord of the Manor"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 3, 2010</ref> (''Puss in Boots''). The production was directed by [[Moisés Kaufman]], with [[bunraku]] puppetry by the Blind Summit Theatre of London. The opera premiered at the [[New Victory Theater]] in New York City.

In November 2010, Gotham Chamber Opera, Music-Theatre Group and [[Opera Philadelphia]] announced the commission of a new American opera, ''[[Dark Sisters]]'', composed by [[Nico Muhly]] with a [[libretto]] by [[Stephen Karam]], to be conducted by Neal Goren, and directed by [[Rebecca Taichman]]. The world premiere took place in November 2011 at the [[Gerald W. Lynch]] Theater at [[John Jay College]] in New York, one of the first works to be presented at the theater following the creation of a new lobby at the space. ''Dark Sisters'' was also presented in June 2012 as part of Opera Philadelphia's chamber opera series at the Perelman Theater in the [[Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts]]. Gotham scheduled two workshops and orchestra readings, in November 2010 and March 2011, for the new work.

Gotham Chamber Opera included appearances on [[WNYC]], displays at [[Bergdorf Goodman]] and [[Prada]] [[SoHo, Manhattan|SoHo]], annual collaborations with the [[Gagosian Gallery]], and performances in various Manhattan venues. The company's activities also included school residencies, workshops, and free rehearsals.<ref>[http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/index.php?page=about More information from the company's website]</ref>

GCO was a member of the professional organization [[OPERA America]].

On October 1, 2015, Gotham Chamber Opera announced it would close due to previously undiscovered debts.<ref name="close"/><ref name="fold">{{cite news |title=Beer Bottles, Not Opera Glasses |last=Cooper |first=Michael |date=March 10, 2016 |page=C6 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

== Productions ==
{{Div col|colwidth=45em|rules=yes}}
* 2001: ''Il sogno di Scipione'' (1771) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by [[Christopher Alden (director)|Christopher Alden]] at The Abrons Art Center (U.S. stage premiere)
* 2002: ''Dido and Aeneas'' (1689) by Henry Purcell, directed by [[Laurence Dale]] at The Abrons Arts Center
* 2002: ''Les malheurs d'Orphée'' (1924) by Darius Milhaud, directed by Laurence Dale at The Abrons Arts Center
* 2002: ''[[Les larmes du couteau]]'' (1928) by Bohuslav Martinů, directed by Ned Canty at The Abrons Arts Center (U.S. premiere)
* 2002: ''[[Hlas lesa]]'' (1935) by Bohuslav Martinů, directed by Ned Canty at The Abrons Arts Center (U.S. premiere)
* 2004: ''Die schwarze Spinne'' (1935) by Heinrich Sutermeister, directed by [[Robin Guarino]] at The Abrons Arts Center (U.S. premiere)
* 2005: ''Arianna in Creta'' (1733) by George Frideric Handel, directed by Christopher Alden at The Abrons Arts Center (U.S. stage premiere)
* 2005: ''La bella dormente nel bosco'' (1922) by Ottorino Respighi, directed by Basil Twist at Lincoln Center (U.S. stage premiere)
* 2006: ''Albert Herring'' (1947) by Benjamin Britten, directed by David Schweizer at The Abrons Arts Center
* 2007: ''Il signor Bruschino'' (1813) by Gioachino Rossini, directed by Robin Guarino at The Abrons Arts Center
* 2007: ''María de Buenos Aires'' (1968) by Astor Piazzolla directed by [[David Parsons (dancer)|David Parsons]] at [[Skirball Center for the Performing Arts|Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts]], New York University
* 2007: ''Scenes of Gypsy Life'' a cautionary tale featuring music of Antonín Dvořák (1880) and Leoš Janáček (1919), directed by Eric Einhorn at the [[Morgan Library]]
* 2008: ''Ariadne Unhinged'', music by Claudio Monteverdi (1608), Joseph Haydn (1789) and Arnold Schoenberg (1912) directed by [[Karole Armitage]] at The Playhouse, Abrons Arts Center (World premiere)
* 2009: ''L'isola disabitata'' (1779) by [[Joseph Haydn]], directed by Mark Morris at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (New York stage premiere)
* 2010: ''Il mondo della luna'' (1777) by [[Joseph Haydn]], directed by Diane Paulus at the [[Hayden Planetarium]]
* 2010: ''El gato con botas'' (1946) by [[Xavier Montsalvatge]], directed by [[Moisés Kaufman]] at the New Victory Theater (U.S. stage premiere)<ref>[http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/production/detail/el_gato_con_botas Production details and photos from ''El gato con botas'' on the company's website]</ref>
* 2011: ''Dark Sisters'' (2013) by [[Nico Muhly]] (World premiere)
* 2012: ''Il sogno di Scipione'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Christopher Alden at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (10th anniversary production)
* 2012: Gotham @ [[(Le) Poisson Rouge]]: ''Orientale'' (Monteverdi, [[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Rameau]], [[Léo Delibes|Delibes]] and others)
* 2012: ''[[Eliogabalo]]'' (1668) by [[Francesco Cavalli]], staged at [[The Box Soho]]
* 2012: ''[[Rappaccini's Daughter (opera)|La hija de Rappaccini]]'' (1991) by [[Daniel Catán]]
* 2013: ''[[La descente d'Orphée aux enfers]]'' (1686) by [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]]
* 2013: ''[[Donaueschingen Festival|Baden-Baden]] 1927'', music by [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]], [[Ernst Toch|Toch]], [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]] and [[Kurt Weill|Weill]]
* 2013: ''[[Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda]]'' (1624) by Monteverdi; ''I Have No Stories to Tell You'' by Lembit Beecher (World premiere)
* 2013: ''The Raven'' by [[Toshio Hosokawa]] (based on [[The Raven|the poem of that name]] by Edgar Allan Poe) (U.S. premiere)
{{Div col end}}

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}
'''Sources'''
*Michael Cooper, [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/arts/music/gotham-chamber-opera-has-unusual-works-and-many-venues.html?_r=1& "Rare Arias on a Lean Budget: Gotham Chamber Opera Has Rare Works and Many Venues"], ''The New York Times'', 24 December 2013
*[[Anthony Tommasini]], [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/arts/music/cavallis-eliogabalo-by-gotham-chamber-opera-at-the-box.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1& "An Emperor in Drag and Other Decadencies: Cavalli's ''Eliogabalo'', by Gotham Chamber Opera, at the Box"], ''The New York Times'', 18 March 2013.

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/}}
*George Grella, [http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2014/02/for-now-gotham-chamber-opera-is-happy-to-remain-small-yet-significant/ "For now, Gotham Chamber Opera is happy to remain small yet significant"], interview with Director David Bennett on newyorkclassicalreview.com. February 24, 2014

{{authority control}}

[[Category:New York City opera companies]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 2000]]
[[Category:2000 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2015]]
[[Category:2015 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Arts organizations established in 2003]]
[[Category:Arts organizations disestablished in 2015]]

Gotham Chamber Opera - Revision history

imported>BD2412: /* External links */ clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation, replaced: , → ,