by Paul J. Pelkonen
We will be swiping our way to the opera next month as the multi-borough
New York Opera Festival kicks into high gear.
April 27-May 5
Bronx Opera: The Mikado
If you want to know who he is, he's an ignorant ass named Trump. The 45th president comes in for a skewering in this contemporary update of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.
May:
May 2, 4 7pm, May 5, 3pm
New Camerata Opera: The Rape of Lucretia
Flea Theater, 20 Thomas St. New York, NY
Julian Bischof conducts Benjamin Britten's searing tragic opera, the story of a sexual assault in ancient Rome and its political consequences.
May 2 8pm, May 5 3pm
Heartbeat Opera with Opera Lafayette: La Susanna
BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY
Antonio Stradella's powerful oratorio is based on the story of Susannah from the Bible's Book of Judges.
May 7-10, 7:30pm, May 11, 3pm and 7:30pm
City Lyric Opera: La Tragedie de Carmen
West Side Theater, 263 W 86th St, New York, NY
A new adaptation of Bizet's masterpiece, featuring an all-female and female-identifying cast
May 9-11 7:30pm, May 12 3pm
Little Opera Theater of New York: Owen Wingrave
GK ArtsCenter, 29 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY
The New York Premiere of Benjamin Britten's haunting and underperformed late masterpiece.
May 9-10 7:30pm
Hunter Opera Theater: Patience and Sarah
Love in Connecticut is at the heart of this new feminist opera by Paula M. Kimper.
May 10 7:30pm
New Amsterdam Opera: Herodiade
The Center at West Park, 165 West 86th Street, New York, NY
The other version of the "Salome" story: a concert performance of a Massenet rarity once described in the movie Marathon Man as "a very long French opera." Good music though.
May 10 7:30pm, May 12 5pm
Brooklyn College Opera Theater: Gianni Schicchi
Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College 2900 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY
Puccini's one-act masterpiece and the composer's only comedy.
May 10-11, 17-18 8pm
Rhymes With Opera: The Impossible She and Of Loneliness and Solitude
124 Bank St. Theater, New York NY.
New works from the pens of contemporary composers Daniel Thomas Davis and Colin Read.
May 11-12; 17-18
Regina Opera: Il Trovatore
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 5902 6th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11220
Verdi's searing tragedy is one of his most popular operas.
(Note: all shows 3pm, sneak peek with the understudies on May 6.)
May 11 7pm, May 12 3pm
Cantanti Project: Teseo:Medea
Underground Theater, 466 Grand Street New York, NY
An all-female reinterpretation of Handel's opera, performed by the Dorian Baroque Orchestra.
May 15-16
Americas Society: Kopernikus
22 Boerum Place
The New York premiere of a new oratorio by Claude Vivier.
May 17-19, performance times vary.
On-Site Opera: Murasaki's Moon
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Astor Garden Court
The serene northeast corner of the Met is host to this opera, which focuses on a lady-in-waiting and her service to Lady Murasaki, author of The Tale of Genji.
May 19-20.
American Opera Projects: The Stonewall Operas
The Stonewall Inn 53 Christopher Street (Stonewall Place)
Four new operas by four different composers, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the start of the Heritage of Pride movement that changed America.
(Please note, attending this performance carries a two drink minimum.)
June:
May 30-June 8
American Opera Projects: As One
Merkin Concert Hall 129 West 67th Street, New York, NY 10036
The return of this important American opera by Laura Kaminsky, tracking the journey and evolution of a young trans person in today's shifting lanscape.
June 4-8
Death of Classical: Dido and Aeneas
The Green-Wood Cemetery
Carthage goes underground as the catacombs in Green-Wood Cemetery host a performance of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. This gives a whole new meaning to "When I am laid in Earth."
June 13-14
On Tap Opera: The Magic Flute
Public School 129, 25 W 130th St, New York, NY 10027
Mozart goes from the jungle to the playground. Literally.
June 27-30
Vertical Player Repertory: The Constitution: A Secular Oratorio
219 Court St Brooklyn, NY
Benjamin Yarmolinsky's choral work is literally a setting of the articles of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, all the more important in today's troubled age.
June 27-30
Divaria Productions: The Human Voice
34-36 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001
Poulenc's opera is centered around that most radical of 19th century inventions: the telephone.
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