Bronx Opera (BxO) is an opera company in the Bronx, New York. It was founded in 1967 by artistic director and music director, the conductor Michael Spierman. The company is a member of the New York Opera Alliance.[1]

The company performs two operas a year, one lesser known work, and an opera from the standard repertoire. All productions are sung in English with full orchestra and chorus.[2] Additionally, the company presents concerts of opera excerpts throughout the year. The company's opera orchestra is increased to full-size to form the fully professional Orchestra of the Bronx which gives two free concerts every year.[3]

Opera performances are at Lehman College's Lovinger Theatre and Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse in Manhattan's Upper East Side; concerts are given in the Bronx and surrounding areas from Long Island to Delaware County.[4]

Origins

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In 1966, a group of musicians were attempting to put together a performance of Handel's Messiah. While this performance never happened, it was the genesis of what became the Bronx Opera. Michael Spierman, a recent graduate of New York University's University Heights campus in the Bronx (now Bronx Community College of the City University of New York) took the core of the group that was to perform the Messiah and combined it with his intention to form an opera company that would be based at the Bronx NYU campus. This organization was to be known as the Heights Opera. It was as the Heights Opera Company that the group first performed on November 24, 1967, at Vladeck Hall of the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative. The opera was Mozart's Così fan tutte.

Repertoire

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Year Composer Opera
1967 Mozart Così fan tutte
1968 Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio
1970 Gilbert & Sullivan Iolanthe
1970 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
1971 Verdi La traviata
1971 Weber Der Freischütz
1972 Menotti The Medium
1972 Mozart The Impresario
1972 Rossini The Barber of Seville
1973 Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel
1973 Mozart Don Giovanni
1974 Britten Albert Herring
1974 Mozart The Magic Flute
1975 Donizetti The Elixir of Love
1975 Offenbach Ba-ta-clan
1975 Schubert The Conspirators
1976 Copland The Tender Land
1976 Gilbert & Sullivan The Pirates of Penzance
1976 Mozart Così fan tutte
1977 Auber Fra Diavolo
1977 Verdi La traviata
1978 Donizetti Don Pasquale
1978 Vaughan Williams Sir John in Love
1979 Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio
1979 Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld
1980 Floyd Susannah
1980 Gounod The Doctor in Spite of Himself
1981 Mussorgsky/Blatt The Fair at Sorochinsk[5]
1981 Weber Abu Hassan
1981 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
1982 Vaughan Williams Hugh the Drover
1982 Mozart The Magic Flute
1983 Nielsen Maskarade
1983 Verdi Un giorno di regno
1984 Smetana The Two Widows
1984 Mozart Don Giovanni
1985 Offenbach Bluebeard
1985 Verdi La traviata
1986 Weber Der Freischütz
1986 Mozart Così fan tutte
1987 Moore The Ballad of Baby Doe
1987 Donizetti The Elixir of Love
1988 Vaughan Williams Sir John in Love
1988 Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio
1989 Smetana The Secret
1989 Rossini La Cenerentola
1990 Offenbach La belle Hélène
1991 Donizetti Don Pasquale
1991 Gilbert & Sullivan Trial by Jury
1991 Moore The Devil and Daniel Webster
1991 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
1992 Floyd Susannah
1992 Rossini The Barber of Seville
1993 Mozart Così fan tutte
1993 Smetana The Bartered Bride
1994 Mozart The Magic Flute
1994 Verdi Un giorno di regno
1995 Copland The Tender Land
1995 Gilbert & Sullivan The Yeomen of the Guard
1996 Mechem Tartuffe
1996 Donizetti The Elixir of Love
1997 Menotti The Medium
1997 Mozart Don Giovanni
1997 Schubert The Conspirators
1998 J. Strauss Die Fledermaus
1998 Vaughan Williams Hugh the Drover
1999 Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio
1999 Nielsen Maskarade
2000 Blitzstein Regina
2000 Donizetti Don Pasquale
2001 Rossini The Barber of Seville
2001 Weber Der Freischütz
2002 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
2002 Suppé Boccaccio
2003 Lehár The Merry Widow
2003 Smetana The Bartered Bride
2004 Rossini L'equivoco stravagante
2004 Verdi La traviata
2005 Menotti The Consul
2005 Puccini La bohème
2006 Chabrier An Incomplete Education
2006 Mozart Così fan tutte
2006 Purcell Dido and Aeneas
2007 Bizet Carmen
2007 Copland The Tender Land
2008 Leoncavallo Pagliacci
2008 Mozart The Impresario
2008 Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld
2009 Mozart The Magic Flute
2009 Smetana The Two Widows
2010 Donizetti Don Pasquale
2010 Mahler/Weber Die drei Pintos
2011 Auber Fra Diavolo
2011 Mozart Don Giovanni
2012 Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel
2012 Vaughan Williams The Poisoned Kiss
2013 Puccini La bohème
2013 Rossini La gazza ladra
2014 Mechem The Rivals[6]
2014 Verdi La traviata
2015 Britten Albert Herring
2015 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
2016 Blitzstein Regina
2016 Rossini La Cenerentola
2017 Vaughan Williams Sir John in Love
2017 Verdi Falstaff
2018 Mozart The Abduction from the Seraglio
2018 Weber Der Freischütz
2019 Menotti The Consul
2019 Gilbert & Sullivan The Mikado
2020 Mozart Don Giovanni
2021 Mozart The Impresario (virtual)[7]
2022 Smetana The Bartered Bride

References

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  1. ^ The Bronx Opera Company, New York Opera Alliance
  2. ^ "Bronx Opera marries Figaro to English lyrics" by Nick Cavell, The Riverdale Press, April 30, 2015
  3. ^ "Orchestra of The Bronx". Archived from the original on 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2016-06-16.
  4. ^ Cinderella (2016) program
  5. ^ "Opera: Bronx Company" (review of Abu Hassan and The Fair at Sorochinsk) by John Rockwell, The New York Times, January 18, 1981; "Blatt" is Josef Blatt (1906, Vienna – 1999, Green Valley, Arizona) Blatt's obituary, The University Record (University of Michigan), March 15, 1999
  6. ^ "Playing Composer, of Course, to Impress – Bronx Opera Company's The Rivals at the Lovinger Theater" by Steve Smith, The New York Times, January 12, 2014
  7. ^ The Impresario on YouTube
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