New York Chamber Opera returned to the city's musical scene with a production of Gaetano Donizetti's delightful "opera buffa" Il Campanello.  The production received the following review:

GAY CITY NEWS

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 304 | January 22 - 28, 2004

OPERA

Short runs and new ventures enliven New York opera scene

By DAVID SHENGOLD

I was happy to make the acquaintance of the New York Chamber Opera, a newish group under the capable baton of Met assistant conductor Lucy Arner.  There is always room in New York for smart productions of smaller scaled operatic works than the Lincoln Center barns are able to pull off.  One such is Donizetti’s skillful 1836 comic one-act “Il Campanello di Notte” (The Night Bell), which director Ned Canty brought off successfully at Symphony Space (December 19) in a well-imagined polyester-era update.  Costumer Dan Urlie must have raided every thrift store in the outer boroughs to find these clothes.  “Il Campanello” is a Neapolitan genre comedy of stalled intentions: the lustful Enrico stalls the consummation of the marriage of his cousin (and erstwhile girlfriend) Serafina to the older apothecary Annibale Pistacchio by repeatedly ringing, in different disguises, the night bell—local law compelled apothecaries to answer in person.

This set-up gave ample opportunities to the comedic talents and italianate stylistic bravura of the show’s two leads, baritone Marco Nistico (Enrico) and bass Stefano de Peppo (Annibale): both talents to watch.  Sarah Miller made a sympathetic Serafina but toward the end of this fourth of four shows tired a bit vocally.  Mariana Karpatova gave a gemütlich performance as Serafina’s mother Madame Rosa, and she commands a capable, sonorous mezzo. (She’ll be Alisa to the Lucia of Sumi Jo at Newark’s New Jersey State Opera February 20 and 22.)

Arner led a spirited reading with a musically creditable ensemble of nineteen.  Keep tabs on New York Chamber Opera’s developing plans.

 The cast was headed by Neapolitan baritone Marco Nistico as Enrico in his New York debut. Marco was joined by Stefano de Peppo as Don Annibale, Sarah Miller as Serafina, Mariana Karpatova as Madame Rosa and Guy Mannheim as Spiridione.  The opera was staged by Ned Canty and conducted by our artistic director, Lucy Arner. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ira Siff and La Gran Scena Opera Co. for acting as our sponsor until our 501(c)3 application is approved.