Our 2003-2004 season kicked off with a fund raising dinner at Cafe Taci, the popular Italian restaurant at 110th Street and Broadway known for its opera nights.  On November 9th, the Chamber Opera invaded the restaurant with a fantastic group of singers, and treated some of our newest supporters to a  wonderful dinner.  The evening started with an unforgettable entrance made by Emily Pulley (MET) as Musetta and Tom Hammons (MET) as Alcindoro. Loaded with shopping bags, they swept into the midst of the crowd to meet up with Marco Nistico as Marcello, sitting at a table along with Sarah Miller (Mimi), David Jackson (Rodolfo), Daniel Mobbs (MET) (Schaunard), and Brace Negron (Colline).  The music of Musetta's Act 2 entrance heralded a grand scena; plates flew and high notes soared. The rest of the company of singers exuberantly joined in, as the scene rollicked along, all the way to the final tumultuous climax of the big ensemble after Quand m'en vo, sung by Musetta while sitting on the bar in the middle of the restaurant.  A harried Ned Canty as the waiter tried to control the situation, and failed abysmally, to the delight of all.  Sensational does not even begin to cover it.

Dinner started, and while the assembled company enjoyed a magnificent meal, the rest of the singers took the stage.  Elizabeth Batton opened the more formal part of the program with a sparkling rendition of  Rossini's Cruda Sorte . Rebecca Austin followed as the tragic Santuzza and treated the audience to a dramatic and beautifully sung Voi lo sapete.  The scene quickly changed to Cypress, after a storm, as Rex Whicker {Otello} and Catherine Murphy (Desdemona) stunned the audience with the passionate love duet from Verdi's Otello, impeccably sung and realistcally rendered (the audience counted three major lip locks!).  The temperature of the restaurant was noticeably higher by the time the music died down and the applause took over.  Another duet followed, when David Jackson and Daniel Mobbs shook hands and exquisitely meshed voices for the beautiful Pearl Fishers' duet.  We moved quickly to Mantua, where the lovely Gilda (Kyungsun Choi) and her father, Rigoletto (Marco Nistico) observed the Duke, (known to his friends and fans as Eduardo Valdes [MET] ) sporting sexy leather pants as he tried to seduce the lovely Maddalena of Elizabeth Batton, and very nearly succeeded before our very eyes.  The temperature continued to rise...

After the Rigoletto Quartet, the evening took on a less operatic tone.  Emily Pulley took us down South, and her Julie evoked scenes of  the Mississippi River as she sang the glorious "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from Showboat.   Sarah Miller became a fresh voiced, entranced and entrancing Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, remembering how "I Could Have Danced All Night."   The passion and magic of Spain brought the audience to its feet with the unforgettable Granada sung by Eduardo Valdes.  The formal program ended with all the singers joining Marco Nistico in the Brindisi - Mesci, mesci by Donizetti, a preview of the Chamber Opera's upcoming December production of Il Campanello.  As an encore, the Chamber Opera's resident tenor-baritone duo David Jackson and Marco Nistico offered a rousing rendition of the Don Carlo-Rodrigo duet from Verdi's masterpiece. 

Most of the performance was accompanied by New York City Opera Assistant Conductor Liora Maurer,  who provided her usual high level of support at the piano,    A few of the selections were accompanied by Artistic Director Lucy Arner, who also introduced the singers and served as the MC for the evening. 

Among the notable guests were Martina Arroyo, Aprile Millo, Ira Siff, Nico Castel, David Bender and Barbara Meister Bender from Career Bridges, and Diane Arnstein of the National Arts Club.  Also present was Anthony Newman, the organist/harpsichordist/Baroque speicalist/composer, who has written an opera which will open the New York Chamber Opera's 2004-2005 season.  On hand to greet and speak with the guests were Jessica Marsten, Executive Director and Tracy Day McRoberts, Director of Development.  Our thanks to Manya for graciously agreeing to videotape the program, to G Beaudin and Dirk Weiler of thedramaloft for their help with this event, to Mark Heller, whose idea it was to hold the event at Cafe Taci, and our heartfelt  thanks to Leopoldo Mucci and his marvelous staff at Cafe Taci.

Once again, the New York Chamber Opera wishes to give special thanks and acknowledgement to Mr. Ira Siff, General director of La Gran Scena Opera Co. for acting as our sponsor.  This event could not have happened without Mr. Siff's generosity.

With the critically acclaimed production of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, the Chamber Opera established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the operatic landscape. This provocative production of Britten's masterpiece was directed by Jay Jackson and conducted by Lucy Arner.  The cast featured Cherry Duke in the title role of Lucretia, David Ekstrum as the Male Chorus, Camille Gifford as the Female Chorus, David Dorsey as Tarquinius, Victoria Wolfe as Lucia, Jennifer Powell as Bianca, Darren Lougee as Collatinus, and Melton Sawyer as Junius.  The production ran for 4 performances and  at CAP 21, an experimental theater, with the orchestra placed behind the stage, not visible to the sold-out audiences.  The covers for the staged production were presented for an additional concert performance at Broadway Persbyterian Church.  The concert performances featured Lara Wilson in the title role of Lucretia, Mark Heller as the Male Chorus, Jennifer Griffin as the Female Chorus, Robert Garner as Tarquinius, George Heath as Collatinus, Shannah Tims as Lucia and Bailey Whiteman as Bianca.

Mozart's lyrical tragedy opened in the fall of 1999 at the Theater of Riverside Church and was conducted by Nicholas Armstrong and staged by Amy Axelson.  The cast featured Hayden DeWitt as Aminta, Heide Holcomb as Elisa, Juli Borst as Tamiri, Joel Weiss as Agenore and Andrew Ranson in the role of Alessandro.

Donizetti's wildly funny comedy about operatic traditions, phobias and follies opened in May of 2000, conducted by Nicholas Armstrong. David Dorsey headed the cast as Mamma Agata in the gender-bending title role. He was ably assisted by Melton Sawyer as Biscroma Strappaviscere, Amy Synatzske as the Prima Donna, William Olson as Procolo, Olivier Baby-Fourcade as Prospero Salsapariglia, Peter Heiman as the Impresario, Judith Bettinger as Luigia , and Colm Fitzmaurice as Guglielmo.  It's obvious from the names of those characters that Charles Dickens isn't the only one who could come up with descriptive nomenclature.

The New York Chamber Opera turned to G.F. Handel's tragedy for it's first production as a company in May-June of 1999.  The performances took place at Broadway Presbyterian Church near Columbia University with talented lyric mezzo Kathryn Friest in the title role of Ariodante.  The rest of the roles were double cast: Ginvera was sung by Patricia Johnson and Tamara Kaufman, Dalinda was sung by Kathleen Berger and Jennifer Shark, Lucanio was sung by Ben Shuman and Samuel Lloyd Kinsey, Polinesso was sung by Desiree Halac and Lara Wilson, and the King was sung by Jeffrey Tucker and Cezary Doda.  Nicholas Armstrong conducted the orchestra, and the production was staged by Leslie Potashner, with costumes designed by Patricia Berger.