Opera in New York City is everywhere from the Metropolitan Opera House, to parks, and even on the streets.
Not long ago, New Yorkers used to line up on the street to go to the opera.
Opera is an Italian art form that is popular around the world.
The Metropolitan Opera is America’s largest classical music organization, but we have many small opera companies.
Opera and classical music are having a renaissance in New York City as young people discover contemporary opera.
Jazz is now accepted as American opera.
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Opera
Roméo et Juliette Stars Puerto Rican Soprano Nadine Sierra at the Metropolitan Opera
METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, Lincoln Center, Manhattan 🇫🇷 ~ 🇮🇹 🇵🇷
Diana Damrau Sings Spanish Love Songs for Valentines at Carnegie Hall
CARNEGIE HALL, Midtown, Manhattan ~ Love songs by Schumann, Strauss, Rodrigo, Granados, Turina, and Obradors. 🇪🇸 🇩🇪 🇦🇹 CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS
Continue Reading Diana Damrau Sings Spanish Love Songs for Valentines at Carnegie Hall
Opera News
New York’s Opera Scene
New York is an opera city.
New York Opera Companies
New York Opera Alliance promotes opera in New York City. nyoperaalliance.org
Bronx Opera performs operas in English. bronxopera.org
Catapult Opera presents diverse contemporary opera. catapultopera.org
International Brazilian Opera Company occasionally produces opera. brazilianopera.com🇧🇷
Metropolitan Opera season runs from September through June at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center.
New York City Opera produces a few shows annually, including in Bryant Park during summer.
New York Opera Presenters
Americas Society presents some opera.
Argentine Consulate presents some opera. 🇦🇷
NYU Skirball Center presents some opera.
OPERA America’s National Opera Center has rehearsal studios and an opera theater in Chelsea, Manhattan. operaamerica.org
New York Opera Festivals
The Metropolitan Opera’s Free Summer HD Festival brings outdoor opera screenings to Lincoln Center.
New York OperaFest usually runs from April-June. newyorkoperafest.org
The Prototype Festival of opera and musical theatre is in January. prototypefestival.org
Opera Origins
Opera is Latin since the Florentine Camerata (a group of intellectuals) decided to recreate Greek drama with music in 1597 Florence. It soon spread across Europe and then to the Americas.
Latin Americans have been composing opera since 1701 in Peru, and then Mexico, and Brazil. Argentine tango vocals derive from Italian opera.
Jazz has recently been accepted as American Opera. Young Latins are stretching the form in new directions.
Brazil and Mexico have strong opera traditions. In Argentina (with its 60% Italian heritage), opera evolved into tango. New York opera companies are starting to see jazz as the American opera.
One of the most unusual opera houses in the Americas is the Amazon Theatre (Teatro Amazonas) in the jungle city of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The first opera there was in 1897.
The development of opera roughly follows the periods of classical music, which in turn reflect the social changes stirring the world.
16th Century (1600 – 1750)
Opera began as an attempt by the Florentine Camerata, a group of intellectuals in Florence Italy, to revive the original form of Greek drama. They believed that Greek drama was sung throughout. Jacopo Peri composed “Dafne,” considered the first opera, in 1597. It was popular.
Baroque Period (1750 – 1800)
Italian courts began performing operas for the entertainment of distinguished guests. Opera spread across Italy. The first opera house opened in Venice in 1637. This brought courtly entertainment to the masses, and encouraged other cities to open their own opera houses.
Operas from this period were serious stories (opera seria). Claudio Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” is the most famous Baroque Opera.
Classical Period Opera (1750 – 1800)
Opera changed in the Classical Period. Comedy (opera buffa) lightened its tone. Influenced by the Enlightenment, composers began to write operas that were simpler and more natural.
Mozart (1756 – 1791) put the trends together in his trio of classic operatic comedies: Nozze di Figaro (1786), “Don Giovanni” (1787), and Così fan Tutte (1790).
Romantic Period Opera (1800 – 1890)
The French Revolution (1789 – 1799) changed everything. It expanded the possibilities of operatic stories.
Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini composed lyrical scores in what became known as the “Bel Canto” style (beautiful singing). Verdi (Italian, 1813 – 1901) dominated the second half of the 19th century with Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1855), La Traviata (1855), “Otello” (1887), and “Falstaff” (1893).
Wagner revolutionized the form with his large-scale mythological operas including “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1876) and “Parsifal” (1882).
Verismo Opera (1890 – 1920)
Verismo Opera was a period of renewal in which composers took a realistic approach to their stories. Puccini (1858 – 1924) dominated this tradition with La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904).
20th Century Opera (1900 – 2000)
Opera’s popularity began to fail as the world blew itself up in World War I (1914 – 1918) and World War II (1939 – 1945). The Post-War years opened up so many possibilities that contemporary opera may no longer be recognizable as opera.
21st Century Opera (2000-Present)
Young people are embracing opera in its contemporary forms. American Latins are stretching opera into new forms.