Bronx Opera

The Bronx Opera Company (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

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 Corporation. The opera was Mozart's Così fan tutte.

Repertoire
YearComposerOpera
1967MozartCosì fan tutte
1968MozartThe Abduction from the Seraglio
1970Gilbert & SullivanIolanthe
1970MozartThe Marriage of Figaro
1971VerdiLa traviata
1971WeberDer Freischütz
1972MenottiThe Medium
1972MozartThe Impresario
1972RossiniThe Barber of Seville
1973HumperdinckHansel and Gretel
1973MozartDon Giovanni
1974BrittenAlbert Herring
1974MozartThe Magic Flute
1975DonizettiThe Elixir of Love
1975OffenbachBa-ta-clan
1975SchubertThe Conspirators
1976CoplandThe Tender Land
1976Gilbert & SullivanThe Pirates of Penzance
1976MozartCosì fan tutte
1977AuberFra Diavolo
1977VerdiLa traviata
1978DonizettiDon Pasquale
1978Vaughan WilliamsSir John in Love
1979MozartThe Abduction from the Seraglio
1979OffenbachOrpheus in the Underworld
1980FloydSusannah
1980GounodThe Doctor in Spite of Himself
1981Mussorgsky/BlattThe Fair at Sorochinsk[5]
1981WeberAbu Hassan
1981MozartThe Marriage of Figaro
1982Vaughan WilliamsHugh the Drover
1982MozartThe Magic Flute
1983NielsenMaskarade
1983VerdiUn giorno di regno
1984SmetanaThe Two Widows
1984MozartDon Giovanni
1985OffenbachBluebeard
1985VerdiLa traviata
1986WeberDer Freischütz
1986MozartCosì fan tutte
1987MooreThe Ballad of Baby Doe
1987DonizettiThe Elixir of Love
1988Vaughan WilliamsSir John in Love
1988MozartThe Abduction from the Seraglio
1989SmetanaThe Secret
1989RossiniLa Cenerentola
1990OffenbachLa belle Hélène
1991DonizettiDon Pasquale
1991Gilbert & SullivanTrial by Jury
1991MooreThe Devil and Daniel Webster
1991MozartThe Marriage of Figaro
1992FloydSusannah
1992RossiniThe Barber of Seville
1993MozartCosì fan tutte
1993SmetanaThe Bartered Bride
1994MozartThe Magic Flute
1994VerdiUn giorno di regno
1995CoplandThe Tender Land
1995Gilbert & SullivanThe Yeomen of the Guard
1996MechemTartuffe
1996DonizettiThe Elixir of Love
1997MenottiThe Medium
1997MozartDon Giovanni
1997SchubertThe Conspirators
1998J. StraussDie Fledermaus
1998Vaughan WilliamsHugh the Drover
1999MozartThe Abduction from the Seraglio
1999NielsenMaskarade
2000BlitzsteinRegina
2000DonizettiDon Pasquale
2001RossiniThe Barber of Seville
2001WeberDer Freischütz
2002MozartThe Marriage of Figaro
2002SuppéBoccaccio
2003LehárThe Merry Widow
2003SmetanaThe Bartered Bride
2004RossiniL'equivoco stravagante
2004VerdiLa traviata
2005MenottiThe Consul
2005PucciniLa bohème
2006ChabrierAn Incomplete Education
2006MozartCosì fan tutte
2006PurcellDido and Aeneas
2007BizetCarmen
2007CoplandThe Tender Land
2008LeoncavalloPagliacci
2008MozartThe Impresario
2008OffenbachOrpheus in the Underworld
2009MozartThe Magic Flute
2009SmetanaThe Two Widows
2010DonizettiDon Pasquale
2010Mahler/WeberDie drei Pintos
2011AuberFra Diavolo
2011MozartDon Giovanni
2012HumperdinckHansel and Gretel
2012Vaughan WilliamsThe Poisoned Kiss
2013PucciniLa bohème
2013RossiniLa gazza ladra
2014MechemThe Rivals[6]
2014VerdiLa traviata
2015BrittenAlbert Herring
2015MozartThe Marriage of Figaro
2016BlitzsteinRegina
2016RossiniLa Cenerentola
2017Vaughan WilliamsSir John in Love
2017VerdiFalstaff
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References
  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
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