Review: NYCO, Back in Business and Boasting First-Rate Dancing Along With the Singing

The New York City Opera, notably nicknamed "The People's Opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia when it was founded in 1943, succumbed to bankruptcy in 2013 after 70 glorious years but has risen from the ashes under new management. On the evening of September 8th 2016 at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, following a brief pre-season during the summer in Bryant Park, the company opened its first full season since the reorganization with a double bill of Rachmaninoff's "Aleko" and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" that featured first-rate dancing along with the superb singing.

Full disclosure: The choreographer and male featured dancer, Andrei Kisselev, as well as the featured female dancer, Yana Volkova, were longtime members of my company, Ballet Ambassadors. That said, I promise that my assessment of their contribution to the production is unbiased. A married couple with such sterling credits as the Moiseyev, "Riverdance" on Broadway, and artistic direction of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive in Connecticut and New York City, they are powerhouse performers. Both of them lit up the stage during the Gypsy Dance in "Aleko" as they displayed their bravura technique born of Character Dance training in their native Russia. Not only that, but Kisselev's choreography for the choristers was effective and very nicely danced. My hope is that this might portend a revival of NYCO's ballet company, which was a jewel in its day but has since disbanded.

Beyond the dancing, the evening as a whole was extremely satisfying. The Rose is an intimate venue with good acoustics so that the singers, in particular the acclaimed tenor Francesco Anile, were able to work their magic to the utmost. During the years when NYCO performed at the State Theater, now known as the Koch, the troupe was up against the fact that Balanchine had designed the house specifically to muffle the sounds of dancers' pointe shoes and landings from jumps. Across the Lincoln Center Plaza at the Metropolitan Opera House, the Met Opera was warbling happily away with acoustics created for voices to carry. In retrospect, the move to the Rose may herald a bright future for the newly reorganized NYCO.

During the opening night afterparty at Landmarc restaurant, the mood was jubilant and justifiably optimistic. The performers, including members of the admirably accomplished Children's Chorus, mingled with audience members and patrons while proposing toasts to what was indeed an auspicious beginning of the company's comeback season. The choice of the "Aleko/Pagliacci" double bill, two one-acts that share similar melodramatic love triangle story lines ending in bloodbaths, was a smart one on the part of Michael Capasso, the General Director. The operas are both about an hour long so that the evening had a leave-them-wanting-more feel to it, and the tragicomedy "Pagliacci" never fails to be a crowd pleaser. With Mr. Capasso at the helm, NYCO has a fresh opportunity to fulfill its founding mission to "inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera, nurture the work of promising American artists, and build new audiences through affordable ticket prices and extensive outreach and education programs".

Visit the NYCO web site to see videos of the NYCO Renaissance Team; legendary director Harold Prince discussing the importance of the New York City Opera; renowned bass-baritone Mark Delavan speaking about the importance of New York City Opera and the acoustics of the Rose Theater at jazz at Lincoln Center; soprano Diana Soviero reflecting on New York City Opera's legacy of nurturing emerging opera stars; and a tribute to the late Maestro Julius Rudel, "The People's Maestro".

If you are or will be in NYC between now and June, click here to find out about the rest of NYCO's inaugural season of rebirth. You'll be glad you did!

Photo credit: Sarah Shatz/New York City Opera

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