New York City Opera Announces THE CRUCIBLE and STONEWALL

The New York City Opera has announced two new productions which will premiere during its 75th Anniversary season at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater.

The season will open with a look back at the Company's storied history when the Glimmerglass Festival production of THE CRUCIBLE, the Pulitzer Prize-winning work which the Company commissioned and premiered in 1961. THE CRUCIBLE, based on the play by Arthur Miller, with music by Robert Ward, libretto by Bernard Stambler, and direction by Francesca Zambello, will mark the reunion of the two companies which enjoyed a long, successful collaboration in years past.

The season's grand finale will be a look forward with New York City Opera's latest commissioned work - the world premiere of STONEWALL, with music by Iain Bell, libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Campbell, and direction of Leonard Foglia.

Each production will play four performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. Additional productions for the 2018-2019 season will be announced at a later date.

THE CRUCIBLE

Based on the play by Arthur Miller

Music by Robert Ward

Libretto by Bernard Stambler

Direction by Francesca Zambello

A co-production with the Glimmerglass Festival

Opens Thursday, September 6, 2018

New York City Opera will open its 75th Anniversary season with this work which the company commissioned and premiered in 1961, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and has endured as one of the most-performed American operas in the repertoire. THE CRUCIBLE is based on Arthur Miller's 1953 play which dramatized the 17th-century Salem Witch Trials as an allegory of the political hysteria that consumed Washington during the Second Red Scare of the 1950's.

Francesca Zambello directs the production which premiered to rave reviews at the 2016 Glimmerglass Festival which Zachary Woolfe wrote in The New York Times: Staged with stark, slate-gray clarity, the fesival's production is a revelation."

"City Opera's tradition of fostering new and relevant American work is its most important legacy, and so it fitting to open this landmark, 75thAnniversary season with the most successful commission in the company's history," said General Director Capasso. "We're honored to welcome back Francesca Zambello to direct her powerful production, and I'm thrilled to renew City Opera's relationship with the Glimmerglass Festival. In years past, the two companies' mutual devotion to creating innovative and theatrically compelling opera resulted in a long and fruitful partnership, and I'm hopeful that this production marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation."

"I am thrilled to return to the New York City Opera and to bring back a work that premiered with the company in 1961," said Francesca Zambello, Director of the Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera. "It feels even more prescient now than almost 60 years ago. When we look back in history and remember that witchcraft trials happened all over Europe during the 1500 and 1600s. Yet now, we are living in a time when often the enemy is invisible - it could be anything, anywhere, anytime - and you can make the most outlandish accusations stick."

STONEWALL

Music by Iain Bell

Libretto by Mark Campbell

Direction by Leonard Foglia

Opens Wednesday, June 19, 2019

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, and in celebration of its 75th Anniversary season, STONEWALL is New York City Opera's first commissioned work and is based on the 1969 Greenwich Village rebellion which marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

Stonewall continues New York City Opera's Pride Initiative by producing an LGBT-focused work each June in commemoration of Gay Pride Month. This new work will follow the company's 2017 production of Péter Eötvös's Angels in America (based on the Tony Kushner play) and this season's production of Charles Wuorinen's adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story Brokeback Mountain (which will open a four-performance run Thursday, May 31 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center), in this series.

"City Opera, in its ongoing mission as "The People's Opera," is devoted both to serving the community around it, and to celebrating the people and culture that are the lifeblood of this great city, said General Director Capasso. "I am overjoyed that the first commission of this administration is a work that memorializes a uniquely New York moment that sparked a movement that has changed the world. Next June, millions will come to New York City to join our annual celebration of love, acceptance, and pride, and to commemorate 50 years of progress in the continuing struggle for equality. City Opera is honored to share this historic moment with them."

"Were it not for the bravery of those at the Stonewall Inn on that June night in 1969, many of the rights I take for granted as a gay, married man would have been a lot longer in coming," commented composer Iain Bell. "Therefore, it is an absolute privilege to be asked to give voice and music to these courageous people, these heroes who fought for the freedom of expression and, most importantly, the freedom to love for theirs and all generations that followed."

Librettist Mark Campbell added, ""Stonewall was a New York traffic jam of diverse forces that collided and accidentally detonated a movement. It's an important story to retell now, at a time when we're seeing the erosion of the rights in this country we worked so hard to attain."

Director Leonard Foglia also commented: "In the early morning hours of June 28th, 1969, in a bar with no running water or fire exits, homeless gay youths, transvestites and drag queens, those whom society at the time condemned as either criminals, mentally ill or sinners, found the strength to use their voices and fight! 'Stonewall,' the opera will revisit that critical moment, in those early morning hours, when frustration turned to resistance, resistance to protest, protest to change. America has never been the same.

Casting and design credits for both productions will be announced at a later date.

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