Amore Opera Presents Meyerbeer and Mozart in March 2019

The Company’s Meyerbeer Renaissance Debuts with Rarity Dinorah, March 19-23, 2019,
In Repertory With New English Production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, March 15-24, 2019.

February 5, 2019, New York City—Amore Opera continues its 2018-19 season at the Riverside Theatre at Riverside Church (91 Claremont Ave, New York, NY 10027) with a production of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s long-forgotten comic opera, Dinorah, sung in the original French. Amore will be using the score and orchestral parts recently restored by the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Serving Amore’s mission to discover and present hidden gems of the operatic repertoire, this production will be the first time Dinorah has been seen fully staged since its last production at the Metropolitan Opera in 1925, when it was performed in the Italian adaptation. Despite Meyerbeer’s popularity during his lifetime and his important role in the evolution of the genre, his works were later criticized and suppressed by anti-Semitic contemporaries and governments throughout the 19^th- and early 20^th-centuries owing to his Jewish heritage. Interest in Meyerbeer’s oeuvre has only recently been reignited in Europe, and Amore Opera is proud to bring the attention of the American audience back to this groundbreaking composer.

Opening on Tuesday evening, March 19, 2019, Amore will present Meyerbeer’s Dinorah (March 19-23, 2019) in four performances, directed by Nathan Hull, conducted by Richard Cordova, and featuring a new set by Richard Cerullo. The rotating cast includes, in the role of Dinorah: sopranos Holly Flack and Jennifer Moore; in the role of Corentin: tenors Juan Gilberto Hernandez and Michael Celentano; and in the role of Hoël: baritones Suchan Kim and Nobuki Momma. Bellah, Dinorah’s pet goat, will be played by eight-year-old child actress Carina Golden.

The schedule of performances for Dinorah is as follows: Tuesday evening, March 19, 2019, 7:30 pm; Wednesday evening, March 20, 7:30 pm; Saturday afternoon, March 23, 2:30 pm; and Saturday evening, March 23, 7:30 pm.

Next season, Amore Opera will continue its Meyerbeer Renaissance with the previously scheduled L’Etoile du Nord.

For tickets at $45 adults; $35 seniors/students/children under 12; $35 - $25 partial view; $150 adult season pass and $115 senior season pass (includes any four productions) please visit www.amoreopera.org or call 1 866-811-4111.

Dinorah was last staged in its Italian version in 1925 at the Metropolitan Opera and known in modern times mostly for the virtuoso coloratura aria “Ombre légère,” which has been recorded by stars from Joan Sutherland to Pretty Yende. Bringing the merry scene and people of Ploërmel on stage, the light opera Dinorah tells the love story of a sweet Breton peasant girl Dinorah and Hoël, an ambitious goatherder. 

Giacomo Meyerbeer, who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century, blazed the path for the integration of music and theatricality that would continue to develop in the works of many of the most well-known names in the opera including Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini. Best known for his large-scale works Robert le Diable, les Huguenots, and l’Africaine, all with librettos by the highly popular French dramatist Eugène Scribe, the German-born Jewish composer Meyerbeer established the great tradition of French “Grand Opéra.”

His fame was such that as a young composer Richard Wagner initially sought his help and approval, but later on, Wagner began the vitriolic anti-Semitic campaign against him that caused Meyerbeer’s works to fall out of favor, prompted by Wagner’s extreme envy. Fortunately, there is now renewed interest in mounting his operas in Europe. Most recently, the Opéra de Paris presented a production of Les Huguenots in September 2018; the Deutsche Oper Berlin continues to present a cycle of Meyerbeer operas in Germany, beginning this project in 2014.

One of Amore’s principal missions is to rediscover and present lost or unjustly neglected operas every season; some of its ambitious productions have included the American debut of the 1826 opera I due Figaro by Mercadante;  Das Labyrinth by Peter von Winter and libretto by Schikaneder, which was the American debut of the 1798 Magic Flute, Part II;  Kálmán’s The Circus Princess in its first New York production since 1927; and three works by Donizetti, Poliuto in the first American production since 1859, the 1827 work Olivo e Pasquale in its American debut, and La Zingara, the American debut of the 1822 opera.

In repertory with Dinorah, Amore Opera will stage a new English version of Mozart’s classic: Così fan tutte, directed by Nathan Hull and conducted by José Alejandro Guzmán, with sets designed by Richard Cerullo. The rotating cast includes, in the role of Despina: sopranos Deborah Surdi, Jessi Goebel, and Megan Marod; in the role of Fiordiligi: sopranos Iris Karlin, Rachel Hippert, and Elizabeth Treat; in the role of Dorabella: sopranos Melissa Serluco, Perri Sussman, and Victoria Tomasch; in the role of Ferrando: tenors Colm Fitzmaurice, Drew Watson, and Riad Ymeri; in the role of Guglielmo: baritones Robert Garner, Conrad Schmechel, and Jonathan Green; and in the role of Don Alfonso: baritones Nathan Hull, David Tillistrand, and Jay Stephenson.

The schedule of Così follows: Friday evening, March 15, 2019, 7:30 pm; Saturday evening, March 16, 7:30 pm; Sunday afternoon, March 17, 2:30 pm; Thursday evening, March 21, 7:30 pm; Friday evening, March 22, 7:30 pm; and Sunday afternoon, March 24, 2:30 pm.

About Amore Opera:

Heralded as “an important tradition and a gift to the New York cultural scene,” by Classical Music Editor Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times, Amore Opera has built a loyal following among opera lovers of all ages. Thanks to having inherited numerous sets and thousands of costumes from Amato Opera, Amore is able to offer fully-staged productions. The company features a 30-member orchestra. Each year, Mr. Hull gives a platform to rising star singers, guest conductors, designers, directors, and, by maintaining a children’s choir, offers opportunities for new opera aficionados and performers. In November 2017, in an interview for Operawire, Mr. Hull explained: “I’m really keen on educating the next generation of people on opera and classical music in general.” In an effort to give more singers a chance to participate in a fully-staged live operatic production, Amore usually assigns several singers to each role, so the cast rotates with each performance.

“Much love and effort were lavished on the production,” wrote James R. Oestreich in The New York Times about a rarely performed sequel to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte called Das Labyrinth, with libretto by Mozart’s collaborator Schikaneder and music by Peter von Winter. And, Classical Singer Magazine recently exclaimed, “All is not lost! The Amore Opera Takes Over!!”

During the 2018-19 season, Amore Opera also presented Giacomo Puccini’s classic La Bohème (December 21 – 31, 2018), the company’s yearly production of Scrooge & Gilbert & Sullivan (December 27 – 30, 2018), and the company’s 10^th Anniversary New Year’s Eve Dinner Gala (December 31, 2018). Still to come in 2019, Amore will offer a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (May 24-June 2, 2019) and a children’s production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe (May 25 & June 1, 2019).

For further information, please contact Hemsing Associates at (212) 772-1132 or visit www.hemsingpr.com.
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