New year, New York, new opera

Silvester fireworks in Mainz

I have an operatically eventful January ahead of me here in Germany: Enescu in Frankfurt, Verdi in München, hopefully a Wozzeck double-bill in Darmstadt, and if I can manage it, Elektra in Dresden. I am, believe it or not, planning to get some work done as well. But while all this excitement is keeping me busy over here, my beloved New York will also be having a very exciting month of opera. A recent bounty of press releases contained news too good not to share with you all, including new and new-to-NYC opera galore.


The fabulous Operamission will be working their Handelian magic again, bringing Agrippina to the stage… or, to be precise, to an Italian Renaissance library. I don't know if the Italian Renaissance descriptor refers to the library's contents or its architectural style, or both, but in either case, I wish I could see it. Tickets available here.

Also, the Bronx Opera (a.k.a. the opera company in my borough!) is bringing Kirke Mechem's 2011 opera The Rivals to NYC. Yes, that is The Rivals as in Sheridan: 18th-century naughtiness and social satire, all wrapped up in a comic opera. What could be a better antidote to winter blues? Tickets available at 646-281-9963 and here.

Morningside Opera, the creative company responsible for last season's ¡Figaro! 90210, is giving the world premiere of composer Kate Soper's Here Be Sirens, in which the sirens of mythology discuss their own origins and ambitions. I sense that a clever engagement with questions of female agency and objectification may be involved. Tickets at 866-811-4111 and here.

Last but not least, the delightful Opera Lafayette is pairing a 19th-century adaptation of Così fan tutte (!) with Philidor's Les femmes vengées, a piece roughly contemporary with Mozart's opera in which it is a pair of men who are found unfaithful by their wives. More information here, and discounted tickets (!) available here; you may obtain a discount of 20% by using the code BlogNY.

And on that exciting note, Gentle Readers, I wish you a happy and opera-filled new year!