"We're going to perform an opera by a black man who was born and lived in Paris, and a majority of us who will perform his work are also people of color," he said.
By performing this opera in the Box, Gotham Chamber Opera is offering audiences an exhilarating demonstration of its mission: to present site-specific productions in spaces that enhance the stories and enliven the music.
He brought all elements into a unified entity, an effect enhanced here by performing this compact opera without a break.
Also, by performing complete operas, the company respected the intelligence of the audience.
What a difference it makes to hear the piece performed by an opera conductor who palpably believes in it; skilled orchestra players and choristers itching for something to do; and a strong cast headed by two exciting artists: the soprano Lauren Flanigan as Cleopatra, and the baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Antony.
At the scrappier end of the spectrum, Opera Feroce, a fledgling company founded by Alan Dornak, a countertenor, performed a pastiche opera called "Amor & Psyche" for a small audience at Christ Church Cobble Hill in Brooklyn on Friday evening.
This is proudly post-Wagnerian Mozart, performed by an opera-house ensemble that knows each composer's music intimately.
(Symbolically, the work being performed is an opera by Tchaikovsky, one of many great gay Russian artists – including Diaghilev, Mussorgsky and Gogol – who were forced to disguise or repress their sexuality).
At Town Hall on June 9, Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet are to perform in an opera written by the keyboardist Steve Nieve, "Welcome to the Voice".
Michael Nyman's 1991 opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs was first performed as an opera-ballet by Karine Saporta.
