[Tango-A] NA-E: Gotham Chamber Opera Presents MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES

[Michelle Brandon]

GOTHAM CHAMBER OPERA
presents

MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES
staged by David Parsons
 
Gotham Chamber Opera presents a new production of a
rarely performed work, Astor Piazzolla’s MARÍA DE
BUENOS AIRES, beginning September 26, 2007 at the
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York
University.  The production is staged by David
Parsons, danced by Parsons Dance, and choreographed by
David Parsons along with celebrated tango
choreographer Pablo Pugliese, with sets by Carol
Bailey, costumes by Fabio Toblini, lighting by Howell
Binkley, sound by David Meschter, and projections by
Jerome Sirlin.  The opera is 80 minutes long and will
be performed in the original Spanish with no
intermission.

Labeled a tango operita by its composer, MARÍA DE
BUENOS AIRES is a unique amalgam of music, dance, and
spoken word. In it, María’s life, motherhood, and
violent death are expressed through singing, dancing,
and poetry intoned over orchestral tangos. For Astor
Piazzolla and his librettist Horacio Ferrer, María —
both Madonna and whore — represents the spirit of the
tango, of Buenos Aires, and of all womankind. 

The title role of María is played by Nicole
Piccolomini.  Ms. Piccolomini, a recent graduate of
The Juilliard School and the Academy of Vocal Arts,
joined the roster of the Deutsche Opera Berlin in
2006, where she performs principal contralto roles of
Verdi and Mozart.  Duende, an acting role, is played
by Diego Arciniegas, the Artistic Director of Boston
Publick Theater.  The role of Porteño is sung by
bass-baritone Ricardo Herrera, who has sung with San
Francisco Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and at the
Caramoor Festival, among others.

Gotham Chamber Opera will continue its 2007/2008
season, a celebration of the possibilities of
combining opera and dance, with ARIADNE UNHINGED:
Music of Monteverdi, Haydn, and Schoenberg in May
2008.  Both MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES and ARIADNE UNHINGED
will be directed by acclaimed choreographers and will
feature dancers from their companies onstage with
Gotham’s singers.

In May 2008, the company will present ARIADNE
UNHINGED: Music of Monteverdi, Haydn, and Schoenberg
staged by maverick director/choreographer Karole
Armitage.  Featuring a mezzo-soprano, six musicians,
and the Armitage Gone! Dance Company, the production
has sets by internationally-renowned photographer Vera
Lutter.   

Ariadne has just been abandoned by her lover and
savior Theseus on the island of Naxos, where she
alternates between near-madness and madness. In
ARIADNE UNHINGED, Gotham’s new version of the classic
story, three musical works from different centuries
intertwine to reflect Ariadne’s emotional and
psychological states: Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna,
Haydn’s solo cantata Arianna a Naxos, and Schoenberg’s
Pierrot Lunaire. In another first, internationally
renowned photographer Vera Lutter provides the
stunning visual backdrop for this daring exploration. 
This production was conceived by Artistic Director
Neal Goren for the Gotham Chamber Opera as a
continuation of the company’s ongoing series of operas
based on the myth of Ariadne. The first installment in
this series was the US stage premiere of Handel’s
Arianna in Creta, performed in February 2005;
audiences can look forward to a Gotham production of
Strauss’s original 1912 version of Ariadne auf Naxos
in a future season, among other Ariadne offerings. 

In addition to regular season offerings, in January
2008, Gotham will present SCENES OF GYPSY LIFE {a
cautionary tale featuring music of Janacek and
Dvorak}.  Specifically conceived for the Gilder
Lehrman Hall at the Morgan Library by Artistic
Director Neal Goren and Stage Director Eric Einhorn,
Scenes of Gypsy Life retells a familiar story —
wholesome farm boy bewitched by sultry Gypsy temptress
— in a new, fully staged format. Consisting of
Janacek’s Diary of One Who Disappeared and Dvorak’s
Gypsy Songs, we see and hear the young man speaking to
himself as the events unfold, along with
interpolations by the Gypsy and her friends. Like
Carmen’s Don José, our protagonist, played by Garrett
Sorensen, abandons his life and, guilt-laden, joins
the Gypsy clan to satisfy his passion.

Gotham Chamber Opera is New York City’s leading
company dedicated to the highest quality productions
of chamber operas rarely performed in opera houses
today.  The company’s mission is to present vibrant,
fully-staged productions of works from the Baroque era
to the present that are intended for intimate venues.

Founded by conductor and Artistic Director Neal Goren
in 2000, in its short history, the Gotham Chamber
Opera has presented six U.S. premieres of 18th- and
20th-century operas, including such masterpieces as
Mozart’s Il Sogno di Scipione; Darius Milhaud’s Les
Malheurs d’Orphée; Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s
Dada opera, Les Larmes du Couteau; and Swiss composer
Heinrich Sutermeister’s Die schwarze Spinne.  In
February 2005, Gotham’s U.S. stage premiere of
Handel’s Arianna in Creta played to packed theaters. 
Also in 2005, Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto
Festival USA presented Gotham Chamber Opera’s U.S.
premiere of Ottorino Respighi’s fantastical puppet
opera, La bella dormente nel bosco featuring the
puppetry of Basil Twist.  In the spring of 2006,
Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring received its first
professional staging in New York in more than 30
years, and in winter 2007, Rossini's Il signor
Bruschino received its first major professional New
York staging in over a half century. Future
productions include operas by Cavalli, Mussorgsky, and
Haydn.

MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES will run from September 26 – 29,
2007 at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts,
New York University, with performances Wednesday,
September 26 at 7:30pm (Opening Night); Friday,
September 28 at 8pm; and Saturday, September 29 at
8pm.  The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New
York University is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at
Washington Square South.  Tickets are $70-$30 ($300
for Opening Night gala seats) and are available
through Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or
www.ticketcentral.com, or in person at the Shagan Box
Office, 566 LaGuardia Place (TU-SA noon-6pm).

For more information, visit www.gothamchamberopera.org.