"Consistently first-rate"     - The New York Times

Bronx Opera In Concert - 2011-12

Cast members, alumni, and instrumentalists from the company present concerts including favorite excerpts from opera and musical theatre throughout the year. These performances take place in locations convenient to New York City and are often given with little or no admission charge. We invite you to join us for them. For reservations and information, please use the contact numbers given below.

Summer 2011

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 6:30 pm - at Van Cortlandt JASA, 3880 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx.  Please call (718) 549-4700 for information.
Concert of excerpts featuring sopranos Hannah Rosenbaum and Leslie Swanson, mezzo-soprano Natalie Megules, baritones Jeremy J. Moore and Benjamin Spierman and pianist Eric Kramer.  Admission Free.

TUESDAY, JULY 12, 8:00 pm - in Washington Square Park, Manhattan
The Bronx Opera Company will perform Mozart’s comic opera, The Impresario; also featured is Schubert’s 5th Symphony.  Michael Spierman, the opera company’s artistic director, will conduct the Festival Chamber Orchestra in both works. 

The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue. Festival info line: 212-252-3621 www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s one-act The Impresario, premiered February 7, 1786 when Emperor Joseph II presented it at “Pleasure Festival” at his Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna and, for the occasion, commissioned two short operas, one from Salieri and the other, Die Schauspieldirektor, from Mozart.  Mozart, then 30, was at the height of his powers and the music, an overture, two arias and two ensembles, is worthy of this ripe time in his creative life.  The Impresario recounts the trials, tribulations and comic turns of an impresario, his assistant, a wealthy benefactor and his two quarreling soprano mistresses, an ingénue and another slightly overripe.  This hilarious comedy is performed in an English version by Benjamin Spierman who will also direct and play the speaking role of the besieged impresario.  Other members of The Bronx Opera in the cast are Caprice Corona, Michelle Trovato, Robert Hughes and Gary Giardina. 
Franz Schubert wrote his Symphony No.5 in B-flat Major in the fall of 1816, when he was 19, for a private amateur performance given by a small orchestra which included the composer, his father and his two older brothers.  It is one of his most delightful early symphonic scores and has been popular with audiences ever since its belated premiere public performance in London in 1873, more than four decades after Schubert’s tragic death in his native Vienna at the age of 31. 
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible through The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and NYS Parks and Recreation.  Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs, and NYU Community Fund, Con Edison, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated.   US Recording Companies fund in part the instrumental music for the series, as arranged by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. 

September, 2011

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th, 2:30 pm
Italian Festival concert, Hofstra University, Hempstead, LI: (516) 463-6582



October

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2nd: 3 pm; ORCHESTRA OF THE BRONX CONCERT 
The Lovinger Theatre, Lehman College, The Bronx (718) 365-4209: Admission Free; no tickets required.  Michael Spierman, conductor   Music by Vivaldi, Bach and Dvorak

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8th, 8pm: FALL CONCERT of excerpts

The Castle, Frost Valley, Claryville, NY (Sullivan County): (845) 985-2291




December

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd, 8 pm, Winter Concert The Castle, Frost Valley, Claryville, NY (Sullivan County Catskills)  (845) 985-2291.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th, 2 pm  Holiday concert
St. Paul's National Historic Site:  897 South Columbus Avenue,
Mount Vernon, NY (Westchester County)  (914) 667-4116


SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11th, 3 pm  Lehman College Concert Hall, Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents The Orchestra of The Bronx with The Bronx Opera Chorus and soloists in Handel's Messiah.  23 members representing many aspects of the borough will read the texts prior to our performance of them in Handel's musical settings.  Tickets $25,15,10  Lehman box office: (718) 960-8833.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13th, 12 noon: The Bronx Rotary Club,  Holiday Concert and Luncheon, The Lobster Box, City Island, The Bronx  (718) 617-1600

 



April 2012

SUNDAY, APRIL 15th, 5 pm: Gala Concert and Buffet Supper, $125 Donation - at the  home of the Gund Family (690 West 247th Street in the Riverdale section of The Bronx).  Please call (718) 365-4209 for more information 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18th, 1 pm: Spring concert of excerpts: St. Paul's National Historic Site: 897 Columbus Avenue, Mount Vernon, NY (information: 914-665-4116)

SATURDAY, APRIL 21st, 8 pm: Spring concert of excerpts sponsored by Chamber Music at St. Andrews: St. Andrew's Episcopal Church... 5277 State Route 42, South Fallsburg, NY admission free; reservations required by calling  (845) 292-8967

 
 

June 2012

SUNDAY, JUNE 3rd, 3 pm 
Michael Spierman, conductor   Maxim Pakhomov, piano
The Lovinger Theatre, Lehman College, Admission Free: (718) 365-4209 
Beethoven, Choral Fantasy and Symphony No.9 in D Minor (honoring the orchestra's 40th anniversary) 

 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27th @ 6:30 p.m. - at Van Cortlandt JASA, 3880 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx.  Please call (718) 549-4700 for information.
Concert of excerpts featuring vocalists and instrumentalists from the company