With Figaro’s help, Count Almaviva and Rosina were happily married at the conclusion of The Barber of Seville. We rejoin their story several years later on the eve of Figaro’s wedding. For the second installment of its critically-acclaimed Figaro Project, On Site Opera presented the North American premiere of Marcos Portugal’s telling of The Marriage of Figaro.
Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal’s (1762-1830) prolific catalog of over 70 dramatic works – including 40 operas, and more than 140 sacred works – earned him international success in 18th-century Europe. He secured a special place in Portuguese musical history by composing the first official national anthems of Portugal and Brazil. Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro, with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, was written for Carnival season of 1800 at the Teatro San Benedetto – just 13 years after Mozart’s Figaro. OSO’s North American premiere production gives New York audiences a rare opportunity to hear Portugal’s vibrant music in a re-orchestration by guitarist José Luis Iglésias and OSO’s Geoffrey McDonald, based on the new critical edition of the score edited by David Cranmer. Sung in English in a translation by Gilly French and Jeremy Gray, with dialogue adapted by Joan Holden.
Presented in partnership with The New School’s Mannes College of Music and The Portuguese Consulate in New York.
About 632 on Hudson: Beginning shortly after its inception as an Events Venue in 2000, when MTV rented 632 on Hudson for its 10th Season of the Real World, the Venue has enjoyed a myriad of diverse activities: as a location for fashion, film, and video shoots, lodging for celebrities while doing film or theater work in New York, product launches, culinary and branding events, private cocktail parties, corporate meetings, banquet-style dinners, chef demonstrations, weddings and rehearsal dinners, even intimate musical and theatrical performances. Karen Lashinsky, the owner and designer of 632 on Hudson, comes from a background of 20 years of performing in the theater as well as touring all over the world; first as a ballet dancer, then a modern dancer, then actor, and finally as an Associate member of The Wooster Group with whom she worked for twelve years. Her years spent in the theater also inspired a great passion for creating what she calls “living sets”; magical worlds or vignettes in which she can picture “perfect imaginary lives might be lived”. With the arts being Lashinsky’s first love, she looks forward to collaborating with On Site Opera and to initiate more partnerships with not-for-profit organizations in the Arts. 632onhudson.com
CS Lighting is pleased to be an official corporate sponsor of On Site Opera. With our broad experience in design and special events in NY and throughout the world, we are excited to contribute to the exciting and ongoing work that On Site Opera presents. It is alliances like these that allow for the arts to thrive in new and exciting ways. CS Lighting is a division of CS Global. www.csglobal.co/
2016 marks continuation of a growing partnership between On Site Opera and The New School’s Mannes College of Music. As part of the partnership, OSO will be in residence at Mannes during rehearsals for Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro. Opportunities are created for Mannes students are created within OSO productions on and offstage. In addition to Mannes College of Music, On Site Opera is excited to partner with the Portuguese Consulate in New York to welcome this opera to New York. www.newschool.edu/mannes
About the performance edition: Critical edition prepared by members of the Marcos Portugal Project, under the supervision of David Cranmer, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.
On Site Opera’s production of Marcos Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro is proud to be a part of the inaugural New York Opera Fest! Presented by the New York Opera Alliance, the festival showcases the incredible diversity of opera in NYC! NYOperaFest.com
