New York City Opera Celebrates Black History Month at the Schomburg Center 2/1

Opera at the Schomburg is the first in a series of three new collaborative programs co-presented by New York City Opera and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Delving into the substantial role of opera in African-American culture, as documented in the Schomburg's prized collections of rare scores, librettos, images, recordings, films, and documents, this public event underscores the intersecting histories, missions, and grassroots work of City Opera and the Schomburg Center.

New York City Opera partners with artists from Opera Noire of New York to present rarely performed live excerpts from the operas Treemonisha, Ouanga, Four Saints in Three Acts, Till Victory is Won, Troubled in Mind, and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky by composers John Adams, Edward Boatner, Mark Fax, Scott Joplin, Virgil Thomson, and Clarence Cameron White.

This program is presented in honor of the Schomburg Center's 85th Anniversary and Howard Dodson's 25th Anniversary as its Director, and dedicated to the memory of the distinguished author and musician Raoul Abdul (1929-2010).

WHEN Monday, February 1, at 7 pm

WHERE The Schomburg Center
515 Malcolm X Boulevard (at 135th Street) New York, NY 10037

TICKETS Tickets: $10
The Schomburg Shop at (212) 491-2206 or Telecharge.com
For more information visit nycOpera.com and schomburgcenter.org

THE SERIES Co-presented by New York City Opera and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in partnership with Opera Noire of New York, the series celebrates operatic repertoire highlighting the African-American experience and the contributions of distinguished African-American artists. It is the second series of such collaborations, following the success of last season's inaugural programs co-presented by City Opera and the Schomburg.

Next in the series:
A Tribute to Robert McFerrin.............................Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Life and Times of Malcolm X.........................Wednesday, May 12, 2010

ABOUT THE SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research unit of The New York Public Library, is generally recognized as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world. A cultural center as well as a repository, this Harlem-based modern research library also sponsors a wide array of interpretive programs, including exhibitions, scholarly and public forums, and cultural performances. For over eighty years The Schomburg Center has collected, preserved, and provided access to materials documenting black life, and promoted the study and interpretation of black history and culture.

ABOUT NEW YORK CITY OPERA
Since its founding in 1943, New York City Opera has been recognized as one of America's preeminent cultural institutions, celebrated for its adventurous programming and innovative, risk-taking production style. The company's wide-ranging repertory of 275 works spans five centuries of music and includes 29 world premieres and 61 American and/or New York premieres of such notable works as Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shostakovich's Katerina Ismailova, Busoni's Doktor Faust, Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges and The Flaming Angel, Zimmermann's Die Soldaten, Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, and Glass' Akhnaten. The company has been a leading showcase for young artists, helping to launch the careers of more than 3,000 singers, including José Carreras, Phyllis Curtin, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, Lauren Flanigan, Elizabeth Futral, Jerry Hadley, Catherine Malfitano, Bejun Mehta, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Gianna Rolandi, Beverly Sills, Norman Treigle, Tatiana Troyanos, and Carol Vaness. In 1983, City Opera made operatic history when it became the first American Opera Company to use supertitles, an innovation that has revolutionized the way opera is produced and appreciated worldwide.

In February 2009, George Steel, former executive director of the Miller Theatre at Columbia University, began his tenure as New York City Opera's new General Manager and Artistic Director. Building on the company's core mission of artistic excellence and accessibility, Mr. Steel's plans include broadening the company's adventurous approach to repertory, supporting the careers of promising artists, and continuing to develop the company's acclaimed education and outreach programs.