BWW Previews: TEATRO GRATTACIELO Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Skirball Center For Performing Arts

On Tuesday night, November 18, NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will be the scene of an opera-lover's dream come true. As the Met continues to try to find ways to keep audiences engaged; trudging through tacky new productions of classic repertory and mediocre production of mediocre new works, Teatro Grattacielo has quietly shown that there is another way.

Teatro Grattacielo is celebrating its 20th anniversary in New York City, successfully staying true to its mission and delivering on its promises of producing concert performances of rarely heard verismo operas. Giving New Yorkers the rare opportunity to hear neglected operas has proven a winning formula - and more and more serious opera fans can't get enough.

The interesting material has also drawn the attention of such popular stars as Lando Bartolini (who sang Giannetto in "La cena delle beffe" and the title role in "Guglielmo Ratcliff" as well as the legendary Aprile Millo, who delivered a stunning performance of the title role of Leoncavallo's "Zazà". The gala will feature Millo returning to perform the magnificent finale from that opera!

The company's past performances have included the North American premieres of Mascagni's "Il piccolo Marat" and Riccardo Zandonai's "I cavalieri di Ekebù" and "La farsa amorosa." While these titles are far from household names - and in many cases, far from masterpieces, there can be no denying Teatro Gratticielo has manage to consistently provide interesting performance after interesting performance. This repertory has a great deal of novelty and nostalgic value to be sure, but it also displays very clearly there is also a treasure trove of stunningly beautiful music that for one reason or another has fallen into the programming dust bin; works a little off the beaten track just waiting to be dusted off for new audiences (and not-so-new audiences), longing for more traditional fare.

Teatro Grattacielo was founded in 1994 by the former soprano and voice teacher, Duane Printz, who remains its Executive and Artistic Director. Teatro Grattacielo's Honorary Director is Jolanda Tarquinia Zandonai, the daughter of composer Riccardo Zandonai. The company gave its premier performance in 1997 with a marvelous and well-received rendition of Italo Montemezzi's goregeous "L'amore dei tre re." Take a look at the titles that they have performed and marvel at the diversity and the novelty of their programming. Then consider the most impressive fact: that they have managed to survive and remain relevant throughout a difficult economy, a recession and the allegedly dwindling opera audience in New York.

L'amore dei tre re (Italo Montemezzi) 26 March 1997

Iris (Pietro Mascagni) 23 November 1998

L'arlesiana (Francesco Cilèa) 15 November 1999

I cavalieri di Ekebù (Riccardo Zandonai) 20 November 2000 - North American premiere [1]

Risurrezione (Franco Alfano) 30 November 2001

La Wally (Alfredo Catalani) 18 November 2002

Guglielmo Ratcliff (Pietro Mascagni) 25 November 2003

La cena delle beffe (Umberto Giordano) 20 November 2004

Zazà (Ruggero Leoncavallo) 12 November 2005

La farsa amorosa (Riccardo Zandonai) 11 November 2006 - North American premiere [2]

L'incantesimo (Italo Montemezzi) and L'oracolo (Franco Leoni) 13 November 2007

Il piccolo Marat (Pietro Mascagni) 13 April 2009 - North American premiere [3]

I gioielli della Madonna (Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari) 24 May 2010

I Compagnacci (Primo Riccitelli)

Il Re (Umberto Giordano) 24 May 2011

Many of these titles are familiar, but usually only for a famous concertized aria (La Wally) or a famous chorus (Iris). This week's gala will feature The Cantori New York Chorus, director by Mark Shapiro, and The Teatro Grattacielo Orchestra, conducted by Israel Gursky. The wonderfully diverse program is both a celebration of the past twenty years, and a look toward the future.

Part I - Looking back: 1994 - 2014

Italo Montemezzi: L'amore dei Tre Re, Act I, scene 1
Flaminio - Wesley Morgan
Archibaldo - Ashraf Sewailam

Franco Alfano: Risurrezione, Act IV
Un voce lontana - Megan Monaghan
Simonson - Sephen Gaertner
Katiusha - Kerri Marcinko
Vera - Anna Tonna
Kritzloff - Damian Savarino
L'Ufficiale - Roderick Gomez
Dimitri - Raúl Melo
Il Cosacco - Stefanos Koroneos

Pietro Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff - Intermezzo, Il Sogno

Riccardo Zandonai: I Cavalieri di Ekebù, Act I
Giosta Berling's aria, "La chiesetta triste"
Giosta - Raúl Melo

Ruggero Leoncavallo: Zazà - Act III
"Lei dunque è la Signora Dunoyer!..."
Marco - John Tiranno
Natalia - Megan Monaghan
Zazà - Aprile Millo
Totò - Amberdawn Scarborough

Intermission

Part II - Looking forward, 2015 & Beyond

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: La Dama Boba, Overture

Umberto Giordano: Siberia, Act II
Duet: "La polootapa della Steppa d'Omsk?"
Stephana - Tiffany Abban
Il Cosacco - Roderick Gomez
Il Capitano - Stefanos Koroneos
Vassili - Raúl Melo

Ottorino Respighi: Belfagor, Act I
Ipsilonne's aria, "Alichino, lo vedi"
Ipsilonne - Stefanos Koroneos

Licinio Refice: Cecilia, Episodo III, Scene 2
Cecilia's Death, "Grazie, sorelle"
Cecilia - Aprile Millo

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Il Campiello, Act III
Finale - "Biondi, Venezia cara"
Gasparina - Megan Monaghan

The opportunity to hear these often unjustly neglected works in their entirety is a truly a great gift for New York audiences, and one that should not be taken for granted. As the access to these works continues to diminish, it's more important than ever to support the organizations that champion them.

We at BroadwayWorld.com salute Teatro Gratticelo on its 20th Anniversary and wish them all at least 20 years more. Bravo Teatro Grattacielo!

Tickets are available at the Skirball Center website (but you'd better hurry - it's almost sold out)

http://nyuskirball.org/calendar/teatro

http://www.grattacielo.org/

Peter Danish

Classical Music Editor-in-Chief