New York City Opera to Stage Family-Friendly Performances of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

New York City Opera presents a family-friendly version of The Barber of Seville at the Theater at St. Jean's, 150 E. 76th Street, NYC on Sunday, May 8, 2022 at 10am & 2pm. Gioachino Rossini's sparkling music animates the hijinks of Figaro, opera's most famous barber. Tickets start at $5 and are available at newyorkcityopera.yapsody.com/event/index/725815/il-barbiere-di-siviglia. The performance is 75 minutes, sung in Italian, and is appropriate for all ages.

New York City Opera's Opera for Kids! program is a popular series of hour-long, family-friendly adaptations of classic operas narrated by General Director Michael Capasso. These performances, followed by a Q&A with the cast, have given thousands of elementary and preschool-aged children their first taste of live opera.

About New York City Opera

Since its founding in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as "The People's Opera," New York City Opera (NYCO) has been a critical part of the city's cultural life. During its history, New York City Opera launched the careers of dozens of major artists and presented engaging productions of both mainstream and unusual operas alongside commissions and regional premieres. The result was a uniquely American Opera Company of international stature.

For more than seven decades, New York City Opera has maintained a distinct identity, adhering to its unique mission: affordable ticket prices, a devotion to American works, English-language performances, the promotion of up-and-coming American singers, and seasons of accessible, vibrant and compelling productions intended to introduce new audiences to the art form. Stars who launched their careers at New York City Opera include Plácido Domingo, Catherine Malfitano, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Beverly Sills, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Vaness, and Shirley Verrett, among dozens of other great artists. New York City Opera has a long history of inclusion and diversity. It was the first major opera company to feature African American singers in leading roles (Todd Duncan as Tonio in Pagliacci, 1945; Camilla Williams in the title role in Madama Butterfly, 1946); the first to produce a new work by an African-American composer (William Grant Still, Troubled Island, 1949); and the first to have an African-American conductor lead its orchestra (Everett Lee, 1955).

A revitalized City Opera re-opened in January 2016 with Tosca, the opera that originally launched the company in 1944. Outstanding productions during the four years since then include: the world premieres of Iain Bell and Mark Campbell's Stonewall, which NYCO commissioned and developed, legendary director Harold Prince's new production of Bernstein's Candide; Puccini's beloved La Fanciulla del West; and the New York premiere of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas - the first in its Ópera en Español series. Subsequent Ópera en Español productions include the New York premiere of the world's first mariachi opera, José "Pepe" Martinez's Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, Literes's Los Elementos, and Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires. In addition to the world premiere of Stonewall, the productions in NYCO's Pride Initiative, which produces an LGBTQ-themed work each June during Pride Month, include the New York premiere of Péter Eötvös's Angels in America and the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain. New York City Opera has presented such talents as Anna Caterina Antonacci and Aprile Millo in concert, as well as its own 75th Anniversary Concert in Bryant Park, one in a series of the many concerts and staged productions that it presents each year as part of the Park's summer performance series. City Opera's acclaimed summer series in Bryant Park brings free performances to thousands of New Yorkers and visitors every year.

New York City Opera continues its legacy with main stage performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater and with revitalized outreach and education programs at venues throughout the city, designed to welcome and inspire a new generation of opera audiences. City Opera's acclaimed summer series in Bryant Park brings free performances to thousands of New Yorkers and visitors every year.

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About Theater at St. Jean's

Located on the lower level of St. Jean Baptiste Church, the Katherine Martyn Theatre was completely remodeled in 1995 and is a fully equipped, 204-seat air-conditioned facility with orchestra pit, spacious lobby areas, offices and rehearsal spaces.