The Little Opera Theatre Of NY Will Present WUTHERING HEIGHTS
The opera will run November 19-22 at the Loreto Theater.
The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY) presents Wuthering Heights, an opera by Carlisle Floyd after the novel by Emily Brontë, from November 19-22 at the Loreto Theater, Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, 18 Bleecker St, New York, NY, 10012. Performances take place Thursday-Saturday at 7:30PM and Sunday at 3PM. General admission tickets are $30-60 ($15 student rush available day of the performance with valid ID).
Tickets will go on sale September 9. For further details and ticket information visit https://www.lotny.org/wuthering-heights. To reach the Box Office by phone, please call (212) 219-3132.
Wuthering Heights, an opera by Carlisle Floyd after the novel by Emily Brontë, is the iconic story of Cathy and Heathcliff, whose bond in childhood grows into an unbreakable love, set against the raw landscape of the Yorkshire Moors. Their attempt to reform their interior nature and conform to society's expectations of them ends in tragedy for them and the people around them.
American composer Carlisle Floyd's setting of the story has not been seen in NYC since its premiere in 1959, when it was presented by the New York City Opera. Many operas followed including Of Mice and Men (1969), which became one of Floyd's most performed works throughout the world. Long associated with Houston Grand Opera, they commissioned three of Carlisle Floyd's major operas. In 1999, his most celebrated opera, Susannah finally reached The MET in a production featuring Renée Fleming and Samuel Ramey in the iconic leading roles.
Among Floyd's numerous awards and honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship (1956), his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2001), the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony at the White House (2004), South Carolina Hall of Fame (2011) and the Florida Artist Hall of Fame (2015).
With a richly harmonic and lyric score, Floyd's opera adaptation of Emily Brontë's groundbreaking novel blends traditional opera with an American voice. The production by the little OPERA theatre of ny is being presented as part of the nationwide celebration of the composer's centennial.
Wuthering Heights is little OPERA's third production of the work of Carlisle Floyd. Previously, LOTNY presented the original double bill Slow Dusk & Markheim in 2014 and the NYC premiere of Prince of Players in 2017. The composer attended both productions, and for the latter he was directly involved. Slow Dusk & Markheimpaired his very first opera, Slow Dusk [1948], with another one-act Markheim [1966]. It was hailed as 'rewarding and ambitious' in Opera News, and 'sublime and extraordinary' in the New York Classical Review. The online journal Let's Talk Off-Bway said, 'What a wonderful evening of theater. Two short American operas, narratives set to dramatic music, superbly performed. One leaves thrilled and elated.' Several seasons later, little OPERA's production of Prince of Players attracted the attention of The New York Times, which said the production was 'stylish... and tells it story vividly and compactly, while fleshing out characters who win your sympathy' with 'fine singers' and proclaimed 'at 90, Carlisle Floyd scores a fresh opera hit.' The New York Classical Review called the evening 'delightful, impressive, and affective.' WQXR, Playbill Arts, Huffington Post, Berkshire Fine Arts, among others, all featured the production in their listings. The UK magazine Opera called Prince of Players an 'intimate epic of an opera; the performers... gave acting performances that were on the same high level as their singing.'
Emily Brontë's (1818-1848) novel Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847. She published the novel under the name of Ellis Bell, believing no one would accept that a woman could write her vision of the inhabitants of Yorkshire. Her sister, Jane, protected her identity. The story has inspired numerous film and television adaptations beginning as early as 1920. Other opera settings, ballets, music videos, and stage adaptations have all brought their own lens to this iconic tale.
Already featured in the cast are sopranos Vanessa Isiguen and Sara Kennedy doubling in the role of Cathy, mezzo-sopranos Janara Kellerman and Margaret Lattimore as Nelly, soprano Teresa Castillo as Isabella, tenor Hayden Smith as Edgar, tenor Spencer Hamlin as Hindley, bass Bert K. Johnson as Earnshaw, and tenor Omar Bowey as Lockwood. Other Artists will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Creative Team includes conductor Richard Cordova, director Philip Shneidman, choreographer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, fight director Brad Lemons, Costume Designer Lara de Bruijn, lighting designer Seth Reiser, projection designer Alex Basco Koch, Associate Music Director Catherine Miller, Production Stage Manager Jamil Chokachi and production manager Zac Spitzer.
Lead sponsorship by Margo Leavin Foundation. This program is supported, in part, by Public Funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. By arrangement with B&H Music Publishing Inc., d/b/a Boosey & Hawkes, publisher and copyright owner.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021) redefined 20th-century American opera with works like Susannah and Of Mice and Men, and continued into the 21st century with Prince of Players. His final opera, Prince of Players, was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera where it premiered in 2016. Prince of Players subsequently received its NYC premiere in 2017 by the little OPERA theatre of ny at The Kaye Playhouse, followed by a production at Florida State University where he was Professor Emeritus. At the age of 95, Carlisle Floyd received two GRAMMY Award nominations for the world premiere recording of Prince of Players: Best Opera Recording and Best Contemporary Classical Composition, for the live recording produced by Florentine Opera and Reference Recordings.
Carlisle Floyd first achieved national prominence with the New York premiere of his opera Susannah by the New York City Opera in 1956. In 1957 it won the New York Music Critics' Circle Award and subsequently was chosen to be America's official operatic entry at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Phyllis Curtin and Norman Treigle were celebrated for their interpretations of the main roles. His second opera, Wuthering Heights, premiered at Santa Fe Opera in 1958. Floyd revised Act III in 1959, when it was presented by the New York City Opera. In 2001, Floyd was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame (2011) and the Florida Artist Hall of Fame (2015). He was awarded six honorary doctorates.
About little OPERA
the little OPERA theatre of ny [LOTNY] most recent production was Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky's Room, a chamber opera in three parts. The production was presented at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space) with music by Alexander Zemlinsky featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy. It was a Friday weekend pick in the NY Times as well as New York Magazine.
The season before little OPERA's production of Jupiter's Journey to the Earth was presented at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. An original adaptation and translation of Haydn's marionette opera Philemon und Baucis. It was little OPERA's first family friendly production of Opera & Puppets for Kids and was called 'delightful...spirited... [and] engaging' in Opera UK.
In 2023, American One Acts, a double bill was presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. The production paired Highway 1, U.S.A. by William Grant Still, libretto by Verna Arvey, with Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill, libretto by Arnold Sundgaard. The NY Classical Review credited little OPERA for "brightly reviving a pair of American rarities" and calling the performances "outstanding."
Since its founding in 2004, the little OPERA theatre of ny has presented four NY Stage Premieres: Britten/Piper's Owen Wingrave; Hasse/Coltellini's Piramo e Tisbe; Floyd's Prince of Players; Mozart/Cigna-Santi's Mitridate, re di Ponto; two US Stage Premieres: Saint-Georges/ Desfontaines/De Genlis' L' Amant Anonyme; Cui/Pushkin's A Feast in the Time of the Plague; one World Premiere: Zaretsky/Kharms Man in a Black Coat: and commissioned a new translation of Mozart/Metastasio's Il re pastore as The Shepherd King from Mark Herman & Ronnie Apter.
LOTNY's concerts have included Past & Present on Governors Island; This Little Light of Mine at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, American Opera Scenes, a concert for 9/11 and The Bohemians both at Socrates Sculpture Park and Floydiana at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.
To date, the little OPERA theatre of ny has performed in four boroughs. Wuthering Heights at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture will be its first production in the NOHO neighborhood. lotny.org
ABOUT THE SHEEN CENTER
Located on historic Bleecker Street, The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture is a haven for the arts and provides a platform for provocative conversations about diverse and inclusive aspects of humanity as seen through the creative lens of faith and respect. The building includes two theaters: the Loreto Theater and the Frank Shiner Black Box, as well as art gallery and rehearsal studios.
The Sheen Center, a project of the Archdiocese of New York, is a forum to highlight the true, the good, and the beautiful. At the Sheen Center, we seek to deepen, explore, challenge, and stimulate ourselves, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, intellectually, artistically, and spiritually.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Lead sponsorship by the Margo Leavin Foundation. This program is supported, in part, by Public Funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. By arrangement with B&H Music Publishing Inc. d/b/a Boosey & Hawkes, publisher and copyright owner.
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