Our History

    OPERA READINGS SERIES
    In the summer of 2001, dell’Arte began presenting a series of opera “readings.” These concert-style presentations represented the culmination of intense work in which young singer prepare their roles individually (with their own voice teachers and coaches, as well as Maestro Fecteau), in small ensemble and recitative rehearsals, and in full-cast rehearsals with pianist and conductor.  Family, friends, and other guests provided a supportive audience for the singers’ first performance of an important role in their repertoire. These readings offered singers vital experience in the process of learning a new role and provided audiences with an intimate glimpse of the artistic process.  Over the course of the next few years, readings of Le nozze di FigaroDon Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Hänsel und Gretel took place, with numerous singers participating in various locations.

    SUMMER READINGS PROJECT
    In 2004, the dell’Arte SUMMER READINGS PROJECT (SRP) was instituted, concentrating readings of multiple operas into the space of several weeks of intense work, and building on the idea of the readings series. Initial years of the SRP took place on the stage of Amato Opera, in the Warburg Ballroom at the 92nd Street Y, at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, and at the Armenian Evangelical Church of New York.

    BLACKBOX SERIES
    In March of 2009, dell’Arte debuted its “Black Box” series, focusing on lesser known masterworks performed with full staging and a chamber music accompaniment in an intimate setting. For the 2009 SRP, dell’Arte performed at The East 13th Street Theatre, a 200-seat black-box style theater, greatly enhancing the theatrical experience of the presentations.  In 2010, the SRP was moved to Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place.  The first presentation in the series was Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, written in the last year of his life.  Spring of 2010 brought a production of Donizetti’s rarely produced masterpiece Anna Bolena.

    READINGS BECOME REPERTOIRE
    2009 also brought a name change to our program, to the Summer Repertoire Project. The name more accurately reflects how the program evolved to include staging and memorized presentations by the participating singers. Since then, the program has balanced “standard” repertoire (the best-known operas that are so important to an emerging artist’s career) with operatic rarities which will help keep the art form rich and varied.

    dell’Arte celebrated the 12th season of its summer program in 2015 with “A Beaumarchais Trilogy”: presentations of Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and Rosina by Hiram Titus. The 2016 season “Violetta and her Sisters” included productions of Massenet’s Manon and Verdi’s La traviata, “Scenes from the Demimonde (Act I of Puccini’s La Rondine and Acts I and IV of Leoncavallo’s La bohème), and “Chansons de Baudelaire”, a recital featuring settings of poetry by the 19th century poet by over a dozen composers.

    Our 2017 Festival entitled “UNTAMED!” featured Cavalli’s 1651 La Calisto (with Baroque ensemble), stage directed by Brittany Goodwin and led by Charles Weaver, and Janáček’s 20th century masterpiece The Cunning Little Vixen (in Czech), stage directed by Ashraf Sewailam and led by David Stech.  Other thematically linked programming included “Untamed Scenes” from Idomeneo, Carmen and much more and a program of songs entitled “Wild Things.”