The End of the NYCOpera Family

A few months ago a N.Y. music critic wrote regarding NYCity Opera "Move on-NYCO is over" or the like. I wrote a commentary to him that I never sent, and, now that three of the four productions in spring 2012 have taken place in their various venues and I have not been part of any of it,(for the first time in 27 years), it still expresses a mourning I think we all feel:

When the Board of NYCO decided to leave Lincoln Center, we musicians knew it was the end. Had George Steel chosen to keep even a small presence there, for maybe as short a time as four weeks, there would be a home for us, a way to grow and recover.

There may be something that calls itself NYCOpera as it moves around exhibiting Steel's vision. It may be entertaining and it will employ some good freelancers. But what we have lost is not just a job but a family.

When musicians work together as an entity for a long time, the orchestra is more than the sum of its parts: it is an instrument itself, based on the experience of communal expression. How much more even than a symphony orchestra is an opera company-really, it's a village: singers, coaches, pianists,librarians, stage directors, supertitlists, conductors, set and costumes and properties ,conductors, office staff, all housed in one place for many hours day and night. As opera musicians we rehearsed four or five times a week and played sometimes five operas. Between two long operas on a Saturday or a dress rehearsal and an evening performance, we musicians lived together in our lounge, taking turns at napping on the couches or playing poker, going to dinner together. We have come to know each other's lives (maybe especially as more women have joined the orchestra.) We've been through births of children, college applications , sicknesses and deaths of colleagues and parents, marriages and divorces. Our homes were scattered at various distances from Lincoln Center, but much of our social network was there.

I'm sure every component group of this opera company had similar work lives. Most worked well beyond a normal work day, and everyone was essential to the final production.

This is what was lost: a living organism. I think we all would have been happy to do some outreach performances in different venues but to do them from a stable place and with a whole, real company. The arts cannot be outsourced. This family is scattered forever.