New York City Opera plans to bounce back from its pandemic-induced hiatus in spring 2021 with two productions: the world premiere of composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and a staged concert presentation of Anthony Davis' Pulitzer-winning The Central Park Five.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, based on the Giorgio Bassani novel about an Italian-Jewish family during the onset of World War II, will play Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in April as a co-production with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (the two arts organizations previously collaborated on the world premiere of Dear Erich). Richard Stafford will direct and choreograph.
Later in the season, NYCO will present The Central Park Five at a venue to be announced. The piece, inspired by the 1989 incident that led to the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of five young Black and Latino men, features a libretto by Richard Wesley. Earlier this year, it received the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
As the coronavirus health crisis continues to keep mass gatherings and in-person performances in limbo, no word yet on what practices will be implemented to ensure public safety during the performances. "We hope that with the spring there will be an abatement to the protocols placed upon all of us due to the COVID-19 pandemic which will allow New York audiences to discover these two new works," says NYCO General Director Michael Capasso.
