OONY STORY
“Opera Orchestra of New York, under its founder-conductor Eve Queler, is always unearthing rarities, and giving us doses of the familiar, too. This is a valuable institution.”
— Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun
Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY) is one of New York City’s cultural phenomena. Long noted for important discoveries of repertoire and singers, each performance at Carnegie Hall is judged a “must attend” event for serious opera-goers from around the globe. Singers strive to give their best when Queler stands on the podium and Carnegie is filled with New York’s most ardent opera fans. Year after year, the stars whom Queler has discovered and brought up through the ranks come back to collaborate in new ventures, enabling them to sing roles in operas that the Met and City Opera do not produce. Since 1972, OONY has made a profound impact on the musical and cultural vitality of NYC, a service recognized in writing by President Clinton, Governor Pataki, and Mayor Giuliani on OONY’s 25th Anniversary. In May 2006, the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America awarded OONY a Special Citation for 35 years of performing lesser-known 19th and early 20th century operas. OONY has also shaped one of the city’s most loyal and knowledgeable audiences, resulting in a rock-solid subscriber base.
OONY has been a powerful and influential presence in the opera world, selling out Carnegie Hall since 1971. OONY’s annual performances at Carnegie are recorded live for broadcast each season on National Public Radio and are heard throughout the U.S. and Europe. OONY has featured casts of singers carefully matched to the repertory, from artists of international stature (such as Placido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Montserrat Caballé and Alfredo Kraus) to superlative young singers just launching their careers.
Since its inception, OONY has been a daring musical organization. Among the numerous American premieres it has performed are Puccini’s Edgar with Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto; Boito’s Nerone with James Morris and Pablo Elvira; and Smetana’s Libuse with Gabriela Benacková and Paul Plishka. An important OONY performance was the NY premiere of Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans, featuring Dolora Zajick and Jorma Hynninen, marking the American premiere of the Russian language version. OONY has also presented works long neglected in New York, such as Wagner’s Rienzi, Verdi’s I lombardi, Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, and Catalani’s La Wally. Other operas OONY has brought to New York include Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, Les Huguenots, and Robert le Diable; Verdi’s Nabucco, I masnadieri, Aroldo, and La battaglia di Legnano; Berlioz’ Lélio and Benvenuto Cellini; and Smetana’s Dalibor. Most important, OONY’s pioneering efforts have led national opera companies to add to their permanent repertoires works which received their first major modern hearing at OONY. These include the Metropolitan, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco, and Houston Grand Operas; examples include Verdi’s I lombardi, Donizetti’s La Favorita, Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, Dvorak’s Rusalka, and Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina.