Opera Quotannis (OQ) was a New York-based

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

company which was founded in 1990, with conductor Bart Folse as music director and stage director Brian Morgan (formerly of The New Opera Theatre) serving as artistic director. It specialized in experimental productions of both ancient and contemporary opera. The ensemble's first production was in January 1991, Gluck's ''

Orfeo ed Euridice ' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...

'', with

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist ( ...

Derek Lee Ragin as Orpheus and soprano Tracey Mitchell as Euridice, with a period-instrument orchestra, at the Church of St Paul the Apostle in the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

. Later in 1991, they mounted Monteverdi's ''

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda'' (''The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda''), SV 153, is an operatic ''scena'' for three voices by Claudio Monteverdi. The libretto is drawn from Torquato Tasso's '' La Gerusalemme Liberata''. It was fir ...

'', again with a period orchestra. In 1992, OQ produced the New York premiere of Louise LaBruyère's ''Everyman'', after the medieval morality play. Mitchell sang the title role, with

Cyril and Libbye Hellier Cyril and Libbye Hellier (born January 21, 1952) are identical twins and American operatic sopranos. Natives of Houma, Louisiana, they are the great-grandchildren of the Confederate Colonel John Henry Hellier. The sopranos are graduates of Nichol ...

as Kindred and Cousin, respectively. The production then toured to New Orleans. In 1995, the company presented a staged version of Schoenberg's ''

Pierrot Lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a m ...

'' (with Christine Schadeberg), at the New School for Social Research. In March 1997, Opera Quotannis presented their final production, the original ''

opéra-comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienn ...

'' version of Cherubini's '' Médée'', at

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assist ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, marking the bicentennial of the work's premiere. In the cast were Phyllis Treigle, Carl Halvorson, D'Anna Fortunato, David Arnold, Thaïs St Julien, Jayne West and Andrea Matthews. Subsequently, Newport Classic recorded the production for release on compact discs.

References

* ''The New York Book of Music'', by Ira Rosenblum, City & Company, 1995. * ''Stagebill'', March 1997. {{authority control New York City opera companies Musical groups established in 1990 1990 establishments in New York (state) Musical groups disestablished in 1997 1997 disestablishments in New York (state)