In praise of… the New York City Opera

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/29/in-praise-of-new-york-city-opera

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Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia once dubbed it "the people's opera" – the low-cost alternative to New York's imposing Metropolitan Opera. Over the years, the New York City Opera has played the role that the English National has long played in London in relation to Covent Garden. But hard economic times have been an arts company killer. In 2011, the NYCO moved out of its Lincoln Centre home. The season was cut from 115 performances to just 16. Last week the board filed for bankruptcy and, on Saturday in Brooklyn, the curtain fell on Mark-Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole, possibly the company's last performance unless it can raise $7m. For decades, the City Opera was the place for more modern, less mainstream repertoire. It gave Plácido Domingo one of his first breaks, and with the late, great Beverly Sills it achieved international renown. A final bow is always sad, but it has been a great career if this is indeed the end.

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