Addio, Amato Opera, ‘Addio mio dolce amor!’
Even if Amato Opera did not present Puccini’s Edgar, the opera from which the headline derives, its music was sweet to the ears of its devotees. Most importantly, the budget opera company that performed in lower Manhattan for some 60 years offered young singers a place to try out new roles in staged performances in front of a small audience. Formed in 1948 by Anthony and Sally Amato, the company performed in several venues before establishing a home in its own 100-seat theater on the Bowery.
At the end of May 2009, it presented its last production, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The overture was played by a recording since there was an incomplete orchestra. The vocal music was accompanied by a piano and a collection of wind instruments. It was not true to the score, but the performance came alive with the spirited portrayals of the singers.
All is not lost with the closing of Amato Opera, however. Its fans are currently forming Amore Opera, which hopes to take over where the old company left off.
www.amato.org
www.amoreopera.org
Dead Violins Come to Life as Art
Although violins from famous makers may be playable for many centuries, cheaper fiddles lose their resonance and become useless after some years. Such unusable instruments are collected by Resounding Harmony, a northern Texas community chorus that believes in musical philanthropy.
Through their outreach program, the chorus heard of a local school that had both music and art teachers, but no instruments for the children to learn on. When students were asked if they would like to learn to play violin, 147 of them signed up. At that point, the school needed to find some fiddles. With the help of the art teacher, students in the after-school program decorated the chorus’s old violins.
A picture framer volunteered to make the painted instruments into finished artwork, and the proceeds from the ensuing auction were sufficient to pay for several dozen student-grade fiddles. Art students who spent time revitalizing the old instruments received tickets to concerts they otherwise would never have attended, while the music students went on to learn to play real instruments.
www.resoundingharmony.org
www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11321.php
