In January 2009, when Tony Amato announced that Amato Opera would close in May of that year, New York City operagoers were stunned. The company, known for its intimate house and lively productions, had inspired great affection from audiences for more than six decades. Meanwhile, singers and instrumentalists who performed regularly with the company were devastated. Was there a way they could preserve the company in some capacity? They decided to try.
From “Loved” to “Love”
The effort began with a meeting of a committee of regulars from both the stage and the pit, who held elections for the administration of a new company that would continue the Amato legacy. President-elect Nathan Hull advised Tony Amato of the committee’s plans and received Amato’s blessing. The name “Amore” was selected because it was a variation on Amato and also because, as Tony Amato pointed out, “A” names appear first on lists.
Amato was so impressed by the enthusiasm of the endeavor and the stature of the talent involved that he offered to give his massive collection of costumes and sets to the new company. The committee was stunned by the offer and quickly accepted. With the help of 70 volunteers, a few trucks, and support raised through a fundraiser, this fabled collection was safely moved to its new warehouse.
Then the committee began planning in earnest. It purchased more costumes and established three objectives:
1. To produce high-quality opera in Manhattan at affordable prices in an intimate setting.
2. To be a place where singers can hone their craft.
3. To preserve the art form for posterity by introducing children to opera through “Operas-in-Brief,” geared to the young audience, presenting productions starring all-children casts, and including children in every production so that they can learn to work with professional singers.
“We knew it was never going to be exactly the Amato experience, but there were some things we wanted to preserve, such as intimate opera,” Hull explains. “The Connelly Theater, very near to where the Amato house was located in the East Village, was perfect because it seats only about 100 people. However, unlike the Amato house, there is room for a 24– to 28–piece orchestra.”
From the Launch to Today
The official launch took place in December 2009, with a three-week run of La bohème, which Tony Amato came to see. In each season that followed, there was marked progress. “Having an orchestra and bringing in professional conductors attracted better and better singers,” says Hull. “Our first productions were good, quality-wise, but not as good as they could have been. What happened is that every time first-rate singers performed with us, they told their friends about the experience, and we’d see the friends at the next round of auditions. Meanwhile, as City Opera and other local companies closed, Amore became a focus of singers’ attention.”
Like Hull, producer and performer Iris Karlin has observed improvements season after season. “Amore Opera has become a stage and a home for many emerging professionals who do not get the chance to perform in big opera houses due to the lack of good agents and connections,” Karlin says. “The company developed a lot during the years, and nowadays it is bringing to New York City very professional and high-quality productions.”
Although Amore is not a paying company, neither is it a pay-to-sing. “We do need help from people, so we ask for assistance in moving sets and costumes in and out—but in general we treat singers like professionals, which they are,” says Hull. “People come to us because they want to learn roles or brush up an old role, or they have a hole in their singing schedule and want to use that time in a productive way.”
He also observes that many singers get their big break because they’ve sung a role that is needed at the last-minute by an A-level house: “It’s one thing to work with a coach, but another thing to get onstage in costume with an orchestra—a completely different experience. You have to go through that personally before you’re ready. We provide that backbone.”
Soprano Jessica Sandidge, who joined the Met roster this season and who has sung principal roles in several Amore Opera productions, agrees. “All of these roles were debuts for me, which means I had the opportunity to put them in my voice quickly (sometimes only with a few weeks’ notice) and get them up on their feet, staged, in costume, with an orchestra, and in an intimate setting with an attentive audience,” she says. “As a singer and performer I learn the most from what happens onstage, in front of a live audience. I take voice lessons regularly and coach with some of the best coaches and conductors, but none of that can teach me how to prepare for what happens in a live performance—and for that I have Nathan Hull and Amore Opera to thank.”
Tenor Paolo Buffagni is another regular who has honed his skills and tools while performing with the company. He emphasizes the benefits of the supportive environment, “where you can feel the love for the music surround you.” He goes on to describe Amore as “a magical place, where with simple costumes and scenery, marvelous things happen.”
It’s not only principals who have opportunities to develop their skills. Chorister Jim Longo loves concert singing but says that it’s not the same as putting a character together, as he does when performing with Amore Opera. He also appreciates the “sense of family.” “I enjoy being with these people and enjoy making something special with them production after production,” he says.
Orchestra members have equally good things to say. Indeed, two of the founding members of the company came from the pit. One was oboist and orchestra manager Barbara Cohen, who explains why she comes back to the orchestra year after year. “In an opera orchestra, not only are there the instruments of the symphony orchestra, which can sound gorgeous, but on top of them is the radiance of the singers, which turns gorgeous into heavenly,” Cohen says. “Who wouldn’t want to be in heaven year after year?”
The Children’s Chorus
Children, too, play an important role in the Amore Opera experience, as the company’s founding objectives, listed earlier, make clear. Children’s productions were a tradition at Amato Opera, one that Hull and the committee were eager to continue.
Amore’s children’s chorus includes approximately 30–35 kids, who do their own shows twice a year (a shortened version of an opera and a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta) and also join the adult productions. “Music education in this country is in dire straits,” says Hull. “So I try to get kids onstage surrounded and inspired by these amazing voices. Maybe not all of the children become singers, but I think all of them become opera fans and supporters of classical music in general.”
Some do become singers. Indeed, several have gone on to sing in the Met children’s chorus. The frequency of these “graduations” prompts Hull to suggest, “Perhaps we’ve become the unofficial Met’s farm team.”
James Owen is one of these children. His father David Owen, an Amore Opera chorister and brother of conductor Richard Owen, Jr. (a regular at Amore), says that James’ introduction to opera performing began with the father and son’s participation in a production of Carmen that Richard Owen, Jr. was conducting. “By the time he was 10, James was already a bona fide opera fan, but the Carmen experience was transformative for him,” David Owen recalls. “He gained confidence by leaps and bounds, both onstage and in his voice.”
That confidence served James well when he auditioned for the Met children’s chorus. “It’s probably fair to say that even for kids, nobody starts at the Met,” his father observes. “I am very sure that had it not been for Amore, James never would have made it past the first audition—much less the extended series of auditions that it takes for the kids to get on the Met stage today.”
James will soon sing in his 100th performance at the Met. Meanwhile, Owen is hoping that his younger son Thomas, who is six, will be a new addition to the Amore children’s chorus.
The Future
The spring season will feature a kids’ production of Iolanthe, a new location (the Theater at St. Jean’s on the Upper East Side), and a pairing of Carmen with the American debut of a Donizetti opera called La zingara (The Gypsy Girl). Such thematic pairings of a standard and a lesser-known opera have become a tradition of Amore because they provide audiences with something novel yet tuneful. “The operas I choose from the classical and Bel Canto eras are absolutely dead center of my audiences’ taste and give people something new and interesting to talk about,” Hull explains.
Amore’s founders are proud of the company’s progress over the past eight years, but there are still challenges to overcome. Funding is the primary one. “We skate by all the time,” says Hull. “It’s a bloody miracle we survived this long and that we can produce at the level we do on a limited budget. We’re trying to build up tomorrow’s audiences but, hey, we need help now.”
Such challenges fade into the background when the curtain goes up, which Hull describes as a “thrill.” There are labors, to be sure, but they are labors of love—literally. “Amore, as its name, is full of love,” says Karlin. “Love to the music, love to its musicians, and love to the audience and its future potential audience.”
