MAYOR GIULIANI OPENS "CARMEN" IN CENTRAL PARK
AS PART OF MET OPERA IN THE PARKS SERIES
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani tonight welcomed the 31st season of "Met Opera in the Parks" at a performance of "Carmen" by the Metropolitan Opera Company in Central Park's North Meadow. The season was set to open in Central Park last Wednesday, June 18, but inclement weather caused the postponement.
The concerts, which are free to the public, are taking place throughout the five boroughs and in New Jersey through June 28th. Joining the Mayor at the Central Park performance were Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Schuyler Chapin, and Joseph Volpe, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera.
"Opera and New York City have grown up together," Mayor Giuliani said. "From 1750, when the Nassau Street Theater first began presenting English Ballad Operas, to 1883, when the Metropolitan Opera was founded, to the present day, New York City has remained one of the world's proudest hosts to this extraordinary art form. As long as programs like this one thrive in New York City, the comedy and the tragedy of opera will continue to delight us for years to come."
"Every year, millions of New Yorkers and visitors alike join together to experience some of the world's best music," Commissioner Stern said. "Concerts in the Park is now a New York summer institution. It provides the chance for people from all parts of the City to take pleasure both in music and in the outdoors."
"As a former General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, I always look forward to these very special park performances when this great Company is available to every citizen who chooses to stroll out and sit down to enjoy them," Commissioner Chapin said. "I love being in the audience."
Tonight's opera was conducted by Yves Abel and featured mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as Carmen.
The 'Met Opera in the Parks' series in New York is presented in association with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The New York portion of the series is also sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust's Met Parks Concert Fund, the Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Barker Welfare Foundation, and the Altman Foundation.
The remaining "Met Opera in the Parks" New York City schedule for Summer 97 is:
- Wednesday, June 25 - Cunningham Park, Queens - Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci
- Friday, June 27 - Marine Park, Brooklyn - Carmen
- Saturday, June 28 - Miller Field, Staten Island - Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci
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