A Second Act for City Opera?

Conducting Business

There are still hoops to be jumped through, but it looks like, as Monty Python would say, New York City Opera is not dead yet. Last week, the bankrupt company's board of directors voted to approve the sale of its remaining assets – minus the endowment – to a group, called NYCO Renaissance, headed by Michael Capasso and Roy Niederhoffer. Capasso is general director of the Dicapo Opera Theatre; Niederhoffer is the founder of R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Inc., and a former City Opera board member. Both join us on this episode to talk about their plans.

NYCO Renaissance is, in fact, one of several suitors who have been angling to take over the City Opera name and assets, and the group still has to win approval from a bankruptcy judge. But Capasso and Niederhoffer have raised $2.6 million in pledges, garnered support from former City Opera musicians, and have planned an all-star tribute gala to the late City Opera maestro Julius Rudel in March. The event is to feature singers that Rudel worked with over the years, including Plácido Domingo, Frederica von Stade and James Morris.

Nevertheless, these plans have drawn skepticism from some observers, in part because of the checkered financial past of Capasso's company. Host Naomi Lewin asks him about that, and also speaks with James Jorden, the editor of the opera website Parterre.com. "No one will be happier than I if New York City has another major opera company," says Jorden, who also writes for the New York Observer. He also cautions: "But I just can't understand how such a plan might work, especially when right now, the Metropolitan Opera is hurting for ticket sales."

Listen to the full segment above and tell us in the comments below: what you think of the plans to revive City Opera?