Boston Metro Opera was a semi-professional American

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

company based in the

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...

area of Massachusetts. The company specialized in contemporary works and operated from 2008 to 2015. It also sponsored and ran the Boston-International Contempo Festival and its associated International Composers' Competition.

History

Boston Metro Opera was founded in 2008 by the tenor Christopher Aaron Smith who remained its General and Artistic Director throughout the company's existence. It was incorporated as a non-profit company in 2009 and gave its first performances that year, a series of concerts. Although in its early days the company performed three one-act operettas by Offenbach, it soon turned to the contemporary works that became the hallmark of its repertoire. After its first season the company received 61 new operas and over 200 song cycles and choral works from composers hoping to be performed by the company. By 2013 Boston Metro Opera had produced ninety-four new works, many of them premieres.Feilotter, Melanie (Fall 2010)
"Boston's Opera Entrepreneurs"
'' Opera America Magazine'' Over the years, the company developed several initiatives including Opera on Site, an interactive pay-per-view service that streamed Boston Metro's live and archived performances, Opera Puppets which produced operatic puppet shows, and its most prominent initiative the Boston-International Contempo Festival.Boston Metro Opera (2014)
''Boston-International Contempo Festival'' (Results Packet)
/ref> When Christopher Smith announced his departure from Boston Metro Opera in August 2015 to return to his native Wisconsin, the board of directors voted to suspend the company's operations indefinitely.

Repertory

2012-2013

* Scenes from Hamlet (David Edgar Walther / William Shakespeare) * Opera a la carte Gala

2011–2012

*Happy Birthday, David Walther **''Blessings on Your Home'' (David Edgar Walther / Drew Hubbard) **"Halloween" from ''The Swallow and The Prince'' (David Edgar Walther / Oscar Wilde) **"Laertes' Lament" from ''Hamlet'' (David Edgar Walther / William Shakespeare) **''Nine Spirituals'' (Traditional / Arr. David Edgar Walther **"Second Love" from Edward II'' (David Edgar Walther / Christopher Marlowe) **"Wolf's Ear" from ''Edward II'' (David Edgar Walther / Christopher Marlowe) **"KeHoTeque's Dream" from ''Antigon'' (David Edgar Walther) **"KeHoTeque's Death" from ''Antigon'' (David Edgar Walther) **"Victory" from ''Edward II'' (David Edgar Walther / Christopher Marlowe) **"Poison Cup" from ''Edward II'' (David Edgar Walther / Christopher Marlowe) **"Heaven" from ''The Island Curse'' (David Edgar Walther) **''Six Songs of Innocence and Experience'' (David Edgar Walther / William Blake) **''Eclipse'' (David Edgar Walther) **''Cal'mus Songs'' (David Edgar Walther / Walt Whitman) *Happy Birthday, Daron Hagen **''Figments'' (Daron Hagen / Alice Wirth Gray) **''Muldoon Songs'' (Daron Hagen / Paul Muldoon) **''Merrill Songs'' (Daron Hagen / James Merrill) **''Echo's Songs'' (Daron Hagen / Various) *''Angel of the Amazon'' (

Evan Mack Evan Mack (born 1981) is an American composer, librettist and pianist. He is "considered one of the most gifted composers of his generation by industry insiders." He is currently published with Hal Leonard, Alfred, and KDP Publishing. Studies ...

)

2010–2011

*''Glory Denied'' (Tom Cipullo) *''

.Gabriel ''.Gabriel'' (pronounced "dot Gabriel") is an opera in two acts (to be performed continuously) written by American composer Robert J. Bradshaw.''American Record Guide'' Nov–Dec 2010, p. 95 The libretto, also by Bradshaw, was inspired by the com ...

'' (Robert J. Bradshaw)Powers, Keith (26 February 2011)
"Gloucester composer Bradshaw tries hand at chamber opera with 'Gabriel'"
''Cape Ann Beacon'' *''

The Gift of the Magi "The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimenta ...

'' (

David Conte David Conte (born 1955) is an American composer who has written over 150 works published by E.C. Schirmer (a division of ECS Publishing), including six operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guita ...

/ Nicholas Giardini) *'' Amahl & The Night Visitors'' (

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

)Patterson, David (11 December 2010)
"Boston Metro Opera's ''Amahl'' Homespun, Pure"
''The Boston Musical Intelligencer'' *''Antigon'' (David Edgar Walther) *''Venus & Adonis'' (Zachary Wadsworth /

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

)

2009–2010

*''Fables'' (David Edgar Walther)Baratz, Adam (29 March 2010)
"American One-Act Operas Solid on Vocal Technique, Short on Drama"
''The Boston Musical Intelligencer'' *''The Face on the Barroom Floor'' ( Henry Mollicone) *''

A Hand of Bridge ''A Hand of Bridge'', opus 35, is an opera in one act composed by Samuel Barber with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, and is possibly the shortest opera that is regularly performed: it lasts about nine minutes. It premiered as a part of Menotti' ...

'' (

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

) *'' Le Violoneux'' (

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

/ Eugène Mestépès and

Émile Chevalet Émile Chevalet (1 November 1813 – 14 January 1894) was a 19th-century French man of letters, journalist, historian and librettist. Biography While he was a notary's clerk in the province, Chevalet published a novel in 1832: ''Amélie ou la ...

) *''Les deux pecheurs'' (Jacques Offenbach / CD Depeuty & E Bourget) *''

Lischen et Fritzchen ''Lischen et Fritzchen'' is a one-act operetta (« conversation alsacienne » - Alsatian conversation) with music by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by ‘P Dubois’ (Paul Boisselot), first performed in 1863. Performance history The p ...

'' (Jacques Offenbach / Paul Boisselot and Poly Henrion) *''

Les deux aveugles ''Les deux aveugles'' (, ''The Two Blind Men'' or ''The Blind Beggars'') is an 1855 one-act French ''bouffonerie musicale'' (operetta) by Jacques Offenbach.Lamb 1992, p. 1143. The libretto was written by Jules Moinaux and was a condensation of ...

'' (Jacques Offenbach /

Jules Moinaux Jules Moinaux, real name Joseph-Désiré Moineaux or Moineau"Moinaux or Moineau? The surname appears never to have been finally determined. Joseph-Désiré's father enrolled his son as Moineau but himself signed Moinaux. An uncle, born in 1826, is ...

) * Inaugural Concert Series

Boston-International Contempo Festival

Formerly called the Contemporary Americana Festival, the Boston-International Contempo Festival was a new music festival that began in 2010. Sponsored by Boston Metro Opera, it was held annually and showcased new works in opera, musical theatre, choral music, and art song. The works chosen to be performed were submitted to the festival's International Composers' Competition. The competition had several awards in each of the four categories of vocal music, among them Mainstage Awards which guaranteed fully staged performances as part of Boston Metro Opera's regular season and Festival Awards which guaranteed a concert performance during the Contempo Festival. In some years, an additional Gold Medal was awarded in each category to works judged to be of outstanding quality. The 2014 competition (the last one held before the company's demise) received over 625 works submitted by composers from more than 120 countries. By that time the choral music category had been discontinued.Boston Metro Opera (2014)
''Boston-International Contempo Festival'' (Application Packet)
/ref> Past competition awardees have included: * Katy Abbott, Gold Medal in Art Song for ''The Domestic Sublime'' (2011) *

Nathalie Anderson Nathalie F. Anderson (born 1948) is an American poet and librettist. She is a 1993 Pew Fellow, and author of several books of poetry: ''Following Fred Astaire'', ''Crawlers'', ''Quiver'', ''Held and Firmly Bound'' (a chapbook), and ''Stain''. In c ...

, Mainstage Award in Opera for ''A Scandal in Bohemia'' (2012) *Robert J. Bradshaw, Mainstage Award in Opera for ''

'' (2010) *

Jorge Grundman Jorge Grundman Isla (born 1961) is a Spanish classical composer, musicologist, musician and professor who has helped to recover the music of Robert Kahn and Adalbert Gyrowetz among others through the non-profit music foundation created by him. Mu ...

, Director's Choice Award in Opera for ''God's Sketches'' (2014) *

Alice Ho Alice Ping Yee Ho (born 1960) is a Canadian pianist and composer, considered to be "among the most important composers writing in this country". She was born in Hong Kong and earned a Bachelor of Music, BMus in composition from Indiana Universit ...

, Merit Award in Opera for ''The Imp of the Perverse'' (2013) * Sarah Hutchings, Festival Award in Opera for ''Remember Me'' (2012) *

, Mainstage Award in Opera for ''Angel of the Amazon'' (2011) * Deirdre McKay, Director's Choice Award in Opera for ''Driven'' (2013) *

Peter K. Winkler Peter K. Winkler (born 1943, Los Angeles, California) is an American composer and a musicologist specializing in the theory of popular music. His compositions include both concert works and music for the theater; many of his works involve a synthes ...

, Festival Award in Opera for ''Fox Fables'' (2011)

References

External links

Boston Metro Opera Official WebsiteContemporary Americana Festival Official Website
(archived version from 2012) {{authority control Musical groups established in 2008 Musical groups disestablished in 2015 Opera companies in Boston 2008 establishments in Massachusetts 2015 disestablishments in Massachusetts