OPrak in the Press
OperaWire
By Afton Wooten
October 18th, 2024
Opera Praktikos to Present Matinee Performance Series
New York’s first disability-affirmative opera company Opera Praktikos has announced its upcoming matinee performance series.
“There Will Be Cake,” is a matinee mono-opera concert series with performances by abled and disabled artists.Hailey McAvoy and Shanley Horvitz make up the cast. They are accompanied by music director and pianist Calvin Hitchcock. Gwynn MacDonald directs the productions of Lee Hoiby’s “Bon Appetit!” (adapted by Mark Shulgasser), and the world premiere of “Fluffernutter” by Spicer Carr and Marianna Mott Newirth, with piano arrangement by Patrick Tice-Carroll.…
HowlRound
Marianna Mott Newirth, Gregory Moomjy, & David Salsbery Fry
February 23, 2023
An Artist’s Take on Disability Creativity with David Salsbery Fry
David Salsbery Fry, a renowned bass who has sung on several of the world’s greatest stages, publicly disclosed his disability in 2015. Since that time, he has become a powerful advocate for performers with disabilities. This brought him to Opera Praktikos (OPrak), New York City’s first disability-affirmative opera company…
HowlRound
Marianna Mott Newirth & Gregory Moomjy
February 21st, 2023
Be Careful What You Say, It Might Come True Someday
Back in 2015 when opera folk gathered unmasked in small rooms to discuss their unique and exquisite art form, there was an auspicious meeting at the National Opera Center of a musicologist in a wheelchair and a non-disabled librettist. The man, who has Cerebral Palsy, loved opera from a very early age. The woman, non-disabled, grew up in theatre and had recently responded to the call to write librettos…
Opera Wire
David Salazar
November 23, 2022
Opera Praktikos will present a special screening of “Imperfect” on Dec. 10, 2022.
The documentary follows the story of a company of professional actors with disabilities who aim to mount a production of “Chicago” in Denver…
Opera Wire
David Salazar
July 8, 2022
Opera Praktikos has released a film of its first-ever opera production.
Earlier this year, the company presented outdoor performances of Händel’s “Orlando” at Campos Garden in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. The production was originally set to take place on May 27 and 28, but inclement weather forced the opening night to take place on May 28 with an additional performance added on the 29th…
Slipped Disc
Norman Lebrecht
July 24, 2022
Two months ago, I documented a really unique performance of Handel’s opera Orlando. It happened in a community garden in my East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, and the circumstances were serendipitous… I hopped onto a Citibike from my 1st Street apartment in the East Village, to this inaugural performance in Campos Community Garden (on 12th Street between Avenues B and C). I found a spot on a log to sit towards the rear of the seating area; and adjacent to that, next to a big tree, the artistic director Marianna Mott Newirth was trying to prop up an iPhone, standing on a teetering barstool in the soft garden ground. Kind of inevitably, to a gigantic collective gasp from everyone, she fell hard when that stool tipped over — miraculously, not injured, just bruised. The performance went on, and it was really exceptional…
