Final curtain may be coming down on NY City Opera
New York City Opera, the scrappy alternative company that launched the careers of singers such as Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills and for seven decades presented adventurous works unheard of at the other end of Lincoln Center, may be coming to an end.
The financially troubled company, which has drastically downsized its programming and performance schedule in recent years, is facing a major cash shortfall that will prevent it from continuing its season. The City Opera board voted Thursday to begin bankruptcy proceedings if the company fails to rise $7 million to allow it to finance the rest of the 2013-14 season. Pending a massive cash infusion in the next three days, Saturday night’s performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole will be NYCO’s final perfomance.
“If we don’t raise the money we will have run out of options,” said general manager George Steel, in a statement released Thursday. “It is impossible for the company to produce opera without a way to fund it.”
