Teatro Nuovo is an American opera company and training institution specializing in the repertory and performance practice of bel cantoopera. It was founded in 2017 by Will Crutchfield, who is currently its general and artistic director.
History
Teatro Nuovo was founded in 2017 to continue the work of Bel Canto at Caramoor after Crutchfield and the Caramoor Summer Music Festival parted ways following his desire to expand the scope and offerings of the program.
Inaugural season
Teatro Nuovo presented its inaugural Bel Canto Festival in the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in July and August 2018, performing Rossini'sTancredi, Mayr's Medea in Corinto, and a second version of Tancredi featuring the eight alternative pieces Rossini composed after the premiere, which the company called Tancredi rifatto. Like its predecessor, the program is accompanied by a multi-week training program for young singers, with a cohort of resident artists and studio artists led by a faculty that includes Crutchfield, Rachelle Jonck, Marguerite Krull, and Marco Nisticò. In its first season, several of the leading roles were sung by program members, joining guest soloists Jennifer Rowley, a bel canto at Caramoor alumna; Tamara Mumford; Amanda Woodbury; and Santiago Ballerini. In contrast to the Caramoor seasons, which were accompanied by the festival's resident Orchestra of St. Luke's, Teatro Nuovo formed a new 48-member orchestra playing on period instruments, seated according to the layout used at the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples in 1816, and revived the historical practice of performing without a conductor. Instead, leadership was divided between the concertmaster and keyboard player. On its website the company claims that this procedure has the effect of making the orchestra "a participating and listening ensemble, rather than an instrument to be played upon by a conductor."
Second season
Teatro Nuovo expanded its offerings in its second season: Vincenzo Bellini's La straniera, Rossini's La gazza ladra, and a concert pairing Rossini's Stabat Mater with Gaetano Donizetti'sSymphony in E minor. Performances in the second season again took place at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, but also within New York City at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall and the Church of the Heavenly Rest The critically acclaimed period-instrument orchestra returned for the second season.
2020 season
For 2020, Teatro Nuovo announced revivals of Rossini's Maometto secondo and Il vero omaggio along with the modern premiere of Donizetti's Miserere in G minor in its original Viennese version of 1843. Philip Pierce, formerly artistic administrator of the Florida Grand Opera, joined the company as executive director, and Jakob Lehmann was named associate artistic director. Upon the nationwide shutdown of live performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Teatro Nuovo announced that its planned 2020 season would be carried over to the 2021 festival.
Critical reception
Critical reaction to the new venture emphasized the orchestral innovations. The critic of The Wall Street Journal wrote that "the effect was transformative," and the Financial Times headlined its review, "this is how it should be done."
