Let's stage an opera on our block in Brooklyn!
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Our dream is to make The Opera Next Door a musical home to anyone who wishes to learn more about the art that inflames our passion, bringing in new communities in the process. These trying times have reaffirmed our belief that art brings people together. We believe in a bright future for this endeavor, because sharing what we love with you is what drives us.
Who We Are
The Opera Next Door (TOND ) shares high-quality opera with diverse new audiences in unconventional neighborhood spaces. By giving performance opportunities to emerging artists and staging immersive, site-specific productions, TOND breathes new life into opera while reconnecting the art form to its humble, quotidian roots, forming a bridge between new audiences and traditional theaters.
How we started
Born from stoop concerts put on during the pandemic summer of 2020, The Opera Next Door was created to help fill a gap left in the artistic world by the loss of live concerts, particularly opera productions. Founder, Colombian soprano Sasha Gutiérrez , began performing arias and art songs from her stoop in Bedford-Stuyvesant for the neighborhood and anyone who cared to stop by and listen. Many of the people who listened had never heard opera before and were left amazed and curious. During this time, conversations about the concerts arose and the idea of staging an opera on the stoop was born. While the idea seemed at first untenable (putting on an opera requires an astounding amount of production and artistic work), it planted a seed in Gutiérrez’s mind. That seed is today growing into The Opera Next Door.
Così fan tutte by W.A. Mozart
May 22 and 23, 2021
The Opera Next Door will be staging two performances of a production of Mozart’s comedy Così fan tutte on three stoops on Willoughby Ave between Marcy Ave and Nostrand Ave in the historic Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday May 22nd and Sunday May 23rd, 2021. The production will be incorporating the unusual staging in the setting of the story, modernizing the translation of the libretto, and transporting the story and the characters from 18th century Italy to 21st century Brooklyn. Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s interpretation of the once classic (and perhaps outdated) trope of “fiancée swapping” will be reimagined with sights and characters familiar to everyday New Yorkers, an outrageous sense of drama that any viewer of telenovelas will recognize, and even a modern, tongue-in-cheek perspective of the gender dynamics at play. An international cast of impressive young singers hailing from throughout the US, Latin America, and Asia will be bringing this new way of experiencing opera to life accompanied by a chamber orchestra.
This performance is all about sharing this art form with our community. Willoughby Avenue will be closed down for the length of the performance and the audience, made up largely of people that will have never seen an opera before, will have ample space to maintain social distance. The updated translation will be projected in real time as super-titles so that the audience can follow along with the action.
Cost
The $15,000 USD cost of putting on this production includes artist fees, a chamber ensemble, arranging the music, travel costs, logistical considerations, administrative work, and hospitality. Reaching this amount will also enable us to live-stream the performances, helping us reach new audiences across the world.
Any and all donations are welcome and needed. Our mission of sharing opera with new audiences and bringing high-quality, fresh productions to neighborhood spaces is one we firmly believe in. To that end, we have the goal of becoming a non-profit 501c3 organization after this production, but we need your help in making this first production a reality.
Who We Are
The Opera Next Door (TOND ) shares high-quality opera with diverse new audiences in unconventional neighborhood spaces. By giving performance opportunities to emerging artists and staging immersive, site-specific productions, TOND breathes new life into opera while reconnecting the art form to its humble, quotidian roots, forming a bridge between new audiences and traditional theaters.
How we started
Born from stoop concerts put on during the pandemic summer of 2020, The Opera Next Door was created to help fill a gap left in the artistic world by the loss of live concerts, particularly opera productions. Founder, Colombian soprano Sasha Gutiérrez , began performing arias and art songs from her stoop in Bedford-Stuyvesant for the neighborhood and anyone who cared to stop by and listen. Many of the people who listened had never heard opera before and were left amazed and curious. During this time, conversations about the concerts arose and the idea of staging an opera on the stoop was born. While the idea seemed at first untenable (putting on an opera requires an astounding amount of production and artistic work), it planted a seed in Gutiérrez’s mind. That seed is today growing into The Opera Next Door.
Così fan tutte by W.A. Mozart
May 22 and 23, 2021
The Opera Next Door will be staging two performances of a production of Mozart’s comedy Così fan tutte on three stoops on Willoughby Ave between Marcy Ave and Nostrand Ave in the historic Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday May 22nd and Sunday May 23rd, 2021. The production will be incorporating the unusual staging in the setting of the story, modernizing the translation of the libretto, and transporting the story and the characters from 18th century Italy to 21st century Brooklyn. Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s interpretation of the once classic (and perhaps outdated) trope of “fiancée swapping” will be reimagined with sights and characters familiar to everyday New Yorkers, an outrageous sense of drama that any viewer of telenovelas will recognize, and even a modern, tongue-in-cheek perspective of the gender dynamics at play. An international cast of impressive young singers hailing from throughout the US, Latin America, and Asia will be bringing this new way of experiencing opera to life accompanied by a chamber orchestra.
This performance is all about sharing this art form with our community. Willoughby Avenue will be closed down for the length of the performance and the audience, made up largely of people that will have never seen an opera before, will have ample space to maintain social distance. The updated translation will be projected in real time as super-titles so that the audience can follow along with the action.
Cost
The $15,000 USD cost of putting on this production includes artist fees, a chamber ensemble, arranging the music, travel costs, logistical considerations, administrative work, and hospitality. Reaching this amount will also enable us to live-stream the performances, helping us reach new audiences across the world.
Any and all donations are welcome and needed. Our mission of sharing opera with new audiences and bringing high-quality, fresh productions to neighborhood spaces is one we firmly believe in. To that end, we have the goal of becoming a non-profit 501c3 organization after this production, but we need your help in making this first production a reality.
Organizer and beneficiary
Sasha Gutiérrez Montaño
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY
Afro Latin Jazz Alliance Of New York
Beneficiary
