1943

New York City Opera founded by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and civic leaders, to make high-quality opera available to a wide audience, at the former Mecca Temple on West 55 St. Conductor László Halász appointed General Director

1944

City Opera’s inaugural season: 2 performances of Tosca with Dusolina Giannini, 3 each of Martha, Carmen

Regina Resnik debuts as Frasquita opposite Jennie Tourel’s Carmen

Julius Rudel debuts, conducting The Gypsy Baron starring Marguerite Piazza

1945

Todd Duncan, the company’s first African-American artist, debuts as Tonio in Pagliacci

1946

Camilla Williams debuts in City Opera’s first Madama Butterfly, opposite Eugene Conley

Ariadne auf Naxos, first of the company’s 41 American premieres of important foreign operas.

1948

City Opera’s first Pelléas et Mélisande, with Maggie Teyte debuting

Gian Carlo Menotti debuts, directing NY Stage Premiere of The Old Maid and the Thief, first of 10 Menotti operas performed by the company.

George Balanchine choreographs Carmen, first of his 8 City Opera productions, with Tanaquil Le Clerq, Patricia McBride, Maria Tallchief. Alberta Masiello debuts as Carmen

Frances Bible debuts as the Shepherd in Tosca, to Walter Cassel’s Scarpia

1949

Troubled Island by William Grant Still and Langston Hughes, first of 28 World Premieres, with Robert McFerrin debuting

1951

Patricia Neway debuts in World Premiere of Tamkin’s The Dybbuk, later recorded by Voice of America, City Opera’s first radio broadcast

1952

Conductor Joseph Rosenstock becomes General Director

Tullio Serafin debuts, conducting Tosca with David Poleri, Cassel

U.S. Stage Premiere of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, starring Ann Ayars, James Pease

1953

Norman Treigle debuts as Colline in Bohème, Frances Yeend as Mimì

Phyllis Curtin debuts in the American Premiere of Einem's The Trial, directed by debuting Otto Preminger

1954

World Premiere of Copland’s The Tender Land, Jerome Robbins debuting as director

Anna Russell debuts as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, with Adelaide Bishop as Gretel, Thomas Schippers conducting

The company’s first American musical, Kern’s Show Boat with Robert Rounseville, Laurel Hurley

Thomas Stewart debuts as the Commendatore, opposite William Wildermann’s Don Giovanni, Mary Curtis-Verna’s Anna

1955

Beverly Sills debuts as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, with John Reardon as Falke

1956

Conductor Erich Leinsdorf becomes General Director

WNYC records 3 operas for broadcast, beginning with Traviata starring Yeend, Cornell MacNeil

Floyd’s Susannah – first of 37 NY premieres, with Curtin, Treigle

Christopher Plummer debuts as narrator of Histoire du soldat (NY Premiere)

1957

Julius Rudel becomes General Director

1958

City Opera’s first All-American season opens with NY premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe, with Sills, Cassel, Martha Lipton, designed by Donald Oenslager, Emerson Buckley conducting

Leonard Bernstein conducts the company premiere of his Trouble in Tahiti

Shirley Verrett debuts in Weill’s Lost in the Stars, directed by Jose Quintero, with Lawrence Winters, Godfrey Cambridge, Louis Gossett

World Premiere of Kurka’s The Good Soldier Schweik, with Norman Kelley

City Opera’s first full-length recording: Blitzstein’s Regina on Columbia, starring Brenda Lewis

American Premiere of Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau, with Joan Carroll, Herbert Beattie, John Alexander

1959

NY Stage Premiere of Carmina burana, with Reri Grist, Alexander, Reardon, debuting Leopold Stokowski conducting

Company’s first Così fan tutte, with Curtin, Bible, Alexander, Reardon, Pease, and Judith Raskin debuting, conducted by Rudel

The Ballad of Baby Doe recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, with Sills, Bible, Cassel

1960

NY Stage Premiere of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Gérard Souzay debuting, and Raskin

Patricia Brooks debuts as Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier, with Raskin, Bible, Pease

1961

World Premiere of Ward’s The Crucible, with Brooks, Bible, and Chester Ludgin, later recorded by CRI

1963

NY Premiere of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Tatiana Troyanos debuting

1965

NY Premiere of Shostakovich’s Katerina Ismailova, with Eileen Schauler, Richard Cassilly, and Troyanos in small role of Sonyetka

World Premiere of Beeson’s Lizzie Borden, with Lewis, Ellen Faull, and Beattie, later recorded by Desto

American Premiere of Prokofiev’s The Flaming Angel, with Schauler, and Sherrill Milnes in his debut season

Debuting Tito Capobianco directs The Tales of Hoffmann with Sills, Treigle

Plácido Domingo replaces ailing colleague to debut in Butterfly, with William Ledbetter

1966

NYCO moves to New York State Theatre at Lincoln Center, opening with North American premiere of Ginastera’s Don Rodrigo, Domingo starring, Rudel conducting

NY Stage Premiere of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, directed by Nikos Psacharopoulos, John Conklin debuting as set designer

NY Stage Premiere of Handel’s Julius Caesar, with Sills, Beverly Wolff, Maureen Forrester, and Treigle, and Rudel conducting, begins American revival of staged Handel opera. Recorded by RCA Victor

1967

First of 15 annual NYCO tours to Los Angeles Music Center

1968

NY Premiere of Moore’s Carrie Nation, Corsaro directing, Wolff starring. Recorded by Desto

1969

Mefistofele premieres, directed by Capobianco, with Treigle and Carol Neblett, Rudel conducting

1970

NY premiere of Roberto Devereux, with Sills, Wolff, Domingo, launches the “Donizetti Three Queens” trilogy, directed by Capobianco, conducted by Rudel

1972

Jose Carreras debuts as Pinkerton, opposite Maralin Niska’s Butterfly

First of 8 annual tours to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC

1973

Samuel Ramey debuts as Zuniga in Carmen, opposite Gwendolyn Killebrew, Faye Robinson, Harry Theyard Sarah Caldwell debuts as director with NY Stage Premiere of Henze’s The Young Lord, with a guest cameo by Sir Rudolf Bing

1974

Judith Somogi debuts with The Mikado, becoming City Opera’s first female conductor. Betty Allen is Katisha

1975

NY Stage Premiere of Idomeneo, with Veronica Tyler, Niska

Die tote Stadt, directed by Corsaro, with Alexander, Neblett, and Dominic Cossa, inspires a Korngold revival

First of 8 Operathons on WNCN, followed by the first of NYCO’s 30 live radio broadcasts: Puritani with Sills, Ramey, conducted by Christopher Keene

1976

NY Premiere of Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses, with Richard Stilwell and debuting Frederica von Stade

Harold Prince debuts, directing American Premiere of Tal’s Ashmedai

City Opera’s first telecast: The Ballad of Baby Doe, with Ruth Welting, Bible, Richard Fredericks, conducted by Somogi

Sarah Caldwell debuts as conductor, leading her own production of Barber of Seville, with Sills, Alan Titus, Donald Gramm, Ramey, later televised

1978

Excerpts from NYCO’s Mikado are filmed for the Chevy Chase movie Foul Play

1979

Rudolf Nureyev debuts in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, choreographed by Balanchine and Robbins

Beverly Sills becomes General Director

NY Premiere of Menotti’s La Loca, with Sills in her final company role, with Susanne Marsee and Robert Hale

Carol Vaness and Thomas Moser debut in company’s first La clemenza di Tito

1980

U.S. premiere of Weill’s Silverlake, directed by Prince, with debuting Joel Grey, recorded by Nonesuch

One-week tour to Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia

First of 10 tours to Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia

NPR tapes 13 NYCO performances for broadcast

Two-week tour to Guanajuato and Mexico City

New York City Opera National Company, a touring group of young artists, embarks on a 5-week tour of Traviata, directed by Corsaro, first of 20 annual national tours

Beverly Sills Farewell Gala, taped for telecast, with guest appearances by Domingo, Renata Scotto, Eileen Farrell, Carol Burnett, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Kitty Carlisle

1981

NY Stage Premiere of Janáĉek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Corsaro, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, starring Gianna Rolandi; Maurice Sendak debuting as designer. Later televised

1982

Premiere of opera-house version of Bernstein’s Candide, directed by Prince, conducted by Mauceri, with Mills, David Eisler, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, John Lankston, later televised and recorded

1983

First supertitled production: Cendrillon with Faith Esham, Erie Mills, Forrester

New York Premiere of Handel’s Alcina, directed by Andrei Serban, with Vaness, Mills, Raymond Leppard conducting

1984

City Opera becomes first U.S. opera company to institute supertitles for all foreign-language productions

First of 2 one-week tours to ArtPark in Lewiston, NY

NY Premiere of Glass’ Akhnaten, directed by David Freeman, conducted by Keene

1985

NYCO records Glass’ Satyagraha, with Douglas Perry, Keene conducting

1986

Brigadoon, with Sheryl Woods, Joyce Castle, Tony Roberts, directed by Gerald Freedman, conducted by Paul Gemignani, launches 5-year spring series of American musicals

World Premiere of Davis’ The Life and Times of Malcolm X, directed by Rhoda Levine, starring Ben Holt

First of 11 annual one-week tours to Saratoga Performing Arts Center

1987

First of 2 two-week tours to Orange Country Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California

Three-week tour to Taiwan

1988

Christopher Keene becomes General Director

2-week tour to Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

1989

Mark Delavan debuts as Paul Fontaine in The Desert Song

1990

U.S. Premiere of Janáĉek’s From the House of the Dead, directed by Levine, conducted by Keene

NY Stage Premiere of Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron, with Richard Cross, Thomas Young, conducted by Keene

1991

George Manahan debuts, conducting Die tote Stadt

1992

NY Stage Premiere of Doctor Faust, with William Stone, conducted by Keene

1996

Paul Kellogg becomes General and Artistic Director, appoints Manahan Music Director

Pamela Armstrong debuts as Mimì in La bohème

1997

American Premiere of Einem’s The Visit of the Old Lady, starring Joyce Castle, directed by debuting Joanne Akalaitis

Company premiere of Handel’s Xerxes, directed by debuting Stephen Wadsworth, with Lorraine Hunt and David Daniels debuting, and Amy Burton

American Premiere of Tan Dun’s Marco Polo, Martha Clarke debuting as director

NY Premiere of Picker’s Emmeline, starring Patricia Racette, Francesca Zambello directing, Manahan conducting

1998

Bejun Mehta and David Walker debut in Handel’s Partenope, with Lisa Saffer, directed by debuting Francisco Negrin

1999

City Opera initiates VOX: Showcasing American Composers, an annual series of orchestral readings of operas-in-progress

2000

Lauren Flanigan stars in Thomson’s The Mother of us All, with Michael Devlin, directed by Christopher Alden

Debuting Mark Morris directs the NY Premiere of Platée, with debuting Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Christine Brandes, Katharine Goeldner, and Burton

2001

Rolando Villazón debuts in La bohème, opposite Maria Kanyova, directed by James Robinson, later televised

2002

NY Premiere of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, with debuting Joyce DiDonato and John Packard, and Woods

2004

Director Bartlett Sher and soprano Emily Pulley debut in Levy’s Mourning Becomes Electra, with Flanigan, Manahan conducting

NY Stage Premiere of Rossini’s Ermione, with Alexandra Pendatchanska, Barry Banks

NY Stage Premiere of Strauss’ Daphne, starring Elizabeth Futral, directed by Stephen Lawless

World Premiere of Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, directed by Mark Lamos, Manahan conducting

2005

NYCO’s first tour to Japan: Madama Butterfly, directed by Lamos, and Mark Adamo’s Little Women, directed by Levine

2006

NY Stage Premiere of Semele, City Opera’s 11th Handel opera, starring Futral and debuting Vivica Genaux, directed by Lawless

2007

Gerard Mortier appointed General Manager and Artistic Director, to begin his term in 2009.

New York Premiere of Margaret Garner, with music by Richard Danielpour, libretto by Toni Morrison