Tosca
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Giacomo Puccini
In partnership with BRYANT PARK Picnic Performances
Saturday, August 24, 2024
7:00 PM
Free to the Public
About the performance
Since 2016, New York City Opera has appeared as a staple of the Bryant Park Summer Picnic Performances Series. These performances are presented free of charge and frequently draw crowds of 5,000 or more.
Continuing the summer of Puccini, New York City Opera will present a concert production of the perennial favorite, Tosca. Tosca is a three-act opera that takes the audience back in time to Rome during the 1800's, just after the French Revolution. Napoleon has successfully taken France and has invaded Rome, creating a new republic. The beloved opera singer, Floria Tosca, is in love with painter Mario Cavaradossi and here begins the story of how Chief of Police Baron Scarpia intersects with these lovers in drama, betrayal, revenge, and murder.
Featuring the New York City Opera Chorus, and led by Maestro Joseph Rescigno, this concert production dazzles with New York City Opera stars Kristin Sampson, soprano, Victor Starsky, tenor, and Michael Chioldi, baritone.
No tickets necessary. Lawn chairs and picnic seating with blankets provided by Bryant Park.
The Cast
Creative Team
Location
Bryant Park, 42nd Street, NYC
(Between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas)
Biographies
Rubin Casas
Bass-Baritone
Rubin Casas, Bass-Baritone, (Angelotti/Jailer) the Pasadena, Texas native “serves up a reckoning” as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Charleston Opera Theater. He created the role of Alfonse in Frankenstein with Arizona Opera. He sang Grech in Fedora with Teatro Grattacielo and Haydn’s Mariazeller Masse for Mid America Productions at Carnegie Hall. He sang Scarpia in Tosca with the Opera Company of Middlebury, where he previously sang Banco in Macbeth. He also returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover The Bonze in Madame Butterfly. Casas “provided rumbling bravura” as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. He also received acclaim for his performance as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera in the Heights and Opera New Jersey, where he was described as "darkly compelling" and for delivering "proclamations deeply and fully.” He made a strong impression as Bishop Ruiz in Florentine Opera’s Grammy Award-winning world premiere of Rio de Sangre, a role that was also featured on the Albany Records commercial release. In his Carnegie Hall debut with the Opera Orchestra of New York, Casas was noted by Opera News as "promising vocal material" in the role of Ashby in La Fanciulla del West. Throughout his career, Casas performed with several esteemed opera companies, including Tacoma Opera, Shreveport Opera, Virginia Opera, Spokane Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Las Vegas, New York City Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. He was also an alumnus of Yale University.
Michael Chioldi
Baritone
Michael Chioldi, acclaimed for his powerful baritone voice and magnetic stage presence, has carved an illustrious path, enchanting audiences worldwide with his rich timbre and emotive performances.
In January 2022, Chioldi made a triumphant major role debut with the Metropolitan Opera, portraying the title role of Rigoletto in a new production. Critics lauded his performance as nothing short of a triumph, with Robert Levine of Bachtrack proclaiming it as "a true Verdian voice that displays booming power, tender softness, and ravaging tragic colors." This debut solidified Chioldi's status as one of the preeminent interpreters of Verdi's iconic roles.
In the 2023-24 season Chioldi returned to the MET to reprise his role as Rigoletto and debuted the role of Don Alvaro in Daniel Catan’s Florencia en Los Amazonas, a production seen across the world as part of the MET’s Live in HD Performances and PBS’s Great Performances schedule. He sang the titular character in Verdi’s Falstaff at Palm Beach Opera, where critics lauded “ a bravura performance” and returned to Utah Opera for the title character of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. He sang one of his signature roles (over 100 performances) of Papa Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata with the Pittsburgh Opera, where critic George P Parous of Onstage Performances hailed: “The most astonishing singing of the evening came from baritone Michael Chioldi.”
Upcoming performances in 2024-25 will take Michael to Seattle Opera for Tonio in Pagliacci, Irish National Opera and the MET again for the title role in Rigoletto, the MET for Amonasro in a new production of Verdi’s Aida, Bryant Park w NYCO Summer Concerts as Scarpia in Tosca, Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and Palm Beach Opera for Germont in La Traviata.
Adam Cioffari
Stage Director
Stage Director/Bass-baritone Adam Cioffari has been praised for his evocative performances, from his “zesty” (Opera News) Elviro in Houston Grand Opera’s Xerxes to his “sneering” (Washington Classical Review) Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera with Maryland Lyric Opera. In 2022, he made his debut with New York City Opera in the world-premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Garden of the Finzi Continis. Recently, he played Capulet in Roméo et Juliette at Central City Opera, Fasolt in Das Rheingold with Dayton Opera and Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera in Williamsburg. In concert, he recently performed in Handel's Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and in Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Arkansas Symphony.
Cioffari was named “Outstanding Stage Director” by the Tampa Bay Theater Awards for his production of The Merry Widow for St Petersburg Opera, where he also recently directed productions of Tosca, Amahl and the Night Visitors and Così fan tutte. He will direct Samson et Dalila for SPO in fall 2024. Other directorial credits include Die Fledermaus with Opera in Wiliamsburg, Rigoletto and Così fan tutte at Shreveport Opera and The Magic Flute at Opera North. Cioffari is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, the Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, and Aspen Opera Theater. He is a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Martin Fisher
Baritone
Baritone and Actor, Martin Fisher, recently performed at Lincoln Center in the multimedia stage play MVP, based on the life of iconic film director, Melvin Van Peebles. In 2022, Martin joined the Broadway National Tour of My Fair Lady and is the first Black actor in Broadway history to perform the role of Alfred P. Doolittle. He is the Winter 2023 cover artist for Classical Singer Magazine and his repertoire includes Scarpia (Tosca), the title role in Rigoletto, Germont (La Traviata), Crown (Porgy and Bess), Escamillo (Carmen), Marcello (La Bohème), Tonio (I Pagliacci) and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly). Off Broadway: The Sporting Life of Icarus Jones
(The Drama League). Film/TV roles FBI: Most Wanted, Blue Bloods (CBS), American Rust (Prime Video), Extrapolations (AppleTV+), Lioness (Paramount+) New Amsterdam, The Blacklist (NBC),Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Monsterland (Hulu). Upcoming: Sinking Spring (AppleTV+), A Complete Unknown and Pulpitum.
Kathryn Olander
Pianist
Recently hailed by Opera News for her “impressive playing,” Kathryn Olander is a frequent assistant conductor/pianist with New York City Opera as well as many regional opera houses. In addition to coaching privately she has held coaching positions with the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Chautauqua Institute. An avid recitalist, highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall and Zankel Hall, The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bryant Park's concert series, the Hungarian Consulate of New York and the Polish Consulate of New York, and Bechstein Hall. Ms. Olander is a regular pianist with Reaching for the Arts and Opportunity Music Project, specializing in bringing music to underserved communities and Creative Stage. Ms. Olander began teaching piano at Northeastern University while earning her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at New England Conservatory and has since maintained a studio of private piano students.
Joseph Rescigno
Conductor
Joseph Rescigno has conducted the music of Bach through the moderns for companies on four continents. Permanent engagements have included the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, WI, where he served as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor for 38 seasons beginning in 1981. He also has been Music Director of La Musica Lirica since 2005. As a guest, he has mounted the podium of more than 50 companies such as the Montreal Symphony and the New York City Opera (debut 1985). Maestro Rescigno’s discography of seven recordings includes two operatic world premieres and studio recordings of operatic and symphonic works. The University of North Texas Press published his Conducting Opera: Where Theater Meets Music in 2020. A native New Yorker, Joseph Rescigno comes from a long line of musicians on both sides of his family. He trained as a pianist and has studied and performed music since childhood.
Sami Sallaway
Soprano
Sami Sallaway was most recently seen as Reggie Fluty in St. Bart's Players' production of The Laramie Project. Her other performances with St. Bart's Players include The Mystery of Edwin Drood and several cabaret shows. Last summer, she was a soloist in New York City Opera's From Vienna to Broadway! in Bryant Park. Sami has also appeared in other New York City Opera productions, including the world premiere of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and A Concert for Sugihara at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, she has performed with Village Light Opera in Night at the Tonys!. Her other notable roles include leading performances in Seussical: The Musical, The Robber Bridegroom, and RENT.
Kristin Sampson
Soprano
Praised by The New York Times for her “bright, sizable and expressive voice,” Mexican-born American soprano Kristin Sampson’s recent and upcoming performances include returns to her signature Puccini heroines, the title roles in Tosca and Madama Butterfly, as well as Minnie in La fanciulla del West, and concert performances with ArtPark, New York City Opera, The Accord Symphony Orchestra, and Washington Opera Society. Other recent performances include Cio-Cio-San and Tosca with Connecticut Lyric Opera, a workshop of Jake Landau’s Psyche, a debut and return engagement with the Kauno Filharmonijain in Lithuania under the baton of Maestro Constantine Orbelian, a company debut with Opera Grand Rapids as Liù in Turandot, a role debut as Marguerite in Faust with the Washington Opera Society, and concerts with NYCO and WOS. Additionally, Ms. Sampson performed as Magda in La campana sommersa, as well as Minnie in La fanciulla del West with NYCO, a role she has also sung with Opera Carolina, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Italy. She made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and her debut at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago as Tosca. Additionally, Ms. Sampson has performed internationally with the Magyar Tavak Fesztiválja in Hungary, Opera Society of Hong Kong, Armel Opera Festival, National Theatre of Szeged, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, and Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
Markos Simopoulos
Baritone
Baritone Markos Simopoulos from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been praised for his notable “dark chocolate” vocal tone. He has performed internationally since childhood, from St. Lambertus Basilica in the Netherlands to The Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece, where he was honored with the Emerging Leading Artist Award. His role as Parson Peele in Hunter College's Patience and Sarah received glowing reviews, describing his performance as “comic and poignant." He made his debut with New York City Opera (NYCO) as the Bank Teller in The Garden of The Finzi-Continis. Most recently, Markos appeared with Teatro Nuovo as Carlo (Ernani) in their Maria Callas Remembrance concert and as the Herald in their production of
Anna di Resburgo.
David Smolokoff
Tenor
Praised for his “warm tone and deep expressiveness”, David Smolokoff is a Manhattan based operatic tenor and soloist. David has sung with New York City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Utah Festival Opera, New Jersey Light Opera, Lyric Opera of New Jersey, The Narnia Festival in Narni, Italy, and the Festival of the Agean in Athens, Greece among others. He has been a soloist with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, as well as New Jersey’s Orchestra by the Sea and The Greater Shore Concert Band. Among other operatic roles, David has performed Rodolfo in La Boheme, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Canio in Pagliacci and “The Witch” in Hansel and Gretel. Equally at home on the musical theater stage, David has portrayed several leading roles including “Pippin” in Pippin, “Joseph” in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, “The Beast” in Beauty and the Beast, and “Tony” in West Side Story.
Victor Starsky
Tenor
Tenor Victor Starsky, a native of Richmond Hill, New York, received critical acclaim for role debuts as Radamés in Verdi’s Aïda and George Gibbs in Rorem’s Our Town at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater in 2023. He performed Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with New York City Opera and Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème with Wichita Grand Opera. This winter, Starsky makes his Sarasota Opera debut as Don José in Carmen; one critic wrote “While possessing a voice that flexes with nuance...Watching his slow crumbling into unhinged desperation is unforgettable." Starsky will make his debut with Charlottesville Opera as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in summer 2024. Previously, Starsky performed The Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass with Maestro Maurice Peress, and as an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera, he was awarded the Shoshana Foundation’s Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Valerie Wheeler
Stage Manager
Valerie Wheeler has served as Production Stage Manager at opera companies and festivals across the US, including New York City Opera, Portland Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Wichita Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Cleveland, University of Southern California/Thornton Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara. She has also served as Production Manager for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Valerie is currently the Production Stage Manager for Opera Carolina and Chautauqua Opera.