BEETHOVEN PIANOS benefit for GOTHAM CHAMBER OPERA

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

On June 13th at Beethoven Pianos, CEO Carl Demler was proud to introduce the Beethoven Pianos VIP Concert and Sale to benefit The Gotham Chamber Opera at their official 20th year Celebration and moving sale. They showcased their finest pianos with special musical guests in performance. There was also a silent auction and announcement of the new showroom’s services’ physical plant.

A "By invitation only" affair, the celebration included world class Broadway and concert musicians and artists, and a special presentation by Gotham Chamber Opera. Platinum Sponsor Chateau Latour Wines featured a wine tasting and executive chef Christopher Coleman concocted scrumptious Hors d'oeuvres. There was also a silent auction to benefit The Gotham Chamber Opera. A portion of the proceeds from the evening’s event was donated to The Gotham Chamber Opera.

Gotham Chamber Opera manager of external affairs David Rubeo with Beethoven Pianos CEO Carl Demler,
Soprano Maeve Hoglund and pianist Ming Kwong

Gotham Chamber Opera, now on its 11th season, is the nation’s leading opera company dedicated to the highest quality productions of chamber operas rarely performed today. Its mission is to produce vibrant, fully-staged productions of works from the Baroque era to the present that are intended for intimate venues. The company is committed solely to producing chamber opera. 

Ming Kwong, Maeve, Gotham Chamber Opera President Emeritus Karen Lerner,
Board President Beatrice Broadwater, and David Rubeo

Founded by conductor and Artistic Director Neal Goren in 2000, Gotham Chamber Opera has, in its short history, presented seven U.S. premieres of 18th and 20th century operas, including such masterpieces as Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione; Darius Milhaud’s Les Malheurs d’Orphée; Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s Dada opera Les Larmes du Couteau; and Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister’s Die Schwarz Spinne. In February 2005, Gotham presented the U.S. stage premiere of Handel’s Arianna in Creta. Also in 2005, Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto Festival USA presented Gotham Chamber Opera’s U.S. premiere of Ottorino Respighi’s fantastical puppet opera La bella dormente nel bosco, featuring the puppetry of Basil Twist. In the spring of 2006, Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring received its first professional staging in New York in more than 30 years, and in winter 2007, Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino received its first major professional New York staging in more than half a century. In the 2007/2008 season, Gotham Chamber Opera celebrated dance with Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera, María de Buenos Aires, directed by David Parsons and featuring Parsons Dance, and with a new work entitled Ariadne Unhinged, directed by Karole Armitage and featuring members of Armitage Gone! Dance. In 2009, Mark Morris directed the U.S. stage premiere of Haydn’s L’isola disabitata. In 2010, Gotham made news world-wide for its high-tech production of Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, staged in the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History, and for Montsalvatge’s El gato con botas (Puss in Boots), at The New Victory Theater, staged by Tony Award-nominated director Moisés Kaufman, with puppet design by Blind Summit Theatre. For the 2011-2012 season, Gotham Chamber Opera celebrated its tenth anniversary with the world premiere of Dark Sisters by composer Nico Muhly, and a revival of Gotham's first production, Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione (1772). For more information, visit www.gothamchamberopera.org.

Executive Chef Chris Coleman,  Carl Demler

Carl and Gregory Nissen

Over the past 40 years, the Beethoven Piano Showroom has been featured as the most successful collection of new and restored pianos in the International market. They have represented an unsurpassed selection of vintage rebuilt Steinway and Mason & Hamlin pianos, as well as an extensive collection of the finest German grand pianos, such as Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Grotrian-Steinweg, Sauter, and Rönisch among others., to name a few.

Among their prominent clientele are Renée Fleming, Andre-Michel Shub, Max Roach, Roberta Flack, Diana Krall, Bono, Björk, as well as the late Leonard Bernstein.

Jeff Saver

A Wonderful Life [Broadway, 2005] Dance/Music Arranger/Musical Supervisor/Vocal Music Arranger

Chicago [Broadway, 1996] Piano/Assistant Conductor/Accordion

Kiss of the Spider Woman [Broadway, 1993] Keyboard I/Assistant Conductor [Replacement]

Sweeney Todd [Milburn, NJ (Regional), 1992] Musical Director

Merrily We Roll Along [Regional (US), 1990] Musical Director

Lucky Stiff [Off-Broadway, 1988] Musical Director

Into the Woods [Broadway, 1987] [Replacement] Synthesizers [Replacement] Assistant Conductor [Replacement] Writing

Time after Time Composer


Gregory Nissen

Siren's Heart...Norma Jean and Marilyn Monroe in Purgatory [Off-Broadway, 2012] Music Director & Arranger Primal Scenes' SIREN'S HEART Continues 7th Month Off-Broadway at the Actors Temple (Feb 6, 2013)

Midtown International Theatre Festival presents Third Annual Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, 2/4-24 (Jan 16, 2013)

SIREN'S HEART Celebrates Five Month Run At Actors Temple Theatre (Dec 4, 2012)

GABOR

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