“For first time in more than 80 years, Met Philadelphia will again host opera … when the Academy of Vocal Arts presents BrAVA Philadelphia! March 28,” writes Peter Dobrin in Tuesday’s (11/12) Philadelphia Inquirer. The fundraising concert for AVA “will feature both current residents of the school as well as alumni…. AVA has researched the performance history of [Philadelphia’s] old Metropolitan Opera building, says [AVA spokesperson] Camille Mola, … and believes this will be the first time since the 1930s that opera has been heard at Broad and Poplar Streets. The building opened in 1908 with a production of Carmen, and, after the New York opera company’s last production there in 1920, Mola said, the building was the site in 1931 for the U.S. premiere of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, produced by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra … The building has been used as a movie house, ballroom, sports venue, and church. After decades of neglect and deferred maintenance, it reopened in December with a special appearance by Bob Dylan following a reported $56 million renovation. Now called Met Philadelphia, it hosts more than a dozen shows a month as a Live Nation venue.”
Posted November 14, 2019
