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The New York New York column in Crain's New York Business by Miriam Souccar (October 3, 2005)
Opera houses in private homes
Forget the Met. Now opera buffs can attend a performance of Don Giovanni in someone's living room. The Opera Company of Brooklyn has started a new series called B.Y.O.B., in which five different operas will be performed in apartments throughout the city.
The locations are being kept secret to all but ticket buyers in order to protect the privacy of the host. But a source confirms that one of the performances will be held in the penthouse apartment of composer
Thomas Pasatieri, who has scored more than 150 films, including The Little Mermaid, Shawshank Redemption and American Beauty.
The series is the opera company's latest effort to attract new audiences--tickets cost just $20.
"Many of my friends cannot afford a subscription to the Met, but that doesn't mean they have to be shut out from hearing great music," says Jay Meetze, musical and artistic director of the company. "Series like this help keep this art form alive in the ears of average people."