Mission
Divaria Productions was founded with three important missions:
1) To give emerging artists and future stars the chance to perform at a high level
2) To make quality opera accessible
3) To reach out to groups of patients with Alzheimer's & other ailments otherwise unable to enjoy vocal concerts.
History
Divaria was founded in 2011 with our first production, Elisir D'Amore set at a golf resort in Florida and presented with two casts at the Arclight Theatre March 22-24th.
The production was featured on New York One and was so successful that it was hired on the spot for a repeat performance in the fall at the Tuxedo Club in the elite Tuxedo Park, NY.
Here are some quotes about our debut production:
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
TONY CONVERSE
TV producer
I was very impressed by the concept and staging....Truly inventive!!!
FRED WALKER
Broadway producer, Managing Director of Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre
A WONDERFUL evening! Those voices!!! Everyone left happy. You con't ask for more!! What a great production!!
ALBERT GAULDEN
Founder and Director of the Sedona Intensive
Those two hours were so uplifting and lyrical and masterful!!!
EILEEN SOROTA
Manager of Peter Elliot Women
What a wonderful evening...the idea to take the theme and thrust it forward into contemporary life was brilliant!
2010 - present
2010 - present
Since its founding, Divaria Productions has continued to make community engagements with opera a cornerstone of its mission.
Here are some of our milestones:
- Recipient of Grants from New York State, Southampton Town, Suffolk County, private foundations and the Acción Cultural España of the Spanish government
- Performances in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Arizona in the US
- Performances in several cities in SPAIN including Logroño and Santo Domingo de la Calzada
- Featured in over 15 newspapers/magazines in Italy
- Featured in over 15 newspapers/magazines in Spain & Latin America
- Featured on television stations New York One, AZTV, & SPAIN's Popular TV
- Presented US premiere of Offenbach's La Bonne D'Enfant (the Babysitter)
- Two-time feature in Salome Chamber Orchestra's Hamptons Music Festival
- Presented first ever opera at Bay Street Theatre and this year will be performing for the TENTH consecutive year
- Outreach performance at 80th Street Residence for Memory Care, Hope Lodge of the America Cancer Society, NYU Rusk for stroke victims, Bronx Pros for patients with mental illness, and Carnegie East Senior Residence
- Presented an anniversary celebration of 175th anniversary of Lorenzo da Ponte featuring singers, instrumentalists, a Columbia professor speaking about his life and renowned playwright Mario Fratti in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
- During the pandemic created RIVAL QUEENS, a new form of art that melds documentary film with the music of opera, which has won more than 20 awards in international film festivals and been featured in more than 35
- presented American premiere of Pedro Halffter's opera KLARA in partnership with Harvard Program of Refugee Trauma to benefit their work with refugee women & children
- Presented the zarzuela La Dolorosa, which explored struggles of immigrant women, in honor of International Women's Day in collaboration with several Spanish cultural Institutions
- Collaborated with noted author & Rossini scholar Sergio Ragni to present an original multi-disciplinary theatrical piece based on his "Isabella Colbran, Isabella Rossini" for classical singers, piano, harp and actor/narrator, telling the story of Spanish born 19th century diva Isabella Colbran. the wife and muse of composer Gioachino Rossini
- have presented online educational offerings about opera across the United States and Spain including in partnership with Harvard University and University of Texas at Austin
- Three time participant in outdoor performances at San Gennaro Festival