Wuthering Heights

Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021) redefined 20th century American opera with works like Susannah and Of Mice and Men, and continued into the 21st century with Prince of Players.

His final opera, Prince of Players was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera where it premiered in 2016. Prince of Players subsequently received its NYC premiere in 2017 by the little OPERA theatre of ny at The Kaye Playhouse, followed by a production at Florida State University where he was Professor Emeritus. At the age of 95, Carlisle Floyd received two GRAMMY Awards nominations for the world premiere recording of Prince of Players: Best Opera Recording and Best Contemporary Classical Composition, for the live recording produced by Florentine Opera and Reference Recordings.

 

Carlisle Floyd first achieved national prominence with the New York premiere of his opera Susannah by the New York City Opera in 1956. In 1957 it won the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award and subsequently was chosen to be America’s official operatic entry at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Phyllis Curtin and Norman Treigle were celebrated for their interpretations of the main roles.

 

His second opera, Wuthering Heights, premiered at Santa Fe Opera in 1958. Floyd revised Act III in 1959, when it was presented by the New York City Opera.

 

Many operas followed including Of Mice and Men (1969), which became one of Floyd’s most performed works throughout the world. Based on the Steinbeck novella, it was commissioned by the Ford Foundation and premiered in 1970 by the Seattle Opera. Bilby’s Doll (1976) and Willie Stark (1981), were both commissioned and produced by the Houston Grand Opera [HGO], the latter in association with the Kennedy Center. A televised version of the world premiere of Willie Stark opened WNET’s Great Performances series on the PBS network in September of 1981.  Another premiere by HGO was Cold Sassy Tree (2000). It was in Houston where Carlisle Floyd co-founded the influential Houston Opera Studio with David Gockley.

 

Susannah, his most celebrated opera, finally reached The MET in 1999 in a production featuring Renée Fleming and Samuel Ramey in the iconic leading roles.

 

His non-operatic works include the orchestral song cycle Citizen of Paradise (1984), which received its New York premiere with mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer.

 

Among Floyd’s numerous awards and honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship (1956); Citation of Merit from the National Association of American Conductors and Composers (1957); National Opera Institute’s Award for Service to American Opera (1983); and the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony at the White House (2004). In 2008, Floyd was one of four honorees—and the only composer—to be included in the inaugural National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors. Additionally, he served on the Music Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1974–80 and was the first chairman of the Opera/Musical Theater Panel.

 

In 2001, Floyd was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame (2011) and the Florida Artist Hall of Fame (2015). He was awarded six honorary doctorates.

the little OPERA theatre of ny [LOTNY] most recent production was Zemlinskys Zimmer | Zemlinsky’s Room, a chamber opera in three parts. The production was presented at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space) with music by Alexander Zemlinsky featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy. It was a Friday weekend pick in the NY Times as well as New York Magazine.

The season before little OPERA’s production of Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth was presented at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. An original adaptation and translation of Haydn’s marionette opera Philemon und Baucis. It was little OPERA’s first family friendly production of Opera & Puppets for Kids and was called “delightful...spirited… [and] engaging” in Opera UK.

In 2023, American One Acts, a double bill was presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. The production paired Highway 1, U.S.A. by William Grant Still, libretto by Verna Arvey, with Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill, libretto by Arnold Sundgaard. The NY Classical Review credited little OPERA for "brightly reviving a pair of American rarities" and calling the performances "outstanding."

Since its founding in 2004, the little OPERA theatre of ny has presented four NY Stage Premieres: Britten/Piper’s Owen Wingrave; Hasse/Coltellini’s Piramo e Tisbe; Floyd’s Prince of Players; Mozart/Cigna-Santi’s Mitridate, re di Ponto; two US Stage Premieres: Saint-Georges/ Desfontaines/De Genlis’ L'Amant Anonyme; Cui/Pushkin’s A Feast in the Time of the Plague; one World Premiere: Zaretsky/Kharms Man in a Black Coat: and commissioned a new translation of Mozart/Metastasio’s Il re pastore as The Shepherd King from Mark Herman & Ronnie Apter.

LOTNY’s concerts have included Past & Present on Governors Island; This Little Light of Mine at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, American Opera Scenes, a concert for 9/11 and The Bohemians both at Socrates Sculpture Park and Floydiana at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.

To date, the little OPERA theatre of ny has performed in four boroughs. Wuthering Heights at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture will be its first production in the Nolita neighborhood. lotny.org