The Company
Founded in 1998 by Opera Singer and Artistic Director
Anne Tormela, The Manhattan Lyric Opera Company (MLO), is uniquely
devoted
to presenting elegant,
concise, user-friendly staged and
concert versions of the classic Operas, Operettas and Broadway works.
They specialize in making
the heart of this great
music accessible to
established large facilities as well as to smaller venues which might
otherwise never have the resources to offer
such artistic works in their
entirety or in part.
Employing only top artists, (MLO) performs at: Large
Theaters, Corporate Settings, Historic Houses, Museums, Libraries, State
Parks, Universities, High
Schools, Grade Schools, Synagogues, Churches,
Music Festivals, Retirement Homes/Villages, Private Homes, Resort
Hotels, Restaurants, Cruise Ships, and
can additionally offer their
service as a “Dinner and an Opera ™” evening.
Touring often, MLO cuts down almost all of their
productions to 90 minutes, adding supertitles and projected sets for a
user-friendly and
cost-effective approach.
They most recently completed
a 2005 Florida run of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and will
return again in 2008 to perform the ever
popular Operetta, The Merry
Widow. Other operas show-cased have been Rigoletto, Die
Fledermaus, La Traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor.
In addition to
Opera they perform a wide and varied repertoire which includes Broadway,
Neapolitan, Lieder, Oratorio, Spirituals and Popular Songs. They can
create a program in many languages, such as Italian, German, French,
Spanish, Russian and Hebrew and can customize a program to fit the needs
and the tastes of any audience.
Artistic
Director and Founder
A
native New Yorker, Anne Tormela, a lyric coloratura, has been noted for
her “secure technique, unfailing intonation
and expression and clear
and sensitive text.” (Ulrik Cold; Royal Danish Opera), her “ringing and strongly expressive voice with extraordinary vocal
control.” (Leif Kramp; Critic/Lübecker Nachtrichten) and “negotiating the upper reaches (of her voice) with dazzling security”
(David Syrus, Head of Music, Royal Opera House, Convent Garden).
Ms. Tormela has performed numerous operatic roles and
concertized all over the world in Italy, France, Germany, Israel, and
Sweden, and this year will debut with the Maracaibo orchestra in
Venezuela. In Germany she made her concert debut at Thronsaal auf Schlo§
in Schwerin; Stidtstheater, Wohnstift Augustinum in Bad Neuenahr, and
Kammermusiksaal der Stadthalle Mülheim in Mülheim an der Ruhr. In April
of 1998 she made her debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie
Hall in New York City.
She has won
numerous competitions and received several grants from facilities such
as The Rockefeller Foundation and the International Vocal Arts Institute
under the auspices of The Metropolitan Opera’s leading prompter and
coach Joan Dornemann.
In a
pioneering effort to bring opera to the masses she occasionally performs
with a city sponsored program called music under NY in designated
permitted spots in the subway. In addition to opera, Ms. Tormela has
a fourth degree black belt in Taekwon Do, is an avid swimmer, practices
yoga and plays the clarinet.
