Terrible news not just for New Yorkers but for all classical music lovers -- even those who have never set foot in the Bowery opera house, the 107-seat jewel willed into existence 60 years ago by maestro Anthony Amato: the Amato Opera will close doors at the end of this season.
On May 31, Le Nozze di Figaro will end the house's glorious history.
Unlike the bloated, inefficient government-subsidized European houses, and the big corporation-subsidized, hostage-of-big-donors American ones, the Amato Opera has been throughout the decades a testament to a man's passion for the opera, a beautiful dream really (and probably the only opera house in the world where homemade brownies were sold as refreshments).
Opera lovers everywhere can only be thankful to Maestro Amato for his beautiful dream.