Articles

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Included in this section are some features on Nic’s work as well as a couple of articles he has written.

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What is an opera Festival…really?
by Nic Muni, published in OPERA Magazine, May, 2005
“Beyond the operational aspects of the three kinds of opera presentation systems (stagione, repertoire and festival), I have long been fascinated by the comparative atmospheres and experiential energies of each, having been artistic director of both a stagione house and a festival (of sorts) as well as having closely observed numerous repertoire houses as a guest stage director and opera-goer, both in the US and in Europe.”

 

 

 

 

Letter from Cincinnati
by Rebecca Paller, published in OPERA NEWS, November, 2002
“Cincinnati has a decorum – on the surface at least. But the sprawling town on the north bank of the Ohio River, long known for its conservative politics, continues to reel from the events of April 2001, when the police shooting of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed black teenager, sparked protests and street riots.”

 

 

 

 

Muni–frontier line opera
by Erica Jeal, published in OPERA Magazine, June, 2003
“Cincinnati, deep in mid-West America, just across the Ohio river from Kentucky, is a very conservative city–pretty much any Cincinnatian will tell you within minutes of your arrival there. So it’s something of a surprise to find that its yearly summer opera festival is headed by one of North America’s most unconservative stage directors, one with strong, even outspoken views on almost every aspect of opera.”

 

 

 

 

Moving with the times
by Paul Cutts, published in International Arts Manager, September, 2002
“Standing on the northern banks of the Ohio river, Cincinnati boasts the largest concert hall in the US and the country’s second oldest opera company. It is also home to a nationally respected ballet troupe, a symphony orchestra counting such greats as Leopold Stokowski and Fritz Reiner among its former music directors and has the oldest choral gathering – the Cincinnati May Festival – in the western hemisphere.”

 

 

 

 

Cincinnati Opera just keeps on raising its game
by Erica Jeal, published in OPERA Magazine, October, 2003
“This season featured the company’s first 21st-century work: William Bolcom’s Medusa, previously heard in New York only in concert as part of an enterprising triple bill produced by the company’s artistic director, Nicholas Muni.”

 

 

 

 

The Opera Box
by Nic Muni (unpublished)
“What does the future have in store for Opera in America? To answer this question, I propose we look at the essence of the art-form itself separately from the way it is being produced and explore how each is aligning (or not) with core realities in our social/cultural evolution.”