Meet LoftOpera, the laidback, hip and younger alternative to the formal Metropolitan Opera.
Since 2012, LoftOpera has been putting together classic operas in lofts, warehouses, and underground venues throughout Brooklyn. The idea is to offer operagoers an affordable event where they can watch a classic production while sitting back and relaxing with a cold cup of beer.
“Essentially we’re an opera company that stages productions in lofts,” co-founder Dean Buck said. “The goal is to not change the art form or to say that we’re making the art form more acceptable. We’re just trying to put on operas at a very high quality in all aspects of the production.” For Buck, housing the performances in lofts where the atmosphere is more easygoing allows them to place opera in a “context where people who are not familiar with it would be more comfortable approaching it.”
“[The first production] was terrible. We had no idea what we were doing,” Buck said. “But luckily through friends, we found a great deal of people who helped us a lot.” Buck said everyone who helped in the production was surprised that they actually pulled it off and people liked it.
LoftOpera was created by New School alums Daniel Ellis-Ferris, 27, and Buck, 26, a year after graduating from The New School in 2012. The two met while studying Jazz at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Just like many other graduating musicians, both experienced the slim pickings of careers available to them right out of college.
Ellis-Ferris settled for a position with a tech startup, in general management and in content strategy before LoftOpera became successful enough to support its founders financially. “In terms of leaving school and becoming a human in the world, it was sort of like I was doing these shows on the side and not really believing that it could be anything but just a fun thing to do. I was also working internships, part-time jobs, and a bagillion other things at the same time to try to pay my rent and put money into the shows,” Ellis-Ferris said.
Buck and Ellis-Ferris never thought or even expected the company to take off as it did, but soon enough LoftOpera went from being a “fun thing” to an actual career and company recognized throughout New York. Today, LoftOpera successfully produces four large productions throughout the year. Their next production in December is Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” which will be performed in the MAST Chocolate Factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Buck and Ellis-Ferris produced their first show “Don Giovanni” in a Gowanus Loft they found through a Google search. From friends and friends of friends, the two were eventually able to find people to help with all aspects of the production including theatrical lighting, building sets, finding as a cast, as well as an orchestra for the show.
“[The first production] was terrible. We had no idea what we were doing,” Buck said. “But luckily through friends, we found a great deal of people who helped us a lot.” Buck said everyone who helped in the production was surprised that they actually pulled it off and people liked it.
Many of the participants were peers they had known from The New School, a community which Buck and Ellis-Ferris hold much appreciation for even after graduating. They credit TNS’s music community for playing a big factor in making LoftOpera come to life.
“The important part wasn’t really what I was taking classes on, it was more of the people that I was going to school with — [people] like a lot of the orchestra members in the first LoftOpera, cast members, Dean, people that I’m still friends with, and people that encouraged me to keep doing this company,” Ellis-Ferris said.
While Buck and Ellis-Ferris expressed that The New School as an institution didn’t directly prepare or push them towards their future founding of LoftOpera—being that there was no direct course telling them how to produce an opera—they felt that the New School community did.
“The best part [of The New School] was the community of friends that I found, people [who were] like-minded musically,” Buck said.
Buck has brought this idea of community to LoftOpera’s mission. “To sum it all up, we’re making opera for everyone,” its website states. “It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, rich, broke, an opera newbie, or an opera queen. You don’t need to break the bank for a front row seat, and you don’t need to know any arias to enjoy the show.”
Illo: Alex Gilbeaux
