Left to right: Byron Singleton, Christopher Beaurline, Young Bok Kim, Jeffrey Mandelbaum and Elizabeth Ronan-Silva.

On November 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, and 16, the Mannes Camerata presented Il Caffé d'Amore at the West Park Presbyterian Church. Conceived and assembled by Grant Herreid, the newly appointed Director of the Historical Performance Program, this piece of modern musical theater is based on the secular cantata Noi siam tre donzellette semplicette by Roman composer Luigi Rossi with interpolated songs, dialogues, and duets by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Sances, Merula, Rovetta, and Fontei.


Left to right: Elizabeth Ronan-Silva, Natasha Steinhardt and Byron Singleton.


Left to right: Julia Koci, Elizabeth Ronan-Silva and Greta Feeney.
Set in a singles bar in the 1990's, Il Caffé d'Amorefollows the story of three seductive women as they preside over a game of love and chance with the local clientele. "Extremely excited over the quality of voices this year at Mannes," Mr. Herreid double cast the production with Elizabeth Ronan-Silva and Renée Winick as Amarilli, Sarah Eyerly and Julia Koci as Lilla, Danielle de Niese and Greta Feeney as Corinna, Young Bok Kim as Festauro, Natasha Steinhardt as Filli, Christopher Beauline as Tirsi, Jeff Mandelbaum and Michael Mitchell as Mirtillo, and Byron Singleton as Titiro.

The new production continues the rebirth of the Camerata since the death of founder Paul Echols, who often mixed modern theater with early music. Commenting on his new work, Mr. Herreid stated, "I am always looking for pieces in the Camerata tradition, works that are not just reflective of their own period, but also mean something in our time. Two things inspired me to put Caffé together. The first was Rossi¹s cantata, written in the early 1600's. The second thing is the Mannes Camerata itself, which takes its name and mission from the Florentine Camerata, the 16th-century academy that invented opera through attempting to recreate ancient Greek musical theater traditions. By putting early music in a contemporary context, productions like Caffé offer a way for early music to thrive in today's world."