Friday (11/9) on the New York Times blog ArtsBeat, Daniel J. Wakin reports, “New York City Opera’s music library was ‘totally ruined’ by flooding from Hurricane Sandy, but the company’s archival material, going back 60 years, can be salvaged, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Water filled the basement of the Lower Manhattan building, 75 Broad St., where the company rents offices and storage space, last week. Workers had removed about half of the material—consisting of recorded matter, programs, photographs and other items—to higher floors before the storm hit, said the spokeswoman, Risa B. Heller. George Steel, the company’s general manager and artistic director, worked hard to save the material, she said, even operating the freight elevator himself. … The materials in the basement were retrieved Thursday or Friday, Ms. Heller said, and would be treated and restored by Rapid Refile, a document recovery firm based in Allentown, Pa. … Ms. Heller said the company’s library of orchestra parts for an undetermined number of operas could be replaced at a reasonable price, although years of bowings and other performance indications would cost more.”
Posted November 14, 2012
