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NYCO Renaissance is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization that plans to relaunch New York City Opera in 2015, pending approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court. NYCO Renaissance plans to use the 1100-seat Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center as its venue.

History
New York City Opera began with the goal of providing affordable opera to the people of New York. For 70 years, NYC Opera met this goal, earning the title of "The People's Opera" from New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. In October of 2013, New York City Opera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the middle of the season, citing insufficient funds. ...

In November 2013, NYCO Renaissance was formed by Roy Niederhoffer, an investment manager and former NYCO Board member. In 2014, NYCO Renaissance placed a bid for the rights of NYCO ...

Another bid for the NYCO rights was placed by architect Gene Kaufman ...

In December 2014, the New York City Opera Board of Directors voted to recommend to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court a sale of the New York City Opera name, related intellectual property, and the New York City Opera Thrift Shop to NYCO Renaissance, Ltd.

Venue
NYCO Renaissance plans to use the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center as the venue for its productions. Located at 10 Columbus Circle in New York City, NY, The Rose Theater is a medium size theater with seating for 1100 people.

Events
On March 9th, 2015, NYCO Renaissance hosted a Gala concert and dinner in honor of the late Maestro Julius Rudel. The Gala featured performances by a variety of opera stars including Plácido Domingo, Christine Georke, David Daniels, Mark Delavan, James Morris, and Frederica von Stade. The New York City Opera Orchestra and the Musica Sacra Choir performed as well, lead by number of world-renowned conductors, including Imre Palló, Pacien Mazzagatti, Plácido Domingo, James Meena, Steven Osgood, and Gary Thor Wedow.

In addition to performances of classic and modern works, a world premiere of "The Waking" by Tobias Picker, based on the poem by Theodore Roethke, took place at the Gala concert. Performed by soprano Kristin Sampson, the Times The Gala raised over $800,000 that will be used to fund future productions.

Future
NYCO Renaissance plans to put on a 2015-2016 season, pending approval from the US Bankruptcy Court on whether they will gain New York City Opera's name and rights.

Leadership
Roy Niederhoffer, investment manager and former City Opera Board Member is the Chairman of the Board for NYCO Renaissance. Roy Niederhoffer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1987 with a degree in Computational Neuroscience. He founded the hedge fund R. G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Inc. in 1993, and continues to serve as its President. A pioneer in multi-asset-class quantitative trading, the firm has specialized in providing positive-carry protective strategies for equity and other portfolios. His philanthropic efforts have focused on the arts and arts education. Mr. Niederhoffer serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Harmony Program, and has served on many other Boards over the years. In 2012, he received a New York City proclamation for leading and managing a well-publicized relief effort for victims of Hurricane Sandy which involved hundreds of people and the delivery of tons of food and supplies to affected areas of Rockaway and elsewhere. He is an accomplished classical and jazz pianist, plays violin with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, as well as many other instruments, and is an avid skier. He, his wife and his four children reside in New York City.

Jeffrey Laikind is the President of the Board. Laikind began his professional career at the Marine Midland Trust Company. He worked at David J. Greene, was Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager at A. G. Becker; Portfolio Manager, Vice President, and Shareholder at Wertheim & Company; and Managing Director in charge of Client Services at Furman Selz. In 1985 he co-founded Prudential Securities Investment Management. He has served on numerous corporate boards including Harken Energy, Hanover Direct Quadrant Romania, Hapoalim Securities, and RiverSource Funds. He obtained a B.A. from Cornell University and attended the New York University Graduate School of Business. He received his Chartered Financial Analyst degree in 1967. Mr. Laikind has a long history in the not-for-profit world. He is a former Chairman of the Executive Committee of New York City Opera, and served on the NYCO Board for 10 years. He was the creator of OPERATHON, the first on-air fundraising program for an arts institution in New York City and was responsible for three years of live New York City Opera broadcasts, sponsored by Pioneer Electronics. In 1985 he was named captain of the team that represented the United States at the World Maccabiah Games, and was named General Chairman in 1993. He founded and was Chairman of the Board of StreetSquash, an urban enrichment program recently recognized as one of the best run, not-for-profit organizations in the United States. He was elected a Trustee of Choate Rosemary Hall in 2005, and was President of the CRH Alumni Association from 2005-2009. In 2013 he received the Distinguished Service Award from Choate, and was named "Mr. Choate."

General Director Michael Capasso has produced, directed and toured opera and musical theater productions in the U.S. and abroad for over 30 years. He began his career producing and directing while still in his late teens and early twenties. In 1981, he, along with Diane Martindale, founded New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre. In 1995, Capasso conceived and designed a permanent home and performance space for the company, repurposing the lower level of the St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church on Manhattan's East Side, and transforming the large, unused space into a 204-seat "jewel-box" theater. Drawing on his background in construction, he was involved in every facet of the project, even personally manning heavy equipment to dig the orchestra pit. Over the 30 years of his leadership, Dicapo Opera Theater presented a diverse programming to the New York public, and, in co-operation with the Armel Festival, premiered three productions of contemporary American operas in Europe. In addition to his work with the Dicapo Opera Theatre, Mr. Capasso has directed operas at l’Opéra de Montréal; Mallorca Opera, Spain; Toledo Opera; Connecticut Opera; New Jersey State Opera; Opera Carolina; and Orlando Opera among others. Mr. Capasso founded the National Lyric Opera in 1991, a touring company that has brought fully staged operas to communities in the American Northeast that would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience live opera.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Capasso mounted a production which began touring in the United States in February 2010. The production continues to tour and was most recently hosted in Mexico City’s famed Palacio de Bellas Artes. As an author, his writing credits include: a staged adaptation of Dickens's A Christmas Carol; Opera Senza Rancor, a satire on the world of opera; Puccini’s Passion, a biographical play with music on the life and career of Puccini; a new book and libretto for La Périchole; English librettos for Die Fledermaus and The Daughter of the Regiment; and a concert/lecture series for the New York Historical Society. Capasso's film on the life and career of Enrico Caruso, which he wrote and produced, aired on the A&E Network's Biography series in 1998. Other film credits include his direction of scenes from Nabucco for the feature film The Secret Lives of Dentists. Capasso is a regular participant on the popular intermission quiz of the Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts on WQXR. He has received New York City's Ellis Island Medal of Honor, The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Leonardo Da Vinci Award for Cultural Achievement from the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York. In 2004, he was named "Man of the Year" by the Italian Welfare League and in 2009 received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the Order Sons of Italy in America.