Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast is a one-act opera in ten short scenes. It takes place in the studio of a bankrupt classical music station on its last night of broadcasting. (At midnight the new owners will convert the frequency to easy listening.) The work presents the final show of the station’s last night, an opera program hosted by a failed tenor, Antonio Caruso. Moving from realism to satire to visionary lyricism, Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast is an experimental work that innovatively delivers the theatrical magic of traditional opera.

The libretto for Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast was published in Italian Americana (Winter 2005) accompanied by a long inteview with composer Paul Salerni. Praised for his ‘resplendent vocalism’ (American Record Guide) and his ‘lusciously sweet voice, with its ringing, perfectly-tuned high notes’ (Opera Now), the young tenor Eric Fennell sings the title role. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, librettist Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet.