ARIA SERIOUS?

Valerie Scher , at SDNN , has just posted a w onderful in-depth article about the state of the arts in San Diego . You can read the article here. - Edward

Bloomberg has some commentary on the announcement last week by NYCO that it has eaten much of its endowment in an effort to stay afloat. The news is not good as it goes on to question the fundraising abilities of newly appointed leader George Steel. You can read the commentary for yourself here . We're hoping for the best. - Edward

Sad news. The Orlando Sentinel is reporting the 51-year old Orlando Opera will cease operations at the end of this month, citing decreased ticket sales and lack of funds to keep the organization afloat. A recent fundraising campaign with a goal of $500,000 netted only $25,000. You can read the article here . We wish our friends and colleagues on Orlando the very best. - Edward

Incredibly sad news today concerning Baltimore Opera. Baltimore Opera which had filed for Chapter 11 three months ago, has announced they have now filed for Chapter 7 which is the complete liquidation of the Company. They have now joined the ranks of Opera Pacific and Connecticut Opera. You can read the article here . Not a good way to begin the weekend and we wish our colleagues at Baltimore Opera all the best. - Edward

Peter Gelb has commented to The New York Times over the the Met's move to put their two Chagall's up for collateral . "We don’t think it’s a major event," he told the paper. The article also discusses a move to reduce singer salaries by 10% across the board which is quite a move if you ask us here at the Aria Serious tower . You can read the full article here . - Edward

Nevada Opera, which in January sent a dire message that it would close after 41 years unless it could raise $100,000 in just four weeks is now saying it exceeded goals with its fundraising efforts and can now mount a production of La boheme in April. You can read about it here . Good news for a Friday! -- Edward

Modern Arts Notes has just posted a blog entry on why the $50 million dollars for the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the federal stimulus package should be viewed as a defeat and not a victory. They then use San Diego as an example, saying that $50 million in stimulus doesn't amount to the cuts in San Diego alone, the nation's 17 th largest metropolis. The article then cites that roughly 100,000 arts organizations create somewhere close to 6 million jobs. Therefore, support of the arts is vital to economic stimulation. As someone who works for San Diego Opera I can say that the Arts do indeed create jobs. Our Company, which can employ hundreds of people for each production, is entirely local. The carpenters, the dressers, the electricians, stagehands, wig and make-up crew, chorus, symphony and administrative staff all live here in San Diego. We pay taxes. We put money into the local economy. Even our principal singers, who are not from San Diego but live here fo...

The San Diego Reader has just published an article on the state of the arts in San Diego. The article is worth a read to know what we and our fellow organizations are going through. It begins: "In early September, Ian Campbell, general director and artistic director of San Diego Opera, was in London to discuss a possible coproduction with the prestigious Royal Opera, known as Covent Garden. He then went on the continent. 'When I came back through London about two weeks later, the economic shoe had dropped, and I told them we could not continue discussions, and that was that,' says Campbell." Wonder what opera the Royal Opera House is commissioning these days? Bummer. You can read the article here and blame the sub-prime mortgage lenders next time you see them. -- Edward

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who led the charge "to ensure that taxpayer money is not lost on wasteful and non-stimulative projects," such as funding museums, theaters and arts centers has kept money from his own daughter's pocket, the up-and-coming soprano Sarah Coburn . (Aria Serious has heard incredible things about her Lakme . That's her to the left with Aria Serious friend Larry "Go Steelers !" Brownlee .) You can read about all of it here . Meanwhile, I'm going to go waste money on completely non-stimulating things like Don Quixote . -- Edward

The Huffington Post takes a close look at the state of opera and suggests, in this economy, perhaps less is more when staging an opera . While the article brings up some very good and realistic points I'm not sure if any but a small percentage of opera fans would really support a "concert opera" season from their local company. Part of what makes opera so great is the combining of art forms -- the music mixed with the drama. Take that away and is it still opera as we know it? -- Edward

These past few days have seen more belt tightening by our friends and neighbors up north. San Francisco Opera has announced a scaled back 2009-2010 season, filled with many classic operas with incredibly strong casts. "There's no question that this season represents a huge belt-tightening for us," SFO General Director David Gockley told the Chronicle . "We're scaling our budget back from $70 million last season to $64 million, and we'd already planned to make sure there were a lot of popular productions and ones for which we could do a lot of performances." You can read the entire article here . Closer to home, Los Angeles Opera announced staff and pay cuts this morning as well as a reduction in performances and the delay of the world premiere of Daniel Catán ’s Il Postino . The economy and the financial drain of mounting their first Ring Cycle is to blame. You can read the article here . With this news falling like bombs around us, many of you must b...

New York Magazine has taken a close look at New York City Opera's current state of affairs and offers some surprisingly simple and yet very bold suggestions on how to cure the ailing Company. You can read the article here . Speaking of opera and New York, Anthony Amato talks about why decided to close his lovely shoebox of an opera company , the only one we know of that sells homemade brownies at intermission (which makes it a company we love dearly and earns them... wait for it... brownie points). -- Edward

...is pretty dismal right now, so says The Washington Times this morning . Don't believe it? Reuters ran something similar as well. I'm really tired of writing these types of posts but it is important to share this information with you because it is something we are all facing -- and not just opera companies -- symphonies, theatres, art galleries are all facing the same grim future. Why then does it seem so focused on opera? It is expensive to produce. And nearly impossible to make cuts on the production end. You can't just have half an orchestra, half a chorus, half a set when producing grand opera. The singers are specialized. And everyone needs to get paid. If we are to believe the articles up above there is still more bad news to come. Happy Friday dear readers. Here's a fresh box of puppies to take a bit of the edge off. -- Edward

... I said yesterday. And today, now this . Crap. -- Edward

Pam Kragen , writer and editor for the The North County Times , has just published an interview with boss Ian Campbell about how the economy is affecting us here at San Diego Opera. It is a sobering article but luckily (and very wisely I might add) Ian promises that the artistic quality will not diminish: "If you lower the artistic standards, that's like putting water in the beer. First the regulars in the pub know it, and then others see the regulars going away and they know there's something wrong." Great analogy boss, and one I can (and will) drink to. Umm, after work of course. Phew. You can read the full article here . -- Edward

Even the stalwart Met is not immune to the economic climate and has announced it is giving up The Ghost of Versailles in an effort to cut costs. Angela Gheorghiu and Thomas Hampson , who were scheduled to sing, will now appear in a revival of La Traviata . "In looking at ways to economize, that was an unfortunate sacrifice," commented Met General Manager Peter Gelb . Aria Serious hears chatter of some other productions being replaced at the Met but until substantiated , we'll file these as rumors for now. In related economic climate news, San Francisco Opera is taking a close look at its Ring cycle . Readers will remember that this is a co-production with Washington National Opera, which has delayed its full Ring cycle and is now performing Götterdämmerung as two concert performances. "We're not going to make a decision for at least 60 days," said San Francisco Opera spokesman Jon Finck . "First we have to ascertain whether this is really just a po...

First the good news. Who am I kidding, there is no good news here. As condolence however, you will find a box of puppies down below, nature's prozac for all your troubles. Some of you might want to skip directly to the puppies, or, view as needed and repeat as necessary. Now to the bad news. It is a tough world out there. These past few weeks we've already seen Opera Pacific close its doors for good , Michigan Opera cancel a production , NYCO furlough its employees and Pasadena Symphony cancel performances and lay off some of its senior staff and the Aria Serious moles tell us more big news is coming down the pipeline. The tight economy is indeed putting the squeeze on arts organizations and the Los Angeles Times explores this in a depressing but nonetheless incredibly important article this morning. The solution, LA Times critic Mark Swed suggest, might be found in bold programming . And he might be onto something. Difficult times usually lead to an increase of artistic outp...

Yep. You read correctly. Time to ice the Molson! The Star reports that the Canadian Opera Company has announced a surplus -- the sixth one in a row! Citing near-100% attendance in its 66 mainstage productions, this news comes just a few weeks after they announced a $2 million gift from an anonymous donor to fund 100 public concerts each year. It is worth noting the the COC receives a very large government subsidy so to compare this to American opera companies is like comparing apples and oranges. And besides, we're talking Canadian dollars so it is not like it is real money. We're kidding, you know we love you Canada... -- Edward

It is a rough morning. News came out yesterday that Opera Pacific, our fine neighbors to the north, has closed its doors for the remainder of the season, and has no plans for future seasons in the works . Additionally, all but a skeletal staff remains and President and CEO Robert C. Jones as well as Artistic Director and Conductor John DeMain have been laid off. Opera Pacific's Santa Ana headquarters is also up for sale so it seems this closure is for good and all of Southern California that much poorer with the loss of this great company. We here at Aria Serious are crushed by this news wish our colleagues and friends the very best. We also know this is just the beginning of what will be a very difficult period for performing arts in general. If anyone from Opera Pacific would like to share with us their story, please feel free to contact us. -- Edward Orange Crush graphic by Darren Beckett of Threemagination, Inc.