In Sunday’s (5/3) Washington Post, Anne Midgette writes, “Since the 58-year-old Baltimore Opera Company filed for bankruptcy in March, the future of opera in Charm City has been in question. Enter Giorgio Lalov, a Bulgarian-born impresario who for 20-plus years has headed a touring opera outfit called the Teatro Lirico D’Europa; who happens to live in Baltimore; and who is now seeking to establish a new permanent opera company there, the Baltimore Opera Theater. Lalov’s modus operandi with the Teatro Lirico has involved cost-saving through using inexpensive unknown singers, creating his own sets and costumes, and curtailing rehearsals. … He will have to change considerably to establish a permanent company, which will require him to follow the wage guidelines of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the musicians’ union, and for which he will have to hire outside directors as well as conductors. … Lalov has experience in getting opera onstage, but it remains to be seen whether it’s the kind of opera that lingers in the mind and heart—assuming, that is, that he manages to get his venture off the ground.”
Posted May 4, 2009
