Following the unexpected news on March 20 that San Diego Opera will close at the end of the 2013-14 season, other U.S. opera companies have also received media coverage for a range of financial issues. Tuesday’s (3/25) Indianapolis Business Journal reports, “The Indianapolis Opera said late Tuesday afternoon that it is canceling its fourth and final production of the season [Britten’s Albert Herring, set for April 25 through May 4] in the wake of financial challenges.” In Friday’s (3/21) San Francisco Classical Voice, Janos Gereben interviews David Gockley, general director of San Francisco Opera, who says that despite declines in subscriptions and other industry-wide challenges, he “bet the ranch” that his company’s ambitious 2014-15 season will “recapture subscribers, fill the houses, and produce contributions.” A separate article in Tuesday’s (3/25) San Francisco Classical Voice by Gereben includes a statement from San Diego Opera General Director Ian Campbell on why the company is ceasing operations: “We are not bankrupt, owe no money, and have no creditors we believe we cannot pay…. It is not an expense issue. It is a problem on the revenue side…. We have been unable to get the larger donations needed…. That, and a still problematic economy here, have conspired against us.”
Posted March 27, 2014
