“Lyric Opera Baltimore, which scaled back from three productions to two after its 2011-2012 inaugural season, is scaling back again. Only one staged work, Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly,’ will be presented during 2014-2015,” writes Tim Smith in Tuesday’s (7/1) Baltimore Sun. “James Harp, artistic director of Lyric Opera Baltimore, said … ‘This will be a re-building year so we can have two productions again in ’15-’16.’ Lyric Opera Baltimore was formed after the nearly 60-year-old Baltimore Opera Company went bankrupt and was liquidated in 2009.… The inaugural season budget of Lyric Opera was about $1.5 million for three productions, Harp said. Costs for two performances of a single production next season will be about $450,000…. ‘Every company in the world is taking another look at the business model,’ said Harp. For Lyric Opera, that model may include co-productions with other regional companies in … Philadelphia, Charlotte and Toledo…. Those companies would bring their casts and sets. Lyric Opera would provide the chorus and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which has performed in the pit for the company since the inaugural season.… Lyric Opera’s annual education and outreach activities will increase next season, especially the ‘Opera-To-Go’ programs presented in public schools.”
Posted July 1, 2014
