San Diego Opera announces its closure

Por Charlene Baldridge | Reportero SDUN

San Diego Opera (SDO) presented a one-time-only, long ago sold-out performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s great Messa da Requiem (Latin Mass for the dead) to a capacity crowd at the 3,000-seat Civic Theatre March 20.

As it happened, the Requiem, became the requiem for the 49-year-old opera company. The previous day’s announcement that SDO will cease operations after its April 13 performance of Jules Massenet’s “Don Quixote” took many by surprise.

Soloists for “Requiem” were Moldovan soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, Polish tenor Piotr Beczala (three artists heard in SDO’s stunning production of Verdi’s “A Masked Ball,” which closed Sunday, March 16) and Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, who sings the title role in “Don Quixote.” Italian conductor Massimo Zanetti, who made his company debut with “A Masked Ball,” conducted the wondrously sung Requiem, which featured the San Diego Master Chorale and the San Diego Opera Chorus (chorus masters Dr. Gary McKercher and Charles Prestinari, respectively). San Diego Symphony filled the forestage. Exquisite moments included Stoyanova and Blythe’s “Agnus Dei,” which emanated from an unexpected, celestial place in each. Beczala ardently displayed his burnished voice in the 1874 work. Furlanetto, a frequent artist at SDO, sang gloriously and passionately, consistently elevating the quality of the performance.

As for ceasing operations, it’s a pity San Diego Opera’s lifespan falls short of celebrating its 50 years as a cornerstone of cultural arts in San Diego and beacon of excellence for the entire Southern California region. Prior to its inaugural production of “La bohème” at the Civic Theatre in 1965, San Diego opera lovers had to content themselves with touring San Francisco Opera productions at the California Theatre and radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera.

Rumors, placement of blame and considerable schadenfreude abound now, especially in social media. “Coulda, shoulda” and “if only they woulda” are typed uppercase by the snipers, sniggerers and those who failed or never even tried.

Beginning in 2009, when SDO General and Artistic Director CEO Ian Campbell had already cut one complete opera and one performance of each of the remaining four, this writer’s annual Performances Magazine interviews with him took on an increasingly dire tone. In subsequent years, additional cuts were made to programming, staff and education. Due to the economy, decreased support (governmental and personal) and decreasing attendance (subscriptions fell by nearly 7,000 between 2010 and 2014, and in the same period, total ticket sales dropped dramatically from 41,353 to an anticipated 31,500 this season), Campbell said in published features that unless things changed the opera company would close.

Rather than build up tremendous deficits and then declare bankruptcy, as opera companies elsewhere have, Campbell and the opera board decided to close the company now, while the ability to pay creditors is still possible.

The quality of the product has never been compromised. Campbell used “A Masked Ball” as a case in point.

“I thought it was a brilliant production in every way, and it sold only 74 percent of capacity, even after rave reviews in every medium,” he said.

Campbell cites the loss of several million dollars in foundation money in ’09 and ’10, money that was never replaced.

“The budget in 2007 was $17.4 million,” he said. “This year’s will likely end at under $15 million. For the same period other donations declined and so did ticket sales. Eventually it’s make or break time. We knew this three years ago and made the sounds publically.

“Looking down the track, with these declines, we believe we would not have enough money to end 2015 if we started it,” Campbell continued. “Then we’d go bankrupt and we’d owe patrons ticket money. That’s immoral. We’re trying to close with dignity and pay the obligations we have.

“San Diegans have invested millions through ticket purchases and contributions. I salute every one of them because they believed.”

Money already collected for future subscriptions is in escrow and will be refunded. Pensions are held by staff members in individual 403B retirement plans to which both they and the opera contributed.

“We don’t have the money to go forward,” Campbell said. “You read in the newspaper ‘They have $16 million in assets.’ Of course we do. The asset is the money you owe us two years down the track that you’ve pledged. We don’t have the cash. It’s an asset. We have the scenic studio. We have this furniture. We have the computers. It’s not workable cash in many cases. People don’t understand what those terms mean.”

The majority of the staff will leave April 14 with a skeleton staff remaining to file reports, return orchestra scores and hopefully sell the scenic studio. Then an assignee will come in. He will own all the physical assets and negotiates their disposal.

The worldwide opera world on both sides of the Atlantic is shaken. Here are quotes from a few players on this side of the pond:

Opera director and Old Globe Artistic Director Emeritus Jack O’Brien, who was slated to direct Jake Heggie’s “Great Scott” in a future season: “The increasingly dire situation of the arts and arts support in our country grows to endemic proportions. The loss of the San Diego Opera is incalculable and as such, brings to a close one of the great, enduring, and most valuable sources of civic pride in the country. We’re all in mourning!”

Long Beach Opera Artistic/General Director Andreas Mitisek: “How sad to hear that the oldest company in Southern California will be closing. What does that say about us, our communities, and our investment in the arts?”

David Gockley, San Francisco Opera (reported by Janos Gereben in San Francisco Classical Voice): San Diego “was one of the best-run companies in the country for decades — it sends shudders through me and my staff that this happens to a good company, not a New York City Opera.”

Opera News Editor F. Paul Driscoll: “The closure of San Diego Opera represents a great loss — not only to the people of San Diego and the people of Southern California, but to opera lovers and opera professionals throughout the United States. San Diego Opera was an important company with a distinguished history that was a vital part of the American opera scene. It will be sorely missed.”

According to U-T San Diego, ten other once-thriving operas have closed their curtains in the past six years in North America, including: Baltimore Opera in 2008; Opera Pacifica, Orange County, also in 2008; Connecticut Opera in 2009; Cleveland (Oh.) Opera and Spokane (Wash.) Opera in 2010; Opera Boston and Lyric Opera of San Diego in 2011; San Antonio Opera in 2012; New York City Opera in 2013; and Opera Hamilton, Canada in 2014.

—Between 1965 and the close of this season, Charlene Baldridge saw all but one of San Diego Opera’s productions. She can be reached at [email protected].