Singing a Sad Song : The Economics of Opera

On Tuesday October 1, the New York City Opera announced that it would be closing its doors to the public after the company failed to raise a necessary $7 million through a kickstarter campaign to finish the 2013 Opera season. The opera company would have needed to raise an additional $20 million to keep the company up and running past this season.

According to spokeswoman Risa Heller, as of September 26, the opera raised $2 million plus an additional $301,019 pledged by 2,108 donors, but the sum was not enough to keep the 70-year old company alive.

“Feel like I’ve been run over by a truck…” tweeted Sarah Joy Miller, actress and singer who performed as the title role in the New York City Opera’s last show, “Anna Nicole.”

Miller’s co-star Stephen Wallem, who had previously been campaigning to raise funds for the company also posted on Twitter: “Heartbreaking. Honored to have been in their historic last performance.”

The New York City Opera was founded in 1944, and has a longstanding tradition of making opera more accessible by providing a platform for young American singers, as well as through its variety of operas and low-priced tickets. In 1944,  Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia named it “The People’s Opera”, a title The New York City opera still holds today.

“The New York City Opera was the launching point for many significant careers among singers, stage directors, and conductors,” said Joseph Colaneri, director of the opera program at Mannes College The New School for Music, who worked for the The New York City Opera company for 15 seasons, from 1983 to 1998. “New York has sadly lost an important opera company where the new generation of operatic artists might have begun their careers,” he said.

The New York City Opera has been swimming in turmoil for some time. In 2011, the opera company left its home at Lincoln Center due to financial difficulties and moved their offices further downtown to Broad Street. During their relocation, they slimmed down their performance portfolio to five performances and consequently used various venues as hosts for their performances. The New York City Opera performed their last show, “Anna Nicole,” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In order to finish the current 2013 season, The New York City Opera would have had to find a new space to practice and perform. In mid-October, talks of possibly using State University of New York’s Purchase College as a rehearsal and performance space made its way into the media, but according to Harry McFadden, Director of the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase, these talks are mere rumors. “There is no plan nor has there been any real discussion of a collaboration,” McFadden confirmed  in an interview with the *Free Press.*

“The New York City Opera’s closing is a sad, sad event, because a city this size should be able to support two Opera houses,” said Stefania DeKennesy, Associate Professor of Music at Lang. As New York City Opera has closed, the Metropolitan Opera is the only remaining prominent opera house in New York City.

“New York clearly has a need for a second, large-scale opera company where new works, neglected operas, and fresh interpretations of core repertory can be presented by a vibrant and talented group of operatic artists,” said Colaneri, Mannes Opera program director and former New York City Opera member. The closing of the New York City Opera means the possible loss of contemporary opera performances, not to mention the numerous singers, musicians, directors, set and costume designers who lost their jobs due to the closing.

With pre-recorded opera’s and performances being screened at movie theatres, like The MET Live in HD series, and the San Francisco Opera transmitting their operas to movie theatres, it seems a new form of opera is on the horizon, one that incorporates a more technological format. However, some purist opera enthusiasts believe the full effect of an opera can only be achieved through live performance.

“[Live] sung drama and comedy heightens the emotional impact of any story. When we add an orchestra, sets, lighting and costumes, we bring emotional theater [into being] on the highest level,” said Colaneri.  He also told the *Free Press* that attending a live opera performance allows people to connect to the characters through basic human emotions and reflect on societal issues depicted in the operas, like racism and classism. “Opera is really about us as human beings, and serves as a powerful legacy for future generations,” Colaneri said.

New School professor DeKennesy believes that opera continues to be an indispensable art form. “The idea of telling a story onstage through music, drama, visuals and dancing will never, ever go away,” she said.

Michelle Sharlock, 25, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Northwest’s event coordinator is disappointed in the state of the art in New York upon hearing of the closing of the New York City Opera. She told the *Free Press* that opera in Seattle is more accessible than in New York because of the city’s multitude of smaller opera houses.

       Sharlock recently performed in a one-woman opera entitled “The Porn of Pure Opera” at Club La Mama in the East Village.  In her show, a resurrected composer Verdi tries to convince the audience that opera is still relevant. The show focused on presenting the breadth of art forms that an opera includes.

“Opera needs to ‘reinvent itself’ in order to stay relevant,” Sharlock said. She suggests reinventing operas or performing new, avant-garde operas, but believes that old operas still have a place in our society. “[Wagner’s] Das Rheingold is about the same issues that people are experiencing today, but until it is packaged in a way that is relevant to the people it won’t survive or thrive,” Sharlock said.

Even with the closing of the New York City Opera, Colaneri is passionate about opera’s legacy. “Opera is all about expressing the human via music and drama; it is timely and meaningful to us all in some great or small way. Opera matters more than ever,” he said.

On December 19, The Mannes Opera will have two performances of Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims.”

 

With reporting by: Charlotte Woods and Annie McLoughlin