If the Atlanta Opera’s 2013-14 season being announced Tuesday seems familiar, that’s by design.
The lineup coming to Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” (Oct. 5-13), Charles Gounod’s “Faust” (March 8-16, 2014) and Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville: (April 26-May 4, 2014).
“The board felt that we should be fiscally very prudent … so we picked pieces that we felt would bring in a good house,” music director Arthur Fagen acknowledged. “There was no wish at this juncture to venture out into little-known repertory or contemporary opera.”
The juncture at which Atlanta Opera finds itself is between leaders. Former general director Dennis Hanthorn and the board parted ways in July, after Hanthorn had held the post for eight years. His replacement is expected to be announced in April.
That left the job of selecting next season’s schedule and casting to a committee that included Fagen, in his second season as music director, artistic administrator Elecia Crowley, chorus master Walter Huff and consultant Eric Mitchko.
The Atlanta company had been on fragile economic footing during the recession, until it received an unexpectedly generous $9 million bequest in 2011 from longtime board member Barbara D. Stewart.
Fagen said another factor in making conventional selections is that Atlanta Opera’s season has remained at three productions since it was shortened from four for 2010-11.
“When you only have three operas a season and you want to maintain a subscription base, it’s hard to plan anything that might be viewed as experimental or contemporary” said Fagen, who auditioned more than 70 singers in New York this fall and also tapped talent he knows through extensive European conducting. “I hope we can move back in the direction quickly of four operas.”
About the Author