Atlanta Opera, which announced its coming season Monday, is in much stronger condition than it found itself a little over a year ago. At that time, Dennis Hanthorn, the company’s general director, said flatly, “if we have one mistake, it’s over.” The company was that close to the edge. Solid fundraising and a surprise $9 million gift from the estate of Barbara D. Stewart have combined to put the company on much more solid footing. “We are in the black,” Hanthorn said.
Still, the company's next season is limited to three main-stage operas, a reflection of its caution at a time when arts organizations everywhere are imperiled. The season will open with Bizet's opera Carmen, in a production originally designed for Florida Grand Opera by Allen Charles Klein. Atlanta will now own the sets, which it has purchased from the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Jeffrey Buchman will direct, and Arthur Fagan, the company's music director, will conduct.
Mezzo-soprano Maria José Montiel will make her company debut in the title role, which she has sung all over the world. Mexican tenor Fernando de la Mora will return to sing the role of Don José, and baritone Aleksey Bogdanov, singing here for the first time, will perform as Escamillo, the toreador. Carmen will open on November 10th at the Cobb Energy Centre.
On March 2nd, the company will present Verdi's La Traviata, reviving the production it purchased from Montreal Opera in 2005, when Hanthorn used it to open his first season here. The role of Violetta will be sung by soprano Mary Dunleavy, making her company debut. Russian tenor Boris Rudak will be making his American debut here in the role of her lover, Alfredo. Joseph Rescigno will conduct.
Perhaps the most interesting production of the season will be Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers, an opera the company has never performed. The "pop-up book"set, originally designed by Robert Innes Hopkins for Santa Fe Opera, updates the opera to the 1930s and turns Isabella, the "Italian Girl," into an aviator. Mezzo-soprano Sandra Piques Eddy will portray Isabella. Rising tenor Michele Angelini will sing the role of Lindoro, Isabella's sweetheart. Fagan will conduct, and the opera will be directed by German stage director Chris Alexander, in his Atlanta debut.
Hanthorn has transformed the company dramatically in the six seasons he’s been here. The company has attracted more corporate support than ever, moved to the stylish Cobb Energy Centre for its main-stage productions, and greatly improved the level of singing and playing. The company also has an ambitious education program, which this past season included Rabbit Tales, a children’s opera it commissioned and then took on the road to area schools and other locales.
Hanthorn indicated that the company’s projected budget for the next fiscal year will be $5.2 million, up slightly from the current year, after two years when the budget was basically flat. His goal is to return to a four-opera season, “as soon as our fundraising can support it.”
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