“The San Diego Opera, which once attracted Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills to sing in Southern California, announced Wednesday that ‘an insurmountable financial hurdle’ would force it to shut down after this season ends in April,” writes Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (3/19) New York Times. “Ian D. Campbell, the opera’s general and artistic director, said in a statement … that the opera’s board had voted on Wednesday to wind down the company ‘with dignity and grace, making every effort to fulfill our financial obligations’ rather than ‘inevitably entering bankruptcy.’ … In recent years San Diego had struggled to come up with new sources of donations, and it pushed ticket prices up, with some premier orchestra seats going for as much as $280 on Saturday nights. The news of the company’s closing will add melancholy to a sold-out performance of the Verdi Requiem the company plans to perform on Thursday night…. The opera company plans to give four performances of Massenet’s ‘Don Quixote’ in April before shutting down.” Opera America reports that San Diego Opera was the 10th-largest company in the U.S.
Posted March 20, 2014
