The trouble for opera began in the second half of the 2019-2020 season. Starting with performances ongoing in the middle of March 2020, every opera company was forced to cancel the remainder of their season as COVID restrictions began that placed a strict size limit on indoor meetings. Seasons had been scheduled; contracts had been signed; rehearsals were underway, and some performances were in mid-runs; then everything shut down. COVID continued to prove problematic for opera companies for the next two seasons. Small and large companies were similarly affected by the pandemic. Singers everywhere were out of work. Opera companies were without or had diminished income for two years. As we look ahead to the 2022-2023 season, I decided to write a blog report on where we were, what we’ve been through, and how the future seems to be shaping up; admittedly, we may not be out of the woods with COVID yet. For this report, I mainly focus on the four largest companies in the mid-Atlantic: Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Washington National Opera.
Companies have moved back into the large opera houses, and the COVID recovery is well underway. In 2021-2022, adjustments still needed to be made for mask wearing, checking vaccination status, and sometimes socially distanced seating as well as contingencies for COVID outbreaks. Tensions still exist since it seems as though there is a new virus variant every six months with uncertain consequences. However, schedules have been set to have full 2022-2023 seasons. I will comment on this history, and I will also comment on the arrangement of each company’s season going forward, but I’d like to begin with some positive developments from the pandemic period as companies and singers rose to meet the challenges of those dark days by learning new skills and offering new works in different ways.
A Few Personal Highlights from 2020-2022
*Opera Philadelphia began a pay for view, streaming service in 2020, named the Opera Philadelphia Channel and spent their creative energies posting videos of previous performances and commissioning new works to be posted there. There are several highlights here, but their wildly innovative TakTakShoo caused me to become a forever fan of mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi.
*I was reminded of the advantages of film and how effectively it can be combined with opera by OP’s filmed versions of Soldier Songs and La Voix Humaine.
*I saw my first opera live with masked singers in Pittsburgh Opera’s Semele, with the audience also masked and in socially distanced seating in May 2021. It was a marvelous performance by their young artists, and it seemed like heaven to be hearing live, fully staged opera in person again after more than a year without.
*I enjoyed the bold, adventurous spirit of Virginia Opera in the Fall of 2021 when, to contend with COVID restrictions they staged Wagner’s Das Rheingold on the outdoor driving range at Topgolfs in Norfolk and Richmond. What fun at a time when we needed fun!
*I was initially saddened to find there would again be no new American Opera Initiative operas in January of 2021. However, Washington National Opera’s AOI had kept the program running during the pandemic, providing a safe haven for their young artists to perform, and three new 20-min operas were posted online in March of that year. It was a breath of fresh air, good new operas, and hope.
*WNO also sent their Pop-Up Opera Truck to locations around the city to present mini-concerts by their Cafritz Young Artists to all within earshot.
*Although Opera Lafayette is not a focus of this report, I must mention their production of The Blacksmith. No in house performances allowed? No problem! Artistic Director Ryan Brown transformed an opera-comique, Le Maréchal Ferrant, into a Southwestern opera that was performed on a makeshift stage beside a barn on a ranch in Montana with the audience seated on socially distanced bales of hay. Woooee! Loved it. A film was made for viewing, and eventually OL brought the live production to The Barns of Wolf Trap.
*Wolf Trap Opera managed to keep their summer Filene Artists and Studio programs functioning, while following safety protocols for its young artists. WTO offered a slate of online performances and tried out a new streaming service.
*Also not a focus of this report, my love-hate relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, while closed for new performances, turned towards love as the Met screened a different opera video of theirs every night of the pandemic. That was a help; thank you Met.
*Individuals, groups, and companies learned new technological skills and put them to use. One I especially enjoyed was the blending of individual performances into unified group performances for online streaming. I especially enjoyed an online video performance of Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man by musicians from the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, done as a tribute to hospital workers and common Americans on the frontlines during pandemic. Individual horn players and percussionists recorded their parts in their home offices and basements, which were synthesized together. It is an inspired and inspirational performance.
*Small companies with limited resources were especially hard it by the pandemic. Some performed public service as well as finding ways to keep their programs going. Maryland Lyric Opera responded immediately by purchasing and distributing medical masks to health care workers and first responders, at a time when they were in short supply.
To all the opera companies that made herculean efforts to keep opera alive and maintain connections with their audiences during a deadly pandemic, we salute you!!!
A Look at the Ghosts of Seasons Past and Yet To Be
For each company we will take a look at three COVID-impacted seasons and the new 2022-2023 season:
Opera Philadelphia (operaphila.org)
2022-2023
Otello - Festival O22 - Sep 23, 25, 30, Oct 2
The Raven - Festival O22 - Sep 21, 24, 29, Oct 1
Black Lodge - Festival O22 - Oct 1, 2
Afternoons at AVA - Festival O22 - Sep 24, Oct 1
Opera on Film - Festival O22 - Sep 27, 28, 29, 30, Oct 1, 2
Carmina Burana – Feb 3, 5
La Bohème - April 28, 30, May 5, 7
2021-2022 (COVID impacted)
Amici e Rivali - Evening of Vocal Fireworks
Oediipus Rex + Lilacs
Rigoletto
2020-2021 (COVID impacted)
The Drama of Tosca - outdoor concert
2019-2020 (COVID impacted)
Denis&Katya - Festival O19
Semele - Festival O19
The Love of Three Oranges - Festival O19
Let Me Die - Festival O19
Curtis in Concert - Festival O19
Verdi’s Requiem
Madame Butterfly – cancelled
Opera Philadelphia’s primary response to the pandemic, as mentioned previously, was to create the streaming service Opera Philadelphia Channel and to commission several new works for the Channel. An emphasis for the first two years was employing composers and performers of color to create and perform works that address cultural issues. This theme of opera companies beginning a correction for its history of misogyny, racism, and sexual orientation discrimination played out in all of the companies. Opera Philadelphia Channel now has a secure role as part of Opera Philadelphia. Plans for additional new productions are in place, as well as the formation of collaborations with other companies to add to its online content to OPC.
One of the most painful losses for me was two years without an Opera Philadelphia Fall festival, which had taken a leadership role in helping opera find its future. I am so pleased to see that Festival O22 is part of the 2022-2023 season. Festival O22 will take place at several venues around the city, many smaller halls. Beyond that, OP’s new season reflects what can be seen for all the opera companies’ new seasons: the new normal is going to very much be the old normal. In Opera Philadelphia’s case, the season will again be the festival, a winter concert vocal work, and a Spring top ten classic opera. Fair enough, companies still have to make a profit and top ten operas are still most likely to fill large concert halls. In Opera Philadelphia’s case, their seasons were already heavily balanced towards innovation.
Pittsburgh Opera (pittsburghopera.org)
2022-2023
Rusalka - Sep 17, 20, 23, 25
The Marriage of Figaro - Nov 5, 8, 11, 13
Ariodante - Jan 21, 24, 27, and 29
Il Trovatore - March 25, 28, 31, April 2
Denis & Katya - May 6, 9, 12, 14, 20
We Shall Not Be Moved - May 13, 16, 18, 19, and 21
2021-2022 (COVID impacted)
The Magic Flute
The Rose Elf
In A Grove
Carmen
Blue
2020-2021 (COVID impacted)
Così fan tutte
Soldier Songs, rescheduled for streaming
Semele
Charlie Parker’s Yardbird
2019-2020 (COVID impacted)
Don Giovanni
Florencia en el Amazonas
Alcina
The Last American Hammer
Carmen - Cancelled
Norma – Cancelled
After cancelling Norma and postponing Carmen in the first half of 2020, Pittsburg Opera was determined to bring it fans live, fully staged opera in the second half. Indeed, as far as I can tell, PO was the only company to hold indoor opera performances in the 2020-2021 season, which required some substantial modifications for what was presented. Four productions were scheduled for the 2020-2021 season using shortened classic operas and chamber-sized works performed in the small theater of the Pittsburgh Opera headquarters, using socially-distanced seating and masks for audience and performers. Even so, in person performances of Soldier Songs had to be cancelled at the last minute. Because fewer than 100 patrons could be accommodated per performance under the requirements, Pittsburgh Opera made videos of the performances, including a dress rehearsal of Soldier Songs, and screened them for free to reach their larger community.
The new season returns to the typical format for PO seasons, three or four classic operas presented at their larger venue, the Benedum Center, and additional works of less often performed canonical works and contemporary works performed in smaller venues by their young artists. The productions in the smaller venues are often my favorites; their young artists are outstanding. PO will also present a modern production by a black composer and librettist, We Shall Not Be Moved. This work which premiered as part of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O17 deals with a 1985 incident involving a standoff between MOVE, a black liberation group, and the Philadelphia police which ended with eleven dead, including five children, and a neighborhood destroyed. PO’s performances of the most popular operas tend to be excellent, but their smaller works performed by their young artists in intimate settings can be really special. Last season’s In the Grove, which received rave reviews is currently available online for free.
Virginia Opera (vaopera.org)
(Operas performed in Norfolk, Fairfax, and Richmond)
2022-2023
The Valkyrie – (Norfolk) Sep 30, Oct 1, 2, (Fairfax) 8, 9, (Richmond) 14, 16
The Pirates of Penzance – (Norfolk) Nov 4, 5, 6. (Fairfax) 12. 13, (Richmond) 18, 20
Fellow Travelers – (Norfolk) Jan 27, 28, 29, (Fairfax) Feb 4, 5, (Richmond) 10, 12
La Traviata – (Norfolk) Mar 3, 4, 5, (Fairfax) 11, 12, (Richmond) 17, 9
Will Liverman in Concert – Dec 1, 3
2021-2022 (COVID)
Das Rheingold
La Bohème: Rodolfo Remembers
Three Decembers
The Marriage of Figaro
2020-2021 (COVID)
La Voix Humaine/Gianni Schicchi - cancelled
The Marriage of Figaro – cancelled
Cold Mountain - cancelled
The Pirates of Penzance – cancelled
Rigoletto - cancelled
2019-2020 (COVID)
Tosca
Il Postino (The Postman)
Cinderella (La Cenerentola)
Aida - Cancelled
Virginia Opera was hit hard by COVID, especially in season 2020-2021 where the season was scheduled, then modified, then cancelled. But the company pushed hard in the 2021-2022 season by scheduling, as mentioned earlier, the first opera of the season outdoors, then indoors using a modified, shortened La Bohème, which could be done under the restricitons of late Fall 2020. Virginia Opera also utilized several online formats to reach out to their audience, including an online discussion/interview series with the artistic director and assistant Conductor called “Martinis, Manhattans, and Maestros” and online recitals by their young artists. They also offered a program of traveling opera to any group who wanted to take advantage of the service.
For the 2022-2023 season, VA Opera will return to its usual format of four operas presented in the usual three Virginia cities, but with a decidedly more varied and adventurous flavor. One of the new season offerings is Fellow Travelers which deals with the “lavendar scare” of the 1950s causing a witch hunt and the firing of gay employees from the federal government. VO has also been tending towards including a production with connections to Broadway. Artistic Director and Conductor Adam Turner has stated his desire to offer a mixture of classical operas and contemporary works.
Washington National Opera
2022-2023
Il Trovatore - Oct 22, 28, 30, Nov 2, 5, 7
Elektra - Oct 29, 31, Nov 4, 6, 9, 12
The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson - Jan 20, 22
AOI – Three 20-Min Operas – Jan 21
Blue - Mar 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 25
La Bohème - Mar 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 24, 26
Marian Anderson Award Recital - Leah Hawkins Feb 12
2021-2022 (COVID)
Come Home: A Celebration of Return
Written in Stone
Cosi fan tutte
Carmen
2020-2021 (COVID)
AOI – Three 20 Min Operas - online video
La Bohème - cancelled
Blue – cancelled
Nixon in China – cancelled
Fidelio – cancelled
Boris Godunov -cancelled
Rigoletto – cancelled
Cosí fan tutte – cancelled
2019-2020 (COVID)
Otello
The Magic Flute
AOI – Three 20 Min Operas
Don Giovanni - last three performances cancelled
Samson and Delilah - last three performances cancelled
Blue - cancelled
Porgy and Bess - cancelled
In January 2020, Washington National Opera announced six productions for the 2020-2021 season. On March 12, the Kennedy Center sent out an alert that KC would be closed from March 13-31, a last gasp of hope the pandemic’s effects would be short lived. They were forced to shut down two operas in mid run that month and then cancel the remainder of the 2019-2020 season. In June, WNO cancelled all but one planned opera for 2020-2021 and added Blue for a Spring production; later, they were forced to cancel all productions for 2020-2021. Their next fully staged opera in the Kennedy Center was performed in May 2022. They did manage to keep the Cafritz Young Artist program and the American Opera Initiative going. In general, the young professionals who got into young artist training programs during the pandemic were the lucky ones.
WNO returns in 2022-2023 with three operas from the classic repertoire, the American Opera Initiative twenty-minute operas, and two modern works that address racial disparities. The pattern is similar to the last fully scheduled season of 2019-2020.
Concluding Thoughts
Opera is changing. Most of these changes started before the pandemic began. Large opera companies are including more modern works in their seasons and including more works by composers and librettists of color. Many black performers used online access to audiences during the pandemic to press for social change. Companies appear to me to be making genuine efforts to begin to address racial and gender disparities as well as sexual misconduct; let’s hope that continues and is expanded. Despite the devastation that the pandemic brought for companies and performers, it also unleashed a wave of innovation, especially in the use of technology and online productions, not viewed as a temporary substitute for live opera, but as a new realm of avenues for creative expression. Will the development of online projects continue? How will it be mixed with in person performances? I think the pandemic also might have unleashed a wave of pent-up individuality as performers had to get by on their own. How will that change roles going forward? Most importantly, perhaps, is whether audiences will return in pre-pandemic numbers? And what will they return to see in cost viable numbers? For the large companies, they have set a full table for 2022-2023 of largely pre-pandemic fare. What will audiences choose?
The 2022-2023 season looks varied and exciting. However, the COVID pandemic was a mega event in the opera world, especially for singers, musicians, composers, and librettists. I think its full meaning for opera’s future is yet to be revealed.