Thread: If I were an opera house manager....

Imagine you are appointed as the manager of an opera theater, and need to prepare a season. You must select ten titles, plus the principal roles, the musical director and the stage director. Also, four recitals to complete the season. No budget restrictions. Of course, we need to keep the season realistic, that means you could love Wagner a lot, but can't really plan for the ten Bayreuth operas...

What will be your choice?. You only need the ten titles to participate, if so much detail is a little bit boring.

That's mine:

Die Gezeichneten - Franz Schreker

Alviano Salvago - Klaus Florian Vogt
Carlotta Nardi - Anne Schwanewilms
Andrea Vitolozzo - Lucas Meachem
MD: Sebastian Weigle / SD: Willy Decker

La Traviata - Verdi
Violetta - Anna Netrebko
Alfredo - Jonas Kaufmann
Germont - Leo Nucci
MD: Riccardo Muti / SD: Giancarlo del Monaco

Norma - Bellini
Norma - Dimitra Theodossiu
Adalgisa - Elina Garanca
Pollione - Gregory Kunde
MD: Fabio Biondi / SD: Liliana Cavani

Thaïs - Massenet
Thaïs - Renée Fleming
Athanaël - Vincent Le Texier
Nicias - Roberto Alagna
MD: Yves Abel / SD: Marthe Keller

Orfeo - Luigi Rossi
Orfeo - Philippe Jaroussky
Euridice - Danielle de Niese
Aristeo - Iestyn Davies
MD: John Elliot Gardiner / SD: David McVicar

L'amour de loin - Kaija Saariaho
Jaufré - Gerald Finley
Clémence - Diana Damrau
Le Pélerin - Sophie Koch
MD: Kent Nagano / SD: Peter Sellars

Dialogues de Carmelites - Poulenc
Blanche - Natalie Dessay
Constance - Patricia Petibon
Mme.de Croissy - Nathalie Stutzmann
Mme. Lidoine - Inva Mula
Mére Marie - Béatrice Uría-Monzón
MD: Jan Latham-Koenig / SD: Michael Haneke

Der Vampyr - Marschner
Ruthven - Detlef Roth
Malwina - Carmela Remigio
Aubry - John Osborn
MD: Karel Mark Chichon / SD: Robert Carsen

Zazà - Leoncavallo
Zazà - Fiorenza Cedolins
Milio - Marco Berti
Cascart - Zeljko Lucic
MD: Daniele Callegari / SD: Mario Martone


Orleanskaja deva - Tchaikovsky
Joan - Karita Mattila
King Charles - Andrei Dunaev
Agnes Sorel - Olga Guryakova
MD: Valeri Gergiev / SD: Dmitri Tcherniakov


RECITALS

Plácido Domingo - Baritone arias, with orchestra
Susan Graham - French mélodies, with piano
Sonia Turchetta - Le voci sottovetro, with orchestra
Brian Asawa - Ned Rorem's Songs, with piano

Nice idea. I'm not sure if I'd be as proficient to pick stage directors, casting, etc, but I could think about a good season.
Of course, your La Traviata with Anna and Jonas would be one for the ages. But strictly thinking about operas, let's see what I think would be an intriguing season with some some zebras but not entirely esoteric.

Mozart – Il Re Pastore
R. Strauss – Die Frau ohne Schatten
Handel – Hercules
Meyerbeer – Dinorah
Donizetti – Roberto Devereux
Verdi – Otello
Gomes – Il Guarany
Boito – Mefistofele
Shostakovich – Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District
Bizet – Les Pêcheurs de Perles

I don't know if I could come up with 10, but one I'd like to see is

Il Barbiere de Seville - Rosini
Rosina - Natalie Dessay
Doctor Bartolo - Bryn Terfel
Count Almaviva - JDF
Figaro - Mariusz Kwiecien
SD: Laurent Pelly

I'm not well aware of contemporary, still active singers so the only opera I could give a cast would be "Geezers and Crones" and I'm not even sure if anybody has writen such opera.

But if I would be given a chance to prepare such season I would stage and conduct myself and, hopefully, record:

Władysław Żeleński: Goplana
Władysław Żeleński: Konrad Wallenrod
Stanisław Moniuszko: Hrabina
Stanisław Moniuszko: Paria
Ignacy Paderewski: Manru
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński: Monbar
Konstanty Gorski: Margier
Feliks Nowowiejski: Legenda Bałtyku
Feliks Nowowiejski: Quo Vadis
Karol Szymanowski: Król Roger

I would split recitals into two categoriers: two with orchestra, first as opening and second as closing the season. Then the other two with piano, one with male and second with female singer.

Originally Posted by schigolch

... Of course, we need to keep the season realistic, that means you could love Wagner a lot, but can't really plan for the ten Bayreuth operas...

What will be your choice?. You only need the ten titles to participate, if so much detail is a little bit boring.

I am the CEO of Opera Australia. Budgets are tight as usual. Donations, grants, subsidies and ticket prices cannot keep going up without scaring away patrons. We must be profitable; with target return on capital provided this season of at least 15% and benchmarking our performances with world class opera companies. This season will make or break ... and the rescue programme to draw in maximum audience numbers would be:-

Handel, Rinaldo
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Beethoven, Fidelio
Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
Bizet, Carmen
Tchaikovsky, Eugene Ornegin
Verdi, Aida
Wagner, Parsifal
and finally one for the modern folks who like to be special and speak of rarely performed operas (relatively speaking), Benjamin Britten, Owen Wingrave

Sell out season of grand operas, heroic operas, romantic operas, tragic operas, comic operas and modern.

Originally Posted by Almaviva

Nice idea. I'm not sure if I'd be as proficient to pick stage directors, casting, etc, but I could think about a good season.
Of course, your La Traviata with Anna and Jonas would be one for the ages. But strictly thinking about operas, let's see what I think would be an intriguing season with some some zebras but not entirely esoteric.

Mozart – Il Re Pastore
R. Strauss – Die Frau ohne Schatten
Handel – Hercules
Meyerbeer – Dinorah
Donizetti – Roberto Devereux
Verdi – Otello
Gomes – Il Guarany
Boito – Mefistofele
Shostakovich – Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District
Bizet – Les Pêcheurs de Perles

Nice and balanced. Perhaps a little bit unadventurous.

Would also like to watch the Barbiere, and listen to this Quo Vadis, from Feliks Nowowiejski that has awaken my curiosity.

Originally Posted by schigolch

this Quo Vadis, from Feliks Nowowiejski that has awaken my curiosity.

He, actually I crossed the line a little bit by placing it on the list as it's work similiar to Berlioz's Damnation of Faust - a "concert" opera, half oratorio. But it could be staged, it has operatic qualities just like the mentioned work of Berlioz which was succesfully staged and even released on DVD in such form.

Originally Posted by HarpsichordConcerto

I am the CEO of Opera Australia. Budgets are tight as usual....

Handel, Rinaldo
Mozart, Don Giovanni
Beethoven, Fidelio
Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
Bizet, Carmen
Tchaikovsky, Eugene Ornegin
Verdi, Aida
Wagner, Parsifal
and finally one for the modern folks who like to be special and speak of rarely performed operas (relatively speaking), Benjamin Britten, Owen Wingrave

Sell out season of grand operas, heroic operas, romantic operas, tragic operas, comic operas and modern.

I see economy is running pretty much the same in Australia, like in Europe. It's clear this season should be a success in terms of attendance.

Originally Posted by schigolch

Nice and balanced. Perhaps a little bit unadventurous.

You know, I was thinking about selling those tickets and getting people's behinds on those seats - things a manager would need to consider, so, I couldn't be too adventurous. But my take was, I'd present great composers but with works that are not as performed, are not their most popular ones (except for arguably my Verdi and Shostakovich selections - but Otello is not Verdi's most popular, and while Lady Macbeth is Shostakovich's best, it's not that popular among the regular public), plus one composer who isn't usually included among the major ones (Boito) and one who is poorly known even by most aficionados but very interesting (Gomez). My season is not purely representative of what *I'd* like to see on stage, but rather, a season that would be relatively easy to sell but still less conventional than most, with the usual A-B-C (Aida, Bohème, Carmen) that we see around the world's opera companies.

If I could really get a season that I'd love to see staged, I'd go for a lot more contemporary opera and more obscure older works, since I'd love to increase my knowledge rather than just seeing again some of my favorites. But economic reality is such that a season like this would be doomed to financial failure.

So true.

This is the real season 2011-2012 for Teatro Real, in Madrid:

Elektra - Strauss
Pelléas et Mélisande - Debussy
Lady Macbeth - Shostakovich
Iolanta/Persephone - Stravinsky
La Clemenza di Tito - Mozart
C(h)oeurs - Alain Platel
I due Figaro - Mercadante
The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic - Antony / William Basinski
Cyrano de Bergerac - Alfano
Poppea e Nerone - Boesmans
Ainadamar - Golijov

In a city where most opera goers are italianate and traditional singing fans. It will be a ruin... Don't get me wrong, this is interesting for me, but a financial disaster for the opera house.

Thinking about this thread made me realize just how difficult the job of a GMD/Intendent is. The person must have sufficient knowledge of a very wide range of the repertoire just to select an appropriate mix of the most popular works, some of the less familiar operas, and contemporary pieces. He/she must also have sufficient knowledge of singers who are performing today and whose voice would be appropriate for which role. Same story with finding suitable stage directors. And, of course, as other posters have mentioned, there are those ever-present economic considerations against which artistic choices must be balanced.

Originally Posted by schigolch

So true.

This is the real season 2011-2012 for Teatro Real, in Madrid:

Elektra - Strauss
Pelléas et Mélisande - Debussy
Lady Macbeth - Shostakovich
Iolanta/Persephone - Stravinsky
La Clemenza di Tito - Mozart
C(h)oeurs - Alain Platel
I due Figaro - Mercadante
The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic - Antony / William Basinski
Cyrano de Bergerac - Alfano
Poppea e Nerone - Boesmans
Ainadamar - Golijov

In a city where most opera goers are italianate and traditional singing fans. It will be a ruin... Don't get me wrong, this is interesting for me, but a financial disaster for the opera house.

Oh wow, what a season! I'd certainly buy full season tickets to see it. Too bad I don't live in Madrid. I hope they are successful, because if they are - against all odds - it would be a strong message for other opera houses that being adventurous is still viable. But like you, I'm afraid for them.

Originally Posted by rgz

I don't know if I could come up with 10, but one I'd like to see is

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg - Wagner
Hans Sachs - Bryn Terfel
Walther von Stolzing - Jonas Kaufmann
Eva Pogner - Anja Hertaros
Sixtus Beckmesser - Franz Hawlata
Magdalene - Joyce DiDonato
David - Michael Schade
Veit Pogner - Rene Pape
MD: Christian Thielemann / SD: Robert Carsen

Originally Posted by MAuer

Thinking about this thread made me realize just how difficult the job of a GMD/Intendent is. The person must have sufficient knowledge of a very wide range of the repertoire just to select an appropriate mix of the most popular works, some of the less familiar operas, and contemporary pieces. He/she must also have sufficient knowledge of singers who are performing today and whose voice would be appropriate for which role. Same story with finding suitable stage directors. And, of course, as other posters have mentioned, there are those ever-present economic considerations against which artistic choices must be balanced.

Oh yes. I recommend the fascinating book by the former Met general manager Volpe as a window into what these folks face (the title says it all):

This is the book by the "adventurer" Gérard Mortier, the manager of Madrid's opera house. I don't think there is an english translation, but there is at least a spanish one.

The front picture is of the dome used to represent Saint François d'Assise. I saw this staging at the beggining of July, and it was really a magical evening... not at the opera house, but at a sports center in the outskirts of Madrid, due to the big size of the dome.