Opera lovers in the New Orleans area are certain to be disappointed that the three productions planned for the 2020-21 season, rescheduled for spring at the Mahalia Jackson Theatre, have now been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
It's not certain whether Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” will be staged during the 2021-22 season, either, according to Clare Burovac, newly appointed general director of the New Orleans Opera Association. Burovac is the first woman in that role in the Opera Associations' 77-year history.
“Given the ongoing uncertainty regarding the safety of large-scale gatherings, it has become clear that adjusting all of our originally planned winter and spring programming is the right decision for our staff, artists and audience members,” Burovac said in a statement.
Instead, the opera organization’s plans for spring call for several live performances with limited audiences and socially distanced seating arrangements, and two prerecorded performances that will be made available to subscribers and onetime viewers in January.
Clare Burovac, general director of the New Orleans Opera Association
The first of those prerecorded concerts will be in collaboration with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Orpheum Sessions” series, featuring singers selected by NOOA artistic director Robert Lyall performing favorite arias and duets from the standard operatic repertoire.
The second concert will feature New Orleans-based tenor Bryan Hymel and his soprano wife, Irina Kryiakidou, prerecorded at the Opera Guild Home with accompaniment by pianist Michael Borowitz.
Links to the prerecorded concerts will be sent to subscribers and single-concert purchasers before their showing on the opera website and possibly other platforms.
The venues for live spring performances are still to be determined. The first live concerts of the abridged spring season will be Giancarlo Menotti’s “The Medium” on March 19 and 20. The audience for the six-person opera will be limited to between 150 and 250, depending on what the city-mandated requirements are at that time, but NOOA subscribers will be guaranteed access, according to Buravac’s statement.
The second live concerts will be a singing-only version of the Gershwin brothers’ “Porgy and Bess” featuring popular selections from one of America’s best-known operas. The concerts will be staged outdoors on April 30 and May 1, and once again, season subscribers are guaranteed admission.
And finally, continuing the sold-out success of a series of Opera on Tap concerts staged on the lawn of the Opera Guild Home this past fall, the series will recommence in April.
Burovac, a Cleveland native who served as director of artistic operations for Portland (Oregon) Opera for 11 years, was no stranger to New Orleans prior to her arrival here in September. She stage-directed a production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” for NOOA in 2000, and her husband, Christopher Mattaliano, has directed several operas here as well.
“I’m so pleased with the board of directors for taking a chance on me," Burovac said. "It’s my first time being a general director. It’s something I’ve been looking toward for a number of years now, so I’ve been making sure I was ready to take this leap once the time came. It’s an exciting opportunity.”
In planning for the 2021-22 season and beyond, Burovac envisions operas from the standard repertoire and more recent works by contemporary composers, including possibly some world premieres.
“When the board hired me, I told them that it was important for me to have a good mix in the repertory of classics, as well as some newer works,” Burovac said. “I firmly believe that, as much as people might think that you attract new audiences and younger audiences by putting on sort of edgy pieces, a person going to their first opera will most likely want to go to one of the ABCs: ‘Aida,’ ‘Boheme’ and ‘Carmen.’ Those standards tend to be, for many, their gateway into the opera world.
“So I feel that it’s really important to keep those titles in rotation because we want to keep bringing in the next generation of people to fall in love with the art form,” Burovac said.
She also envisions possibly scheduling operas from the baroque repertory. She hinted at the possibility of staging operas by such renowned baroque composers as Vivaldi and Handel — works that have never been performed in the company’s nearly 80-year history.
“I’m so amazed at the history of opera in this city and the wealth of culture in general in New Orleans,” Burovac said. “It’s a tremendous responsibility and honor to be entrusted to lead this historic company forward into the future. I am standing on the great shoulders of (former general directors) Robert Lyall and Arthur Cosenza, and I’m looking forward to building on their legacy and establishing my own.”
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New Orleans Opera Association
Spring 2021
LIVE PERFORMANCES
(All live performances will be socially distanced with masks required if present restrictions are still in place on those dates.)
‘The Medium’
WHEN: March 19 and 20
‘Porgy and Bess’ (concert version)
WHEN: April 30 and May 1
Opera on Tap Series
WHEN: various dates in April
WHERE: Opera Guild Home, 2504 Prytania St., New Orleans
PRERECORDED PERFORMANCES
“Orpheum Sessions” with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
WHEN: January
WHERE: neworleansopera.org
Recital at the Guild Home with Bryan Hymel and Irina Kryiakidou
WHEN: January 2021
WHERE: online at neworleansopera.org
INFO: For all events (504) 529-3000 or (504) 529-2278. neworleansopera.org.