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Bold change has main performances slated for summer months

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Bold change has main performances slated for summer months

COURTESY: PORTLAND OPERA - Even with its scheduling change, Portland Opera is committed to staging great operas. It put on Pirates of Penzance a few years ago.Usually, as fall commences, the Portland Opera would be preparing for its season, and there would be hustle and bustle around the Hampton Opera Center as singers and crew and staff ready themselves, and subscribers and donors anxiously await the shows.

But it’s a different Portland Opera now. Now 50 years old, financially stable and looking out for its best interests, the opera has made a bold change to a summer festival schedule, and the four-opera season will take place from May through August 2016. The Portland Opera has many things going on to stay active in the community and entertain fans, but the Keller Auditorium and Newmark Theatre won’t be hosting any operas for another eight months.

“Yes, it does feel weird,” says Christopher Mattaliano, general director. “It’s a different rhythm of life. We’re in the midst of a two-month period of quite a bit of activity, we’re just not preparing a full-scale opera.

“Part of the plan was to find ways to stay in contact with our audience during the ‘off’ season. That’s what we’re launching. We’ll still be in the marketplace; we’ve assured our subscribers and donors that we’re not disappearing.”

Much behind-the-scenes work is being done on the four planned operas for 2016: Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” (May 6-14, Keller); Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” (June 3-11, Keller); Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” (July 8-26, Newmark); and Rossini’s “Italian Girl in Algiers” (July 22-Aug. 6, Newmark). For info: www.portlandopera.org.

Mattaliano says the opera felt it needed to “challenge” itself and be “proactive” in the face of financial issues with other opera and symphony companies around the country. Mattaliano says the Portland Opera has been financially stable, but it also wants to remain financially stable.

“We wanted to make a bold change,” he says. Changing to summer “allows us to be artistically viable, and maintain a level of excellence that we strive for.

“There’s very little happening during the summer (in Portland) for classical music outside of Chamber Music Northwest. We felt we could make a larger footprint during the summer months in Portland.”

Staging summer operas allows Portland Opera to put on two shows at the 900-seat Newmark, which audiences prefer because of its intimacy as opposed to the 3,000-seat Keller. It also allows Portland Opera, perhaps, to hire better talent, as it’s still the offseason for most opera companies. Mattaliano says other operas have been resistant or slow to change, and the likes of companies in San Diego, Baltimore, Orange County, Calif. (Opera Pacific) and San Francisco have been unstable; the change will save the Portland Opera some money, but it’s more about doing something exciting and forward-thinking.

COURTESY: CORY WEAVER/PORTLAND OPERA - Christopher Mattaliano says the Portland Opera is taking a risk by going to a summer festival format, but the biggest risk is not changing.Mattaliano has worked for the handful of opera companies that put on summer festival schedules: Sante Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Glimmerglass in upstate New York, as well as Cincinnati and Fort Worth operas. He has borrowed ideas from colleagues and companies.

Loyal subscribers and fans, he says, have varied opinions of the change. Some people have shared that the summer schedule could get in the way of their normal summer activities, such as family outings, hiking and swimming. “’Now, you’re telling me I have to go inside for an opera?’” Mattaliano says.

The new approach allows the opera to do many different things, including not interrupting its lucrative Broadway in Portland series:

• The two Newmark operas will overlap — rotating-repertory performances.

• The Street Fair, held for “The Elixir of Love” in August, will be expanded.

• The opera plans to work with other arts and cultural organizations on complementary programming.

• The resident artists performed at the opening of Tilikum Crossing, and will continue performances through October, February and March, and they’ll also give vocal recitals at Whitsell Auditorium from March to June. A notable concert: noon Wednesday, Sept. 23, at The Old Church.

• Another big event: The Portland Opera Chorus in Concert, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 S.W. Park Ave.

• Portland Opera and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry have expanded the “Opera on Screen” film series at OMSI’s Empirical Theater. This year’s series in October and November will feature four San Francisco Opera titles, and bonus screenings of “Phantom of the Opera” and “Phantom of the Paradise.”

• Portland Opera To Go, the outreach tour, will perform a 50-minute English language version of “The Elixir of Love” for students, as well as during public performances Jan. 29 and 30 at Hampton Opera Center.

Mattaliano hopes the programs help the opera stay in the public eyes and ears, before the summer festival schedule kicks in.

“I said to my board and staff, it’s not a slam dunk,” he says. “There’s risk involved. But, the biggest risk is not changing.”


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