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Puccini dominates San Diego Opera’s 2020-21 season

Despite canceling three spring productions, once-endangered company will survive loss of income

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Popular Italian composer Giacomo Puccini will make three appearances next season with San Diego Opera, which unveiled its 2020-21 lineup this morning along with news of a promising financial future, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The season is slated to open in October with a new production of Puccini’s evergreen “La bohème.” Then, in spring 2021, Puccini returns with a double-bill of two rarely produced one-acts: “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi.” They’ll join a reprise of “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” And two of the three productions canceled this spring due to COVID-19 have moved to next spring: “Aging Magician” and “The Barber of Seville.” Completing the season will be an as-yet uncast “One Amazing Night” recital.

The season schedule, particularly in the fall, is contingent on the lifting of public health orders that now ban large gatherings. But company General Director David Bennett said he’s working on a few scenarios that would enable “La bohème” to be presented in an outdoor venue, if necessary, since October is always a balmy month. Whether the company can make a profit if the San Diego Civic Theatre auditorium is restricted to 50 percent or less capacity is another issue that’s being discussed.

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Despite the tremendous loss of spring revenue, Bennett said cautious spending and audience goodwill have put the company in better-than-expected financial shape to weather the pandemic.

Over the past three months, the company has asked spring ticket-holders if they’d consider donating their ticket value back to the company or banking it for a future production rather than requesting a refund. Just 15 percent of the customers asked for their money back, compared to a national average of 36 percent to 40 percent for other arts organizations. That’s a healthy sign of the public’s faith and confidence in a company that was nearly shut down in 2014, said Edward Wilensky, San Diego Opera’s director of communications.

In spring 2019, the company pared down its staff and spending to arrive at an annual budget of $8.4 million, roughly half the amount spent at its nadir six years ago. There are now 33 employees, including eight part-time workers, who have not been furloughed or laid off this spring.

Also aiding the company this year was the unexpected arrival of several bequests from donors and the conditional promise of donor underwriting for next season. At its annual meeting in June, Bennett said he expects to report the company has reserves in excess of $2 million and an endowment of more than $7 million.

“Donations are going remarkably well,” Bennett said. “People have been very generous this year.”

Subscriptions for the 2020-21 season went on sale today at sdopera.org. Subscriptions start at $105 for the three mainstage productions or $75 for the three nontraditional Detour Series shows. Full series subscriptions range from $180 to $1,320. Here’s a snapshot of the coming season, which is subject to pandemic-related changes.

“La bohème” by Giacomo Puccini

Southern California-raised soprano Angel Blue will play the consumptive Parisian seamstress Mimi, a role she has played to acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and English National Opera, in a stunning new production from Opéra de Montréal. Blue played Liú here in 2018’s “Turandot.” She’ll star opposite tenor Joshua Guerrero, who has sung twice in recent One Amazing Night recitals, as her impoverished lover, the poet Rodolfo. Making their company debuts are soprano Andrea Carroll as the temperamental singer Musetta and baritone Alexander Elliott as the painter Marcello. The creative team behind “Turandot” two years ago, stage director Keturah Stickann and conductor Valerio Galli, return for their second Puccini collaboration. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24, 27 and 30. 2 p.m. Nov. 1 at San Diego Civic Theatre.
Valerio Galli,

“One Amazing Night”

The company kicks off its popular Detour Series with its annual recital. No singers have been announced yet. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at The Balboa Theatre.

“All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914”

A smash Detour Series show in 2018, this family-friendly a cappella choral opera was created in 2007 by Theatre Latté Da in Minneapolis. It’s about the real-life World War I event when French, English and German soldiers battling on the Western Front emerged from their trenches on Christmas Eve for an unofficial 24-hour truce. The soldiers exchanged gifts and food, sang Christmas carols and played sports before resuming battle two days later. The opera is told through the real soldiers’ letters and carols, battle and patriotic songs. It will star members of the San Diego Opera Chorus and will be helmed by company officials Bruce Stasyna, conductor, and Alan Hicks, director. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, 2 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Balboa Theatre.

“Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi” by Puccini

In 1918, Puccini debuted a trio of one-act operas at the Met known as “il trittico” (the triptych). San Diego Opera will offer a double-bill of two of them, “Suor Angelica,” a tragedy about a nun with a dark secret, and “Gianni Schicchi,” a comedy about a group concealing the death of a wealthy man to divide his fortune. The same cast will perform both operas, including the company debuts of soprano Marina Costa-Jackson (the sister of Ginger Costa-Jackson, last season’s Carmen), tenor Pietro Buszewski and mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule. But the highlight will be the return of mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe (2014’s “A Masked Ball” and Verdi “Requiem”), who will play the princess in “Suor Angelica” and the title role in “Gianni Schicchi,” a role written for a male baritone. To Blythe’s knowledge, she’ll be the first woman to play the male role.

“In singing Schicchi as a man, I am not only exploring gender, but also using a part of my voice that has developed more and more as I grow in age and experience,” she said. “ I am intrigued and inspired by the idea of doing such a thing in opera, especially since in opera, we are not only defined by gender, but also by voice type.”

Company principal guest conductor Yves Abel returns and stage director Paul Curran makes his company debut in a production being designed from a repurposed set from a past company production of “Cavalleria Rusticana.” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13, 16 and 19, 2 p.m. Feb. 21 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

“The Aging Magician” by Paola Prestini and Rinde Eckert

The Detour series continues with the postponed production of this acclaimed opera/theater/puppetry piece by composer Paola Prestini and librettist/singer/musician Rinde Eckert. It’s the story of a dying clock repairman who revisits scenes from his past as he transitions to the next world. Eckert and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus will reprise their original performances with a New York string ensemble in a 65-minute production directed by show co-creator Julian Crouch and designed by Beth Morrison Projects. 7:30 p.m. March 26, 2 and 7:30 p.m. March 27 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

“The Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini

Another production postponed from this season, Rossini’s beloved 1813 comic opera returns after a seven-year absence in a new production owned by Utah Opera. It’s the endearing story of a wily jack-of-all-trades, Figaro, who helps the lovesick Count Almaviva rescue his beloved Rosina from the clutches of a greedy guardian, Bartolo. The contemporary production design was inspired by the films of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. The cast includes baritone David Pershall as Figaro, mezzo-soprano Emily Fons (Zerlina in 2015’s “Don Giovanni”) as Rosina and Patrick Carfizzi (the Major-General in 2017’s “The Pirates of Penzance”) as Bartolo. Bruce Stasyna will conduct and Jimmy Featherstone Marcheso will direct. 7:30 p.m. April 24, 27 and 30, 2 p.m. May 2 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

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