The Golden Ticket opened at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to incredible critical and audience reception this month – we truly could not have asked for a warmer welcome for American Lyric Theater’s first commission. But… what next?  What happens beyond the premiere of a new opera?

This is a question that is being asked with increasing frequency in the opera field.  Earlier this year, I had the honor to sit on a panel at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where opera company leaders from around the country – alongside stage directors, composer and librettists – explored the challenges not of simply premiering a new opera, but of helping to secure subsequent productions and establish new works in the repertoire.  At the OPERA America conference earlier this month in Los Angeles, composer Daniel Catán focused on this very issue in his keynote address.  With the large number of exciting opera premieres to have taken place so far this year (including The Golden Ticket, Moby Dick at Dallas Opera, Before Night Falls at Ft. Worth Opera, and Amelia at Seattle Opera) the question is really lighting a fire in the opera community. 2010 is shaping up to be an incredible year for new opera – but  what can we do to QUICKLY get these new operas in front of audiences beyond the premiere.

The first and most obvious step has traditionally been co-production.  Moby Dick is a co-production between 5 companies, and The Golden Ticket is a co-production between 3 companies (OTSL, Wexford, and ALT).  So while Moby Dick and The Golden Ticket are guaranteed additional performances in different cities – and even though both operas have been widely critically praised as important additions to the opera repertoire – because of scheduling and other logistical issues inherent in the way major companies produce opera, it will take at least two years before those operas reach all of those co-producers’ home theaters  (though we are happy to report that the Wexford portion of The Golden Ticket co-production was strategically scheduled within months of the premiere in St. Louis – in part, to help close that gap).   While spreading out performances over time can help keep a new opera in the public eye, we loose invaluable momentum.

Right now, there is incredible buzz about Moby Dick and The Golden Ticket.  Imagine a world where we could move Moby Dick and The Golden Ticket to New York or Los Angeles – or any other city or cities – in the next month, riding on the wave of press and international audience good will towards both of these new operas.  Imagine if we could tour a successful new opera immediately to multiple venues – cities of varying sizes and in different regions of the country. Too idealistic?  Perhaps. Certainly there isn’t as large an audience for a tour of either one of these successful operas as there is for the touring company of a hit Broadway musical – we’d be delusional if we thought otherwise. But there certainly is an exisiting audience for these new works, and the potential to reach new audiences, and it is a shame that our current producing system has such a significant built-in time lag that doesn’t allow us to take advantage of the momentum great success should allow.

So what can we do?  Creating new producing and presenting models would be at the top of my list – but it is also the most difficult strategy. My ideal vision would be a company that brings together the best in new opera every year as an annual festival.

• We would import the best two or three new operas produced by other companies – in their original productions – and present them in a festival format over a few weeks in a major venue where they could be guaranteed national and international exposure.
• We would also mount a new production of one contemporary American opera produced in a recent previous season that we determined to have great potential and significant merit, but for which the original production may not have represented the piece in the best light possible. (This is a particular issue of interest for me, as I have seen a number of new operas that I felt were negatively “judged” in large part due to the production, rather than the piece itself).
• We would record all of the operas presented if an audio recording was not made during their premiere runs.
• We would also film and broadcast them to movie theaters and/or on the internet to further diversify our channels of distribution and potential audiences.

The amount of time between a new opera’s premiere at the originating or commissioning company and this new festival would be short enough to allow us to ride on the wave of new operas’ success, but also long enough to allow the creators to make revisions (both to the works themselves, and the original productions) that often are desirable in the light of day after a new work premieres.  Similarly, revisiting an opera that didn’t get the best launch, but that clearly has merit would allow the creators to look at what went “wrong” the first time, and evaluate how to better represent their work in a new production (while also potentially making revisions to strengthen the piece itself). Might this be part of ALT’s future?  Perhaps in time…  (There is only one thing stopping me from aggressively pursuing this with ALT right now, and that is money, so if you like the idea and can help fund that sort of vision… contact me!)

But… back to the present… We need to first look at what the existing network of opera companies and complimentary producing and presenting organizations can do to shorten the time between premieres of new works and subsequent stagings. And, as I alluded to in my description of an ideal new model, we also need to look into broadening our channels of distribution.  In other words, when it comes to new operas, should we be focusing on live performances as much as we do?

In the past few years, opera at the movies, led by the Met HD Broadcasts, has become big news.  The Met is not alone now in providing high quality movie versions of operas – sometimes live – sometimes taped and edited – for the big screen.   In his keynote address at the OPERA America conference, Daniel Catán suggested a model whereby new works are filmed and broadcast nation wide through a cost-sharing model that could make it possible for multiple communities to see new operas almost simultaneous with the audiences in the cities in which they originate.  While the cost structure of Daniel’s idea would have to be more thoroughly examined, and an enormous collaborative network would have to be developed, the basic principal behind his idea has great merit and with some thought, creativity and cooperation from the unions, could likely be made to work financially.

I recently read about the 3D Carmen that is being produced from The Royal Opera.  An interesting project… in all honesty, how I feel about it will depend completely on how well it is done.  I enjoyed Avatar 3D. But that was Avatar.  I like and admire the director (Francesca Zambello) and many involved with the production, but I have to ask, does Carmen as a piece need to be 3D?  If we want to embrace that technology, might we look at more contemporary operas where the intersection between mainstream pop-tech and great new art could actually help bring more NEW people to opera.   How about a 3D filming of Moby Dick?!  Or The Golden Ticket?!  Imagine Augustus Gloop drowning in the chocolate river – in 3D… or  Violet Beauregard blowing up like a blueberry – in 3D…  all with the wonderful music Peter Ash has composed, and the witty libretto Donald Sturrock has crafted.  I believe that a 3D movie of some contemporary operas would do more good for the field at large than a 3D filming of a classic.

But, oh, yes, I forgot… Carmen is safe. Carmen sells tickets.  I’m not knocking Carmen – it’s a great opera. I’ve directed it and it is a powerful piece of music theater.  But if we really want to serve the growth of opera as an art form, and opera audiences, I have to wonder (as loudly as I can!), why do we keep looking back when we need to be looking forward? If we were to expend more energy and resources on ensuring the best possible future for successful new works, I believe the impact on the future of opera would be a hell of a lot brighter.