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Please send all press releases and season announcements to Alexa B. Antopol (EAntopol@operaamerica.org), Research Manager.
Board/Governance Headlines
Metropolitan Opera's Peter Gelb Talks To HuffPost
Nicole Campoy-LefflerThe Huffington Post
New York's Metropolitan Opera, run by General Manager Peter Gelb, is at the forefront of bringing opera into the modern era. With their Live in HD program and their distribution of productions to cinemas around the country, they recognize the need to update opera's otherwise 'old-fashioned' stigma. The Huffington Post caught up with Gelb armed with questions from you - check out the video interview below.
IRS Releases Form to Help Small Businesses Claim New Health Care Tax Credit
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the form that small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use to calculate the small business health care tax credit when they file income tax returns next year. The IRS also announced how eligible tax-exempt organizations –– which do not generally file income tax returns –– will claim the credit during the 2011 filing season.

The IRS has posted a draft of Form 8941 to this website. Both small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use the form to calculate the credit. A small business will then include the amount of the credit as part of the general business credit on its income tax return.

Tax-exempt organizations will instead claim the small business health care tax credit on a revised Form 990-T. The Form 990-T is currently used by tax-exempt organizations to report and pay the tax on unrelated business income. Form 990-T will be revised for the 2011 filing season to enable eligible tax-exempt organizations –– even those that owe no tax on unrelated business income –– also to claim the small business health care tax credit.
Opera works hard to stay on high note
Sherri WelchCrain's Detroit Business
Michigan Opera Theatre, founded by David DiChiera 40 years ago this season, is holding its own — at least operationally — in spite of the economic hits Detroit has weathered.
B.C. adds $7M to Arts Council budget
StaffCBC News
B.C. Culture Minister Kevin Krueger has found an additional $7 million for the B.C. Arts Council. After being in the hot seat for the past three weeks over cuts to cultural funding, Krueger announced Wednesday that the province would give the council $7 million from its 2010 Sports and Arts Legacy Fund.
Arts Biz Pitches 1% Solution
Miriam Kreinin SouccarCrain's New York Business
Stung by the recession, budget cuts and a drop in charitable giving, New York City's cultural institutions are launching a major campaign to convince the city to allocate 1% of its annual budget to arts funding.
Met opera adds 300 theaters to its HD broadcasts
Verena DobnikThe Associated Press
The close-ups were so tight you could see a tear slowly trickling down the tenor's face — and that the soprano's fingernail polish didn't match the color on her toes, though she did nail the high C.
Michael Kaiser: The Art of Administration
Michael ZwiebachSan Francisco Classical Voice
Michael Kaiser, artistic head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is one of the more respected artistic administrators in America, as well as an inspiring speaker who is bullish on the arts. The author of four books, most recently The Art of the Turnaround (2008), Kaiser made his bones turning around failing arts organizations. He has served as executive director of the Kansas City Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the American Ballet Theater.
DSO players OK strike, but it won't happen yet
Mark StrykerThe Detroit Free Press
The musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Saturday rejected management's final two contract proposals and authorized its union leaders to call a strike. The two sides have been deadlocked in a battle over steep pay cuts that would, in the most contentious proposal on the table, leave base salaries for veteran players at $73,800 in three years, 29% lower than the $104,650 they make today. Battered by the recession, the DSO has been hemorrhaging millions every year — it expects to lose $9 million in 2010 — and management says the cuts are needed to keep the orchestra alive. The players say such draconian reductions would transform the DSO into a second-class symphony.
Opera Lover Targets Young Patrons With $25 Seats
Erica OrdenThe Wall Street Journal
At 80 years old, Agnes Varis is trying to make opera audiences younger. "Your average opera-goer cannot be 65—give me break," said Ms. Varis. "You're not going to keep an opera house alive with that." Ms. Varis, the founder and former president of several pharmaceutical companies, including Agvar Chemicals, Marsam Pharmaceuticals and Aegis Pharmaceuticals, is on a mission to build a younger audience for the Metropolitan Opera, where she is a trustee. Toward that goal, she has donated $2.5 million to subsidize a program offering $25 orchestra tickets for all but two weekend performances of the company's 2010-11 season — 13,600 seats in all.
Opera Santa Barbara Has New Board for 2010-11
StaffSanta Barbara Independent
The Board of Directors of Opera Santa Barbara has elected the following slate of officers for 2010-11: Duncan Mellichamp, President; Nancy Golden, 1st Vice President; Simon Williams, 2nd Vice President; Dan Reicker, Treasurer; Ida Rickborn, Secretary. Each will serve a one-year term. New Directors elected to the Board for a two-year term include: Paksy Plackis-Cheng, A.C. Moore and John Pitcairn.
Detroit Symphony pay feud: Is world-class stature at stake?
Mark StrykerDetroit Free Press
Three years after an eleventh-hour deal narrowly averted a strike by the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, management and players once again are on the brink of a work stoppage. Except this time, the chances appear far greater that they might actually fall into the abyss. At stake is the future of one of metro Detroit's cultural treasures, a symphony widely regarded as among the nation's best and a local symbol of excellence even for those who don't know Mozart from Mahler. The conflict is rooted in proposed base salary cuts of 28% in the first year, from $104,650 to about $75,000. Management says the cuts are crucial to the survival of the recession-battered DSO, which is hemorrhaging cash and mortgaged up to its piccolos. The players say the cuts would downgrade the orchestra permanently from its status among the country's elite.
Keeping the arts alive, even in a recession
Bill Radke, Randy CohenAmerican Public Media
Bill Radke speaks with Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts about how contributions to American arts nonprofits have been faring through the recession and why companies and people should support the arts.
Houston Grand Opera Presents the World's First Mariachi Opera
StaffBroadway World
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its forty-first world premiere, To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, commissioned by HGO through its Song of Houston Project.
Mixing it up is not so easy for opera
Richard NilsenThe Arizona Republic
Symphony audiences are not opera audiences. Although there is considerable overlap, there are notable differences. And the ballet also brings out its own. "It's funny," says Phoenix Symphony music director Michael Christie, "there's some magic wall between the opera and symphony worlds." The audiences that support Nixon in China when semi-staged by the Phoenix Symphony aren't necessarily the same ones who clamor for yet one more Madama Butterfly at Arizona Opera. And the programming strategy of one won't always work for the other.
The case of the missing conductor
Jaime J. WeinmanMacleans.ca
James Levine is one of the most famous conductors in North America, holding down two of its biggest jobs: musical director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But he can’t always show up for either job. Jeremy Eichler, a music critic for the Boston Globe, told Maclean’s that the 67-year-old conductor “has for years struggled with back problems,” and over the past year, those problems have caused him to cancel many dates, throwing two cities into musical chaos. It turns out the most important thing about a conductor is not how insightful he is at interpreting Beethoven, but whether he’s in shape to get up on the podium.
Unfinished business in Dallas arts world
StaffThe Dallas Morning News
What kind of trouble lurks behind the facades in the Dallas Arts District? Aside from personal reasons that DSO president/chief executive officer Doug Adams and AT&T PAC CEO Mark Nerenhausen cited for their resignations, financial stresses at both organizations undoubtedly played a role. That reality should get the attention of a community that was fabulously generous with $354 million in gifts to open the two new performance centers.
Real Leadership: The Meaning Behind Motivation
Graham JonesChief Learning Officer
Motivation isn’t just a day-to-day drive to achieve goals; it is more complex than that. Leaders must understand its multifaceted nature to achieve success in a healthy way.
Houston Ballet, HGO & SPA Offer Healing Touch with Unique Arts Programs
Nancy WoznyCulture Map Houston
Houston Ballet and HGO have forged potent partnerships with health and social service organizations, resulting in healing experiences for participants and teaching artists.
A good economist knows the true value of the arts
John Kay, Financial Times (U.K.)johnkay.com
Many people underestimate the contribution disease makes to the economy. In Britain, more than a million people are employed to diagnose and treat disease and care for the ill. Thousands of people build hospitals and surgeries, and many small and medium-size enterprises manufacture hospital supplies. Illness contributes about 10 per cent of the U.K.’s economy: the government does not do enough to promote disease.

Such reasoning is identical to that of studies sitting on my desk that purport to measure the economic contribution of sport, tourism and the arts. These studies point to the number of jobs created, and the ancillary activities needed to make the activities possible. They add up the incomes that result. Reporting the total with pride, the sponsors hope to persuade us not just that sport, tourism and the arts make life better, but that they contribute to something called “the economy”.
Camp Introduces The Texting Generation To Opera
Donna Marie OwensNPR
On a bright summer morning in Baltimore, [opera] camp is in full swing.
Boot Camp for Belters
David LittejohnThe Wall Street Journal
In 1957, the San Francisco Opera's general director, Kurt Herbert Adler, wanted to keep the flow of top-quality performers moving into his and other opera companies, so he established a rigorous training program for young singers. This demanding regimen became known as the Merola Opera Program, named for Adler's predecessor Gaetano Merola, who had founded the company in 1923.

After 53 years, 963 young singers (as well as 110 apprentice coaches and 15 apprentice stage directors—some are invited back for a second term) have made their way through this now 11-week summer boot camp in opera performance, which outranks any comparable program in the country not only in the range, intensity and quality of its training, but in the stature of its alumni.
Lyric Opera Camp Opens Minds of Youth
Nicole KelleyThe Shawnee Dispatch
Kat Kasckow got involved with the Lyric Opera summer camp in Kansas City, Mo., when her mom learned about the camp from its director who was standing in as director of a church choir.
How to Save Cleveland
Nick GillespieReason Magazine
You want a quick indicator of urban decline in any city you visit? Ask a local what’s great about the place. If the top three answers include “a world-class symphony orchestra,” you’re smack dab in the middle of a current or future ghost town.
Chairman of Austin Lyric Opera: "Everything is spectacular"
Leigh SmithThe Epoch Times
The Long Center for the Performing Arts saw the only two performance of the Shen Yun Performing Arts for the 2010 tour on Saturday, August 7. Jo Anne Christian, a retired attorney and chairman of Austin Lyric Opera was amongst the appreciative audience. Ms. Christian was recently inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame. According to Kevin Patterson, general director of Austin Lyric Opera, her contributions to the Austin arts scene have been visionary, her leadership superb.
Battle Ready
Kelly TweeddaleRedRoom
On August 3, 2010, at Seattle Opera's annual meeting, I addressed the state of one of Seattle's leading cultural organizations in the wake of an economic crisis that has put many non-profit organizations out of business and seriously threatens many more. But economics isn't our only enemy. I share excerpts from my speech in honor of all the people who dedicate their lives to mission-driven organizations and continue to envision a future that is as bright as the fight we lend to the cause.
Cultural Organizations Jump Into Social Media
James BradshawThe Globe and Mail
Social media are a boon when it comes to expanding audiences – if you get it right.
Opera Cleveland slashes administrative staff, launches restructuring campaign
Tony Brown and Donald RosenbergThe Plain Dealer
Opera Cleveland is not ready for its big death-scene finale yet. But Northeast Ohio's leading producer of one of the world's most complex and expensive performing arts needs a makeover or it will not survive. That's what officials at the nonprofit company said Thursday after acknowledging Opera Cleveland had laid off half of its administrative staff earlier this summer to help stem a $1 million financial crisis that threatened to end its season -- and possibly its existence.
Edmonton Opera loses GM
StaffEdmonton Journal
Edmonton Opera announced Thursday that its general manager, Mary Phillips-Rickey, is stepping down by the end of October.
Injured opera star sues over set collapse
Anita SinghTelegraph.co.uk
A British opera singer has launched a £250,000 law suit after a stage set collapsed on top of him mid-way through a performance. David Rendall claims his career was ruined by the accident, which shattered his hip and knee and damaged his shoulders. The 61-year-old tenor says he is unable to perform and has been forced to sell his house because work offers have dried up.
Children’s Programming at Bayreuth: Wagner, of Course, and They Love It
Anthony TommasiniThe New York Times
There is a general and mostly well-founded perception of the Bayreuth Festival as an elitist stronghold for opera, as much a shrine to Wagner as a festival of his works. And there is no ticket harder to come by. Wagner-lovers wait an average of 10 years to get a coveted ticket to the Festspielhaus, which seats only about 2,000.
Red ink may alter future of orchestra
Peter Dobrin The Philadelphia Inquirer
For most of its history, the Philadelphia Orchestra has held an ambition of remarkable clarity: to be one of the world's great orchestral ensembles. And for the better part of 110 years, it has, by global critical consensus, realized that ambition. Now, facing chronic red ink and houses only two-thirds full, the orchestra is suddenly unsure of what it wants to be. A new president, board chairman, and music director-designate are in place, embarking on a strategic planning process to reassess every inch of the organization.
Muti, Te Kanawa to receive Opera News Awards
APAssociated Press
Conductor Riccardo Muti, sopranos Kiri Te Kanawa and Patricia Racette, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and tenor Jonas Kaufmann have won this year's Opera News Awards. The five will be honored at a dinner on April 17 in New York, with proceeds going to the Metropolitan Opera Guild's education programs.
N.J. State Opera owes $230K to vendors, contract workers months after Porgy and Bess production
Peggy McGloneThe Star-Ledger
The New Jersey State Opera’s production of "Porgy and Bess" in May was heralded as both a cultural milestone for Newark and the rebirth of the company. With a cast of 18 led by Metropolitan Opera regular Gregg Baker, a chorus of 30 and an 52-piece orchestra, the Gershwin classic was the first full production the company had presented in five years. But two months after the performances, opera officials owe about $230,000 — a third of all costs — to a variety of vendors and contracted workers, including the musicians in the orchestra.
Classical Music an Effective Antidepressant
Tom JacobsMiller-McCune
New research from Mexico finds music of Bach and Mozart helps ease the pain of people suffering from depression.
Side Dishes: Creativity in the Opera House
Anne MidgetteThe Washington Post
One thing I’ve distilled from all my thoughts about new opera, big and small: it’s a shame that what we think of as “standard opera” has gotten so notably big. Here are these large companies with all these resources, and they are virtually prevented from actual experimentation because all their money is tied up in getting their main shows on stage.
Mansouri's candid memoir on San Francisco Opera
Joshua KosmanSan Francisco Chronicle
They say everyone has at least one book in them, but most of them aren't as lively and provocative as the new memoir by Lotfi Mansouri, the San Francisco Opera's former general director.
National Opera Considers Merger
Erica OrdenThe Wall Street Journal
The Washington National Opera, facing financial challenges and questions about its future, is exploring a merger with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, according to a person familiar with the matter. The arrangement under consideration would mimic the Kennedy Center's relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra, the person said. The center would assume the opera's assets and liabilities, and the opera would cede to the center approval on artistic and budgetary matters. Merger discussions began around March, the person said.
Mysterious Tampa Bay area arts benefactor dies
Andrew MeachamSt. Petersburg Times
When a well-known philanthropist dies, accolades tend to flow in quickly. Former colleagues and beneficiaries bring tales of humility and timely generosity. It is almost a staple of death when a person has reached the upper rungs of charitable giving. But reaction was more subdued after last week's death of retired businessman Doyle McClendon, whose lavish — and usually anonymous — contributions underwrote concerts and helped keep art museums afloat.
Another major orchestra feels the pain; deep cuts proposed for Detroit Symphony
Tim SmithClef Notes (The Baltimore Sun)
Not that there really is much comfort in knowing that other people are suffering the same fate, but news from the musicians of the Detroit Symphony speaks to the continuing stress of the economic downturn and its effect here in Baltimore. Of course, the city of Detroit has been in trouble for a long time, so a lot of folks have wondered how the resident orchestra could maintain its position for the long haul.
Lyric Opera's Chorus Master Leaving
Associated PressThe Chicago Tribune
Donald Nally, who has been chorus master at Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2007, plans to leave the company at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Video-game concerts, a movement that's more than a blip on orchestral landscape
Anne MidgetteThe Washington Post
These days, a lot of people in the classical music world are worried that kids aren't connecting with orchestral music. But the music of video games is emerging as one way orchestras may actually be reaching new audiences. It's certainly proliferating.
Portland's major performing arts groups cut budgets to stay in the black
David StablerThe Oregonian
The Department of Lowered Expectations announced today that four of Portland's five major performing arts groups ended the 2010 fiscal year in the black by shrinking their budgets. Cuts in salaries and a range of other expenses kept the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage and Oregon Ballet Theatre out of trouble in the wake of the recession. The fifth group, White Bird Dance, increased its budget slightly and ended with a deficit of $6,000. What the numbers mean is that, like families with fewer dollars to spend, arts groups are finding ways to live within their means.
Lawmakers Seeking Cuts Look at Nonprofit Salaries
Stephanie StromThe New York Times
State and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups they do business with to help share the pain of tighter budgets. Compensation has long been a point of controversy among donors to nonprofits. By far the biggest category of complaints posted on the Web site of Charity Navigator, which offers research and analysis of nonprofit groups, involves complaints about pay.
George Soros tries arts philanthropy -- but he's not saying `Move over, Eli Broad'
Mike BoehmCulture Monster (Los Angeles Times)
Culture Monster is kind of tired of applying the label "billionaire arts philanthropist" to Eli Broad and hardly anybody else.So the news Wednesday that hedge fund titan George Soros is giving $11 million to New York City performing arts organizations through his Open Society Institute to help them out of the squeeze caused by cuts in local government grants got us thinking. We'd be more than glad to anoint Soros -- or any other wealthy folks -- as "billionaire arts philanthropists."
Matthew Shilvock appointed Associate General Director of San Francisco Opera
StaffStark Silver Creek
San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley has promoted Matthew Shilvock to the position of associate general director, effective August 1, 2010.
Board Support and Advocacy Efforts
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
A recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy discussed the importance of engaging board members in advocacy efforts: “Charities must educate boards about the link between advocacy and the organizations' mission success, … board members can be a vital resource for gaining access to policy makers and developing relationships with them.” As most OPERA America members know, the most powerful arts advocacy begins at the local level. Does your opera organization engage its board members in advocacy? Have you considered forming an advocacy committee at the board level? Your board can be a powerful advocacy resource!
USCIS Proposes Fee Increase
The Performing Arts Alliance
Opera organizations experiencing difficulty obtaining artist visas have a new opportunity to weigh in with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as the agency proposes an across-the-board fee increase. The USCIS proposes a $5 increase in the fee for the regular I-129 visa processing form (which would bring the fee to $325), and a $225 increase in the Premium Processing fee (bringing the total fee to $1,225). The performing arts community is urging USCIS to immediately make long-overdue improvements to the regular artist visa process and to refrain from increasing the already-unaffordable Premium Processing fee. Comments to USCIS are due by July 26.

OPERA America, as a founding member of the Performing Arts Alliance, will submit detailed comments in collaboration with our national colleagues in the Performing Arts Visa Working Group: American Federation of Musicians, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Dance/USA, League of American Orchestras, North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents and Theatre Communications Group.

Visit the following link to access the Action Alert and submit comments to USCIS.

http://paa.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=1221.0
Lessons in the art of giving
Rebecca Knight Financial Times
Most aspiring MBAs go to business school to learn how to make a great deal of money. But these days, business schools are also teaching students how to give it away.
Conductor Charles Mackerras dies
Matthew WeaverGuardian.co.uk
The Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras, who led the opening concert at the Sydney Opera House, has died in London at the age of 84.
Rethinking the workplace in the 21st century
Tom FoxThe Federal Coach (The Washington Post)
Sometimes the sign of good leadership is an ability to see challenges as opportunities rather than roadblocks to success.

Summer 2010 Magazine Issue
  • Letter from the President/CEO
  • OPERA America News
  • National Opera Week
  • Looking Back, Looking Forward: Career Service Awards
  • Opera Conference 2011
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