When Ned Canty became general director of Opera Memphis in January 2011, the company was in trouble. Founded in 1958 by local citizens inspired by the Metropolitan Opera, which visited the city regularly from 1946 through 1984 as part of its annual tour, it was unable to support its traditional template of three expensive, large-scale productions a year in the 2,300-seat Orpheum Theatre. Rather than despair, Canty saw the company’s struggle for funding and a mainstage audience as an opportunity: “You have to ask the hard question — is the way we are doing this best for the cause of opera in Memphis?” he says. “For me, the answer was no.”