The San Francisco Opera Association and members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 6 have negotiated a new three-year contract agreement effective August 1, 2011.
Press Release | San Francisco Opera | Musicians Union Local 6
San Francisco Opera's latest production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (Das Rheingold Scene 3 pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) sold to 99.96% of ticket capacity, selling 44,055 tickets across 14 performances and generating $7,236,673 in box office income.
Single tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2011-2012 season go on sale Sunday, July 10. Some cast changes have also been announced. Michael Fabiano will replace Francesco Meli as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia (Renée Fleming pictured left as Lucrezia Borgia, photo by Karin Cooper/Washington National Opera). Lucrezia Garcia and Fabio Sartori replace Oksana Dyka and Ramón Vargas in Attila.
Michael Costa (pictured left) has been named General Manager of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Costa was previously the Director of Finance and Administration of PBO.
New York City Opera will leave the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.
The board of New York City Opera met today. Between flagging ticket sales and a possible strike, it sounds like there was much to discuss.
San Francisco Opera's General Director David Gockley has renewed his contract for 5 more years, and will leave the position in 2016. Nicola Luisotti will remain as Music Director until at least that time as well.
Houston Grand Opera's General Director Anthony Freud will be the next General Director of Lyric Opera Chicago effective October 1, 2011.
General Director Plácido Domingo renewed his contract with Los Angeles Opera through 2013.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
A couple of years ago Martin Bernheimer wrote a piece entitled "Critics in a hostile world" for the Financial Times, blaming the Interwebs for killing off newspapers. Up until that point, I had not thought much about bloggers taking the place of professional music critics. Of course, anyone can start a blog. There are loads of them, most quite boring. It is difficult to even find an audience, given the amount of content, or lack thereof, that is out there. With a newspaper, whether in print or online, it is clear where to go.
This month Bernheimer covered journalist Donald Rosenberg's lawsuit against The Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Orchestra. Rosenberg lost, and this doesn't bode well for critics, obviously. Now the music critic of the Orange County Register, Tim Mangan, has been reassigned to cover celebrity nonsense. It is all rather alarming.
Jennifer Lynch has been appointed Director of Development of San Francisco Opera, effective September 1. She succeeds Mary Powell, who is resigning from San Francisco Opera after seven years.
Matthew Shilvock has been appointed Associate General Director of San Francisco Opera.
Fabio Luisi has been appointed the next general music director of Opernhaus Zürich, and starts in 2012. Lyndon Terracini is the next artistic director of Opera Australia, starting October 2009.
In sadder news, the choreographer Philippine "Pina" Bausch died this morning.
Luisi Press Release | Terracini Press Release [PDF] | Tanztheater Wuppertal
Los Angeles Opera laid off 17 people and also cut pay for all employees.
Joana Carneiro will be the next music director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, starting in October 2009.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site