San Diego Opera happy

The San Diego Opera, which went through death throes last year, then recovered, is starting its 50th season in remarkably good shape. Saturday night’s opening of Puccini’s La Bohème was sold out, and Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) is also sold out. Tonight (Tuesday, January 27) and Thursday are close to sellouts. As of noon today, there were under 300 tickets left for tonight and 200 for Thursday. Reviews have been excellent.

President Carol Lazier, who spearheaded the turnaround last year with a $1 million donation, exults that she is “confident for the next 50 years.”

The opera lost a group of its largest donors, including Iris Strauss and Faye Wilson, after last year’s blowup. They were members of the Dow Divas, an investment club made up of the largest donors. Almost all dropped out in a huff, and are not giving support.

“Most chose to drop off the board,” says Lazier. “We need some healing.”

Another investment group called “The Sopranos” has the same objective, but hasn’t come up with nearly as much money.

Lazier and other boardmembers are pleased that Joan and Irwin Jacobs (cofounder of Qualcomm) have given $25,000 to $49,999, and Qualcomm gave $50,000 to $99,999 through its foundation.

There has also been generous help from Teresa and Dr. Merle Fischlowitz, the Alison and Robert Price Family Foundation, and Price Philanthropies Foundation, the estate of Esther Burnham, Sycuan, several anonymous donors who each gave in six figures, and many other backers from the past.

“We have $400,000 to raise and have five more months. We are under budget,” says Lazier. The staff has been cut from 50 to about 30 and staff members have taken pay cuts of 10 percent. “We have $2 million of the Kroc family gift that we didn’t have to spend. We should be able to have a balanced budget, and we got a clean audit.”

Another boardmember is not so ebullient, noting that some of the donor base is gone and won’t come back. Actually, the big donors, such as those in the Dow Divas, had slowed their giving sharply before the breakup, says this member. There aren’t enough “heavy hitters” (big donors) on the current board, which has to be expanded, says this boardmember. This member is concerned that some of the people who stepped up to save the current 50th season might not continue giving at the same rate. A general and artistic director will be hired soon and won’t get the unconscionably fat pay that the departed Ian and Ann Campbell got.

One of this year’s operas, John Adams’s Nixon in China, is not selling briskly. Historically, modern operas have not drawn big audiences in San Diego.

Basically, San Diego Opera, which had narrowed its fundraising focus to the fat cats in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe (many of whom stormed out), has succeeded in broadening its base to the entire county. The company is playing down “the elitist” approach that marked the last couple of decades, says this board member.