Because one opera company isn't enough

Last year, San Diego almost had no opera company. Now it has two. This is a feat New York City couldn't pull off. New York City Opera closed down in 2013, leaving that city with only its world-renowned but troubled Metropolitan Opera.

San Diego City Opera, formed by two former employees of San Diego Opera, will launch its season October 9-11 on the UCSD campus, as part of La Jolla Playhouse's Without Walls Festival. It will present a "reimagining" of Henry Purcell's baroque opera Dido & Aeneas. On December 11-13, the new company will present its operatic version of a song cycle by Dominick Argento, to be called Andree Expedition. That will be staged at Bread & Salt in Barrio Logan. In the spring, at a time and location to be announced, the company will present the opera La Curandera, by Robert X. Rodriguez.

The company is headed by Cory Hibbs, who teaches music at San Diego State University and has a PhD from Peabody Conservatory; and Cynthia Stokes, who has staged operatic productions in various venues.

"We are focused on American composers, works in English, contemporary works, and reinterpretations of traditional works," says Hibbs.

The highest price at an opera will be $100, and many seats will go well below that level, he says.

"The reason opera is a dying art form is that people still insist on doing operas 300-400 years old, that are not relevant to audiences today," says Hibbs. The new company will do works appealing to the Hispanic community, as well as younger people, in smaller venues, he says.

Trouble is, San Diego Opera is also trying to appeal to the Hispanic audience and do productions in smaller theaters. Hibbs thinks the two companies will complement each other.

"We believe San Diego is an artistically vibrant community that can support two companies," he says.

Carol Lazier, president of San Diego Opera and its major savior, having given two $1 million donations, agrees that the two companies won't cannibalize each other.

"In my opinion, the more opera, the better," Lazier says. "I hope they succeed."

City Opera will be more experimental, Hibbs says, so will be appealing to a niche audience, at least initially. But San Diego Opera is also going after that market. Last season, it put on a contemporary opera, Nixon in China. The opera was shooting for attendance of 93 percent, but only got 71 percent. Lazier says she was disappointed by the turnout: "It didn't sell out, but it was a fabulous performance," she says.

San Diego Opera has had trouble for many years filling the seats for modern and contemporary opera. It's possible that the move to modern, dissonant music will not work, except perhaps in the smaller venues. Now, with another company stressing the same kind of opera, there may be a lot of empty seats for both companies.

The new company has financial support from the San Diego office of Allianz Global Investors. One San Diego Opera staff member wonders if the former major donors such as Faye Wilson, Iris Strauss, and Karen Cohn, who have not returned to the fold, are supporting the new company. Hibbs is not aware that they are but would welcome their donations.