For more than 10 years, the site opera, a small but light stage art group, was brought to an unexpected place: Bronx Zoo, Madam Tassau, Cafe, Soup Kitchen. The company was praised by an innovative approach, including the Beethoven song cycle performed on the phone during the pandemic.
However, on Tuesday, the opera announced that it was closed and stated that it would not be able to catch up with costs. The company's three full -time employees lose their jobs. No more performance is planned.
“It's a very sad decision and very sad,” said Colie Kinner, president of the company's Board of Directors. “The overall financing environment has been tightened, but the production cost of opera is increasing significantly.”
KINGER explains this decision as “preemptive and responsible closure” and states that the opera has no unpaid debt or commitment.
The company's budget was about $ 1 million. However, opera states that it is about 50 % more expensive than three years ago. He said that government contributions and gifts from the Foundation have decreased in the past year. Tickets will be less than 5 % of the coming money.
Opera companies of all sizes nationwide are struggling to work to rebuild after pandemics. The cost of shipping, costumes and materials is increasing. And the funding of the Foundation and the government has decreased.
In recent years, companies have cut off companies, including opera filadelphia, Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Taloshaopella, and Sirakusu Opera. In New York, Metropolitan opera has withdrawn tens of millions of donations to respond to costs.
Site opera, founded in 2012 by stage director Eric Einhorn and producer Jessica Kigar, provided hope that this genre could prosper in the 21st century in the Opera world. The company has performed 30 works, including Five World Premieres.
The first production was Shostakovich's “The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse”. This is a Russian fairy tale brought to the Bronx Zoo in 2012. When the cultural institution was closed during the pandemic, the company provided a live and an interactive one -on -one -one performance by Beethoven's “An Die Ferne Geliebte” phone. In the first production, the mail was presented in the mail, “The Beauty of Song: Diary of Song” was presented, sent a series of envelopes filled with text and objects, and a link to recording the song cycle.
Einhorn, who resigned as an art director in 2023, said in a statement on Tuesday, “I'm trying to set up an artistic boundary by reconsidering what the opera is.”
“I am incredibly proud of how the vision has revived in the past 12 years,” he said. “I am grateful to hundreds of unbelievable artists, staff, boards, supporters, and audience who participated in the site opera nee.”
