RALEIGH -- Saturday's concert in the N.C. Museum of Art's amphitheater will have a familiar ring to returning opera fans.
As in last year's event, conductor Timothy Myers leads a full symphony orchestra, accompanying three well-established singers in arias and musical theater selections. What's different this year is the presenting organization.
The concert is the first official event for the new North Carolina Opera, the result of a merger between two companies in Raleigh: the Opera Company of North Carolina and Capital Opera Raleigh. The new company has ambitious plans for its 2010-11 season, hoping to beat the odds in the checkered history of grand opera in the Triangle, where previous efforts have usually ended in shutdowns or desperate reinventions.
"I want there to be a buzz," Myers said about the new venture. "I want to have to turn people away."
Last year the two companies realized they could not continue as they were in such chilly economic times. Despite their different missions - the older Opera Company of North Carolina's large-scale productions featuring national-level performers and Capital Opera's more affordable stagings with local and emerging singers - donors weren't comfortable with the competing requests.
Last summer, the two companies began exploring the possibility of a merger and, six months later, agreed to combine forces. The immediate result was a major commitment of funding from three corporations beginning July 1.
Opera Company of North Carolina board member Francis Acquaviva, a 40-year veteran of nonprofit work, has overseen the transition as interim general director, including the interview process for his permanent replacement, to be named later this month.
Myers, the company's artistic director, has crafted a season of five presentations. Dates and locations are still being finalized, but productions include Puccini's "Tosca," Donizetti's "Don Pasquale," Gounod's "Faust," Britten's "Turn of the Screw" and a concert of Brahms' "Liebeslieder Waltzes" for vocal quartet.
The operas will be fully staged except "Faust," which will be a semistaged concert. Emerging artists will perform the Britten and the Brahms pieces, while the others will have national and international participants.
Beyond the stage
The company's programming will go well beyond stage productions. Opera Company of North Carolina's "A Taste of Opera" dinner talks and "Opera About Town" performances in parks and libraries will continue, as well as Capital Opera's educational performances in the schools, all three programs utilizing area artists.
"I'm thrilled to see our local singers given opportunities in a variety of venues and repertoire," said Capital Opera Raleigh co-founder Ellen Williams, who was part of the transition team. "The community will benefit from the energy of the emerging artist as well as the expertise of the established artist."
Acquaviva envisions more possibilities. "I like to see us get involved with area colleges and voice teachers," he said. "I'm also interested in starting an annual conference with master classes and lectures."
Until then, the focus is on Saturday's concert. This year's soloists are soprano Sandra Lopez, bass Todd Robinson and baritone Nelson Martinez, who'll perform arias by Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti and Puccini, as well selections from the zarzuela, the Spanish version of operetta. Myers said the concert gives a hint of things to come.
"I like to think of it as laying the groundwork - brainwashing even," he said.
