San Diego Opera is a company that has seen its share of struggles. The story of its near death and resurrection has been one of the most closely followed stories in the music world this year--how a band of committed board members, staff and music lovers all worked together to successfully raise the funds necessary to ensure the company's survival.
In yet another sign of rebirth, San Diego Opera announced on Friday that it is partnering with The Dallas Opera to produce a new opera by Jake Heggie, Great Scott. The story of this opera concerns a respected but struggling American opera company, and the world-famous diva who returns to her roots to help save the company that launched her career.
Great Scott, set to premiere in Dallas in 2015, will feature celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role. San Diego will present the opera the following year.
"At its heart, Great Scott asks 'What is worth fighting for?' a question that resonates with us here in the San Diego community," said SD Opera Board President Carol Lazier.
No one understands what it means to fight for a beloved cultural icon better than Lazier, who spearheaded the successful efforts to save SD Opera. And it would be hard to imagine a more appropriate new project for the newly-reborn opera company than Great Scott.
Heggie will collaborate with playwright and librettist Terrence McNally to create the new opera. McNally's libretto describes the fortunes of the struggling opera company, which are entwined with the prospects of the hometown football team, the Grizzlies, who are preparing to play in their first Super Bowl.
Arden Scott, the hometown girl who has become an international opera star, has returned to her roots to help save the company. She has chosen not a standard classic or a new work, but a long-lost bel canto opera she recently discovered: Vittorio Bazzetti's Rosa Dolorosa, Figlia di Pompeii, which has been gathering dust ever since its composition in 1835.
By chance, the opera company is set to give the world premiere on the same night the Grizzlies will play in the Super Bowl--an event that will be telecast to 100 million viewers. The owner of the team is married to the opera company's founder, Winnie Flato. Success on the field is no less important than Arden's and Maestro Bazzetti's in the opera house. And a defeat at the Super Bowl could signal the end of the opera company as well.
The story, an unusual blend of operatic drama and football championship mania, sounds like it could speak to the national consciousness, obsessed as we are with football.
As Heggie remarked, "What an incredibly fun challenge for a composer! To create the sounds of an American opera company as they rehearse a never-heard Italian bel canto opera--and to throw in a fight song for the local football team, as well. I think this is a story we can all relate to."
Heggie has had success recently with an opera about another famous obsession--Moby-Dick, a work he created in 2010, the result of another joint commission between SD Opera and Dallas Opera.
Dallas Opera General Director Keith Cerny recently hailed the two companies' renewed collaboration: "It is incredibly gratifying to be able to welcome the company as a partner in this exhilarating project," he said. "San Diego Opera's involvement sends a powerful message to our industry--and the message is this: San Diego Opera is here to stay and planning for an exciting future."
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