After 58 years and more than 200 productions, the Baltimore Opera Company will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-law protection today amid dwindling ticket sales and contributions.
The remaining two productions of the 2008-2009 season, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess have been canceled. Ticket-holders will not receive refunds. Singers engaged for next season are being released from their contracts, but the company plans to continue fundraising in an effort to resume productions in the future.
Deborah Goetz, senior director of marketing and communications, confirmed yesterday that Baltimore Opera's board of trustees voted Dec. 4 to file for Chapter 11 protection.
"My heart sinks," said soprano Evelyn Lear, now retired and living in Rockville. She starred in three Baltimore Opera productions during the 1970s and 1980s. "The company had high standards, good productions, a good orchestra. I'm distraught that this may mean that opera is finished in Baltimore."
Famously guided for decades by legendary soprano Rosa Ponselle, the organization was incorporated in 1950 as the Baltimore Civic Opera Company. Its roots go back further; a more loosely organized ensemble, established by conductor Eugene Martinet, began performing under that name in the early 1930s.
The newly chartered Baltimore Opera debuted with Verdi's Aida in April 1950. Two years later, performances moved from the Maryland Casualty Auditorium on Keswick Road to the Lyric Opera House, which remained the company's permanent home.
Stellar singers performed with the Baltimore Opera over the decades, among them sopranos Beverly Sills and Anna Moffo and tenors Carlo Bergonzi and Placido Domingo. Bass-baritone James Morris, mentored in his early years by Ponselle, launched his career at the Baltimore Opera.
Last month, the company reported a major cash-flow shortage, attributed largely to a shortfall of more than $200,000 in projected ticket sales for the season-opening production of Aida in October. A board member had to make a personal guarantee of salaries for last month's production of Bellini's Norma.
In addition, contributions declined this fall, "placing ongoing operations in jeopardy," according to the official statement.
The company, which has faced cash-flow issues for several years, has an accumulated deficit of "maybe $800,000," Goetz said. The annual operating budget is about $6 million.
