THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506160050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARK MOBLEY
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
VIRGINIA OPERA ended its season with good news from abroad and bad news at home.
General Director Peter Mark has returned from conducting Verdi in Europe, and will lead excerpts from Thea Musgrave's ``Simon Bolivar'' in London in August. In September, ``Bolivar'' will be heard in on public radio across the United States.
General Manager Russell Allen said this week that audits of the fiscal year that ended May 31 will likely reveal an operating deficit ``in the six figures'' on a budget of about $3.8 million. This debt, attributed to confusion in changing computer systems, will be added to the $140,000 debt remaining from the 1992-93 season.
Mark and Musgrave, who is his wife, traveled in April to Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. ``Simon Bolivar'' received its European premiere in Regensburg, Germany, in an avant-garde German-language production, and Musgrave's Clarinet Concerto was performed as well.
In Krakow, Poland, Mark led two performances of ``La traviata'' and one performance of ``Un ballo in maschera,'' and attended a performance of Mendelssohn's ``Elijah.'' In Prague, he heard six operas in six days, including a rehearsal of Janacek's ``Jenufa.''
``It was really very revitalizing to realize we are part of such a long tradition, and it is such a well-kept tradition in Europe,'' Mark said. ``I was impressed by the quantity of opera in those three cities, and just the realization that political boundaries had shifted in each of those three countries. Constant through all this is they are coming into the opera house because they're getting something very life-affirming from the operatic tradition.''
The guest conducting engagements represented a breakthrough for Mark, whose previous podium experiences across the Atlantic were limited to London and Israel and Musgrave's music. He also came back with a stack of resumes from singers and players seeking work in this country.
On Aug. 26, Mark will be joined by tenor Stephen Guggenheim, soprano Amy Johnson and baritone Douglas Nagel in London for a BBC Proms concert at Royal Albert Hall. They will perform 30 minutes of excerpts from Act II of ``Simon Bolivar'' in a concert broadcast live on the BBC.
On Sept. 30, ``Bolivar'' will be broadcast nationally on the public radio program ``World of Opera.'' WHRO-FM will carry the opera in its entirety at 1:30 p.m. - the spot often occupied by the Metropolitan Opera.
Budget woes
Allen said that when he joined the company in December 1994, a new computer system was being installed. The result of a midseason system change was that departments did not know exactly how much money was available, and production expenses went over budget.
``Normally, in a transition period, there would have been forewarning of impending overages,'' Russell said. ``That did not occur. We wound up spending more money in some areas because we thought we had it to spend, and we didn't.''
The company's homes away from home also did not produce the expected revenues. Corporate contributions in Richmond fell short of budget, as did both private and corporate donations in Fairfax. The result: a deficit in excess of $100,000.
Allen said he has since shored up the company's staff and board in Northern Virginia, and the company's budget includes ``very focused and conservative revenue projections for '95-'96.'' Though a fifth production, Rogers and Hammerstein's ``Carousel,'' will cause the budget to rise to $4.2 million, Allen said all other costs have remained flat. The company is planning to erase the debt in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons.
Signs are promising for the coming season. Allen said the company is at 84 percent of its Richmond subscription goal and 82 percent of its Hampton Roads goal, and gifts are coming in as well. If ``Carousel'' performs as expected, the company will make a fifth, Broadway production a fixed part of the season.
To order Virginia Opera tickets, or to request a brochure, call 623-1223. MEMO: Send your notices to Roy A. Bahls, The Virginian-Pilot and The
Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. Fax 446-2963.
Include description of event, admission charge, time, date, location and
phone. Deadline is 10 days before publication. Call Mark Mobley at
446-2783, write to the above address or send electronic mail to
mobley(AT)infi.net. by CNB