When Greg Carpenter took over as executive director of Opera Colorado in 2007, the company seemed to take a reactionary turn. After years of experimentation, the organization had a new mantra: traditionalism.
But 3 1/2 years later, Carpenter, now general director, believes the company — and its audience — are ready to move in a more adventuresome direction.
In its just-announced 2012 season, it will present its second-ever contemporary opera — a fresh production of Daniel Catán’s 1996 “Florencia en el Amazonas.” And next, Carpenter hinted, the company is preparing to announce the commission of a new opera for 2013.
What changed?
It was always his inclination, Carpenter said, to balance traditional repertoire and stagings with more daring programming, but he had to largely set aside the latter when he arrived because of a crisis of confidence among the opera’s audiences and supporters.
Although Carpenter did not mention his predecessors, he assumed his post right after artistic director James Robinson announced his resignation. Robinson’s sometimes updated, unconventional stagings rubbed some attendees the wrong way.
In a survey of lapsed subscribers conducted in the summer of 2007, 31 percent cited the company’s repertoire selections as the reason for dropping their tickets and 18 percent disliked its stagings.
“I had to be very cautious in those first years, to be honest with you,” Carpenter said, “because I knew the results of that survey, and I knew that our audience was still rooted in the traditional, and I needed to bring them along.
“And if I had come out and made some crazy statement about something that was happening in the future, we would not be in the place we are today, where we can take that next big step.”
To regain the trust of supporters, Carpenter said, he emphasized quality and put the productions on a more conventional keel.
But at the same time, he tried to nudge patrons toward the less familiar by progamming two historic operas that the company had never presented, including February’s production of Antonin Dvorák’s little-performed “Rusalka.” Ticket sales were 91 percent of capacity — a level that Carpenter described as phenomenal.
After those artistic stepping stones, he believes Denver audiences are ready for a contemporary opera, at least a carefully chosen one like “Florencia,” with what Carpenter described as an accessible, Giacomo Puccini-like score.
“Some communities, you can suddenly make a bold move, and it’s the right kind of community that can embrace that and move along with it,” Carpenter said.
“But other communities, you have to have a more calculated approach to make change, and that’s the approach we’ve taken. How do you bring step by step a group of people along with you?”
Every Opera Colorado season will always have what he called a “cash-cow opera,” a role in 2012 filled by Mozart’s popular “The Marriage of Figaro.” But Carpenter envisions making a point of including some less-familiar titles as well.
Though Carpenter does not want to be locked into a formula, the company will likely rotate contemporary works with less widely known historic operas like “Rusalka” in one of its slots each season
“A lot of it depends on what that big, blockbuster standard piece is when you’re putting together a season and what is going to complement that,” he said.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
Opera Colorado’s 2012 season
Feb. 11, 14, 17 and 19, “The Marriage of Figaro” (1786), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
March 24, 27 and 30 and April 1, “Florencia en el Amazonas” (1996), Daniel Catán
April 28 and May 1, 4 and 6, “Il Trovatore” (1853), Giuseppe Verdi
Season tickets go on sale Thursday, and single tickets will be available Oct. 1. 303-468-2030 or
Split season coming to an end
With the opening of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in 2005, Opera Colorado split its season, presenting one of its three offerings in the fall and the other two in February and April.
But in 2012, the company is compacting its three presentations into four months, presenting the first one, “The Marriage of Figaro,” beginning Feb. 14, and the third one, “Il Trovatore,” starting April 28.
“After we moved into the opera house and we spread everything out, we experienced these huge peaks and valleys in focus, in energy and in keeping our audience engaged with the company,” said general director Greg Carpenter.
By condensing the schedule, he said, the opera hopes to better sustain that interest and achieve some reductions in marketing and other costs at the same time.
Kyle MacMillan
