(New York, NY) - We recently had the pleasure of experiencing Festival Opera’s artist showcase at the Point Richmond, CA home of General Director Zachary Gordin. The occasion was for East Bay-based for Festival Opera’s new production of “La voix humaine” and “Dido & Aeneas” at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center on July 12th and 14th; these operas will be paired in a one-of-a-kind way. From FestivalOpera.org: “A double-bill of short operas written 270 years apart, yet similar in themes of love and betrayal. Both Elle and Dido suffer the devastating consequences of heartbreak. Their stories resonate across time, bringing the audience in-close as they share these deeply human experiences.” Susie Hanson, Festival Opera Board of Directors, noted that these operas are linked by the common theme of women making powerful decisions for themselves…

(San Francisco, CA) - There are a few opera world provocateurs these days, but no one hits like Haus of Shmizzay on Instagram. Online research tells us that he’s a classically-trained tenor James Smidt, who’s studied at both the University of North Carolina School of the Arts' A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute and University of Maryland's Maryland Opera Studio, the latter for his master's degree in opera performance. In addition to being a voice teacher - the focus of our December 2023 chat - he's an in-demand speaker and one of opera's more excitingly unpredictable English-speaking voices on IG, with receipts from grateful and succeeding artists (client testimonials and work wins speak for themselves)…

(Santa Fe, NM) - We were thrilled when we heard about Allison Swenson’s move to Omaha as General Director, but a little sad, too. Allison’s been an incredible force at Santa Fe Opera for many years, and it’s been wonderful to watch her progress to leading that company’s robust and successful development arm. However, in opera as in any other business, the only way is up. So, this progression to General Director at one of the Midwest’s most important, vibrant and cutting edge small companies is absolutely in line with the professional that we’ve come to know and admire…

(Santa Fe, NM) - We first connected with Ulrike Köstinger via Instagram and Zoom during the pandemic. At the time, Ulrike was Chief Content and Partnership Officer for Operabase, CueTV and holding company Arts Consolidated. Operabase, the world’s go-to opera database, has documented global operatic activity since 1996, enjoying global brand recognition for decades. With over 600,000 performances on file, Operabase has recorded the work of artists in more than 3000 theatres, has 1.3 million business of opera and enthusiast subscribers, and publishes opera season information in 34 languages. After 2+ years in her previous role, Köstinger became Arts Consolidated/Operabase CEO on January 1, 2023…

(Washington DC) - While listening to a recent Monocle 24 on Saturday podcast, we caught Monocle’s DC correspondent Chris Cermak interviewing Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, National Endowment for the Arts Chair. Cermak’s questions for Dr. Rosario Jackson were focused on the post-pandemic state of the performing arts. We’re bringing this interview forward since it covers topics regularly discussed on the OI platform…

Most people with a working knowledge of the business of opera understand how artists are often represented by managers who help them navigate their careers and/or how getting a manager is a primary goal for most young singers. The concept of a Hollywood-style or rock-and-roll music agent is already culturally imprinted, but when those concepts are extrapolated to opera, it can often mean different things…

Opera is our favorite art form. We wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t true. However, three years of pandemic (and pandemic-light) brought opera industry failings into much sharper focus, including force majeured soloists, racial and gender disparities, YAP application fees, #MeToo and more. OI was also troubled by these issues, but committed to championing innovators, doing our best to also spotlight wrongs constructively in real-time.