Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The fat lady has sung, and the curtain has fallen on Opera Hamilton.
After years of constant financial difficulties, the board of Opera Hamilton has announced that it is ceasing operations.
The organization's annual gala, Popera, which was scheduled to open Saturday evening and continue next Thursday and Saturday have been cancelled as has the production of Bizet's Carmen scheduled for April.
In a press release, Peter Uffelmann, Opera Hamilton board co-chair and treasurer stated that, "we simply do not have the financial resources to continue. We had hoped a large donation from an individual would arrive in time, but regrettably it did not materialize, and in the absence of any other funding, the board had no choice but to cancel the rest of the season and cease operations."
Mayor Bob Bratina called the news "really regrettable" and said it was "a great cultural asset" for a city the size of Hamilton.
"There have been extremely high moments in the history of that company," he said, recalling that some critics praised Opera Hamilton's shows above those put on by the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.
He wants to meet with the company's management Thursday "to see if there is a way that the city can respond" to their needs to keep Opera Hamilton going. He is also thinking about raising the issue at the special council meeting called for Jan. 13 to talk about the impact on the city from the ice storm.
"Personally, I would not want to be the mayor overseeing the loss of a cultural asset like Opera Hamilton. I am certainly going to try as the mayor to see what we can do help overcome the difficulties."
It's a sad end to an organization that over the years has featured some of this country's finest singers, established artists plus the up-and-comers as well as a number of international imports, but also conductors, directors, and designers, the names of whom would fill an entire page of this newspaper.
Opera Hamilton began with so much promise back in 1980 as an outgrowth of Festitalia which had imported operatic productions from Italy in the late 1970s.
In those early years, the company presented two productions each year, one of which was telecast by CHCH-TV. From 1989 onward, the company presented three staged productions per year plus Popera, an opera gala in all but name.
Between 1992 and 1994, the company planned to form a tri-cities opera company comprising Hamilton, Kitchener, and Mississauga, though the latter eventually backed out. Opera Ontario was formed as the parent company of Opera Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo Opera.
However, the Kitchener "experiment" never worked out, bleeding money to the tune of $160,000 and $200,000 a year.
In January 2008, Opera Ontario's seventy-nine creditors received a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy stating that the company had filed for protection from creditors.
By the next season, they had come through on the other side as Opera Hamilton, Inc., staging two productions per season along with Popera. In an effort to cut costs further, the company moved its productions from Hamilton Place to Theatre Aquarius in 2011.
In spite of that cost cutting measure, Opera Hamilton still has a large accumulated deficit.
"We've worked through our accumulated deficit over the last few years," said company co-chair Dennis Darby on Wednesday evening, a day after the board held a special meeting to decide the company's future.
"We've moved it from where it was well over $1 million dollars to less than $600,000 over the last few years. This whole issue is about cash flow. We don't have the cash to operate. We've gone to all of our great supporters, and we thank them all, but there's just no way. We don't have the cash to carry on."
Opera Hamilton has received funding from federal and provincial agencies, but also $126,928 from the city for 2013, as well as a $40,000 grant from BMO last fall.
"All of those are important," stated Darby. "It got us through a really good production of Falstaff (in the fall). To put on opera over the course of the year is about $1.5 million."
However, at least one sizable issue remains from that production of Falstaff. The 32 orchestral musicians are still owed $20,000. When asked how Opera Hamilton was going to resolve this issue, Darby said, "At this point, we don't know."
Darby also said he was not prepared to go into how the $40,000 grant from BMO was dispersed back in the fall.
"The reality in Hamilton is the corporate sector doesn't exist, practically anymore," lamented Darby, a Hamilton native.
"We've had some very generous individuals, but just not enough to put on this expensive art form (of opera). It's one I love dearly. We're thankful to the city and the provincial and federal (granting agencies). There's been an erosion in the
He said the company has staff still owed money.
"We're hopeful that maybe something will emerge in the next few months and we'll re-emerge. We're ceasing operations today because we do not want to accumulate any more debts any more liabilities."
At this point, it's unclear what will happen to those who hold tickets to the company's now cancelled productions.
By Leonard Turnevicius for www.thespec.com.
Photo: John Fanning as Falstaff. ©2013 John Overmeyer.
2014-01-09
Hamilton: Opera Hamilton ceases operations