OTTAWA NEEDS OPERA
Opera Lyra leaves a gap
Great cities have great opera. And until this week that was the case in Ottawa until Opera Lyra, the city’s largest professional arts company outside the National Arts Centre, filed for bankruptcy.
In fact, it was opera that first put the National Arts Centre itself on the map, both nationally and internationally, fuelled by top world operatic talent brought to Ottawa for a legendary summer arts festival that brought not only singers, directors and designers from all over the world but also international critics to Canada’s capital to marvel at the musical riches on display. Audiences, including Americans and other international visitors, flocked to the city, aided by a government-subsidized three-opera subscription series that began in the $15 range. There were even special trains which carried passengers to the festival from Toronto and Montreal. That was the 1970s, and it all ended at the NAC when the money ran out in 1983.
Not daunted, or at least not much, a group of local enthusiasts determined that opera must not die in the city. Thirtyone years later, Opera Lyra had become a substantial mid-level professional opera company that could equal, at its best, the equivalent in any mid-sized city in Europe
Singing itself is an intrinsic part of Ottawa life and the success of the company was enhanced by the history of choral music here, and particularly by the volunteer members of the Opera Lyra chorus led by professional choral conductor Laurence Ewashko. Over the years they learned not only to sing but also to act, adding immeasurably to the quality and success of Opera Lyra’s productions. The National Arts Centre Orchestra in the pit, as it was always intended to be, added hugely to the musicality of the work. Opera at the Arts Centre was something to be proud of.
The out-sourced model that the performance of opera became served the NAC too. As a performing arts centre, with one of the finest opera halls in North America, (mostly used now as a concert hall) the NAC could not itself again produce this most expensive art form. The outside opera company was a useful instrument, bringing grant money to the table in support of the art form that the NAC itself could not access. It provided the missing art form to the NAC stages and the NAC did its best, which was a lot, to support this approach.
Except that in the end it could not be done. Opera is an art that cannot survive on ticket sales alone. No more than hockey can. (Surely it is TV rights, sale of merchandise and other measures beyond expensive tickets — which outpace the cost of opera tickets substantially — that sustain the sport.) Companies like Opera Lyra are the “farm” teams that lead to careers at the Met, essential to rising young singers who had many opportunities in Ottawa. Opera’s image can be problematic and is often spoofed in the press. Yet more than 30 schools in Ottawa were awaiting school performances from the opera company this year. Ottawa philanthropist Michael Potter underwrote Opera Lyra’s student matinees for a decade and these always sold out. Despite this evident interest, poor ticket sales for its recent production of the Barber of Seville, fuelled also by other reasons perhaps, including election distraction, sank the company. Its well-intentioned hard-working board members lacked the social and financial contacts to fill the gap.
Whether you are a fan or not, opera is a mark of a mature and confident city. Ottawa is lesser for its absence; now the only G7 capital without opera as one of its attractions. In Canada, that means our city is behind Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria, all with their opera operations. A phoenix must rise from these ashes so that Ottawa remains on the map.