For the first time in its more than 50 year history, the Dallas Opera will go an entire calendar year with a mainstage production. That’s been the legacy of 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic requiring the postponement of the DO’s upcoming season from fall to next spring, the cancellation of one show and replacement of another, all on the heals of the cancellation of the second half of its 2019–20 season earlier this year.
Dallas Opera was set to stage Don Carlo, The Barber of Seville, and a pairing of two short operas, Pulcinella and La voix humaine, starting this past April, but all productions were shelved due to coronavirus. The upcoming season, which has already been announced earlier this year to launch in October, will now get underway in March 2021, with canceled performances.
Wagner’s massive Lohengrin, which was to be a featured production, had to be cut for cost and extent; it will be replaced by the delayed production of Don Carlo. Orfeo & Euridice is cut entirely.
It’s not all bad news — the world premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by librettist Gene Scheer and composer Joby Talbot, pictured, still on, with two added performances; there will also be four performance of The Marriage of Figaro and five of Tosca. In addition, the concert gala with acclaimed singer Joyce DiDonato will take place on May 21.
A budget shortfall, however, has led to staff cuts, as well as a fundraiser aimed at generating $3.5 million to cover losses occasioned by the cancellations.
