This afternoon, Seattle Opera sent out a press release detailing its financial troubles, after "operating without a deficit for 18 of the past 19 seasons." The Ring cycle of 2013 will go on as planned, but they're looking at trimming future seasons from five operas to four. From their email:

Seattle Opera is not alone in facing significant economic challenges. According to the U.S. Census, since 2008 the number of opera performances nationwide has been reduced by 11%. A number of factors combined to cause this season’s budget shortfall, including the enormous cost and advance planning required to produce the highest level of opera, and behavioral trends in the opera-going public away from commitment. For example, single-ticket sales have increased while subscription sales have decreased, and multi-year commitments from major donors are less common in a volatile economic environment.

This is unfortunate, but it isn't a shock. As far as theaters go, the recession has had a "trickle-up" effect: The smallest theaters felt the squeeze years ago and adjusted. Some lived, some died. Then the shockwaves slowly traveled up the chain to regional theaters, and now to flagship organizations, which where/are temporarily insulated by their endowments, investments, and other financial padding.

But we all should've seen this coming—the Grim (economic) Reaper comes for one and all, sooner or later. The full press release is below the jump.

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Seattle Opera Anticipates Shortfall for 2011/12 Season

Reshaping for a Leaner Economy:

International Wagner Competition Replaces Die Meistersinger von NĂĽrnberg for Summer 2014

Beginning in 2014, Seattle Opera Will Present a 4-Opera Season Instead of A 5-Opera Season

Increased Focus On Audience Initiatives

Seattle—Seattle Opera announced today that the company anticipates a potential shortfall for its 2011/12 season, which included 36 performances of five mainstage productions (Porgy and Bess, Carmen, Attila, Orphée et Eurydice, and Madama Butterfly), as well as two Young Artists Productions (Werther and Don Pasquale) and a variety of education and community engagement programs. The company, which has operated without a deficit for 18 of the past 19 seasons, has been working on alternative season models with its Board, in response to the difficult economy.

“Since the economic downturn began in 2008, Seattle Opera’s staff and Board have worked hard each season to balance the company’s budget,” says William Weyerhaeuser, President of Seattle Opera’s Board of Trustees. “This season, a special task force comprised of members of the Board of Trustees and company management has taken a careful look at the company’s finances and has proposed structural changes to ensure a sustainable business model.”

Says Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera, “In the nearly 30 years I’ve had the privilege to work with this great company, we have set our sights on many ambitious goals, and achieved them. Given the economic situation, and our need responsibly to steward the money contributed by our community of donors and ticket-buyers, we are making some changes to our long-range plans. When the financial situation improves, we will move as quickly as possible to restore what we have at this time either eliminated or put on hold.”

The company’s future plans include:

* 2012/13 season will continue as announced.

* In the summer of 2013, the company will produce three cycles of the Ring, as announced. Fundraising for this production is on track.

* Seattle Opera will produce a subscription series of three mainstage operas during the 2013/14 season. The company has opted for maintaining its artistic standards but offering fewer productions and performances, instead of diluting the high quality that Seattle Opera attendees have come to expect.

* For the summer of 2014, Seattle Opera will present its popular International Wagner Competition instead of the previously announced (6/13/2011) production of Die Meistersinger von NĂĽrnberg, one of the most expensive grand operas in the repertory. Seattle Opera will then present four mainstage operas for the 2014/15 season. In the immediate future the company will only produce opera during the summer when it is producing the Ring.

* Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program, currently in its 14th season, will produce a concert with orchestra instead of a fully-produced opera in the upcoming (2012/13) season, and will go on hiatus for the 2013/14 season. In that season the company will focus on emerging singers in the Wagner repertoire by presenting its third International Wagner Competition. At the same time, the company will increase its emphasis on education and community engagement programs; assuming economic recovery and community support, the Young Artists Program may re-emerge in future seasons.

* Operational reductions include leadership salary cuts, artist fee reductions, and the elimination of a net of four full-time staff positions (two new positions will be added to focus on fundraising and major gifts).

Seattle Opera is not alone in facing significant economic challenges. According to the U.S. Census, since 2008 the number of opera performances nationwide has been reduced by 11%. A number of factors combined to cause this season’s budget shortfall, including the enormous cost and advance planning required to produce the highest level of opera, and behavioral trends in the opera-going public away from commitment. For example, single-ticket sales have increased while subscription sales have decreased, and multi-year commitments from major donors are less common in a volatile economic environment.

Although Seattle Opera has managed to balance its budget each year since the economic slump began in 2008, each season has been an uphill battle. Beginning in 2009, the company has changed programming, reduced numbers of performances, innovated onstage to reduce costs, reopened and/or negotiated leaner contracts with its unions, implemented a series of staff wage freezes and furloughs, and eliminated several full-time staff positions. The 2011/12 season’s shortfall, currently forecast at approximately $1 million, has led to the changes detailed in the list above. It can be further reduced by contributions received by June 30, the company’s fiscal year end.

“Seattle Opera’s Board of Trustees wants the company to be sustainable, a benefit to the community, and artistically superlative,” said John Nesholm, Chairman of the Seattle Opera Board. “Currently searching for a General Director to replace Speight Jenkins, who retires in September 2014, the Board is proactively making these changes based on the assumption that the economic downturn will continue and recovery will be slow and uncertain. These necessary steps are intended to ensure that Seattle Opera is in good standing when its third General Director is chosen.”

In pursuit of the Board’s goals for the company, and in order to broaden and deepen Seattle Opera’s civic footprint, the Education and Community Engagement Department is introducing several exciting new audience initiatives this year. The company’s “Opera Time” and Opera Camp programs offer new ways for children to connect with the art form, while adults can benefit from enhanced Speakers’ Bureau offerings and Professional Development opportunities. Meanwhile, new opera commissions associated with Seattle Opera’s “Belonging(s)” and “Opera Goes To School” programs will make the creation of opera a personal, local, practice for people of the Pacific Northwest. Enthusiastic early support for these new programs indicates they will play an important role in increasing the public value and vitality of Seattle Opera.

About the 2012/13 Season

Seattle Opera’s 2012/13 season, which opens on August 4 with a production of Turandot, continues with Fidelio, La Cenerentola, La bohème, and a double bill of La voix humaine with Suor Angelica. This season’s Young Artists Program will celebrate the bicentenary of Giuseppe Verdi with a touring production of Un giorno di regno in the fall, and a Verdi scenes concert with orchestra on April 6, 2013. Details about newly expanded education and community engagement programs will be announced shortly. And in August of 2013, Seattle Opera will present its signature work, Wagner’s Ring, for three cycles, in the popular Wadsworth/Lynch production—the final Ring cycle cast by Speight Jenkins.

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About Seattle Opera

Founded in 1963, Seattle Opera is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. The company is recognized internationally for its theatrically compelling and musically accomplished performances, especially the Opera’s interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner. Since 1975, Seattle Opera has presented 38 cycles of the Ring (three different productions), in addition to acclaimed productions of all the other major operas in the Wagner canon. Seattle Opera has achieved the highest per capita attendance of any major opera company in the United States, and draws operagoers from four continents and 50 states.

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