A Letter from our Board President
Take a moment and think back to July 2020…when we all were steeping in a hot cup of uncertainty and fear, evaluating every career choice made up to that point. This is when I joined the Executive Committee of the NY Opera Alliance as your Engagement Officer. We didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t know how long the pandemic would last or what the cost would be. What we did know was that we were together. Those early NYOA Zoom calls were reassuring as we talked about how we’d get through the next day, let alone the next year. Joseph Campbell put it best when he once wrote; ‘When falling, dive!’ And so we each took control as best as possible and, collectively, we have done remarkable things this year.
2021 marks the start of the great reemergence for opera. We are cautious, more clear-headed and driven by vision and purpose. As your incoming NYOA president I am optimistic for what’s ahead. We are building on last year’s EDI initiative, further opening our eyes to how opera can get done and we are planning our Opera Fest with a live event and lots of promotion work to get the word out about all our upcoming productions. In addition, we are adding arts advocacy to our agenda. Your participation will be crucial as we organize in one voice while city and state officials legislate budgets, zoning laws and other decisions that directly impact our industry. We are small independent opera companies, united in making opera for every New Yorker, state-wide. This year is the opportunity to establish healthier practices and implement new procedures to do what we love to do. Along the way we may find opera—as an idea—making a fundamental shift into 21st century thinking. We are the ones who will help determine what that thinking will be.
