NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT CASE COLLECTION SEATTLE OPERA: COMING OF AGE* Mahmoud Salem University of San Francisco College of Professional Studies Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1047 Copyright © 1999, University of San Francisco Permission granted to purchaser only to reproduce for classroom use. Unauthorized duplication of copyrighted material is a violation of federal law. CS-0021 SEATTLE OPERA: COMING OF AGE* Mahmoud Salem Case Abstract From 1966-1971 the Seattle Opera carved its identity. During those years, Seattle Opera walked a tight rope between the requirements of artistic excellence and those of administrative efficiency and financial stability, all of which are needed to build overall organizational legitimacy. This case illustrates the nature of that challenge, the methods of addressing it, and the critical importance of leadership credibility in facing it. *To use this case more effectively, it is recommended that the class start with the case entitled "Seattle Opera: The Formative Years" (Item No. CS-0020-S-SP-92). PLEASE NOTE: The material contained in this case does not necessarily represent actual people or conditions. SEATTLE OPERA: COMING OF AGE On July 29, 1967, only three years after its inception, a letter was sent to many local organizations declaring that Seattle Opera had come of age (see Illustration 1). It was almost boasting, for the young company had actually left its mark with phenomenal speed. By the end of this short period, Seattle Opera had become a nationally recognized company. Glynn Ross, its general director, too, had acquired wide acclaim and was subject to national honor. Locally, the company has become a well-accepted organization. This period was generally characterized by a high degree of innovation, experimentation, expansion, and extremely active promotional efforts. The company attracted an intensive wave of national publicity. It was the period in which Seattle Opera carved its image. The Third Season: 1966-1967. During this season, "Opera in English" was first introduced to the Seattle audience at popular prices. While three performances of each production were presented in the international language, one performance was presented in English, opening opera to all those who were held back by the problem of language. On its first page, the Christian Science Monitor referred to this innovation on the inception of the "National Series, That night only, using the same sets, costumes, chorus, and orchestra, General Director Glynn Ross will insert a different conductor, and a different cast singing in a different tongue--English. This cost-cutting production could result in an annual subscription series that would raise the curtain on opera regularly for young people, families, and opera-in-English lovers. The concept lifts the curtain, too, on new opportunities for rising opera talent. Performers for Seattle's one-night, pop-price English performance will be drawn from the casts of the New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago Lyric Opera companies.1 The four productions presented that year were Barber of Seville, Cavalleria-Rusticana and I Pagliacci, Turandot, and Lakme. The highest-paid opera singer at the time, Joan Sutherland, performed her first Lakme, bringing acclaim both to herself and to the opera company. Famous Metropolitan Opera tenor, Giovanni Martinelli, at the age of eight-one, was persuaded by Glynn Ross to play the role of the emperor in Puccini's Turandot. It was his last opera appearance--another first and a great draw for Seattle Opera. Also, Igor Stravinsky, eighty-five, was invited out of retirement that season to conduct his Histoire du Soldat. Again, this was a very clever publicity-getter. Commenting on these publicity-oriented activities, a leading member of Seattle Opera said, "We build into many of our productions features that are suitable for promotion and publicity. We do that at the time of selecting the production."2 Salem--Coming of Age Page 2 In that same year, innovation was extended to set design. Saul Steinberg, whose metaphysical satirical cartoons appeared in the New Yorker, devised the sets for Histoire du Soldat, and a Jesuit priest, Reverend L.E. Lubbers, created junk sculpture to be used in the Seattle Teen Fair as well as in the coming year's production of Fidelio. These efforts attracted notices from Variety, the New York Times, Times Magazine, and the Christian Science Monitor. The audience expanded and the subscription list increased by 1,710. Ticket income grew by $114,349, as did government support by $56,261—two important indications of mounting local and national support. The Fourth Season: 1967-1968. Seattle Opera was in full swing. The hiring of four work-study students from the University of Washington was to affect the image of Seattle Opera for years to come. These so-called "whiz-kids" formed a creative "think-tank" for the opera. They were behind many of the promotional ideas that distinctly characterized this, including buttons on lapels declaring "Opera Lives," bumper stickers shouting "Bravo, Opera," as well as sky-writing, street banners, and art billboards. Even on the side of a rock band's van, a Seattle Opera poster assured passersby that "Opera is Alive and Well in Seattle." Speaking the language of the times, one student came up with this catchy advertisement for a production: "What is La Boheme? Four old-time hippies in an attic. Lots of sounds, sights, emotions. Yeah, even sickness and yeah, love-sickness. La Boheme is one of the few real old-time happenings." Another advertisement referred to the tale of "Two kids in real trouble, real trouble with their families--Romeo and Juliet." During the fourth season, a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal3 highlighted these activities by the Seattle Opera. Glynn Ross claimed that the appearance of such an article and similar ones was not accidental, rather it was the result of careful planning on the part of the organization. The significance of these activities was that they helped shape the image of Seattle Opera and its productions as being relevant to the times, youth-oriented, and non-snobbish. That year about fifteen hundred young people purchased season tickets, and the company had its highest subscription list ever: 11,300. The season featured Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Crucible, Fidelio, and Don Giovanni. Among the most famous stars who performed was Franco Corelli who sang Romeo. It was in this year that Seattle Opera also initiated its National Artist Series, becoming the only opera company besides the Metropolitan to put singers on an annual salary. According to the Seattle Opera, the program was ". designed to give young American singers with developing national reputations the opportunity to get out of the job-hunting rat-race and to devote themselves for at least a year to serious study and preparation." Salem--Coming of Age Page 3 With national acclaim coming to the Seattle Opera, local recognition was correspondingly on the rise. Commenting on the year's productions, Wayne Johnson of the Seattle Times, said that "there was not a single clinker in Seattle Opera's 1967-1968 season."4 Local editorials praised the young company in the Seattle Times and the Everett Herald. Seattle Magazine called Glynn Ross the "Hip Huckster of Grand Opera" in a long article focusing on him and the company. Furthermore, Glynn Ross was himself invited to write articles for local as well as national newspapers and magazines. The Fifth Season: 1968-1969. This season offered four international and one national English performance of each of five productions, Aida, Andrea Chenier, Der Rosenkavalier, Tosca, and L'Elisir D'Amore. However, the most remarkable accomplishment of this season was the multimedia production of "The Lively Arts." The show, designed for school children, combined sculpture, dance, film, musical theater, as well as "psychedelic lighting" in a number of works such as Mantra, The Tempest, and The Eggs. More than forty-eight thousand students were exposed to "The Lively Arts" in public schools in and around Seattle. The multimedia program received substantial recognition. Locally, the Tacoma News Tribune noted, "The hour-long program . showed students that the performing arts can be fun."5 The Seattle Times added, "The idea behind 'The Lively Arts' program is a happy one, namely, to give the students a bright, up-beat sampling of various art forms--music, dance, and musical theater. The Opera Association has assembled an impressive array of local talent for the show and has mounted the production with considerable skill and professional expertise."6 On the national level, both Raymond Ericson of the New York Times and Kimmis Hendrick of the Christian Science Monitor highlighted the program in articles entitled respectively "Seattle Goes Psychedelic" and "Seattle Opera: A Musical Uprising." Furthermore, the Metropolitan Opera News did a large feature story on Seattle Opera, using a full-page, caption, "Opera is Alive and Well in Seattle." An article by the local U.P.I. representative, "Opera--Hippest Scene in Town," was also carried by several newspapers throughout the United States. Finally, Craft Horizon did a large article on the new forms of opera in Seattle. The Seattle Opera initiated its "Market Spreading Plan" that same year through the implementation of a touring program. A Tosca production was offered in Spokane, Washington, and Missoula, Montana. (On tour, the Seattle Opera usually provided the sets, costumes, technical crew, and the leading singers, while the local community provided the orchestra and the chorus.) The touring program, as well as the children's programs, was an example of Seattle Opera's efforts towards a greater diffusion of the art form. By the end of the season, it had become increasingly clear that the main goal of Seattle Opera was to bring about national recognition, through innovation in all possible areas such as eye-catching publicity and attention-getting productions.