The Operatic Muse, Back in Town

Is Santa Barbara an opera town? It’s a complicated question, contingent on perspectives. For many years, we’ve come to expect and rely on a fully produced opera come midsummer, from the formidable forces of Music Academy of the West. This year’s contemporary American model, Kevin Puts’s Elizabeth Cree, did not disappoint. UCSB’s Music Department occasionally cooks up interesting opera fare.

And, most importantly and regularly, Opera Santa Barbara (OSB) has braved the vicissitude-laden waters of annual operatic programming for 32 years (and counting), adding an important component to the 805’s cultural calendar. And the public has responded, to varying degrees. At the moment, OSB appears to have found a successful cruising altitude of operations and a healthy appetite from both the opera-phile and opera-curious demographics.

After leaning on tactics of resourcefulness to endure the culture-punishing COVID years, and scaling back to a reasonable three-opera season in the historic and smallish Lobero Theatre, OSB appears to be in fighting, singing form. Current OSB “everything man” Kostis Protopapas — artistic and general director, conductor, impassioned opera evangelist, and more, at the reins since 2017 — kicks off the 2026-27 season on November 6 at the Lobero with a tried-and-true (and tragic) favorite, Verdi’s Rigoletto. Later in the season, watch for comedic turns in Rossini’s Barber of Seville and another OSB dip into the realm of contemporary American — and accessible — opera with Craig Bohmler and Steven Mark Kohn’s Riders of the Purple Sage.

Protopapas recently gave us some insights about the coming opera, and opera season.

As you embark on the next OSB season, how can you reflect on the state of the company and its evolution over the past, challenging years?

The performances of Rigoletto almost, to the day, mark 10 years from my conducting debut with OSB. It has definitely been an eventful decade.

Right now, we are in the best financial position we have been during my time here. Perhaps more importantly, I feel in the last 10 years OSB’s unique identity as a California opera company by focusing on our audience and on regional artists, setting a high bar for the artistic value we deliver, and constantly improving our business model.

As always, one thing that is constant is change. OSB is resilient and scaled to meet challenges on stage and off. Right now, several key people in our production team are beginning to retire or enter new life stages, so we have more new faces this season than ever before. We’ve also expanded by adding third performances to Rigoletto and Barber.

Finally, we are planning our 2027-28 season much earlier than usual. Due to renovations at the Lobero starting in 2027, we are moving two of our operas to the Granada next season. This is a significant change of scale and scope for our company that must be executed very carefully. The actual productions will be announced during Rigoletto.

Overall, it’s an exciting time, but definitely not a time to relax.

You are launching the new season with a true staple of the repertoire, Rigoletto. You have publicly said that Verdi is your favorite composer; do you have a special connection to this Verdi classic?

I have done Rigoletto twice before. The first time, it was in 2001, during the Verdi centennial. It was my very first show at Tulsa Opera, the company where I would stay for 15 years. We went into rehearsal a few days after 9/11. As we rehearse Rigoletto now, my mind often travels to that room 25 years ago. It’s definitely a privilege to have had Verdi in my life all this time.

OSB has often welcomed new approaches to old repertoire. What can you tell me about the staging and concept this time out?

Rigoletto is traditionally set in Renaissance Italy. We are envisioning this Rigoletto as a Victorian horror/gothic tale. It is a work full of contradictions: the court jester, Rigoletto’s secret double life, the glittering charm and moral decay of the fictitious Mantuan court, the glamorous circle of the Duke and the shadowy underworld of the assassin Sparafucile. We are creating a semi-fantastical world that is elegant, sexy, dangerous, and ultimately nightmarish.

Coming down the pike, the company will do Barber of Seville and one from off the usual radar, Riders of the Purple Sage — a balancing act of tragedy, comedy, and western wear. Does this follow your general concept of covering different bases in the course of a season, offering a broad palette of what opera is and can be about?

It does. Our mission broadly challenges us to celebrate the breadth and beauty of this 400-year-old artform. Santa Barbara audiences are demanding and expect both variety and excellent artistic quality from our productions. Over the years, I have enjoyed curating seasons that showcase opera favorites on everyone’s bucket lists along with lesser-known classics and American works that demonstrate opera’s versatility in tackling diverse themes that speak to our cultural identity. I think Zorro, Elmer Gantry, and now Riders of the Purple Sage are all good examples of this.

American-born opera needs love, certainly. What can you tell us about Riders of the Purple Sage?

Riders of the Purple Sage is based on the 1912 best-selling novel by Zane Grey, who was one of history’s first millionaire authors, and is considered the father of the western genre. The way I look at it, Zane Grey paved the road for Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy, and the great western movies with John Wayne and Gary Cooper.

The opera premiered to sold out houses at Arizona Opera in 2017, with music by the prolific opera and musical theater composer Craig Bohmler, who is writing a brand-new orchestration for us, adapting his expansive soundscape of the American West for the intimacy of the Lobero. A documentary of the making of the opera is available on Amazon Prime.

A more general question: To take the temperature of the opera medium, especially in America, how is it faring at this point? There have been dire efforts about its health, especially since COVID.

Opera is a fascinating topic even for people who know little or nothing about it. It is also somehow expected to be controversial. The field is full of — and surrounded by — people who are looking for off-stage drama. This results in news cycles and social media chatter that exaggerate both risks and opportunities.

In spite of the broad appeal of a handful of titles, like Carmen and Turandot, or the ubiquitousness of popular aria compilations, opera remains a niche art form. As such, it is doing really well in retaining its appeal for passionate and eclectic audiences, evolving artistically, and attracting talent and funding.

The trouble starts when we start expecting opera to become things that it’s not, like a cure for societal ills, or a regular pastime for every family. Almost 25 years ago, Boston Lyric Opera presented “Carmen in the Common,” with two outdoor performances free to the public. It was hailed as a revolutionary event that would change the destiny of opera in America. Over 100,000 people attended it. The event was never held again, only a handful of other companies duplicated it, and in retrospect it didn’t change our destiny.

Every company is different, and everyone defines success differently. For me, the path to sustainability begins with passion for the art form, obsession with the craft, understanding the economics, and respecting the audience.

Thinking locally, has OSB — and the general public interest in opera — found a good groove at this point?

Our sales are ticking up slowly but steadily for the third season in a row. On average, last season’s performances were 92 percent filled. What’s new and exciting is that 30 percent of the people who have bought tickets this season so far are first-time buyers. That’s double what it was last year at the same time.

Since our most popular titles had been selling out their weekend performances at the Lobero, we added a third, midweek performance to Rigoletto and The Barber of Seville, with tickets priced substantially below the weekend shows. It is fascinating to see that many tickets to this third performance are being sold to subscribers who already have tickets for the weekend and want to see the show a second time.

This tells me that the loyalty of our fans runs deep.

For more information and tickets to the season, see operasb.org.