NEW YORK: The New York City Opera s announcement last month that it had landed G rard Mortier, director of the Paris National Opera, as its new leader was hailed as the beginning of a new era for the company. But it was also the end of a saga of operatic proportions, as Mortier declared that, after nearly a decade of searching for its own home, City Opera would stay put at Lincoln Center and make the best of the New York State Theater, which it shares with the New York City Ballet.
For years, the opera has complained about its location.
Not only were the State Theater s acoustics widely considered poor for singers, but the ballet also had control of the best dates and the best offices. And operating cater- corner on the plaza from the Metropolitan Opera put the company in the constant shadow of that bigger, better financed organization.
City Opera board members said Mortier made a compelling argument for staying put.
"During the search, as he began to develop his thinking, he made this case for staying," said Roy Furman, vice chairman of the investment firm Jefferies Company, who was on the search committee: " This is what I want to do. I think we can stay and make this great. It was not an issue.
It was important for us to find the leadership. It s amazing how issues disappear. We bought him and his concept and his vision.
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People in classical music circles suggested that City Opera had already come to terms with the idea of abandoning its building search. The opera was tapped out by the time and resources spent on consultants and architects, this argument goes, weary of the distraction from the company s core operations including choosing a new general and artistic director to succeed Paul Kellogg and daunted by the fund-raising challenges and rising construction expenses involved in a project that was expected to cost at least $350 million.
Mortier also could not take over until 2009 because of his contractual obligations in Paris, meaning that any building search would be complicated by a lame-duck leadership period.
(Kellogg leaves at the end of this season.)
"Everybody had given up on a new building," said Robert Wilson, a City Opera benefactor. "I think Mortier was just stating the obvious.
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Joseph Volpe, who recently stepped down as general manager of the Met, said: "I think this is the perfect way for them to handle the inevitable position they were in, which was they weren t moving out.
"They had no choice as far as I could see; where were they going to go?"
City Opera trustees say they did not need much convincing: this was clearly not the right time to take on an ambitious building project, and they had to reconcile themselves to that reality.
"Would one like to win the lottery?" said Frederick Iseman, a City Opera trustee who is the chairman and president of Caxton-Iseman Capital. "Would I like to look like George Clooney?
Sure. Life is life. It s a real hall, it s a real opera house, and what matters at the end of the day is what you put on.
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Although Susan Baker, the chairwoman of City Opera, has spent a considerable portion of her three-year tenure trying to find a new home, she said she was not disappointed. "It s really not a letdown," she said. "I think what I care most about is feeling that our programming is effectively brought to the public.
If we can do that in the State Theater, and G rard thinks we can, and it turns out we can, I think that s absolutely fabulous."
To be sure, many issues remain unresolved. Historically testy relations between City Ballet and City Opera have already improved under their relatively new leaders, Baker at the opera and Barry Friedberg at the ballet.
But any changes to the State Theater will require potentially difficult negotiations, since the ballet is generally pleased with the house.
"Susan Baker and I have agreed to begin a dialogue about possible enhancements for the theater that address some of the opera s concerns without unduly compromising how the theater serves the ballet," Friedberg said. "Costs, sources of financing and potential lost performance time will be among the issues that we will need to study.
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Friedberg said the decision would allow the companies to discuss capital projects that had been postponed. "While New York City Opera was committed to finding a different space, our dialogue was focused on maintenance issues, such as carpeting and repairing the seats, rather than possible longer- term improvements," he said.
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