The Atlanta Opera and the Atlanta Federation of Musicians have reached a three-year contract with the company’s orchestra members.
The agreement gives the opera more time with the players, a move its leaders consider key to the success of the company’s expansion to four mainstage operas per season and its long-term plans. The new agreement runs through June 30, 2019.
Under the leadership of Tomer Zvulen, who became the general & artistic director in 2013, the opera has grown from 12 annual performances then to 25 annual performances now.
And the company launched its popular Discoveries series in 2014-15, presenting new works, new ideas and fresh perspectives on metro stages that aren’t its main home, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
Discoveries performances have taken place at Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts, Oglethorpe University’s Conant Performing Arts Center and the Alliance Theatre. This season, all five February performances of Maria de Buenos Aires at Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce have sold out, as have all three May performances of The Secret Gardener at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The Discoveries series might be one reason the company this year was nominated for an International Opera Award in the accessibility category, which recognizes innovative efforts to expand audience interest.
Atlanta Opera’s mainstage season continues in Cobb with Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (March 25-April 2) and Puccini’s Turandot (April 29-May 7);
