Opera Boston To Close Due To Lackluster Fundraising

By The WBUR Newsroom
Dec 23, 2011, 12:43 PM
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Updated at 3:00 PM, December 23rd, 2011

BOSTON — Boston’s second-largest opera house is shutting down. Opera Boston said Friday it will close its doors on Jan. 1.

Board members say lackluster fundraising and the tough economy have resulted in an “insurmountable budget deficit.”

In a statement, the president of Opera Boston’s board said he knows it will come as a shock to the Boston arts community and they did not make the decision lightly.

Esther Nelson, who heads the city’s largest opera company, Boston Lyric Opera, says it’s a huge loss.

“It is in fact great for Boston to have these two different types of companies — the larger one and then the smaller one — that allowed people to see a very wide range of opera professionally produced,” Nelson said.

Nelson says there’s a very active opera scene in Boston, but the city does not yet have a track record of consistent fundraising support.