Figaro (Malcolm McKenzie, baritone) and Count Almaviva (Javier Abreu, tenor) come up with a plan in a room rehearsal of Eugene Opera's production of "The Barber of Seville."
Kelli Mathews / Courtesy of Eugene Opera
The Eugene Opera is preparing for a weekend of comeback performances.
This weekend's productions of Gioachino Rossini's "Barber of Seville," scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, are the first since a leadership transition revealed a six-figure operating deficit.
The opera's board got the books back in the black through a spring and summer fundraising campaign.
The two year-end shows were on the calendar even before the new executive director, Erika Rauer, joined the Eugene Opera in early September. But that's still fast work in an industry where singers, musicians and others have their schedules set a year or more in advance.
Rauer said the opera anticipates meeting its ticket sale projections for the show.
“This is a really stellar cast," Rauer said. "Several of them are specialists in the Rossini repertoire. Both (mezzo-soprano) Heather Johnson and (tenor) Javier Abreu specialize in this type of music, which has all this fast coloratura and is really difficult to sing.”
Rauer’s resume includes onstage work with Opera Bremen and Opera Boston, as well as administrative experience running education programs at the New York City Opera and Carnegie Hall.