Fort Worth Opera to have a ‘packed season’ after COVID-19 cancellations
Young artists performed in a flatbed truck for the better part of a year, bringing music to communities at a time when people could not go inside theaters to hear the music for themselves.
But after two canceled seasons due to the pandemic the Fort Worth Opera is returning to the theater for its 75th season. And there will be more performances than normal.
“I’m overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that we can all perform again and offer the community what it is we do,” said Joe Illick, artistic director at Fort Worth Opera.
Usually, the opera follows a festival performance model, meaning its season is only a few weeks long. But it is transitioning to a year-round model, filling concert halls with music all year long.
“My goal at the end of this 21-22 season is to see Fort Worth Opera’s triumphal return,” said Afton Battle, Fort Worth Opera general director, adding she wants to see a “packed house” at all of the performances.
Battle, who joined the opera 10 months ago, has helped lead the opera through the pandemic.
“I only know about running an opera company in a pandemic, and if I can run an opera company in a pandemic, which I have, and quite successfully, then I can run an opera company in some sense of normalcy,” Battle said.
This will be a season of community, celebration and paying homage to the women who founded the opera 75 years ago, Battle said. The opera will return to Bass Hall in April to perform La Traviata, which was performed by the women who founded the company over seven decades ago. The opera also plans to go back into schools and continue its new Fort Worth Opera on the go or “FWO GO” program that developed during the pandemic.
FWO GO allowed the opera to engage with the community even when theaters were closed. Artists would perform in parking lots, churches and parks, in the back of a flatbed truck or trailer. The program offered outdoor, pop-up performances including opera, broadway, gospel and contemporary sounds.
“It was that programming that revitalized this company, that put us back on the conversation around the kitchen table,” said Battle. Adding, “Last September, we never had a program that was going out into the community putting the community first.”
FWO GO is the silver lining of COVID-19. It is the product of having to reinvent and rethink how to perform safely amid a pandemic, Battle said. Through the program, the opera was able to reach audiences they had never reached before and re-engage the community.
“We were able to jump out there at a time when a lot of things were stagnant,” said Sheran Goodspeed Keyton, director of Children’s Opera Theater production and civic impact. “We were able to jump out there and continue to bring the arts to the community.”
The opera’s season will begin in September with Entre Amigos, a Hispanic heritage month concert. Winter programming will feature the world premiere of Héctor Armienta’s masked avenger opera, Zorro, at the Rose Marine Theater and a final show, in collaboration with the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium.
There will also be a performance celebrating Black History Month called A Night of Black Excellence: Past, Present, and Future. Spring programming will include Fort Worth Opera’s Diamond Anniversary Gala. The season will conclude with Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata at Bass Performance Hall.
“It’s a really packed season,” Battle said. “We look forward to being in Bass Hall in April as well as at the Rose Marine Theater, twice this season, and to various other concerts and engagement opportunities for our community.”
The opera will not require audience members to wear masks unless the concert hall they are performing in requires it or state guidelines change.
“People have all sacrificed collectively, and being able to hear live music again and live singers together, in a theater, where we’re all looking at each other’s faces and able to share this thing together, it’s It going to be extremely emotional and extremely healing,” Illick said.
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 10:42 AM.