(Santa Fe, NM) - Opera Innovation profiled David Lomeli just before he began his tenure as Santa Fe Opera’s Chief Artistic Officer. In the years and seasons since, David continues to drive artistic endeavors for Santa Fe Opera, The Dallas Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Operalia, but for his own startup businesses, too: Bolero Tech and the Vincerò Competition, respectively. In late April, we met David at Santa Fe’s famed Inn at the Loretto, for a wide-ranging discussion on the problems Bolero’s technology solves, new partnerships in the Americas, the future of opera and a game-changing algorithm…

(Santa Fe, NM) - We’re especially excited to share this chat with Emma Scherer, who we’ve known since her time at The Santa Fe Opera, working closely with Charles MacKay, while also running the company’s Executive Office and Board Relations. We met in 2015, when I had the opportunity to onsite consult with SFO public relations and apprentice artists that season. I was immediately impressed by everything Emma did and how she did it; a professional’s professional who kept everything and everyone moving forward, towards that day’s business goals, with an eye to the evening’s performance and everything that meant for Mr. MacKay and countless others. Fast-forwarding to the present, Emma has been The Santa Fe Symphony’s Executive Director since September 2021 and is preparing for the company’s 40th season in 2023/4. However, on the way there, Emma and collaborators launched the Art + Sol | Santa Fe Winter Arts Festival in February 2023…

(Santa Fe, NM) - We were thrilled when we heard about Allison Swenson’s move to Omaha as General Director, but a little sad, too. Allison’s been an incredible force at Santa Fe Opera for many years, and it’s been wonderful to watch her progress to leading that company’s robust and successful development arm. However, in opera as in any other business, the only way is up. So, this progression to General Director at one of the Midwest’s most important, vibrant and cutting edge small companies is absolutely in line with the professional that we’ve come to know and admire…

(Santa Fe, NM) - We first connected with Ulrike Köstinger via Instagram and Zoom during the pandemic. At the time, Ulrike was Chief Content and Partnership Officer for Operabase, CueTV and holding company Arts Consolidated. Operabase, the world’s go-to opera database, has documented global operatic activity since 1996, enjoying global brand recognition for decades. With over 600,000 performances on file, Operabase has recorded the work of artists in more than 3000 theatres, has 1.3 million business of opera and enthusiast subscribers, and publishes opera season information in 34 languages. After 2+ years in her previous role, Köstinger became Arts Consolidated/Operabase CEO on January 1, 2023…

Something’s apparently rotten in the state of Colorado. We first heard about Central City Opera’s entanglement with AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) via the latter’s 15DEC statement on Instagram, which was shared and commented upon by a few individuals across the opera spectrum. THE JIST: Per Eden Lane’s Colorado Public Radio story: “Founded in 1932, Central City Opera is one of the oldest opera companies in the United States. Now the company is in a bitter dispute with the labor union representing its performers…

Opera is our favorite art form. We wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t true. However, three years of pandemic (and pandemic-light) brought opera industry failings into much sharper focus, including force majeured soloists, racial and gender disparities, YAP application fees, #MeToo and more. OI was also troubled by these issues, but committed to championing innovators, doing our best to also spotlight wrongs constructively in real-time.