Lyric adds a fourth opera

Marjorie Owens (top), Dana Beth Miller (above left), and Rebecca Nash will perform during BLO's 2009-10 season. (Wolf trap (top); des moines metro opera (above left))

Next year Boston Lyric Opera will expand its offerings to include a fourth opera, Britten's "Turn of the Screw," set to be performed outside of the company's home at the Shubert Theater. For its standard subscription season, BLO will present Bizet's "Carmen," Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos," and Mozart's "Idomeneo."

These and other details of the company's 2009-10 season were announced today. It is the first season fully planned by BLO's new general and artistic director Esther Nelson, who took up her post last fall, and it appears to herald new directions for the larger of the city's two main opera companies.

Besides the expansion from three to four operas, and the performance of one opera outside of the Shubert (the location has not yet been announced), BLO is presenting three of the four works in its own new productions. The company has also appointed three new senior artistic staff - Nicholas G. Russell (director of artistic operations); Dan Duro (director of production), and John Conklin (artistic advisor).

"We're trying to accomplish something of an expansion and a belt-tightening at the same time," Nelson said in a recent phone interview, adding that both the salaries of staff members and the fees paid to singers have been reduced. "Everybody is coming together realizing that times have changed and compensation is below what it used to be."

One approach Nelson says will help keep costs down while creating new productions is to adapt sets originally created for other operas. "Idomeneo" (April 23-May 4, 2010), to be directed by Lillian Groag, will use a set first created for Groag's production of Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice" at Glimmerglass Opera in 2007. The productions of "Carmen" (Nov. 6-17) and "The Turn of the Screw" (Feb. 4-7, 2010) will be entirely new, and will be directed by Nicholas Muni and Sam Helfrich respectively.

Strauss's "Ariadne" (March 12-23, 2010) will be presented in a production by Neil Armfield imported from the Welsh National Opera, with Marjorie Owens in the title role and Erik Nielsen conducting. Keith Lockhart will conduct "Carmen" with mezzo-soprano Dana Beth Miller; David Angus will conduct "Idomeneo" with tenor Jason Collins; and Andrew Bisantz will conduct "The Turn of the Screw," which will also feature the American debut of Australian soprano Rebecca Nash. The company has not presented an opera by Britten since the 1987-88 season, and has not presented a work by Strauss since its performances of "Salome" in 2001.

Replacing the company's "Opera Overtures" series of dinner and lecture events for patrons will be a new series of Sunday morning programs with optional brunch, copresented by the Museum of Fine Arts. The goal, according to Nelson, was to lower ticket prices for these educational events while exploring the individual operas in greater depth and with an eye toward their intersection with other arts. The company will also offer its first open house with the aim of demystifying opera by taking families backstage at the Shubert Theater. BLO's annual opera for young audiences, to be presented next spring, will be Rossini's "Barber of Seville."

Nelson said the company's anticipated budget for its three-opera subscription series remains unchanged at roughly $3.6 million, despite the new productions. The off-site fourth opera has been underwritten separately by the board.

"Everyone is excited about coming together and doing more with less," said Nelson. "My attitude is that we are artists - we should come up with creative solutions to a tough environment."

More information at 617-542-6772 or www.blo.org.