General director to leave Boston Lyric Opera
Janice Mancini Del Sesto, whose 15-year tenure at Boston Lyric Opera has been marked by significant institutional growth but mixed critical reviews, will step down as general director of the company when her contract expires in 2009.
Her resignation, hastily announced at a staff meeting yesterday, comes as the opera company searches for a replacement for music director Stephen Lord, who departs in 2008. With Del Sesto leaving, the search to replace Lord will be put on hold because the company plans to first hire a general director.
"You have to remember, [back in 1992,] I was being interviewed by an organization that had an $800,000 budget in a city of opera companies come and gone," said Del Sesto. "Even my colleagues in the national world of opera said, 'Are you crazy - Boston and opera?' We've come a long way."
A lot has changed since Del Sesto's arrival. The opera company's budget has grown to its current $6 million, and the company regularly sells out the 1,500-seat Shubert Theatre. But over the years, critics have chided Lyric Opera for not being adventurous enough with its programming. John Tischio, president of the New England Opera Club, defended Del Sesto and said she stabilized opera in Boston.
"She's got a difficult situation there," he said. "She has to, number one, present operas that will bring in the largest audiences, but at the same time, she also wants to explore new and different areas. It's a difficult balance. If she does something esoteric, people will stay away in droves."
While the company has balanced its budget, it has needed to reduce productions, from four operas a year to three. In addition, it could not raise enough money to follow up its hugely successful 2002 production of "Carmen" on the Boston Common, which drew 140,000 people.
It has also had to compete with the smaller, but buzz-generating Opera Boston, whose budget has grown from $1.3 million in 2003-04 to $2.2 million. Opera Boston has carved out a niche presenting rarely performed or contemporary works, including its recent run of Osvaldo Golijov's "Ainadamar."
Del Sesto said she's proud of what she has accomplished. She said she was leaving because she realized she will be almost 60 when her contract expires in 2009.
"It's very hard work," she said. "I've loved every minute of it, but it has been a work of devotion for 24/7 for 15 years. I started looking at how I wanted to spend the rest of my working days and whether I wanted new and different kinds of challenges. I feel this organization is in a really terrific place."
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. For more on the arts, visit boston.com/ae/ theater_arts/exhibitionist. 