As with many companies coming out of the pandemic, Opera Project Columbus has been committed to returning to a state of ‘normality’ as quickly as possible, both in terms of programming and in terms of the quality of our productions. We have this season been involved in two tremendously successful projects – I, Too, Sing America, which has reached across multiple communities to bring stories of contemporary lived experience to audiences throughout the state, and our recent concert of Un Ballo in Maschera, which brought together the formidable talents of largely local orchestral players and singers under the baton of Maestro William Boggs in his first guest conducting position for the company. These events showcased the breadth of talent in our region, and also reinforced Opera Project Columbus’ commitment to producing meaningful art that resonates within our communities.

As many companies have discovered recently, however, the combination of the tail-end of the pandemic and global logistics issues have made this current period particularly difficult for companies wishing to produce the highest-quality work. For this reason, we will be postponing our planned production of The Merry Widow to a later season when we can guarantee that circumstances will allow us to present it in its best light.

We remain committed to bringing to Columbus a combination of socially-important new and canon works, and production planning for our next season is already underway. The restructuring work currently being undertaken by the Operations team at OPC is progressing quickly, and we look forward to sharing details of our next season in the near future.

While it is disappointing for us to have to postpone Merry Widow, we do so knowing that the current economic climate will soon return to a place of more certainty. And, when it does, OPC will again be leading the way in bringing local Ohio talent together to tell the stories that are important to all of us.

Greg Eldridge

OPC Executive Director