Texas opera houses circle around the waggon

Texas opera houses circle around the waggon

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norman lebrecht

October 01, 2020

The five Texas opera houses are facing Covid from a single waggon. Press release:

October 1, 2020 – Houston Grand Opera (HGO), Austin Opera (AO), The Dallas Opera (TDO), Fort Worth Opera (FWO), and OPERA San Antonio (OSA) are pleased to announce the creation of the Texas Opera Alliance (TOA), a new partnership of the five companies, designed to advance and protect the future of the art form in Texas. Facing the same challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has presented for performing arts organizations across the globe, the five companies have identified this opportunity to give Texans more access to opera through a strategic alliance. The mission of the Texas Opera Alliance is to advance and diversify the operatic art form through innovative production partnerships, audience-building initiatives, and collaborative investments in new works, ensuring that opera continues to thrive in the Lone Star State.

In its first year, in addition to each organization implementing its own unique promotional initiatives, TOA will cross promote digital content and programming while creating unique touchpoints with audience members from all five organizations. In addition to streaming video content, TOA will provide member companies access to an array of publications and online resources, webinars, and supplementary programming. Through this cross promotion, the organizations’ digital content will have a larger reach.

 

Comments

  • Victor Trahan says:

    Wagon vs. waggon

    ”Wagon and waggon are different spellings of the same word meaning, among other things, a sturdy four-wheeled vehicle for transporting things. Waggon was preferred in British English until a century ago,1 and it still appears occasionally, but it is fast becoming archaic. In this century, the shorter one is preferred in all main varieties of English.”
    (Grammarist)

  • Greg Bottini says:

    I wish them all the luck in the world. Opera, in its live form, is an impossible sell nowadays, due to reasons I stated in a previous post.
    BTW, you’ve not quite got the saying correct, Norman.
    It’s “circle the waggons”, as your small image shows, not “circle around the waggon”.
    – from a fan of Zane Grey

    • V. Lind says:

      Yes, and it usually means to build a bulwark against marauding attackers. I realise theatres of all genres feel themselves under attack from Covid but it is not a marauding enemy in that sense.

      The whole use of the term, including spelling, is a little off.

      • Greg Bottini says:

        From the Oxford Shorter English Dictionary, 6th ed.:
        “wagon /ˈwag(ə)n/ noun. Also -gg-. L15.”
        Please check your sources before correcting Norman and/or me on spelling.

  • drummerman says:

    An interesting concept though why did they have to wait until covid-19 to do this? Any reason why there are not including El Paso Opera, Amarillo Opera and Opera in the Heights (Houston)?

  • Frankster says:

    Opera companies in France have been commissioning new operas and new stagings to be shared between several cities for many years. Seems like an obvious idea.

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