Portland Opera may be on the verge of going silent, or it might rebound from the brink. On March 3 the nonprofit arts company announced a “Save Our Song (SOS)” fundraising campaign to raise $1.5 million by June — to ensure that it has another season after the current season ends May 16 with Verdi’s Requiem. If that goal is met, the plan is to raise $3.5 million more by the summer of 2027.
The 61-year-old company employs musicians represented by American Federation of Musicians Local 99 and operatic singers and choristers represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists. But the amount of work has been in steep decline in the last decade. Local 99 secretary-treasurer Mont Chris Hubbard says the traditional “grand opera” — works by 19th century composers like Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini — requires an orchestra of about 60 players. Portland Opera used to put on three or four of those a year. Now it’s down to about one a year, and the remainder are works by modern composers that require a dozen musicians or fewer.
The same shrinkage is happening with singers: Verdi’s Requiem was traditionally performed with a chorus of 80 to 100; this year’s will have about 40. Some shows now perform without a chorus, only operatic soloists.
Companies like Portland Opera are struggling in part because public and private funding of the arts is down, and music lovers aren’t going out as much as they did before COVID.
Local 99’s current contract with the Portland Opera guarantees just three days a work a year, at the union rate of $250 per performance plus $75 an hour for rehearsals. Fewer performances mean musicians are earning less than half what they did at the Portland Opera a decade ago. To survive, members perform other gigs and earn money as tutors and teachers.
