When the Granada comes alive with the production of Verdi’s masterpiece La Traviata on Sunday, June 12, it marks a return to the land of grand opera for Opera Santa Barbara (operasb.org). It also marks a long-awaited return to an ambitious company mission already in progress.
Since the company’s last “grand opera” project in November 2019, OSB has embarked on resourceful rethinking over how to operate under fire and lockdown. Among its creative workaround achievements were drive-in operas at Ventura Fairgrounds and unique smaller productions at the Lobero. Those included the mariachi opera Cruzar La Cara De La Luna, the transgender one-act As One, a Halloween-timed Puccini/Da Falla double-header, an updated take on Handel’s Semele, and an abridged spin on Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
Driving the company’s admirable initiative-amidst-adversity is Kostis Protopapas, the artistic and general director (and conductor this Sunday). He explained, “the Traviata performance will be a celebration of everything we have accomplished since March 2020. Our company was one of the few performing arts organizations in California that remained active throughout the lockdown, and successfully navigated through the post-reopening ups and downs. Returning to grand, full-length opera with a large orchestra and chorus feels like the final chapter of Around the World in 80 Days, except our journey was about 800 days.”