For the third year in a row, Cincinnati Opera has broken records.

        The 81-year-old company, which ended its season last month, expanded upon an experiment it started last year: It added a second extra performance to its four-opera summer season, making 10 opera evenings.

        That meant putting up and tearing down three sets in three nights — twice. But it also meant there were two “festival weekends” which attracted opera lovers from as far away as Providence, R.I., and Minneapolis. Aficionados from 160 households in 34 states came to see two operas in one weekend.

        “I was concerned going into it. And yet, it worked,” says Boris Auerbach, president of the opera board. “The crowd was there for that third performance. That tells me, continuing to grow the season is going in the right direction.”

        More than 30,000 (30,504 to be exact) turned out to see Madama Butterfly, the double bill of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung, The Magic Flute and Nabucco. Nearly 6,200 of those were single ticket-buyers for those extra, third-night performances.

        The other good news is that Cincinnati Opera is attracting a young crowd — many of them single ticket-buyers to those added shows. About 65 percent of the audience was between ages 25 and 54. Nationally, the median age of the opera audience is 44 — and getting younger, reports the National Endowment for the Arts.

        “I tremendously enjoyed this season,” says Keely Paul, 31, a project manager in Information Technology at Procter & Gamble. “I actually recommended The Magic Flute to friends, because they made it what it should be: accessible to the masses, funny and passionate.”

        The company posted the highest gross ticket income in history ($1.3 million), and 70 percent of the house was sold by subscription. (To compare, it was 52 percent five years ago.)

        In the past four years, donations have tripled; corporate sponsorships have doubled.

        But best of all, the audience came — despite civil unrest in Over-the-Rhine, home of Music Hall. Out-of-towners came, too, even though the national brochure came out in April during the height of the disturbances.

        “I was worried, with all the trouble this year, that I might feel uncomfortable,” says Nancy Bentley, 54, of Ripley. “My fears were unfounded. I felt totally safe this year.”

        Under artistic director Nicholas Muni, the caliber of the productions and singers continues to be high. One of Mr. Muni's strengths is his casting ability, and many singers heard here are on the rise, such as sopranos Chen Sue (Butterfly) and Isabel Bayrakdarian (Pamina).

        The season was a good balance between innovative stagings of traditional operas and works that were new to Cincinnati.

        The audience favorite was Mozart's The Magic Flute, which sold the most tickets this year: 9,371 over three nights. (The record, 10,129, is held by last year's Aida with opera star Denyce Graves.)

        The whimsical Maurice Sendak production, although two decades old, has worn well, and captured the mystery and magic of Mozart's singspiel.

        Cincinnati Opera had mounted Madama Butterfly 104 times before, but it never looked like the Francesca Zambello/Michael Yeargan version that played in June. An audience of 9,209 attended three performances.

        The singing, staging and orchestra were superb, but some in the audience missed the traditional setting of Butterfly's house. The opera had a minimalist look; much of it was set in the American consulate in Nagasaki.

        “I liked the cherry blossom scene, but they never seemed to get out of that office,” says Ms. Bentley. “I kept saying, when are we going to get to the little house?”

        Wrote Roy L. Jones of Burlington: “Doing Butterfly without her house is like listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 without the piano. Or filming Gone with the Wind without Scarlett O'Hara's southern plantation, Tara. It just doesn't come off.”
       @subhed:Daring to be different

        @text: The Cincinnati premiere of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung challenged the audience with its 20th-century music, disturbing themes and nudity. Though a few in the audience left, most of the audience of 5,297 (two nights) stayed.

        To me, it was gripping theater, superbly staged and performed. My only regret was that I could not see the remarkable “Lake of Tears” from the main floor.

        Finally, the company took on Verdi's Nabucco for the first time, in two sold-out performances for 6,627. Mounting this biblical epic was a mammoth undertaking, and featured a stunning singing actress — Lauren Flanagan — in the role of Abigaille.

        Some of the production, by Mr. Muni with designer Peter Werner, was spectacular. The Temple of Solomon, with its floating wall inscribed with ancient Hebrew text, was powerful and effective.

        Other, more conceptual aspects did not work as well, and some of the symbolism was not obvious to the audience. Most in the audience could not see the floor split open, for instance, when Nabucco went mad.

        Many people left during lengthy scene changes in Act III, a puzzling technical problem. Despite that, many opera fans were glad to see it for the first time.

        “I loved Nabucco. That was a fantastic choice, because that opera is not staged very often,” Ms. Bentley says.

        The look, creativity and repertoire that Mr. Muni is bringing to the company is fresh and exciting. Cincinnati Opera continues to develop a profile that will make it a national destination.

        “We've been looking at other festival models, such as St. Louis,” says Patricia Beggs, managing director. “It is a festival that is reviewed in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, receives visitors from all over the country, and has a national board.”

        Meanwhile, anticipation is high for next season, which will include Cincinnati Opera's first Elektra with opera star Deborah Polaski and the first performances of Dead Man Walking outside of California.

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