SFLO factoids

I found our fact sheet and thought I'd share some of our self-praise!
Company established: January 1997
A non-profit organization
New management: 2002
2002 to Present: 19 operas and 92 performances
Performs at Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
320 seats, Louis XVI-style ‘jewel box’

Recent productions sold out
* 81% seats sold to general public
* 12% seats free to children under 12 & all public school students

The Lyric Opera is dedicated to:
Classical opera at prices that more people can afford.
Children and young people, the next generation of opera patron.
Young singers developing their craft and expanding their repertoire.

And here's some of my favourite review snippets! (all from San Francisco Classical Voice)

[Magic Flute]
* "The Lyric show...took the fairytale at face value, emphasizing its delight and fantasy"
* "Revon set the scene of the armored men between cool-looking boulders, one resembling an eagle and the other a bear."
[This is funny to me because we stage hands all agree that they look like a chicken drumstick. See for yourself and make up your own mind. Then tell me, because I'm curious what others see. It took me a good 10 minutes of staring at this photo to see a bear.]

[Trovatore]
* "Her best moment: the climax of her narrative in the camp scene — "Il figlio mio avea bruciato" (I had burned my own son). It was terrifying."
[Indeed it was terrifying. We had large fire pits and bright red glowing lights, and a woman shrieking at the top of her lungs about killing her child.]

[Lucretia]
* "A tiny local company that takes on a complicated, challenging, still largely unfamiliar contemporary opera should get a big, shiny "A" for effort."

[Tosca]
* "San Francisco Lyric Opera set a new standard of achievement for themselves... Propelled by superior acting and singing, the opera was the gripping thriller that Puccini and his librettists worked to create."

[Abduction]
* "Every opera capital has, it seems, not only a major opera company but an inspirational secondary group [. . .] So, what might be that creative second company for San Francisco? [. . .] According to the enthusiastic audience [. . .] it is the San Francisco Lyric Opera."
[This is our token ego boost. We love this quote.]

[Carmen]
* "Seldom will you see a powerful singer less comfortable on stage."
[In reference to Chris Campbell, our Don José. I include this because it's as far from accurate as can be. Chris felt Don José was a quiet and reserved man who let himself be pushed around by a beautiful and domineering woman. So he played him as an overpowered and whipped soldier-boy and portrayed it so well that the reviewer wrote this. It just goes to show you that not everything reviewers write is necessarily close to truth.]
My own personal favourite:
* "At the risk of sounding sexist, ageist or beauty-ist, the observation is unavoidable that Lyric Opera employs (most likely, for peanuts) young and handsome singers in a proportion far superior to big, famous companies."
[Yes. We like beautiful people. But let's face it, nobody is bothered by it.]

[Ballo]
* "In our age of near-despair over shrinking audiences for the classical arts, SFLO believes in the power of great operas to communicate to new audiences without much intervention. Just sing well and tell the story. Period."
[Period.]