Summer 2024 Festival calendar has been set, and the new CEO is thinking ahead

By Peter Alexander Dec. 7 at 10:45 a.m.

Things are definitely back on track at Central City Opera (CCO).

The labor unrest from last summer has been settled, and the summer season for 2024 has been officially set and announced. A new CEO is in place, and a search is underway for a new artistic director, replacing Pelham (“Pat”) Pearce, who led the company for more than 20 years. And with things on an even keel, the CCO administration and artistic staff are looking to the future.

The 2024 season will comprise three major productions. As announced previously, the three shows will be Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, one of the most popular of the G&S operettas; Puccini’s American frontier fable Fanciulla del West (Girl of the Golden West), transported from the California gold fields of 1849 to the Colorado Gold Rush days in Central City a decade later; and Street Scene, a hybrid opera/musical by Kurt Weill about New York tenement life, based on Elmer Rice’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, with lyrics by Langston Hughes.

Since the three productions were announced last summer, CCO has established the full schedule for the summer’s performances, which is listed below. Subscription sales for the summer will begin Jan. 1, and single tickets will go one sale April 1.

In the meantime, new CEO Scott Finlay “sees blue skies on the horizon” for the company, he says. “There’s a lot of support out there for CCO and folks are very excited on the future here, and that feels good.”

Finlay came to CCO in 2010 as a grant writer and later associate director of development. After a stint as senior director of development at the CU College of Music, he returned to CCO as vice-president for development, the position he held until he was selected CEO last summer.

Everyone on the artistic side of the company that I have spoken with was enthusiastic about Finlay’s appointment. Coming after a period of uncertainty, his experience as the company’s development officer, together with his background both as a singer and as a fundraiser, is the kind of reassuring presence that CCO needs.

Ken Cazan, who has stage directed numerous productions at CCO, wrote in an email, “I am happy that someone as positive and supportive as Scott Finlay will be the new CEO of CCO. Scott has been a stalwart fundraiser for CCO on and off for years and a friend to all of the artists who have worked there. I hope and believe that he will be able to lead CCO into a new and adventurous era, free and clear of the baggage that was left behind.”

Ashraf Sewailam, who has both sung and stage directed for CCO, is very clear about his feelings. “I think he is the perfect choice,” he says. “He already has established relationships (with CCO’s supporters) and he can only stand to improve on that. And he’s a good person. He wants to serve well the art form as well as the establishment that he works for.”

Finlay says that all the feedback he received after his appointment was positive. “I’ve received a lot of e-mails and calls and facebooks posts from artists, and they are optimistic that we are moving in the right direction,” he says. 

That’s important in the wake of last year’s labor issues. Addressing the fallout from those events, Finlay says “It’s no secret to anyone that we’ve gone through a couple of years of rocky starts and stops, especially with the AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists union) negotiations that were going on at the beginning of the year. And I’m happy to report that we are on a different page and a different chapter with them now. 

“I think that my relationships and my leadership and reputation will reinforce and shore up the trust that (the artists) have with this company.”

Looking to the future, Finlay sees the hiring of a new artistic director as the next milestone for the company. “We launched that search and it’s ongoing right now. I’m excited to see who the candidates are and where we might be moving forward.”

Of first importance is the artistic quality of the company, of course, but Finlay recognizes other attractions that make Central City Opera unusual. “We are known for artistic excellence, we put a fantastic product on the stage,” he says. “But the real juju for this company is the setting. . . . The location plays a large role in your experience of the art form.”

Looking farther into the future, Finlay knows where he wants CCO to be in five or 10 years. “We’ve got to explore alternative revenue streams, that’s one thing. Without financial stability we can’t do anything artistically. So my first job is to get us financially stable. The City of Central is going through somewhat of a renaissance right now, there are some businesses coming in, lots of construction, lots of renovation of the old buildings. I think that there’s some opportunity up there.”

Apart from the business side of his job, Finlay remains committed to opera, both as an art form and as a part of the community where it takes place. Engagement with the public around the themes of the operas being presented, is definitely part of his plan. “Community engagement is critical for us,” he says. “I really want to see that our work is meaningful.

“One of the things that I have been saying for a long time and I hope I get to say louder now, is that we as Central City Opera have a job. We hope that we can make people lovers of Central City Opera, but I think that we should try to make people lovers of opera. Opera matters, and we’re the ones who have to put that out there.”

Just one more thing: Finlay is committed to the health of CCO as an organization and the quality of the workplace. “We’ve gone through a couple of years, and we’ve lost a lot of staff, a lot of good people, and I’m excited to turn that tide and move things forward in a different kind of motion,” he says. “I want people to love working here, and I think I can do that.

“I want to make this the best place to work in the Denver area.”

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Central City Opera
Summer 2024 Festival Season

Sir Willam Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan: Pirates of Penzance

7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 29; Saturday, July 20; Saturday, July 27; 

2 p.m. Wednesday, July 3; Friday July 5; Sunday, July 7; Saturday, July 13; Tuesday, July 16; Wednesday, July 24; Friday, Aug. 2

Giacomo Puccini: La fanciula del West (Girl of the golden West)

7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 6; Saturday, Aug. 3

2 p.m. Wednesday, July 10; Friday, July 12; Sunday, July 14; Friday, July 19; Saturday, July 21; Tuesday, July 23; Saturday, July 27; Wednesday, July 31

Kurt Weill: Street Scene

7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 12

2 p.m. Wednesday, July 17; Saturday, July 20; Friday, July 26; Sunday, July 28; Tuesday, July 30; Saturday, Aug. 3

Current subscribers may renew their subscriptions now through Dec. 8. Renewal packets will be sent by mail.

New subscriptions will go on sale Jan. 1, 2024, and may be ordered HERE, or call the box office at 303-292-6700.

Single tickets will go on sale April 1, 2024, through the CCO WEB PAGE, or call the box office at 303-292-6700.