Flashback to Glynn Ross*
A modern day impresario who significantly changed Arizona Opera.
 The New York Times once called him "the most affable megalomaniac in opera." In Seattle, he was known as "the P. T. Barnum of opera." Glynn Ross was a modern-day impresario whose unconventional methods gained him a reputation as a flamboyant promoter of opera. For example, he once advertised Puccini's La Boheme as a show about sex and drugs. He promoted a production of Richard Strauss' Salome with the phrase "Get Ahead With Salome" - a cheeky reference to a decapitated head in the final scene. In the advertising for this production, he used print graphics borrowed from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." In Arizona, he had the main street in Flagstaff temporaily renamed "Valhalla Avenue" to promote an Arizona Opera production of Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen. He also gave a DC comic book of the Ring to ticket buyers to prepare both young and old for the story. Prior to his tenure at Arizona Opera, his 1975 Seattle productions of the complete Wagner "Ring" cycle were the first in America outside of the Metropolitan Opera. (Even the Met had not done the "Ring" since the 1930's.) These productions consequently established the Seattle Opera as a major opera company. Always on the cutting edge, he also engaged the first fully staged production of The Who’s rock opera Tommy in Seattle. As General Director of Arizona Opera, he successfully revived the company from financial trouble - a reported $750,000 debt. He took chances; expanding the opera's offerings and even presented complete "Ring" cycles in Flagstaff. During the summers of 1996 and 1998 each cycle was presented over a week's time - just as Wagner had intended.
Presenting the "Ring" is a huge undertaking, even for an established company like the Metropolitan Opera. Among the challenges are contracting specialized Wagnerian singers, staging, securing an expanded orchestra and getting adequate rehearsal time. For a mid-sized company like the Arizona Opera the "Ring" was a huge leap and a big risk. In the end, it put Arizona Opera on the international map with positive reviews and world-wide attention. However, the risk of such a large-scale production was not without consequences; the 1998 "Ring" left a reported one million-dollar debt that some sources claim still haunts the company to this day. Other sources contradict this claim and firmly maintain the view that Glynn Ross always operated "in the black." A $400,000 Flinn Foundation grant has been reported to have covered the costs for this Ring production.
 Aside from this, most opera aficionados recognize that opera in America (outside of the Met) has Glynn Ross to thank for its very existence. His showmanship and unorthodox methods, while risky, captured the general public's attention and expanded the heartland's interest in the art form. In addition to his duties as an opera manager and promoter, Glynn Ross was also a co-founder of Opera America, a nonprofit group that still assists opera companies to this day.
A post note: The retirement of Glynn Ross in 1998 was followed by a the arrival of General Director David Speers. Within his first year, artistic excellence was emphasized and achieved through increased rehearsal time, a contracted, "in-house" orchestra, innovative sets, costumes and lighting, and the engagement of the talented young artists. The community responded with record subscription sales, increased single ticket sales, sold out productions and enthusiastic critical acclaim - a noteworthy endorsement. References:
*originally published at:
http://azooma.blogspot.com/2007/12/flashback-on-
edge-with-glynn-ross.html
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