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director, said he over-hires to ensure he has enough crew members in case
of an infection.

The Dallas Opera’s return to grand opera comes after two tough years.
Although the company saved on production costs by canceling
performances, it has lost an estimated $5.4 million in ticket sales since
2020. A total of $3.4 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans
helped the company partially compensate the orchestra, chorus, principal
singers and other production staff for rehearsals and performances
scrapped by the pandemic. “Those PPP loans kept us afloat,” Derrer said.

A major challenge for the company will be drawing audiences back to the
Winspear. Subscribers have been loyal, Derrer said, with a 93% retention
rate since COVID began. “But there’s still a lot to be gained in developing
new audiences and engaging our communities,” he added.

Dallas Opera director Ian Derrer poses for a photograph at Winspear Opera House in Dallas, Saturday, June 9,
2018. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)

Some other companies, including Houston Grand Opera and the
Metropolitan Opera, resumed full productions last fall. So why has the
Dallas Opera waited until now?

“It was simply a best guess of when we would have the mechanisms in place
to produce opera as safely as possible,” Derrer said.