Dear Editor,

I am a recent graduate of Loyola’s College of Music and a cast member of the Loyola Opera’s production of “Orpheus in the Underworld.” As a young singer making my way into a field with an increasingly smaller audience, I am acutely aware of how important it is to try to make opera more accessible to our generation. I can’t even begin to explain how upset I am in the handling of the publicity for Loyola’s production of “Orpheus in the Underworld.”

Apparently the budget for advertising is smaller than it ever has been before. So small, in fact, that it didn’t even warrant a mention in The Maroon. Our ticket sales aren’t great, and with the help the opera program is getting from their publicity coordinator, it isn’t going to get any better.

The really unfortunate thing is that “Orpheus in the Underworld” is about as accessible as opera gets. This show really has the capacity to turn an audience on to something they may have otherwise viewed as elitist and boring. But how are students on campus even going to know? A student cast member even took it upon himself to create posters to put around campus to advertise the opera to students.

He was told that the posters needed to come down and be redone, because they did not follow the “montage series guidelines” for promotional materials. This would be fine if there was any other type of advertisement available on campus. The operas at Loyola used to sell out – people were turned away at the door. What has changed so much that we are unable to get people into the theater?

A significant shrink in publicity. Next week I expect to hear a lot of people saying “I would have gone to the opera if I had only known about it!” And that is shameful.

SarahStickneyLoyola [email protected]