by Nicholas Stevens
In an age when the word “opera,” to most, means the historical canon — that body of works that recirculate through the world’s houses each year — it bears repeating as often as possible that new efforts in the genre have flourished of late. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Cleveland Opera Theater, the Maltz Performing Arts Center at the Temple-Tifereth Israel, the Cleveland Composers’ Guild, and the Baldwin Wallace and Oberlin Conservatories of Music, Northeast Ohio audiences recently had a chance to hear scenes from three new works-in-progress by area composers and librettists.
When gearing up for an opera production, one of the most exciting times is the day the production moves from the rehearsal room into the performance space. Last Saturday afternoon, May 2, a group of invited guests got the chance to witness Cleveland Opera Theater’s first day in the auditorium of the Cleveland Performing Arts Center, where on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 10 at 3:00 pm the company will present its most ambitious production to date, Puccini’s Tosca.
The Cleveland Chamber Symphony’s second annual NEOSonicFest opened on a very informal note with a performance by reVoice on Friday Evening, March 20 at Survival Kit Gallery in the sprawling complex of old warehouses called the 78th Street Studios on Cleveland’s West Side. The event, featuring mezzo-soprano Megan Elk, sopranos Susan Fletcher & Rachel Morrison and pianist Lorenzo Salvagni, seemed as improvisatory as some of the numbers on the playlist. 
Since the demise some years ago of Opera Cleveland and Lyric Opera Cleveland, opera performances in Cleveland have been few and far between. Several plucky companies, including Opera per Tutti, have popped up in the last few years, offering small-scale productions, often of more unusual repertoire.