The San Diego Opera Association (SDO) is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California. It incorporated in 1965, presenting operas under the name of the San Diego Opera. It is a member of the professional association OPERA America, which ranked it among the top ten opera companies in the United States. The company was founded in 1950 as the San Diego Opera Guild, originally to present traveling productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area. SDO began to stage its own productions in 1965, its first one being La bohème. From the beginning, the company performed at the San Diego Civic Theatre in Downtown San Diego. Until the 2008 recession, it presented five operas each season; in 2008 this was reduced to four productions, scheduled from January to April. In March 2014 the opera board announced that the 2014 season would be its last, but this decision was later rescinded by the company's board of directors, and a cut down version of the already planned 2015 season was announced, reducing the number of titles from four to three. David Bennett of the Gotham Chamber Opera was hired as general director. Administration The founding SDO general director was Walter Herbert, who served in that position from 1965 until his death in 1975. Tito Capobianco served as general director from 1976 to 1983, during which time he "expanded the season to six productions, featuring renowned superstars such as Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills", as well as beginning an annual two-opera Verdi Festival which ceased in 1984 after his departure. Between 1983 and 2014, the general director was Ian Campbell who achieved considerable success as well as creating financial stability for the company. Campbell left the company in May 2014, following his contentious recommendation to shut down the opera. Since 2015 the general director has been David Bennett. Proposal to close the company, March/April 2014 On March 19, 2014, the opera's board of directors voted to cease operations after its final performance on April 13, 2014, citing diminishing audiences and increasing costs. The announcement came as a shock to the public, because the company has no debt and had given no hint it was contemplating closure; director Campbell explained that the board decided to "wind down with dignity and grace" rather than become bankrupt. However, at a special board meeting on March 31, the