Boston to Have Grand Opera Co.

Definite plans have been formed for giving Boston an opera house with an established company which will give grand opera for at least three months of the year. The ground for the building, which will be erected near Symphony Hall, has been donated by Mr. Eben D. Jordan, who has also offered to defray the expense of building the hall if necessary. The matter is in the hands of a preliminary committee, which will soon be organized into a permanent body and will eventually be formed as the proprietary company of the house. The theatre will be built on the style of the Manhattan Opera House in New York, and will be of sufficient size to accommodate 2500 persons. It is hoped to collect a body of singers of conspicuous ability and, in as many instances as possible, of high distinction. The orchestra and the chorus will be comparatively permanent bodies.

An essential part of the project is a moderate scale of prices for seats, which will be considerably less than those charged by the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. The management of the house will be in trusted to Mr. Henry Russell, the present director of the San Carlo Company, who has had several years' experience in operatic management in Italy and in London, as well as in the United States. The opera house will probably be completed by the fall of 1909.