Whither (or wither) City Opera?

Having lost the much-touted Gerard Mortier as its general director, lost a season to the renovation of its home theater, and lost enough money over time to be saddled with a huge deficit, where does the New York City Opera go from here?

The question is of more than passing interest to music-lovers in these parts. Former Richmond Symphony maestro George Manahan is the City Opera's music director, and the company has been a springboard for Richmond-bred singers such as Pamela Armstrong and William Ferguson, as it has for many other young American voices.

Anthony Tommasini ponders the City Opera's future in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/arts/music/04tomm.html?_r=1&ref=music

Update: City Opera snags George R. Steel, formerly executive director of Columbia University's Miller Theater and, since October, general director of the Dallas Opera, as its new general manager:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/arts/music/15oper.html?ref=music