“The new normal?” Speight Jenkins, the general director of the Seattle Opera, repeated the question I had just asked him over the telephone. He paused for a moment.

“No, I won’t accept that,” he said. “As an American and as a general director I can’t accept that.”

The question was whether the current state of the economy is serious but temporary, or whether it represents a permanent change in the ambitions and expectations of American opera companies. Opera moves slowly, with programs mapped out years in advance, so the coming season may be the first planned entirely amid economic uncertainty. And if you look around the country, much of the landscape is saddening.

Seattle’s situation is among the most acute, though troubles face almost every company in the country. But Mr. Jenkins has a longer perspective on it than most, having led the company since 1983.

In 2003 he signed a 10-year contract extension, and the company knew that it would be undergoing a difficult transition to a new director around this time. What it couldn’t have known then was that its shift in leadership would occur in the worst economic environment for arts organizations in decades.