NATCHEZ &045; The Natchez Opera Festival has taken a new name and will offer a broader program for its 2004 season.

Now as the Natchez Festival of Music, the award-winning event with its main programs performed during May, will expand to include a weekend of jazz in addition to Broadway and opera.

&uot;The board has decided to go in a different direction based on research,&uot; said Dr. David Blackburn, festival director. &uot;We looked at the demographics, what type of people and how many people are attending, and we decided to broaden the horizons to offer something for everyone.&uot;

For 13 years, the opera festival has brought excellence in performing arts to audiences in Natchez, Blackburn said. &uot;Now we will bring the same excellence to new areas.&uot;

Having a music festival to market instead of an opera festival will make a difference, said Walter Tipton, director of the city’s tourism department.

The jazz will be a festival within a festival, Blackburn said, with a major portion of the jazz programs offered at the Natchez Convention Center.

Tipton is working to coordinate the jazz concerts with another event already scheduled for the same weekend of May 6-8.

&uot;That is the same weekend as the Classic Car Show, the antique cars,&uot; Tipton said. With planning, the two events could enhance each other.

The 2004 festival will open with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s &uot;Show Boat,&uot; with performances on April 30 and May 1 and will continue the next weekend with &uot;The Impresario&uot; by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Broadway music of Rodgers and Hammerstein will be the program at mid month; and the opera &uot;Turandot&uot; will be the finale.

Opera board member Ross Patridge said changing the name of the festival for marketing purposes is a good idea. &uot;But it’s still the opera festival,&uot; he said.

&uot;We will do whatever we have to do to promote it. We need to have sold-out houses.&uot;

The opera festival has been very good for Natchez, Partridge said. And he is working hard as a board member to be sure that continues.

&uot;I’m going to do all I can to make as much money as I can for the festival,&uot; he said. With that in mind, he is organizing an October golf tournament as a fund raiser, for one thing.

Sara Blackburn, production manager for the festival and wife of David Blackburn, said the board of directors is taking a &uot;business approach. They are serious about raising money. They are a total breath of fresh air.&uot;

Sara Blackburn said the name change has received accolades from many people, particularly from the Mississippi Arts Commission, which said the change is a smart move.

The festival won the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in the Community in 1998. In the spring of 2003, David Blackburn was recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Opera and Musical Education.