Boston Lyric Opera cuts its season from four operas to three. “We are operating from a position of strength, and we do not want to lose that in the current difficult economic climate. We can’t do four operas for the price of three, and we do not want to compromise the quality of what we do. Large five- and six-figure gifts are coming in smaller and slower. We wanted to present a world premiere, but we have had to postpone that again because the donors who are helping us with that are not in a position to give what they would like to.”