Mill City Summer Opera is a non-profit performing arts organization that produces live opera in Minneapolis. It produces one opera per year, most of which have been staged in the non-traditional venue of the Ruins Courtyard of the

Mill City Museum Mill City Museum is a Minnesota Historical Society museum in Minneapolis. It opened in 2003 built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. The museum focuses on the founding and growth ...

in Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2017, the company produced in the nearby Machine Shop event space due to conservation work taking place in the Ruins Courtyard. The company's inaugural production in July 2012 was the two-act Italian opera '' Pagliacci'', composed by

Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo ( , , ; 23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera '' Pagliacci'' (1892) that remained h ...

. The company has continued to produce opera and other types of music dramas for the summer arts audience in the Twin Cities every year since, with productions of

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

's ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...

'' in 2013;

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

's ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language drama ...

'' in 2014; Gaetano Donizetti's ''

La fille du régiment ' (''The Daughter of the Regiment'') is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra ...

'' in 2015; Stephen Sondheim's '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' in 2016; and

Ástor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fr ...

's '' María de Buenos Aires'' in 2017. In addition, the organization has offered alternative educational and contemporary programming, including opera scenes featuring emerging artists in the opera field and fusion programming.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Minnesota opera companies Arts organizations based in Minneapolis Culture of Minneapolis Musical groups established in 2012 Music organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota 2012 establishments in Minnesota