Opera Columbus (Opera Association of Central Ohio, OC) is an American professional

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

company in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1981, and is a member of

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

. OC employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, artisans, stagehands, costumers, and scenic designers—many of whom are members of the Columbus community.

Productions

The company currently offers three fully staged opera productions and an educational outreach program during an annual season that runs from October through May, one of which is a featured new work. Performances are offered in Downtown Columbus and in partnership with the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. Opera Columbus collaborates with other organizations, including Against the Grain Theatre (Toronto), Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra (Cleveland), BalletMet (Columbus), the

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

, the

Columbus Symphony Orchestra The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Columbus, Ohio. The oldest performing arts organization in the city, its home is the Ohio Theatre. The orchestra's current Executive Director is Denise Rehg. Ross ...

, Company XIV (New York), and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra (Columbus).

History

Opera Columbus was chartered in September 1981 with productions of ''

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 ...

'', ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'', and '' Don Giovanni'', in the same year. Its current general director and CEO is Julia Noulin-Mérat, having begun her tenure with the 2021 season. Opera Columbus has an artistic collaboration with the Artist Diploma for Opera Studies (ADOS) program at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. Launched in 2016–2017, this collaboration is bringing Juilliard ADOS artists to Columbus to perform in principal roles in Opera Columbus' mainstage productions. In addition to fulfilling Opera Columbus' mission to support and develop emerging talent, this relationship also benefits local audiences, bringing such artists to the Columbus stage, often in their role debuts. Their K-12 education programs include in-school children's opera performances and workshops, Southern Theatre tours, student discount tickets, and new programs like concerts in the classroom and opera rehearsals. In 2021, Opera Columbus announced their inaugural Crane Directing

Fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

specifically for BIPOC artists. Opera Columbus is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

overseen by an independent board of directors with an operating budget of $1.2M. Its main offices are located in the Ohio Theatre building at 55 E. State St. Their mantra is "Make it Yours".

World premieres

*''Vanqui'' (1999) is a tale of death and resurrection through the eyes of the heroine, Vanqui, a 19th-century enslaved woman. The original music is by Leslie Savoy Burrs and the libretto by John A. Williams. *''The Flood'', a new work co-produced and co-commissioned with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, dives into the history of Columbus through the emotional storytelling of Stephen Wadsworth and the composition of Korine Fujiwara.

Repertory

* 1980–81 ''Tosca'' (Puccini); ''Il trovatore'' (Verdi); ''Don Giovanni'' (Mozart) * 1982–83 '' La traviata'' (Verdi); ''

The Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died i ...

'' (Offenbach); ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...

'' (Donizetti) * 1983–84 ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play ...

'' (Mascagni); '' Pagliacci'' (Leoncavallo); ''

La Cenerentola ' ('' Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera ''Cendrillon'' ...

'' (Rossini) * 1984–85 ''

Un ballo in maschera ''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''. Th ...

'' (Verdi); '' Roméo et Juliette'' (Gounod); ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'' (Puccini); ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', it ...

'' (Gershwin) * 1985–86 ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''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 ...

'' (Rossini); ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'' (Verdi); ''Three Sisters'' ( Pasatieri); '' Man of La Mancha'' Leigh & Darion * 1986–87 '' Macbeth'' (Verdi); '' L'elisir d'amore'' (Donizetti); '' Babes in Toyland'' (Herbert); '' Madama Butterfly'' (Puccini); ''Porgy and Bess'' (Gershwin) * 1987–88 ''La traviata'' (Verdi); ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...

'' (Wagner); ''Babes in Toyland'' (Herbert); ''

La fanciulla del West ''La fanciulla del West'' (''The Girl of the West'') is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by and , based on the 1905 play '' The Girl of the Golden West'' by the American author David Belasco. ''Fanciulla'' follow ...

'' (Puccini); ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original li ...

'' (J. Strauss II) *1989-1990: Carmen (Bizet), Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky), II trovatore (Verdi) *1990-1991: Rigoletti (Verdi), Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) *1991-1992: Turandot (Puccini), The Magic Flute (Mozart), The Merry Widow (Lehar) *1992-1993: Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Fidelio (Beethoven), Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) *1993-1994: II barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), La traviata (Verdi), Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss) *1994-1995: La Boheme (Puccini), The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach), L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti) *1995-1996: Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Salome (R. Strauss), L’italiana in Algeri (Rossini) *1996-1997: Carmen (Bizet), Nabucco (Verdi), La Cenerentola (Rossini) *1997-1998: Tosca (Puccini), Anna Bolena (Donizetti), The Abduction from the Seragli (Mozart) *1998-1999: Faust (Gounod), The Flying Dutchman (Wagner), The Coronation of Poppea (Monteverdi) *1999-2000: Macbeth (Verdi), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Vanqui (Burrs) *2000-2001: La traviata (Verdi), Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) *2001-2002: The Gondoliers, or The Duke of Barataria (Gilbert & Sullivan), The Merry Widow (Lehar), Rigoletto (Verdi), La boheme (Puccini), The Daughter of the Regiment (Donizetti), Somebody’s Children (Kander) *2002-2003: The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty (Gilbert & Sullivan), Man of La Mancha (Leigh & Darion), Tosca (Puccini), The Magic Flute (Mozart), Brundibar (Krasa) *2003-2004: HMS Pinafore, or The Lass That Loved a Sailor (Gilbert & Sullivan), Camelot (Lerner & Loewe), Carmen (Bizet), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Lolanthe or The Peer and the Peri (Gilbert & Sullivan), The Student Prince (Romberg) *2004-2005: Porgy and Bess (Gershwin), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Susannah (Floyd) *2005-2006: Aida (Verdi), Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Threepenny Opera (Weill) *2006-2007: La traviata (Verdi), The Merry Widow (Lehar) *2007-2008: La boheme (Puccini), La Cenerentola (Rossini) *2008-2009: The Pearl Fishers (Bizet), Turandot (Puccini), Mikado (Sullivan) *2009-2010: Pagliacci (Leoncavallo), Romeo & Juliet (Gounod) *2010-2011: Berlin to Broadway (Weill), Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), Pirates of Penzance (Sullivan) *2011-2012: Don Giovanni (Mozart), Mikado (Sullivan) *2012-2013: The Magic Flute (Mozart), H.M.S. Pinafore (Gilbert & Sullivan), La boheme (Puccini) *2013-2014: Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan), Carmen (Bizet), The Merry Widow (Lehar) *2014-2015: Twisted, Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), La Voix Humaine and Pagliacci (Poulenc) *2015-2016: Armide (Lully), La boheme (Puccini), La traviata (Verdi) *2016-2017: Twisted 2, Mission: Seraglio (Mozart), Carmen (Bizet) *2017-2018: The Turn of the Screw (Britten), Aida (Verdi), Orphee et Eurydice (Gluck) *2018-2019: Madama Butterfly (Puccini), The Flood (Stravinsky), Opera Swings Jazz *2019-2020: Twisted 3, As One (Kaminsky), The Barber of Seville (Rossini) *2021: Ryan Speedo Green Residency, Don Giovanni (Mozart), La boheme (Puccini) *2021-2022: Tosca (Puccini), Fellow Travelers (Spears), 40 days of opera Festival including: The Puppy Episode -virtual (Recio), Vanqui - 90 minutes version (Burrs), La traviata -immersive (Verdi). *2022-2023: La Cenerentola (Rossini), Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzolla), Rigoletto (Verdi)

CRANE Directing Fellow

* 2021-22 Luther Lewis III * 2022-23 Sarah Dahnke

References

External links

*
History of Opera in Columbus
Radio WOSU
"2018 review ''Orphee''"
''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...

''
"''The Flood'' and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' Reviews: Premieres in Pursuit of Reinvention"
by Heidi Waleson, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', February 11, 2019
"Opera Columbus board sings praises of new general director and CEO Julia Noulin-Merat"
by Peter Tonguette, ''

'', January 24, 2021 {{authority control American opera companies Musical groups established in 1981 1981 establishments in Ohio Culture of Columbus, Ohio Performing arts in Ohio