The Toledo Opera is an American opera company in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, performing in the

Valentine Theatre The Valentine Theatre is located in the downtown district of Toledo, Ohio at the corner of Superior and Adams Streets. The -year-old facility seats 901. From 1925 to approximately 1928 The Toledo Society for the Blind (Now the Sight Center of Nor ...

in downtown Toledo. The company's season consists of three fully-realized operas, plus additional community programming for the

Northwest Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp are ...

region.

History

Founded in 1959, the company's first General Director was Lester Freedman with conductor

Joseph Hawthorne Joseph Campbell Hawthorne (1908 – March 20, 1994) was an American conductor, violinist, violist, and military officer. Born in Provincetown, Massachusetts, he was the son of artists Charles Webster Hawthorne and Ethel "Marion" Campbell. After ...

serving as Music Director. In 1960, Freedman founded the

Dayton Opera Dayton Opera is an American opera company based in Dayton, Ohio. The company makes its home at the Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton where it annually produces three operas and an operatic concert and has an annual budget of appro ...

and for many years he led the two organizations simultaneously - an arrangement which cut down on production costs for both companies. Mr. Freedman enjoyed a great collaboration with many Metropolitan Opera stars who came to Toledo Opera to sing. These included Placido Domingo, Lili Chookasian, Chester Ludgin, Roberta Peters, Robert Merrill, Barry Morell, James McCracken, Louise Russell, Martina Arroyo and many more including conductors Anton Coppola, Anton Guadagno, and Imre Pallo. In 1983, Freedman was forced out of his position by the Toledo Opera Board after in-fighting among the company's leadership. Several interim directors kept the company going over the next three years, including David Bamberger and Johan van der Merwe. In 1986, conductor

James Meena James Meena (born 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Formerly the General Director and Principal Conductor of Toledo Opera in Ohio, since 2000 he has been the General Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Carolina, in Charl ...

became the company's new permanent general director and successfully produced opera at the Masonic Theatre (now called the Stranahan Theatre). During Mo. Meena's tenure, many rising opera starts appeared in Toledo Opera's productions including Renee Fleming, Mark Delavan, and Marcello Giordani. In 1994, Toledo philanthropists Theodore and Lucille Gorski created a major financial boon for the company through a one million dollar challenge grant which enabled it to establish an endowment. That same year the company played a major role in supporting the renovation of the historic

in Toledo; a decision which saved the theatre from demolition. The renovations of the theater took several years, and Toledo Opera could not move into its new permanent home until 1999. The company had the honor of opening the newly renovated theater for Toledo Opera's 40th Season gala night on October 22, 1999, with a production of

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 li ...

'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 dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', featuring

Diana Soviero Diana Soviero (born March 19, 1946, in Jersey City) is an American operatic soprano of international stature, a recipient of the Richard Tucker Award in 1979. Soviero studied at the Juilliard School of Music with Florence Berggren, Marinka Gure ...

in the title role. In 2000, Renay Conlin succeeded Meena as the director of Toledo Opera. David Shengold highlighted the company in the February 2006 issue of ''

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 librett ...

'' magazine, commenting that "Toledo's proudest legacy of its glory days of glass and automobile manufacturing is its astonishing Museum of Art, free to all and with a collection to make strong curators weak. But operatically-minded visitors should not overlook the worthy Toledo Opera, housed in the impressive yet intimate Valentine Theatre, a beautiful 900-seat house built in 1895." In 2005, Conlin launched a capital campaign to increase the endowment and was able to raise $2 million. Ms. Conlin was also able to secure the company's first NEA grant. In March 2011, Conlin resigned from Toledo Opera when she took a position as CEO of Napa Valley Museum. The board of directors appointed a former development director, Suzanne Rorick, as Toledo Opera's new Executive Director. Under Rorick's leadership, the company has focused on fundraising and education and has undergone an artistic re-organization that saw the return of several former Toledo Opera colleagues, including

, who currently serves as guest conductor and principal artistic adviser. Ms. Rorick has brought financial stability and artistic excellence to the company with many of today's operatic stars gracing its productions including Jennifer Rowley, Kathryn Lewek, Othalie Graham, and Michael Chioldi. In 2018, Toledo Opera presented the world premiere of ''

I Dream ''I Dream'' is a British children's musical television comedy programme aimed at teenage audiences, which aired in 2004. It was set at an esteemed performing arts college near Barcelona, Spain, and focuses on 13 teenagers who are invited to enr ...

'', a "

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

opera" with libretto, lyrics, and music by Douglas Tappin, chronicling the last 36 hours of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's life. ''I Dream'' was first conceived in 2006, and an earlier revision of the work was performed in Atlanta in 2010.

Programming

Opera On Wheels, its resident artist education program, annually performs for 22,000 elementary and junior high students in the region and the resident artists are featured in the mainstage productions providing them with exposure and education from world-class singers, conductors, and directors. Toledo Opera's preschool program, An Opera Is A Story, visits preschool classrooms in Toledo Public Schools to develop literacy and social-emotional skills in children. This program helps prepare children for kindergarten as they practice Ohio Early Learning objectives.

References

External links

* {{Toledo American opera companies Culture of Toledo, Ohio 1959 establishments in Ohio Musical groups established in 1959 Performing arts in Ohio