Elio Bucky makes their Cincinnati Opera debut directing a fresh take on Rigoletto. Treating it as a psychological thriller, Bucky focuses on the emotional depth and timeless themes of grief and love. With new cast members and stunning costume designs, this revival offers a powerful and modern look at Verdi’s classic.

Tina Tammaro’s artwork will be on display at Music Hall’s Founders Room during Cincinnati Opera’s 2025 Summer Festival. Inspired by the emotion and drama of opera, her intuitive, layered paintings explore themes like power, identity, and connection. Each piece invites viewers to look deeper, revealing new meaning with every glance—much like an aria told on canvas.

Fiddler on the Roof brought beloved Yiddish stories to Broadway, celebrating Jewish culture while exploring universal themes of tradition and change. Its heartfelt music and timeless struggles keep audiences connected across generations and cultures. Decades later, it remains a powerful story of identity, resilience, and belonging.

Puccini’s Tosca tells a familiar story of love, jealousy, and villainy set against political oppression. But beyond tragedy, it reveals a heroine who fights for agency in a brutal world. Its timeless themes and powerful music keep audiences coming back—finding new meaning in a story we think we know.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is a powerful opera built on contrasts—between light-hearted melodies and dark moral truths, personal loyalty and systemic cruelty, and justice and futility. At its center is Rigoletto, a jester trapped in moral compromise, whose attempt to shield his daughter ends in heartbreak. This enduring opera invites audiences to wrestle with uncomfortable truths beneath its beautiful music. Read more about Rigoletto here.

We’re delighted to welcome Will Selnick, Cincinnati Opera Board Associates Chair, as a guest blogger. Read on to learn more about Will’s journey with opera and how it has influenced Cincinnati Opera’s efforts to create a welcoming place for newcomers to the art form.

Opera is all about collaboration, and these partnerships contribute to the success of Cincinnati Opera’s Summer Festival every year.

Take your opera out for a hike!

For more than 40 years, Cincinnati Opera and 90.9 WGUC have collaborated to bring the magic of live opera to listeners across the region.

September is National Classical Music Month! To celebrate, Cincinnati Opera’s Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director Evans Mirageas rounded up his top 10 American opera excerpts.

For students across Greater Cincinnati, school is back in session, and with it, a new year full of possibilities. Cincinnati Opera is excited to play a role in enhancing students’ learning by partnering with local schools on a variety of arts-based educational offerings geared toward young people of all ages.

Every summer, Cincinnati Opera welcomes a flood of interns to support their summer season. This gives way to an incredible opportunity for students of varying fields of study to gain real world experience in a professional arts setting.

For 40 years, Philip Groshong has been behind the camera at Cincinnati Opera, capturing everyone's favorite productions and fostering a relationship with the company.

Barnes reached out to the Opera and a partnership was formed. Her series of eight paintings tracing the storyline of the Liverpool Oratorio, including the striking Liverpool Cathedral, will be displayed in the P&G Founders Lounge during the opera’s premiere, and another two dozen related works will grace the walls of nearby Wash Park Art Gallery.

This summer, Cincinnati Opera is featuring Katrina Dienno’s artwork to be displayed during our 2024 production of Don Giovanni. Dienno is an illustrator, educator, and printmaker based in Cincinnati who has had her work featured in local and national exhibitions.

Access to opera can sometimes feel out of reach, especially for audience members with diverse abilities and accommodation needs. Cincinnati Opera strives to change that with its second annual Access Night at the Opera, on Saturday, June 15, with its season-opening production of Mozart's Don Giovanni.  

In preparing to stage Liverpool Oratorio, I immediately recalled its haunting refrain “… and I will always love you. I’ll welcome you into this world …” sung by a mother to her baby amidst the trauma of war. It struck me how relevant this piece is today with the immediacy of the music and libretto

La Traviata has captivated audiences with its timeless themes of love, tragedy, and societal expectations. However, in many productions, there is a sense of unfulfillment and missed opportunities to delve into the deeper humanity of the characters. While these productions are musically brilliant and visually stunning, they often fall short in portraying the depth of character and the underlying tragedy that defines La Traviata.

Beyond the complexity of the title character, this opera offers an embarrassment of riches in terms of relatable themes and emotions worth mining.

A team of student filmmakers from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Department of Media Production took a look behind the scenes of the development of Robeson, a new opera inspired by the life of the legendary singer and activist Paul Robeson. The result is the documentary Robeson Rediscovered: The Making of an Opera.

Music in Motion is a unique program that blends music, movement, and community to uplift spirits and enhance the well-being of individuals living with dementia and their caregivers.

The unique partnership between Cincinnati Opera and UC’s College-Conservatory of Music proves to be a vital resource for the creation of new American opera.

Evans shares his top 5 tunes for cooking, eating, gathering, and giving gratitude.

Every summer, Cincinnati Opera welcomes a new group of interns who bring fresh curiosity and energy to Music Hall, and our 2023 Summer Festival has been no exception. As our interns conclude their summers with us, they took the time to share their personal journeys with opera, their aspirations for the future, and what they’ve enjoyed most about the 2023 season. 

As Cincinnati Opera presents its highly anticipated production of Madame Butterfly, audiences will be treated to an extraordinary blend of art and technology.

It is amazing to have The Barber of Seville center around a character like Rosina, someone who is not merely a reflection of what those around her expect, but her own complete and beautifully complicated self.   

The Community Open Dress Rehearsal (CODR) is a special opportunity for Cincinnati Opera to share the art of music with the community, but it is also a spectacular opportunity to showcase the gifts and talents of our valued community partners, including Margarita Whitson from Franciscan Ministries’ Haircuts from the Heart.

Cincinnati Opera has made a longstanding commitment to accessibility, celebrating diversity, and creating spaces where audiences of all kinds can feel comfortable, included, and welcomed.

In a show of compassion and collaboration, DAV (Disabled American Veterans), a Cincinnati-based nonprofit organization serving America’s veterans, has offered significant support for Cincinnati Opera’s production of The Knock. As we celebrate this partnership, we’re honored to highlight the profound work carried out by DAV.