OUR HISTORY
On June 27, 1920, Cincinnati Opera Association began its life as the second oldest opera company in the United States with a sold-out performance of Martha. For over 50 years, the Opera performed at the Cincinnati Zoo Pavilion and, at its peak, offered 18 productions over 61 performances in a ten-week season. During the years at the Zoo, a number of now famous opera singers frequented the stage: Norman Treigle, Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Montserrat Caballé, James Morris, and Roberta Peters, to name a few.
In 1972, Cincinnati Opera moved from the Zoo Pavilion to its present venue, Music Hall, a 3,417-seat theater listed as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The move to the newly renovated Music Hall signaled production and artistic changes and new sets became an immediate focus because of the larger stage. James de Blasis staged rarer operas such as Resurrection and Schwanda the Bagpiper and introduced musical theater into the season to diversify the repertoire and develop new audiences. De Blasis also achieved national recognition with a new interpretation of Donizetti's L’Elisir d’Amore set in “Wild West” 19th-century Texas. This production proved to be so popular it was filmed by PBS and televised in 1968.
When James de Blasis announced his retirement in 1995, Cincinnati Opera launched an international search for a new Artistic Director. Nicholas Muni, a renowned stage director, was appointed in June 1996. With his appointment, Cincinnati Opera embarked on an overall transformation of every aspect of the company. Numerous company premieres have been presented since 1998, including Janácek’s Jenufa, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and many more. In 2005, the company celebrated the triumphant premiere of its first-ever mainstage commission, Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, presented in honor of the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati.
Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the company in 2005, Patricia K. Beggs was promoted from Managing Director to General Director & CEO. And during the final weekend of its 2005 season, the company announced the appointment of Evans Mirageas as The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director.
Widely considered one of the most talented and respected artistic leaders in the classical music industry today, Mirageas has brought to Cincinnati Opera a broad range of experience in both opera and symphonic music, as well as a long history of successful partnerships with many of the world’s leading singers and conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, and Sir Georg Solti among numerous others. Following Mirageas’s first season with Cincinnati Opera, industry publication Opera News listed him among its “25 Most Powerful Names in U.S. Opera” in its August 2006 issue.
Beginning with its 2013 season, Cincinnati Opera entered an exciting new era with the launch of the “Opera Campus.” The company expanded beyond the walls of its long-time home at Music Hall and offered performances in nearby, newly-established venues, including in the beautifully-renovated Washington Park and the new School for Creative and Performing Arts.
The company has continued its commitment to presenting an intriguing mix of beloved classics alongside new—or new-to-Cincinnati—operas. In 2016, the company presented the newly commissioned opera Fellow Travelers by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce. Based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers is set in Washington, D.C., during the height of the McCarthy-era “lavender scare,” in which gay men and lesbians were persecuted as presumed risks to national security. The opera opened to extraordinary critical and audience acclaim. Cincinnati Opera later released a commercial recording on the Fanfare Cincinnati label.
The 2017 season marked the launch of CO Next: Diverse Voices, an initiative committed to showcasing new or existing works by diverse composers or librettists, or works that prominently feature diverse characters in the storyline. The first opera presented as part of this initiative was Missy Mazzoli’s Song From the Uproar.
In 2018, Cincinnati Music Hall reopened after an extensive, $143-million renovation, and Cincinnati Opera marked its return with a thrilling season that included the U.S. premiere of Another Brick in the Wall, based on Pink Floyd’s legendary album The Wall.
2020 was a landmark year for Cincinnati Opera. The company celebrated its first century, but the coronavirus crisis led to the cancellation of Cincinnati Opera’s 100th Anniversary Season. Instead, the company pivoted to producing virtual performances and events. 2020 also marked the launch of a new era of administrative leadership, with the naming of Christopher Milligan as the company’s Harry Fath General Director & CEO.
By 2021, the pandemic continued to imperil the ability to safely perform opera indoors. In response, Cincinnati Opera moved its 2021 season fully outdoors to Summit Park in Blue Ash, Ohio. The Summer at Summit season brought together thousands of operagoers under the stars on Summit Park’s Great Lawn to enjoy abridged performances of Carmen, Tosca, and The Barber of Seville, featuring outstanding leading artists, the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. That summer, the company was also inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
View a list of Cincinnati Opera’s repertoire through the years.
For additional information, call the Cincinnati Opera Box Office at 513-241-2742, or e-mail us.