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The DuPage Opera Theatre (DOT) is one of three professional opera companies located in the Chicago area, along with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Opera Theater. Founded in 1977 as a resident, professional ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, DuPage Opera has mounted several hundred performances since its inception.
DuPage Opera Theatre performs in the 793-seat mainstage of the Arts Center. The Arts Center celebrated its grand opening on October 10, 1986, and 12 years later was renamed the Harold D. McAninch Arts Center. The MAC, as it is commonly referred to, is home to three resident professional ensembles: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, DuPage Opera Theatre, and New Philharmonic, as well as the Gahlberg Gallery, a space for visual art exhibition.
Harold Bauer was the founding Artistic Director and conductor of the company. Kirk Muspratt is the current Artistic Director and Music Director, a position that he has held since July 2004. Muspratt has garnered international critical acclaim as a "born opera conductor" ( Rheinische Post ), "a knowledgeable musician who delivers superbly controlled, gorgeously shaped readings" ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch ), and "friend to local music" (Midwest Beat Magazine). The Los Angeles Times declared "Watch him!"[ citation needed ]
In December 2006, Muspratt was named "Chicagoan of the Year" in classical music by John von Rhein and the staff of the Chicago Tribune . In his first four seasons, productions at the DuPage Opera Theatre featured Le nozze di Figaro , Il barbiere di Siviglia , La bohème , Faust , Otello and Tosca . In 2008, Muspratt stated that by tackling such renowned operas as Otello, "we are showcasing DuPage Opera's growth and new vision."
DOT's productions of the last 20 years include:
The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. For forty years until April 2006, the COC had performed at the O'Keefe Centre.
Sir David McVicar is a Scottish opera and theatre director.
Giuseppe Taddei was an Italian baritone, who, during his career, performed multiple operas composed by numerous composers.
Union Avenue Opera is an opera company based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded in 1994 by Scott Schoonover, the music director of Union Avenue Christian Church, which serves as the company's venue in St. Louis' Visitation Park neighborhood.
Melbourne Opera was founded in 2002 as a charitable not-for-profit company dedicated to producing opera and associated art forms in Melbourne, Victoria. With philanthropic assistance it has also toured to outer-suburban and regional Victorian theatres, as well as to Canberra and Hobart interstate. Despite receiving no government funding since its foundation, the company mounts between three to five main stage productions each year. Its principal rehearsal and performance home is the Athenaeum Theatre.
Michael Chioldi is an American opera singer who has performed leading baritone roles in the opera houses and festivals of North and South America, Europe and Asia. He first appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1995 when he was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition.
Asheville Lyric Opera (ALO) is a professional, non-profit opera company located in Asheville, North Carolina. Its repertoire encompasses styles ranging from the comedies of Mozart and Rossini to the classic Verdi and Puccini dramas as well as classic musical theatre works. Founder David Craig Starkey served as General and Artistic Director until 2016. The 500-seat Diana Wortham Theatre, built in 1991, has been the company's home since 2001. ALO is a member of Opera America. Dean Anthony was announced as the company's new Artistic and Producing Direction beginning with the 2019/2020 Season.
Armando Agnini was a successful Italian stage director of opera.
This list includes opera productions of the Opera Group and Opera Company of Boston from 1958 to 1990.
Castleward Opera was a Northern Ireland opera company which staged an annual opera festival at Castle Ward, a National Trust house near Strangford in County Down. It was founded in 1985 by Ian Urwin and Jack Smith, with performances taking place in a converted stable on the grounds of the castle. Following the cut to its core funding by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the festival saw its final opera performances in June 2009 and in September 2010 held two gala farewell concerts of highlights from the company's 25-year history. In January 2010, a new venture, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, was proposed—Opera Company NI—which the Arts Council said would "incorporate the best resources from Castleward Opera and Opera Fringe".
The China National Opera House (CNOH) or China Central Opera (中央歌剧院) is a State-run opera company based in Beijing, China, and under the Chinese Ministry of Culture. CNOH consists of an opera troupe, a choir, a symphony orchestra and a stagecraft, costume and scenery departments. It is affiliated, through common direction under the Ministry of Culture, with the Shanghai Opera House company and other geju companies around China.
James Andrew Olds is an Australian bass. He holds a Masters of Music in Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and currently performs with Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House.
Martin Lloyd-Evans is a British opera stage director. He grew up in Stratford Upon Avon and later moved and studied physics at Manchester University and theatre arts at Bretton Hall College.
Gwendolyn Jones is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the late 1960s. From 1972–1980 she was a resident artist with the San Francisco Opera, and was afterwards a regular performer with the New York City Opera and New Orleans Opera.
Loretta Di Franco is an American operatic soprano who is chiefly known for her more than 900 performances at the Metropolitan Opera from 1961-1995. Originally a member of the Met's opera chorus, she eventually was promoted to singing small comprimario roles beginning with one of the pages in Wagner's Tannhäuser and the peasant girl in The Marriage of Figaro in 1961. She went on to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1965 which led to her first substantial role, Chloe in The Queen of Spades. She continued to appear annually at the Met for the next 30 years, performing both leading and supporting roles. Some of the parts she performed at the Met included Annina in La traviata, both the Aunt and Barena in Janáček's Jenůfa, Barbarina and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, Berta in The Barber of Seville, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, the Dew Fairy and the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, Feklusa in Káťa Kabanová, the First Lady in The Magic Flute, the Flower Seller in Britten's Death in Venice, Frasquita in Carmen, Gerhilde in Die Walküre, Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore, Helen in Mourning Becomes Electra, Ines in Il trovatore, Jouvenot in Adriana Lecouvreur, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Laura in Luisa Miller, Lauretta in Gianni Schichi, Lisa in La sonnambula, Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier, Marthe in Faust, Musetta in La bohème, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Samaritana in Francesca da Rimini, Woglinde in both Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, Xenia in Boris Godunov, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. In 1991 she created the role of the Woman with Child in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles.
Robert Goodloe is an American baritone who was committed to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1964-1982 where he gave nearly a thousand performances. While primarily a comprimario performer at the Met, he did portray some leading roles; including Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Marcello in La boheme, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. In 1966 he created the role of Thidias in the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra for the grand opening of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. His performances are preserved on several recordings made for Live from the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.
Peter Leslie Robinson is an English conductor, principally of opera. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary, with a special interest in Italian opera of the 19th and early 20th centuries. His appointments have included Resident Conductor of The Australian Opera, Assistant Music Director of English National Opera and Artistic Director of British Youth Opera.
David Morelock is an American stage director of opera.
Christoph Altstaedt is a German conductor.
Opera Columbus is an American professional opera company in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1981, and is a member of Opera America. 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.