New Orleans Opera

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Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to theaters hosting traveling performers and companies.

[edit] The Old Opera House

Operas were staged at a variety of theaters in the city, but the most famous for generations was the New Orleans Opera House, better known in its later decades as the old French Opera House. It was located on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, and opened in 1859. New Orleans' social life, whether high or low, imported or indigenous, found a receptive audience in this cosmopolitan city.

The theater burned down in 1919, causing severe disruption in opera in the city. As attempts to arrange finances to rebuild did not succeed, the company disbanded and for a generation most opera in New Orleans was put on by touring companies at various theaters in the city.

[edit] The Modern Era

In 1943, the New Orleans Opera Association was formed, and succeeded in securing a resident company in the city. Among the celebrated singers who have appeared with the company are Jerome Hines, Vivian della Chiesa, Eugene Conley, Marguerite Piazza, Dorothy Kirsten, Licia Albanese, Raoul Jobin, Ramón Vinay, Robert Weede, Enzo Mascherini, Charles Anthony, Patrice Munsel, Norman Treigle, Audrey Schuh, Richard Tucker, Ezio Pinza, Mario Lanza, Giuseppe Valdengo, Kirsten Flagstad, Eleanor Steber, Herva Nelli, Virginia MacWatters, Astrid Varnay, Lawrence Tibbett, Regina Resnik, Bidú Sayão, Jussi Björling, Giuseppe di Stefano, Italo Tajo, Jarmila Novotná, Risë Stevens, Robert Merrill, Leonard Warren, John Alexander, Roberta Peters, John Macurdy, Fedora Barbieri, Victoria de los Ángeles, Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco, Jan Peerce, Jean Madeira, Mack Harrell, Harry Theyard, Inge Borkh, Mignon Dunn, Giorgio Tozzi, Lucia Evangelista, Chester Ludgin, Boris Christoff, Cornell MacNeil, Louis Quilico, Richard Cassilly, Ticho Parly, Enrico di Giuseppe, Benjamin Rayson, Phyllis Curtin, Nicolai Gedda, Lisa della Casa, Judith Raskin, Flaviano Labò, Plácido Domingo, Michael Devlin, Eileen Farrell, Beverly Sills, Raina Kabaivanska, James McCracken, Leyla Gencer, Anthony Laciura, Salvatore Baccaloni, Virginia Zeani, Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballé, Dame Joan Sutherland, Ruth Falcon, Justino Díaz, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Mary Costa, Dominic Cossa, Paul Plishka, Jon Vickers, Bianca Berini, Evelyn Lear, Carol Neblett, Marisa Galvany, Rita Shane, Sherrill Milnes, Claire Watson, Vicki Fisk, Patricia Brooks, Nancy Shade, Katia Ricciarelli, William Cochran, Susanne Marsee, Cristina Deutekom, Johanna Meier, Rita Hunter, Karan Armstrong, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Luis Lima, James Morris, Ruth Welting, Natalia Rom, June Anderson, Shirley Verrett, Phyllis Treigle, Jon Garrison, Carlo Bergonzi, Matteo Manuguerra, Débria Brown, Rockwell Blake, Fiorenza Cossotto, Catherine Malfitano, Diana Soviero, Marc Embree, Siegfried Jerusalem, Giuseppe Giacomini, Sylvia Sass, Sheryl Woods, Thaïs St Julien, Ingvar Wixell, Gran Wilson, Richard Versalle, Yuri Mazurok, Nancy Ross, Susan Graham, Elizabeth Futral, James Maddalena, Greer Grimsley, Paul Groves and Lisette Oropesa.

The Opera Association has presented two world premieres: Carlisle Floyd's Markheim (with Norman Treigle and Schuh, 1966) and Thea Musgrave's Pontalba (conducted by Robert Lyall, 2003).

Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, flooded the Theatre for the Performing Arts and the season was canceled, but the New Orleans Opera has since returned.

Also based in New Orleans, though short-lived, The New Opera Theatre (1986-1990) presented two world premieres as well as experimental productions of standard repertory. Their staging of Dido and Æneas toured to New York, where it was acclaimed. Featured singers with this ensemble included Tracey Mitchell, Philip M. Dobard, Phyllis Treigle, Cyril and Libbye Hellier, St Julien, Susannah Waters and Rom.

Since World War II, various companies have toured to New Orleans. In 1947, the Metropolitan Opera visited with their productions of Le nozze di Figaro (with Pinza and Steber), La traviata (with Sayão) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Munsel). They returned in 1972, with Otello (with McCracken and Milnes), Faust (with Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi), La traviata (with Anna Moffo) and La fille du régiment (with Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti).

In November 1967, the American National Opera Company presented two operas in New Orleans: Lulu and Tosca (the latter with Marie Collier), both in productions staged by Sarah Caldwell.

As part of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, the English National Opera gave performances of Rigoletto (in Sir Jonathan Miller's well-known production), Patience and Gloriana.

In 1992, New York-based Opera Quotannis brought their production of New Orleans-born composer Louise LaBruyère's Everyman to the Crescent City, with Tracey Mitchell in the title role.

[edit] Reference

• The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia, edited by David Hamilton, Simon and Schuster, 1987. ISBN 0-671-61732-X
• New Orleans Opera