Oregon

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Eugene

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Since 1977, Eugene Opera has presented professional opera in western Oregon, staging many of the world’s best-known operas and some of the best new operatic works.

In 1976, Artistic Director Philip Bayles and over 100 volunteer musicians, singers, stagehands and opera fans combined their efforts to bring opera to Eugene, Oregon. The first production Carmen played to a “full house” of 600 attendees in a local high school auditorium. A local newspaper reporter remarked, “It’s a first effort to be proud of, for it has proven that Eugene is loaded with high-quality musicians and opera-hungry concertgoers.” In 1982, Eugene Opera became a resident company in the newly opened Hult Center for the Performing Arts.

Eugene Opera has been profiled nationally on National Public Radio and in Opera News, and enjoyed a cameo appearance by humorist Dave Barry in his only operatic role. In recent years it has also received favorable notice for its productions of modern operas.

Eugene Opera helped launch the careers of such current opera stars as Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Stephen Mark Brown, Kelley Nassief, Gregory Turay, Lucas Meacham, and Joelle Harvey. Today’s productions regularly feature stars from great opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera. They also continue to feature emerging stars, particularly those from the Pacific Northwest.

Eugene Opera has regularly conducted educational outreach programs that bring opera to students and classrooms throughout the surrounding Lane County area. Currently, it introduces high school students to opera through the Eugene Opera Academy.

In 2015-16, Eugene Opera began to program chamber operas, which proved both popular and artistically successful, receiving high praise both in local reviews and in Opera News.

More recently, Eugene Opera’s recent seasons featured sold-out performances of María de Buenos Aires, the Company’s first Spanish language opera, as well as As One, its' first opera composed by a female composer, Laura Kaminsky, with libretto by Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell.

Eugene Opera offered a number of online offerings during the pandemic, and was thrilled to return with a full season in 2021-2022, featuring the operas Lucy and The Magic Flute.

Eugene Opera / Léirithe

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