History
Fall in love with our 2017 Season! Experience the best of grand and intimate opera.
1964
General director and conductor Henry Holt leads the newly incorporated Portland Opera Association’s production of Die Fledermaus at the Madison High School auditorium.
1966
Conductor Herbert Weiskopf becomes general director.
1968
La Traviata stars soprano Anna Moffo.
1970
Herbert Weiskopf suffers a heart attack in the wings and dies just after conducting Lucia di Lammermoor, also with Anna Moffo. He is succeeded as general director by conductor Stefan Minde.
1975
American premiere of Ernst Krenek’s Life of Orestes.
1982
World premiere of Wuthering Heights by Bernard Herrmann.
1984
Stage director Robert Bailey is appointed general director. Portland Opera becomes the second American opera company to utilize projected English translations above the stage.
1987
Porgy and Bess is the company’s first American musical.
1990
World premiere of Lucy’s Lapses, commissioned by Portland Opera.
1994
Portland Opera becomes the first American opera company to present a subscription series of nationally touring Broadway shows.
1996
North American premiere of Reynaldo Hahn’s The Merchant of Venice.
1991
Christopher Mattaliano directs Manon, his first guest engagement with the company.
1997
Carmina Burana is paired with Pagliacci in a unique double-bill staged by Chris Mattaliano. BodyVox develops out of the dance troupe that is assembled for the production.
1999
Handel’s Julius Caesar is the company’s first baroque opera staging.
Portland Opera To Go (POGO) is established, bringing one-hour versions of classic operas to schools and community groups around the state.
2000
The Cunning Little Vixen features a return appearance by BodyVox.
2001
First international collaboration, with Austria’s Klagenfurt Opera, on Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène.
2003
Stage director Christopher Mattaliano is appointed general director.
The company moves into its new eastside home—The Hampton Opera Center—where music and staging rehearsals, a costume shop, and administrative offices are all housed under one roof.
2005
The Resident Artists program is established, providing career growth opportunities for talented young American singers.
2006
Co-production of John Adams’s Nixon in China with the Minnesota Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Co-production of Verdi’s Macbeth with the Vancouver Opera and Edmonton Opera.
2009
Cavalli’s La Calisto is the company’s first Newmark Theatre production and first collaboration with Portland Baroque Orchestra.
The West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Orphée is commercially recorded by Orange Mountain Music.
2012
Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei becomes Portland Opera’s second commercial recording.
2013
A new production of Richard Strauss’s Salome is co-produced with Virginia Opera.
2014
The Pirates of Penzance is produced in collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The 50th anniversary season is launched with Die Fledermaus, the newly incorporated company’s first production in 1964.
2016
Portland Opera moves to a summer-festival format, with productions of The Magic Flute, Sweeney Todd, Eugene Onegin, and The Italian Girl in Algiers.
2017
Experience the best of grand and intimate opera with Songs of Love and War, the return of our Big Night Concert, La Bohème, Man of La Mancha, Così fan tutte, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field and The Little Match Girl Passion.
Repertory List
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2017
Songs of Love and War, Monteverdi
Big Night Concert
La Bohème, Puccini
Man of La Mancha, Leigh
Così fan tutte, Mozart
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field and The Little Match Girl Passion, Lang
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2016
The Magic Flute, Mozart
Sweeney Todd, Sondheim
Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
The Italian Girl in Algiers, Rossini
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2014-15
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss, II
Carmen, Bizet
Show Boat, Kern and O. Hammerstein, II
The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky
The Elixir of Love, Donizetti
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2013-14
Big Night Concert
Salome, R. Strauss
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
Postcard from Morocco, Argento
The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan
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2012-13
Big Night Concert
Don Giovanni, Mozart
Tosca, Puccini
Rinaldo, Handel
Falstaff, Verdi
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2011-12
Big Night Concert
The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
Galileo Galilei, Glass
Candide, Bernstein
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2010-11
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo & Carmina Burana, Orff
Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck
Turandot, Puccini
L’Heure Espagnole & L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ravel
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2009-10
La Bohème, Puccini
Orphée, Glass
Così fan Tutte, Mozart
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Trouble in Tahiti, Bernstein, Il Ballo Delle Ingrate & Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Monteverdi
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2008-09
La Traviata, Verdi
Fidelio, Beethoven
The Turn of the Screw, Britten
Rigoletto, Verdi
La Calisto, Cavalli
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2007-08
Carmen, Bizet
Cinderella, Rossini
Rodelinda, Handel
Aida, Verdi
Albert Herring, Britten
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2006-07
Faust, Gounod
The Return of Ulysses, Monteverdi
Norma, Bellini
The Flying Dutchman, Wagner
The Magic Flute, Mozart
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2005-06
Tosca, Puccini
The Rape of Lucretia, Britten
Macbeth, Verdi
Nixon in China, Adams
Don Giovanni, Mozart
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2004-05
The Journey to Reims, Rossini
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
Street Scene, Weill
The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart
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2003-04
The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Turandot, Puccini
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
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2002-03
Il Trovatore, Verdi
The Elixir of Love, Donizetti
The Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach
A View from The Bridge, Bolcom
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2001-02
La Traviata, Verdi
The Pearl Fishers, Bizet
Così fan tutte, Mozart
The Consul, Menotti
Candide, Bernstein
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2000-01
Carmen, Bizet
Otello, Verdi
La Bohème, Puccini
Dialogues of the Carmelites, Poulenc
La Belle Hélène, Offenbach
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1999-00
Aïda, Verdi
Werther, Massenet
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo & Carmina Burana, Orff
The Cunning Little Vixen, Janácek
The Mikado, Sullivan
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1998-99
Rigoletto, Verdi
Don Pasquale, Donizetti
Faust, Gounod
Julius Caesar, Handel
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1997-98
Don Giovanni, Mozart
Roméo et Juliette, Gounod
Tosca, Puccini
The Love for Three Oranges, Prokofiev
The Student Prince, Romberg
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1996-97
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
The Merchant of Venice, Hahn
The Magic Flute, Mozart
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo & Carmina Burana, Orff
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1995-96
Turandot, Puccini
Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss
Sweeney Todd, Sondheim
Jenufa, Janàcek
The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
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1994-95
La Bohème, Puccini
The Flying Dutchman, Wagner
The Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Porgy and Bess, Gershwin
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1993-94
Carmen, Bizet
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
Man of La Mancha, Leigh
Don Carlo, Verdi
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss, II
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1992-93
Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
The Elixir of Love, Donizetti
Così fan tutte, Mozart
La Traviata, Verdi
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1991-92
Samson and Delilah, Saint-Saëns
Falstaff, Verdi
Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck
The Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti
My Fair Lady, Lerner & Lowe
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1990-91
Rigoletto, Verdi
Salome, R. Strauss
Manon, Massenet
La Favorita, Donizetti
Carousel, Rogers
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1989-90
Aïda, Verdi
Faust, Gounod
Don Pasquale, Donizetti
Lucy’s Lapses, Drobny
Show Boat, Kern
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1988-89
Tosca, Puccini
The Pearl Fishers, Bizet
Don Giovanni, Mozart
The Merry Widow, Lehàr
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1987-88
Roméo et Juliette, Gounod
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
Andrea Chénier, Giordano
The Magic Flute, Mozart
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1986-87
La Bohème, Puccini
Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss
Macbeth, Verdi
Porgy and Bess, Gershwin
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1985-86
The Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo & Gianni Schicchi, Puccini
Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Turandot, Puccini
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1984-85
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Carmen, Bizet
A Masked Ball, Verdi
Martha, von Flotow
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1983-84
Lohengrin, Wagner
Così fan tutte, Mozart
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
The Bartered Bride, Smetana
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1982-83
La Traviata, Verdi
Wuthering Heights, Herrmann
Girl of the Golden West, Puccini
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss
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1981-82
Rigoletto, Verdi
Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart
Manon Lescaut, Puccini
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1980-81
Don Giovanni, Mozart
Tosca, Puccini
Die Walküre, Wagner
Don Pasquale, Donizetti
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1979-80
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
Faust, Gounod
Fidelio, Beethoven
Il Trovatore, Verdi
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1978-79
Norma, Bellini
The Flying Dutchman, Wagner
The Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti
La Bohème, Puccini
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1977-78
Carmen, Bizet
Elektra, R. Strauss
The Magic Flute, Mozart
Falstaff, Verdi
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1976-77
The Consul, Menotti
Werther, Massenet
Cinderella, Rossini
Die Meistersinger, Wagner
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1975-76
La Traviata, Verdi
Life of Orestes, Krenek
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss
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1974-75
Rigoletto, Verdi
Der Freischütz, von Weber
The Elixir of Love, Donizetti
Salome, R. Strauss
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1973-74
The Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach
La Bohème, Puccini
Don Pasquale, Donizetti
Ariadne auf Naxos, R. Strauss
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1972-73
Carmen, Bizet
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck
Così fan tutte, Mozart
Tristan und Isolde, Wagner
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1971-72
La Rondine, Puccini
The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Tosca, Puccini
Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss
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1970-71
Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo
Fidelio, Beethoven
A Masked Ball, Verdi
Don Giovanni, Mozart
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1969-70
Aïda, Verdi
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
The Magic Flute, Mozart
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1968-69
Otello, Verdi
The Flying Dutchman, Wagner
Manon, Massenet
Il Trovatore, Verdi
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1967-68
La Bohème, Puccini
La Traviata, Verdi
Carmen, Bizet
Rigoletto, Verdi
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1966-67
Faust, Gounod
Tosca, Puccini
Madame Butterfly, Puccini
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1965-66
The Bartered Bride, Smetana
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
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1964-65
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss, II
La Bohème, Puccini