Portland Opera

Portland Opera is an American opera company based at The Hampton Opera Center in Portland, Oregon. Its performances take place in the Keller Auditorium and Newmark Theatre, both part of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Portland Opera also produces a separate subscription series of touring Broadway musicals, which also take place at the Keller Auditorium.

The Keller Auditorium, Portland Opera's principal performance venue

Portland Opera was one of the first opera companies to introduce surtitles in its productions,[1] and has presented several world and US premieres. In October 2014, the company announced that it will change the format of its productions by presenting some in the Keller and others as a part of a summer festival format with three operas produced in the Newmark.[2]

History
The Hampton Opera Center

Portland Opera was founded as the Portland Opera Association in 1964 by the conductor Henry Holt. Its first performance was Strauss' Die Fledermaus, the only opera presented that season.[3] Holt served as the company's General Director for the first two years of existence. The General Director post was next held by the Austrian conductor Herbert Weiskopf, who died of a heart attack in March 1970 after conducting a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor.[4] The conductor Stefan Minde then took over as General Director and served until 1984, followed by Robert Bailey, a stage director, and National Public Radio's first Director of Culture Programming, who served until 2003.

The current General Director is Sue Dixon, who was appointed in October 2019, and is the first female general director in the opera's 56th history. The current Music Director is George Manahan, who was appointed in 2012. Artists who have appeared with the company include the conductors, Donato Cabrera, David Giménez Carreras, and Christopher Larkin; and the singers Klara Barlow, Gregory Reinhart, Marcello Giordani, Charles Castronovo, and Jozsef Gregor.

As part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Portland Opera Association received $1 millio in federally backed small business loan from First Republic Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The opera stated it would allow them to retain 73 jobs.[5]

Premieres

Portland Opera's premiere performances include:

References

Notes

  1. Norberg (October 31, 2007)
  2. David Stabler, "Portland Opera makes dramatic move to summer seasons beginning in 2016: 'We want to avoid death by 1,000 paper cuts'", The Oregonian, 28 October 2014.
  3. Past productions record, Portland Opera
  4. New York Times, (March 23, 1970)
  5. Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek. "PORTLAND OPERA ASSOCIATION, INC - Coronavirus Bailouts - ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. Kellow (November 1996)
  7. Campbell (May 3, 1990)
  8. Campbell (November 4, 1996)
  9. Van Allen (January 17, 2002)

Sources

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