Portland Opera—Celebrating Over 40 Years of Opera In Portland

Situated near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the city of Portland attempted, with varying degrees of success in its early years, to build its own opera company.  Touring troupes and a variety of local companies provided the city with interesting, if sporadic, operatic entertainment until Portland Opera was firmly established in 1964.  From 1964 to 1966, the organization’s general director and conductor was Henry Holt.  At his departure, the baton was passed to Herbert Weiskopf, and after his death in 1970 to Stefan Minde, whose tenure extended through the 1983-84 season.  Robert Bailey led the Company until his retirement in 2003, when Christopher Mattaliano was named the Company’s fifth general director.

Currently in its 43rd  season, Portland Opera has established itself as a vibrant and vital part of the region’s cultural activity and identity.  With its commitment to producing operas that invigorate the future of the art form and are dramatically and vocally compelling, Portland Opera has earned a devoted public following throughout the state of Oregon and southwestern Washington.

The Company has long been a leader in making opera more accessible to a diverse audience.  In 1984, Portland Opera was the second company in the U.S. to use projected English translations, a revolutionary means of enhancing the theatrical experience for patrons at operas sung in a foreign language.  Since then supertitles have become indispensable to virtually every opera company in the nation. Ten years later, Portland Opera became the first opera company in the United States to develop a separate subscription series of nationally touring Broadway shows.  Today it is the only company to offer full seasons of both Broadway and opera productions, using this additional Broadway revenue stream to enhance its ability to produce increasingly sophisticated opera productions.

Portland Opera also enjoys a reputation for innovative, groundbreaking productions.  In 1982 the Company presented the world premiere of Wuthering Heights, and in 1990 the Company attracted attention for the world premiere of Lucy’s Lapses, the opera’s first commissioned work.  In 1996, the North American premiere of Reynaldo Hahn’s The Merchant of Venice brought the Company international acclaim, followed shortly by Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges.  In 2001, Portland Opera celebrated its first successful international collaboration with a production of La Belle Hélène, in collaboration with Klagenfurt Opera of Austria. The 2003 season included the west coast premiere of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge.  In 2004, the Company created a new production of Rossini’s The Journey to Reims, followed in 2006 with a co-production of John Adams’ Nixon in China and an all-new production of Verdi’s Macbeth.

In recent years, many prominent artists have appeared on Portland Opera’s mainstage, having been drawn to appear in our productions because of the staggering beauty of our community and the heightened creative standards our company has embraced.  Many renowned performers have enthusiastically agreed to appear on Portland Opera’s stage because of its reputation for providing stellar treatment to guest artists and due to their warm, ongoing relationships with General Director, Christopher Mattaliano.

The Company’s scene and costume shops contribute to its professional stature, and the credit line “sets and costumes constructed by Portland Opera” appears with increasing frequency in opera programs across the U.S.  Rentals to other companies are an important source of revenue and reinforce Portland Opera’s prominence on the national creative scene. A short list of recent company-created works includes Otello, The Cunning Little Vixen, Pagliacci/Carmina Burana, The Merchant of Venice, Sweeney Todd, The Journey to Reims and Macbeth.  

New productions are not limited to the mainstage.  Portland Opera’s Community Outreach and Education efforts have expanded dramatically in recent years with the establishment of Portland Opera To Go!, the touring division of Portland Opera.  This group performs in schools, community centers and other venues throughout the region.  From opera previews and public presentations to fully staged productions of shows such as Cinderella, The Night Harry Stopped Smoking, La Bohème, The Magic Flute, and Hansel and Gretel, this arm of Portland Opera reaches nearly 30,000 students, teachers and parents each year.  This season Portland Opera To Go! will tour a new production of La Bohème throughout the region.

In July, 2003, the Company moved into its new eastside facility – The Hampton Opera Center – where, for the first time in company history, music and staging rehearsals, coaching facilities, costume shop, and administrative offices are all housed under one roof.  The new facility now houses the 168-seat Portland Opera Studio Theater, which has allowed the company to expand its performance repertoire to include an annual production of intimate chamber opera, featuring the Portland Opera Studio Artists.  All other Portland Opera performances occur in the 3,000-seat Keller Auditorium in downtown Portland.

In 2005, the Company established the Portland Opera Studio Artists program, designed to train the next generation of opera singers by providing a “bridge” from the conservatory world to the professional stage.  Selected at auditions around the country, young singers fresh from some of the nation’s finest vocal conservatories join the company for a rigorous nine-month training program, during which they are featured in their own production.  Patrons also enjoy their work in supporting roles in Company mainstage productions.

The 2007/08 season marks the Company’s 43rd season of producing powerful opera in Portland.