­On June 27, 1920, Cincinnati Opera Association began its life as the second oldest opera company in the United States with a sold-out performance of Martha. For over 50 years, the Opera performed at the Cincinnati Zoo Pav­ilion and, at its peak, offered 18 productions over 61 performances in a ten-week season. During the years at the Zoo, a number of now famous opera singers frequented the stage: Plácido Domingo, Norman Treigle, Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Montserrat Caballé, James Morris, and Barbara Daniels, to name a few.

In 1972, Cincinnati Opera moved from the Zoo Pavilion to its present venue, Music Hall, a 3,417-seat theater listed as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The move to the newly renovated Music Hall signaled production and artistic changes and new sets became an immediate focus because of the larger stage. James de Blasis staged rarer operas such as Resurrection and Schwanda the Bagpiper and introduced musical theater into the season to diversify the repertoire and develop new audiences. De Blasis also achieved national recognition with a new interpretation of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore set in "Wild West" 19th century Texas. This production proved to be so popular it was filmed by PBS and televised in 1968.

When James de Blasis announced his retirement in 1995, Cincinnati Opera launched an international search for a new Artistic Director. Nicholas Muni, a renowned stage director, was appointed in June 1996. With his appointment, Cincinnati Opera embarked on an overall transformation of every aspect of the company. Thirteen company premieres have been presented since 1998, including Janácek's Jenufa, Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, Schoenberg's Erwartung, Verdi's Nabucco, Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Strauss's Elektra, Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, Bolcom's Medusa, Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, and the U.S. premiere of Peter Bengtson's The Maids

Cincinnati Opera's 2005 Summer Festival closed with a sold-out performance of Rigoletto, breaking a 20-year record for overall season attendance. The company also celebrated the triumphant premiere of its first-ever main-stage commission, Richard Danielpour's Margaret Garner, presented in honor of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the company in 2005, Patricia K. Beggs was promoted from Managing Director to General Director & CEO. And during the final weekend of its 2005 season, the company announced the appointment of Evans Mirageas as The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director.

Widely considered one of the most talented and respected artistic leaders in the classical music industry today, Mirageas brings to the Cincinnati Opera a broad range of experience in both opera and symphonic music, as well as a long history of successful partnerships with many of the world's leading singers and conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, and Sir Georg Solti among numerous others.

Mirageas succeeds Artistic Director Nicholas Muni who announced in September 2004 his decision to pursue his stage directing career following eight successful seasons with Cincinnati Opera.

The appointment marks Mirageas's first artistic directorship of an opera company, building on his extensive experience as a casting director, recording producer, and artistic advisor with many of the leading opera and recording companies in the U.S. and Europe. He has led successful projects with Los Angeles Opera, the Lincoln Center Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, the Decca Record Company Ltd., and many others.

Following Mirageas's first season with Cincinnati Opera, Opera News magazine listed him among its "25 Most Powerful Names in U.S. Opera" in its August 2006 issue. The 2007 season ended by setting several records including a four-performance run of Aida that was viewed by 12,595 people, more attendees than any other opera production since the company's move to Music Hall in 1972.

At the close of of the 2007 season, Cincinnati Opera announced exciting future plans including celebrity casting leading up to its 90th Anniversary Season in 2010, featuring a production of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg with an all-star cast including Hei-Kyung Hong, James Morris, Sir Thomas Allen, John Del Carlo, and Richard Margison.

The 2008 summer festival was the first season fully created under the artistic leadership of Mirageas. Classic repertoire for the 2008 season included Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Verdi's tragic love story La Traviata. Cincinnati Opera presented a fresh look at the classic Lucia di Lammermoor with Donizetti's beautiful French revision, Lucie de Lammermoor. The season's exploration piece was the company premiere of Daniel Catán's magical Florencia en el Amazonas (1996).

In 2009, the company presented its "Opera Goes to Spain" season, featuring works that were set in Spain or explored Spanish culture, leading off with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Verdi's Don Carlo. Continuing in its commitment to present works new to Cincinnati audiences, Cincinnati Opera also presented the regional premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar starring leading American soprano Dawn Upshaw, and the company closed the season with three sold-out performances of Bizet's Carmen. 

View a list of the Cincinnati Opera repertoire.

Learn more about the Cincinnati Opera archives.

For additional information, call the Cincinnati Opera Box Office at (513) 241-2742, or e-mail us.