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The Tacoma Opera - The Liberty Theatre
The Liberty Theatre Presents:
The Tacoma Opera
Noel Koran, General Director
Marie Levy, Artistic Administrator
Tacoma Opera was founded in 1968 as the Tacoma Opera Society and presented its first production, Die Fledermaus at the Eastvold Auditorium on the Pacific Lutheran University campus. In 1981, with the help of Dr. Hans Wolf, then director of community outreach for Seattle Opera, the company turned professional and changed its name to the Tacoma Opera Association. Wolf became the new director of the company and a production of Die Fledermaus was successfully staged that year. Under Dr. Wolf’s leadership and along with the organizational guidance of long-time executive director, Anne Farrell, the company produced many operettas and grand operas over the next several years. The company also produced numerous premieres including the West Coast premiere of Offenbach’s Christopher Columbus and the world premiere of a brand-new opera, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Seattle composer Carol Sams.
In the late 1990s, Both Wolf and Farrell retired from their positions and Rod Gideons became the executive director of the company and David Bartholomew the artistic director. During their time, the company continued to expand by producing larger scale mainstream operas. Kathryn Smith came to the company in 2003 as general director, extending the continued growth of the company until the economic downturn of 2008, after which she successfully shepherded the company through some very difficult financial times. She left Tacoma Opera in June of 2011 to take a position as general director of Madison Opera in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. Noel Koran joined the company as general director after Ms. Smith’s departure and comes to Tacoma Opera from a long background in opera, having been a singer, stage director, producer, educator and arts administrator in a career spanning nearly 40 years.
In the 50 years of its existence, Tacoma Opera has grown from a small, amateur based company, little-known outside of the city of Tacoma, into a vibrant regional opera company attracting audiences from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The company has solidified its position as a cultural icon for the South Puget Sound region and has exciting plans for the future. The company has discovered over the years that there is great value in presenting opera in an intimate performance environment so that audiences can connect more directly with the music, the story and the performers in operas we present. For centuries, opera for has been associated with grandiose, large scale and expensive productions that focus on spectacle, but the art form has unfortunately become financially inaccessible to the everyday general population as presented in the larger opera houses in America. Tacoma Opera is intent on redefining opera in this country as an intimate and accessible art form that allows audiences to experience opera in a uniquely personal way, touching the heart and stimulating the mind. This is our philosophy and it is with this philosophy as our guiding light that we will continue into our next 50 years presenting opera up close and personal. It’s been a great journey so far and we, at Tacoma Opera, look forward to the next 50 years of serving the South Sound region with exciting, intimate and accessible opera productions.
General Admission Seating. More program details to come...
Date and Time
Friday Nov 17, 2017
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM PST
November 17, 7pm
Fees/Admission
$25, packages available