Kentucky Opera

The Kentucky Opera is the state opera of Kentucky, located in Louisville. The operas are usually performed at The Kentucky Center, and are accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra. Founded in 1952 by Moritz von Bomhard, it is the twelfth oldest opera company in the United States and has a more than $2 million budget. The Kentucky Opera is an important part of theater in Kentucky. In January 2006, David Roth was announced as the new general director of Kentucky Opera. Roth had been with Fort Worth Opera since 2000 where he was both Director of Production and Director of Finance.

Performance history

The 2004-2005 season included Massenet's Thaïs, Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

The 2005-2006 season included Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Adamo's Little Women, and Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Onegin was the company's first ever production to be performed in Russian.

The 2006-2007 season included Puccini's La Bohème, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

The 2007-2008 season included Puccini's Turandot, Verdi's Il Trovatore, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, and a special concert version of Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah starring Metropolitan Opera star Denyce Graves.

The 2008-2009 season includes Verdi's Otello, Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, a showcase of baroque opera, and Massenet's Werther, and a special concert version of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta.

The company has previously performed many other operas in the standard repertoire, including The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, Aïda, The Flying Dutchman and Salome among many others.

External links

* [http://www.kyopera.org/ Official website]
* [http://www.ket.org/trips/opera/about.htm Information] from KET