Berkshire Opera Company

The Berkshire Opera Company is a professional opera company is located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the United States. That part of Massachusetts is often referred to as The Berkshires. The company was founded in 1985 by Rex Hearn and presents a summer series of fully staged operas and other musical works. Berkshire Opera is the only professional opera company in Massachusetts that performs during the summer. Initially the company first performed in the now demolished chapel of The Cranwell Resort in Lenox. Its first production was Handel’s "Acis and Galatea", which featured Berkshire resident Maureen O’Flynn who has since gone on to become an internationally acclaimed soprano.

It's final season at Cranwell, the company's tenth, was shepherded by the first Resident Managing Director at the company, J. Peter Bergman, who came to the Berkshires from the classical music agency in New York City, Thea Dispeker International. He was responsible for moving the company successfully to the Monument Mountain School in Great Barrington for its first full season away from Lenox.

In 1997 the company moved to the professional theater of the Koussevitzky Arts Center on the scenic campus of Berkshire Community College. In 1998 season saw the company increase its offerings to four ambitious productions and included the critically acclaimed performances of Gian Carlo Menotti’s "The Consul". Berkshire Opera’s production was recorded on the Newport Classic label immediately following the final performance — the first commercial recording ever made of "The Consul".

In 1999 Berkshire Opera presented the world premiere Stephen Paulus' opera "Summer", which is set in the Berkshires. The opera is based upon the novel of the same name by Berkshire resident Edith Wharton. Berkshire Opera’s collaborated with the Boston Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Festival for this production.

In 2000, Berkshire Opera purchased the historic Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and launched a $15 million capital campaign to restore the Mahaiwe to its original 1905 grandeur. The company performed it's first opera in their new home in 2002, Benjamin Britten’s "Turn of the Screw". Unfortunately, the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent economic downturn severely impacted restoration efforts, and in January 2003 the company the Mahaiwe Theatre to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, a newly formed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the Theatre’s restoration. Since January 2003, Berkshire Opera has been based in Pittsfield, MA, and has remained dedicated to bringing the finest opera performances and outreach activities to the Berkshire community. In 2007, Berkshire Opera offered its first performances in the newly renovated Colonial Theatre. The company now enjoys performing at both the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and the Colonial Theatre. [ [http://berkshireopera.org/ Berkshire Opera » Home ] ]

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