Connecticut Opera
Encyclopedia
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, and a member of OPERA America
Opera America
Opera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...
. The company presented three fully staged opera productions during an annual season. It was founded in 1942 under the directorship of Frank Pandolfi and was the sixth oldest professional opera company in the United States. Pandolfi served as General Manager of the company for 32 years and brought most of the major international opera stars of that time to Hartford. The first opera produced was Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
which opened in the Bushnell Theatre on April 14, 1942, and starred mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Winifred Heidt in the title role. Connecticut Opera went on to feature opera stars such as Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...
, and Mary Dunleavy
Mary Dunleavy
Mary Dunleavy is an American soprano who has performed with major opera companies and orchestras around the world. She is a native of Old Saybrook, Connecticut.She grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Pascack Hills High School in 1984...
.
After Pandolfi left the company, Connecticut Opera shifted direction, moving away from the star system towards hiring young and talented rising artists. The company also became interested in cutting-edge theatrical sets, lighting, costumes, and other technical areas of theater before such a move became in vogue within the opera world. In the mid-1970s, the company founded Opera Express, an award-winning touring company that focused on bringing operatic programs to more than 3 million youths, seniors, and disadvantaged citizens in the region. During the early 1980s, Connecticut Opera received national and international recognition through pioneer arena productions of Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
.
In the spring of 1999, the Board of Trustees embarked on an aggressive path of growth and re-invention for the company. This change in direction was marked by a change in management structure as well. The artistic and administrative activities of the company were split. A single General Director was replaced with a management team headed by Artistic Director, Willie Anthony Waters, and Managing Director, Maria Levy (a position later held by Linda Jackson).
In February 2009, after 67 seasons, Connecticut Opera closed down. Citing adverse economic conditions, John E. Kreitler, chairman of the opera board told The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
:
"We have ceased business and we are trying to work out the arrangements with our secured creditor about what will be done with our very few remaining assets."
By its final season, Connecticut Opera had a yearly budget of about $2 million and 2,000 subscribers. Ticket prices for its performances ranged from $25 to $100. Their last production was Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, which opened at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
, on November 8, 2008. The poor turnout for that production coupled with the drying up of corporate and individual donations led to the company's bank accounts being frozen. The final two productions of the 2008-2009 season were to have been The Daughter of the Regiment and La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
.