The Program
Eric Gibson, Opera Stage Director
The Ohio State University Opera Theatre performs a wide range of repertoire, from Baroque masques to Romantic operas to modern American musicals. The productions utilize students and faculty from the School of Music, the Department of Theatre and the Department of Dance, as well as additional collaborators from the wider professional world. The purpose of the program is to explore the future of the Opera Theatre genre by embracing the form's intrinsic interdisciplinary nature all the while focusing on a well-rounded "cross-trained" performer at its core.
Performances
Each year, fully-staged one-act operas are produced in the new Timashev Recital Hall, as well as one fully-staged opera in Weigel Auditorium. These performances include collaborations with a wide range of musicians such as the Ohio State Symphony Orchestra or chamber and jazz ensembles.
2025–2026 Season and Auditions
Auditions are open to both undergraduate and graduate students and all have equal opportunity to be cast in principal or secondary roles, the ensemble, or other ancillary participation. Through the Opera Techniques class, students also receive instruction in acting, movement, audition techniques, critical text and score analysis, stage combat and the overall business of the professional world. Guest artists are often invited to hold master classes and provide additional instruction throughout the year. Graduate assistantships are available for students at the master's and doctoral levels.
Opera repertoire for the season includes Speed Dating Tonight! by Michael Ching and Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini. Other repertoire for spring will be determined after the auditions.
Autumn Opera: November 7–9, 2025 in Timashev Recital Hall
Spring Opera: April 10–12, 2026 in Weigel Auditorium
Rehearsal/class times are different for Autumn and Spring. It is a “rehearsal period” or class time and one is not required to attend all the times. A rehearsal schedule is set to limit your times needed.
Autumn 2025 class times: M/W/F 4:10-5:50 p.m. and T/R 5:30-6:50 p.m.
Spring 2026 class times: M/W 7:30-10 p.m. and T/R 4:10-6:25 and F 6:30-9 p.m.
Sign up for an audition
Auditions will be held Thursday 8/28, Friday 8/29, and Tuesday 9/2.
Two Steps:
Step 1 — Complete the Information form.
Step 2 — Sign up for an audition time.
Past Productions
2025
- The Turn of the Screw (Benjamin Britten)
2024
- Hansel and Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck)
- Opera Inside Out and Upside Down — Musical Theatre Cabaret
- Bastien und Bastienne (W. A. Mozart)
- Trial by Jury (Gilbert & Sullivan)
2023
- Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell)
- Gallantry (Douglas Moore)
- Signor Deluso (Thomas Pasatieri)
2022
- Sweets by Kate (Griffin Candey)
- Love is a Plaintive Song: a collection of songs about love and relationships — Original pastiche
2021
- My Favorite Sings: An Evening with Rodgers & Hammerstein — Musical Theatre Cabaret
2019
- The Marriage of Figaro (W. A. Mozart)
- Cendrillon (Pauline Viardot)
- CARTOON CABARET! — Animated Musical Cabaret
2018
- Candide (Leonard Bernstein)
- One Enchanted Evening: A Golden Age Cabaret (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
- Opera Americana: Scenes from the American Lyric Theatre — Scenes Program
2017
- La rondine (Giacomo Puccini)
- Ramala [world première] (Charles Wakefield Cadman)
- Sixteen by Sondheim — Stephen Sondheim Cabaret
- Der Schauspieldirektor (W. A. Mozart)
2016
- Sweeney Todd (Stephen Sondheim)
- Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell)
- Anything Cole’s — Cole Porter Cabaret
- Hearts & Music — William Finn/Jason Robert Brown Cabaret