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Opera Theatre

Opera Theatre

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.

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. (Pictured: Dido and Aeneas, 2023)

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