Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is an American opera company based in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, founded in 1976. BLO is the largest and longest-lived opera company in New England. BLO employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, artisans, stagehands, costumers, and scenic designers—many of whom are members of the Boston community.
Productions
Each season, BLO produces four mainstage productions in the Greater-Boston area, one of which is a featured new work. BLO receives partial funding from a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. BLO regularly invests in co-productions with other U.S. companies including
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived.
The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...
, the
Opera Theatre of St. Louis,
Houston Grand Opera, and
Glimmerglass Opera
The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake nort ...
.
BLO's community work has included participation in the "Egypt in Boston" thematic season that celebrated Egypt at several of Boston's leading cultural institutions in 1999–2000. In the summer of 2002, BLO produced "Carmen on the Common", a community-outreach initiative of a summer-long education series which culminated in two free, fully staged outdoor performances of Bizet's ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'' on
Boston Common. Similar plans were scheduled for Verdi's ''
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
'' in the 2005–2006 season, but were cancelled because of insufficient financial support.
Creative personnel
The conductor
John Balme served as general director from 1979 to 1989. Janice Mancini Del Sesto was general director of BLO from 1992 to 2008, while
Stephen Lord was BLO music director from 1991 to 2008. During that time, the company's budget grew from $800,000 (USD) to $6 million (USD). Since 2008, BLO's general and artistic director of BLO is Esther Nelson. In June 2010, BLO announced the appointment of David Angus as the company's next music director, as of the 2010–2011 season, and he continues to lead musically the company.
In 2009,
John Conklin joined BLO as an artistic advisor and in 2012
Julia Noulin-Mérat joined as the associate producer. As of 2019, John Conklin has set designed 15 productions and Julia Noulin-Mérat has set designed 10 productions.
In 2010, BLO commissioned a work from composer
Richard Beaudoin to precede its February 2011 performances of
Viktor Ullmann's ''
Der Kaiser von Atlantis''. Beaudoin responded with a 20-minute work for singers and chamber ensemble.
[Opera America]
"Thirty-Four U.S. Opera Companies to Feature American Operas over the Next Two Season"
, Retrieved January 10, 2011
In 2021, Esther Nelson and
Julia Noulin-Mérat departed from Boston Lyric Opera.
See also
*
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts, that was active from the late 1950s through the 1980s. The company was founded by American conducting, conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Bo ...
*
Guerilla Opera
*
Boston Opera Alliance
*
Odyssey Opera
References
Notes
Sources
*Cowden, Robert H., ''Opera Companies of the World: Selected Profiles''. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.
External links
Boston Lyric Opera website{{authority control
Musical groups established in 1976
Opera companies in Boston
Buildings and structures in Boston
1976 establishments in Massachusetts