The Kentucky Opera is an American

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

company based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. The company is resident at the Brown Theatre, as part of Kentucky Performing Arts. The

Louisville Orchestra The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney (1904–1986). The Louisville Orchestra employs salaried musicians, and offers a wide variety of concert series to the communit ...

is the accompanying orchestra for the company. Moritz von Bomhard founded the company in 1952 as the State Opera of Kentucky. The company performed in the Columbia Auditorium until 1964, when they moved to the Macauley Theater (now called the Brown Theatre). Bomhard served as general director of the company until his 1982 retirement. Thomson Smillie succeeded Bomhard as general director, and during his tenure, the company began to give some performances at Whitney Hall in 1984. Smillie was general director until 1997. In 1998, Deborah Sandler became the company's general director. During her tenure, the company moved all of its productions to Whitney Hall. In January 2006, the company announced David Roth as its next general director. Roth served in the post until his July 2015 death in a car accident. Following interim leadership by William Blodgett, in 2016, Ian Derrer became the company's general director. Barbara Lynne Jamison was named general director in 2018.

References

External links

Official website of Kentucky OperaKentucky Opera Association records
from the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

Archives and Records Center
Information
from KET {{authority control Musical groups established in 1952 Arts organizations based in Louisville, Kentucky American opera companies Performing arts in Kentucky Music of Louisville, Kentucky 1952 establishments in Kentucky