Muddy River Opera Company
Encyclopedia
Located in Quincy, Illinois
, the Muddy River Opera Company was founded by Mary Anne Scott and Mary Jane McCloskey in 1989 as a non-profit arts organization. The company was incorporated in 1990. Scott and McCloskey had two goals in mind: to make professional operatic performances and educational opportunities available to the tri-state area. In keeping with the mission of its founders, the company consistently produces two to four operas a year. For several years, most MROC productions of foreign-language operas were performed in English translation, though the company has, in recent years, mounted several productions of operas in the original language with projected English supertitles.
The company hires professional singers, directors, designers and musicians for every production. Auditions for roles in all productions take place in Quincy, St. Louis, Missouri
and Chicago, Illinois prior to the beginning of every new season. The company also utilizes the Quincy community's impressive reserve of professional and amateur singers, musicians and artists.
, Dialogues of the Carmelites
, The Pirates of Penzance
, The Merry Widow
, Jonah, The Medium
, La traviata
, Die Fledermaus
, Così fan tutte
, Gianni Schicchi
, Suor Angelica
, Il barbiere di Siviglia
, Rigoletto
, HMS Pinafore
, A Little Night Music
, Carmen
and L'Elisir d'Amore
.
The company celebrated its 20th season with a May 2010 production of Puccini
's Madama Butterfly
, featuring Quincy native and international opera singer Michèle Crider as Cio-Cio San.
. The Tender Land
was also produced during the 1995 Copland Festival. In 2008, MROC presented Donizetti
's L'Elisir d'Amore
, a production shared with Elgin Opera and Union Avenue Opera.
's Gift of the Magi
, an opera based on the O. Henry
short story with a libretto by Nicholas Giardini.
, a musical about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln
with book & lyrics by Lee Goldsmith and music by Roger Anderson.
's MacHugh Theatre, include The Mini Magic Flute, Alice in Opera Land, Noye's Fludde
, The Toy Shop as well as works by Seymour Barab
: Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood.
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
, the Muddy River Opera Company was founded by Mary Anne Scott and Mary Jane McCloskey in 1989 as a non-profit arts organization. The company was incorporated in 1990. Scott and McCloskey had two goals in mind: to make professional operatic performances and educational opportunities available to the tri-state area. In keeping with the mission of its founders, the company consistently produces two to four operas a year. For several years, most MROC productions of foreign-language operas were performed in English translation, though the company has, in recent years, mounted several productions of operas in the original language with projected English supertitles.
The company hires professional singers, directors, designers and musicians for every production. Auditions for roles in all productions take place in Quincy, St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and Chicago, Illinois prior to the beginning of every new season. The company also utilizes the Quincy community's impressive reserve of professional and amateur singers, musicians and artists.
Major Repertoire
MROC has produced both traditional and twentieth-century operas and operettas including: Die Zauberflöte, La bohèmeLa 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...
, Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
, The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, Jonah, The Medium
The Medium
The Medium is a short two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by Columbia University, its first performance was there on 8 May 1946. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Telephone at the Heckscher...
, La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
, Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, Il barbiere di Siviglia
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, HMS Pinafore
HMS Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
, 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...
and L'Elisir d'Amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
.
The company celebrated its 20th season with a May 2010 production of Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, featuring Quincy native and international opera singer Michèle Crider as Cio-Cio San.
Collaborations
The company collaborated with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra in producing Hansel and Gretel, Evita and Jekyll & HydeJekyll & Hyde (musical)
Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...
. The Tender Land
The Tender Land
The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns. The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and...
was also produced during the 1995 Copland Festival. In 2008, MROC presented Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's L'Elisir d'Amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, a production shared with Elgin Opera and Union Avenue Opera.
Gift of the Magi
In November 2002, MROC staged the Midwestern Premiere of David ConteDavid Conte
David Conte is an American composer. He has been a Professor of Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1985, and Composer-in-Residence with Thick Description since 1990....
's Gift of the Magi
Gift of the Magi (opera)
The Gift of the Magi is a chamber opera in four scenes with music by David Conte and libretto by Nicholas Giardini. Based on the short story of the same title by O. Henry, the opera focuses on Jim and Della, who are a poor married couple and cannot afford to buy each other presents for Christmas...
, an opera based on the O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
short story with a libretto by Nicholas Giardini.
Abe
As part of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Year, MROC staged the World Premiere of AbeAbe (musical)
Abe is a musical in two acts based on the life of President Abraham Lincoln with book & lyrics by Lee Goldsmith, music by Roger Anderson and orchestration by Greg Anthony. The musical covers the life of Abraham Lincoln from his earliest attempts at self-improvement through the 1860 election which...
, a musical about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
with book & lyrics by Lee Goldsmith and music by Roger Anderson.
Children's Educational Outreach
Part of the company's mission is to educate local grade school students in Quincy, Adams County and Hannibal, Missouri about opera, singing and performance. Some past children's operas, performed in Quincy UniversityQuincy University
Quincy University a private liberal arts Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition. It is located in Quincy, Illinois and currently enrolls around 1,300 students.-History:...
's MacHugh Theatre, include The Mini Magic Flute, Alice in Opera Land, Noye's Fludde
Noye's Fludde
Noye's Fludde is an early 15th century mystery play from the Chester Mystery Cycle. It was set to music by Benjamin Britten in 1957 based on an edition by Alfred W. Pollard...
, The Toy Shop as well as works by Seymour Barab
Seymour Barab
Seymour Barab is an American composer, organist, pianist,. He is known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood. He is a long time member of the Philip Glass Ensemble.-References:**-External links:*...
: Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood.