The Nashville Opera Association is a professional opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 company in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and is a member of OPERA America

Opera America

Opera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...

. The company currently offers three fully staged opera productions and the On Tour educational outreach program during an annual season which runs from October through April. Performances are offered at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center

Tennessee Performing Arts Center

The Tennessee Performing Arts Center, or TPAC, is located in the James K. Polk Cultural Center at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, occupying an entire city block between 5th and 6th Avenues North and Deaderick and Union Streets. Also housing the Tennessee State Museum, the...

 in Downtown Nashville and the award-winning Noah Liff Opera Center in the Sylvan Heights section of West Nashville. Designed by renowned architect Earl Swensson, The 26000 square feet (2,415.5 m²) Noah Liff Opera Center houses the company's executive offices, conference facilities, and a state-of-the-art rehearsal studio. The center was designed to accommodate small theatrical performances and special event rentals. Nashville Opera's mission statement is "make a difference by creating legendary productions and programs and providing exceptional service."

Nashville Opera is managed by Carol Penterman, Executive Director and CEO. Prior to being selected by Nashville Opera's Board of Directors to lead the company in 1995, Ms. Penterman was recognized throughout the industry for her creativity and business acumen. Classically-trained at the prestigious Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Ms. Penterman elected to pursue opportunities in stage and executive opera management. Since assuming her duties at Nashville Opera, the company's annual revenues have grown from less than $500,000 in 1994 to more than $2.4 million today. In addition to serving numerous local civic organizations, Ms. Penterman was recently elected Treasurer of OPERA America's Board of Directors.

John Hoomes joined Nashville Opera in 1995 as the Artistic Director, the same year that Carol Penterman was named Executive Director. Mr. Hoomes received his Masters Degree from Indiana Univiversity with a concentration in directing and has become recognized as an expert in the field of opera and musical theater. He has gained a solid reputation for staging thought-provoking interpretations, and for possessing the artistic vision to bring new works to the stage. In 2005, Mr. Hoomes collaborated with GRAMMY-Award winning songwriter Marcus Hummon on Nashville Opera's first world-premiere, Surrender Road. Two years later he directed the world-premiere of composer Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, an operatic adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' groundbreaking novel. Mr. Hoomes has directed over 75 productions of opera and musical theater in his career, including nearly every Nashville Opera production since 1995. As a freelance director, he works with companies throughout North America such as Arizona Opera, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Glimmerglass Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Indianapolis Opera, Opera New Jersey and Pittsburgh Opera.

History

The Nashville Opera Guild was chartered in 1981 under the direction of Mary Cortner Ragland. They produced their first opera, 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...

, in the same year. In 1987, the Nashville Opera Guild transferred its charter to the Nashville Opera Association. Three years later, they hired their first permanent director, Kyle Ridout, whose tenure lasted four years. In 1995, the current General Director Carol Penterman and current Artistic Directory John Hoomes joined the Nashville Opera. The Nashville Opera merged with the Tennessee Opera Theater in 1997, increasing production to from one or two to four operas per season. In April 2009 the Nashville Opera's new facility, the Noah Liff Opera Center, had its grand opening.

World Premieres

• The NOA premiered Surrender Road by Grammy Award
  Grammy Award
  A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
  
   winning songwriter Marcus Hummon
  Marcus Hummon
  Marcus Spencer Hummon is an American country music artist. After several years of playing in various bands, he eventually found his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was signed to a songwriting contract, and subsequently a record deal with Columbia Records, which released his debut album All...
  
   in 2004. A documentary The Making of Surrender Road was filmed in association with this production.

• In November 2007 the Opera produced its second world premiere Elmer Gantry
  Elmer Gantry (opera)
  Elmer Gantry is an American opera based on the 1926 novel by Sinclair Lewis of the same name. It was composed by Robert Aldridge with a libretto by Herschel Garfein. The Nashville Opera presented the world premier in November 2007....
  
   by composer Robert Aldridge and librettist Herschel Garfein to rave critical reviews. The NOA and Elmer Gantry were subsequently featured on the cover of the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section of the New York Times.

• Nashville Opera On Tour premiered The Ugly Duckling by Andrew Duncan
  Andrew Duncan
  Sir Andrew Rae Duncan, GBE was a British businessman who was brought into government during the Second World War, serving twice as both President of the Board of Trade and Minister of Supply....
  
   in 2008. The 45 minute opera is a musical adaptation of the classic children’s story and includes familiar components from other classic tales. Written for school-age children, the message of the work is that standing out and being different is not necessarily a bad thing.

Repertory

1980-81

• Madama Butterfly Puccini

1982-83

• Tosca Puccini

1983-84

• La traviata Verdi

1984-85

• Cavalleria rusticana Mascagni
• Pagliacci Leoncavallo

1985-86

• The Barber of Seville Rossini

1986-87

• La Bohème Puccini

1987-88

• Il trovatore Verdi

1988-89

• The Mikado Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  

1989-90

• Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti

1990-91

• Rigoletto Verdi

1991-92

• Carmen Bizet
• Carousel Rodgers
  Richard Rodgers
  Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
  
  

1992-93

• The Barber of Seville Rossini
• Madama Butterfly Puccini

1993-94

• Tosca Puccini

1994-95

• Don Pasquale Donizetti
• Die Fledermaus Strauss

1995-96

• La traviata Verdi
• Stand-Up Opera Ward
• The Magic Flute Mozart

1996-97

• La Bohème Puccini
• Operetta Cabaret
• The Elixir of Love Donizetti

1997-98

• Aïda Verdi
• The Turn of the Screw Britten
• La Cenerentola Rossini
• Trouble in Tahiti Bernstein
  Bernstein
  Bernstein is a German and Jewish surname meaning "amber". The German pronunciation is , but in English it is often . It may refer to:-People:* Dan Bern , American musician who previously performed under the name Bernstein...
  
  
• Gianni Schicchi Puccini

1998-99

• Carmen Bizet
• H.M.S. Pinafore Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  
• Così fan tutte Mozart
• Der Rosenkavalier Strauss

1999-00

• Madama Butterfly Puccini
• Susannah Floyd
  Carlisle Floyd
  Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
  
  
• The Magic Flute Mozart
• The Flying Dutchman Wagner

2000-01

• Don Giovanni Mozart
• The Mikado Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  
• Regina Marc Blitzstein
  Marc Blitzstein
  Marcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...
  
  
• Otello Verdi

2001-02

• Turandot Puccini
• Hansel and Gretel Humperdinck
• The Pearl Fishers Bizet
• Rigoletto Verdi

2002-03

• The Barber of Seville Rossini
• La traviata Verdi
• Porgy and Bess Gershwin
• La Bohème Puccini

2003-04

• Tosca Puccini
• Pagliacci Leoncavallo
• The Pirates of Penzance Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  
• Salome Strauss

2004-05

• Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti
• La Voix Humaine Poulenc
  Francis Poulenc
  Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
  
  
• The Lighthouse Davies
  Davies
  Davies is a spelling variation of the patronymic English surname Davis, that means David, a Hebrew name meaning "beloved". Davies is much associated with Wales, owing to the name of its patron saint, David....
  
  
• Die Fledermaus Strauss
• Carmen Bizet

2005-06

• Faust Gounod
• Surrender Road Marcus Hummon
  Marcus Hummon
  Marcus Spencer Hummon is an American country music artist. After several years of playing in various bands, he eventually found his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was signed to a songwriting contract, and subsequently a record deal with Columbia Records, which released his debut album All...
  
  
• Iolanthe Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  
• Turandot Puccini

2006-07

• Aïda Verdi
• Amahl and the Night Visitors Menotti
• Les Enfants et les Sortilèges Ravel
• Romeo and Juliet Gounod
• Madama Butterfly Puccini

2007-08

• Samson and Delilah Saint-Saëns
• Elmer Gantry Aldridge
  Aldridge
  Aldridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. Historically it was part of the county of Staffordshire, but in 1974 it was incorporated into the Walsall borough as well as the West Midlands county.- History :...
  
  
• H.M.S. Pinafore Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
  
• Il trovatore Verdi

2008-09

• Don Giovanni Mozart
• The Student Prince Romberg
  Romberg
  Romberg is a German surname which may refer to:* Andreas Romberg , German composer, violinist* Bernhard Romberg , German cellist and composer* Brett Romberg , American football player* Luci Romberg, an American stuntwoman...
  
  
• Amahl and the Night Visitors Menotti
• La Bohème Puccini

2009-10

• Tosca Puccini
• The Fall of the House of Usher Glass
  Glass
  Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
  
  
• Rigoletto Verdi

2010-11

• Andrea Chénier Giordano
  Umberto Giordano
  Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
  
  
• Hansel and Gretel Humperdinck
• The Marriage of Figaro Mozart
• Carmen Bizet

2011-12

• La Traviata Verdi
• I Pagliacci Leoncavallo
• The Girl of the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West Puccini

External links

• Nashville Opera Nashville Opera Official Site
• New York Times New York Times 2008 Article Review
• Broadway World Rigoletto
• Twitter Nashville Opera page
• Facebook Nashville Opera page
• YouTube Nashville Opera Channel