Opera Memphis
Encyclopedia
Opera Memphis is a non-profit arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 organization in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

. It was established in 1956 in conjunction with the founding of WKNO-FM
WKNO-FM
The WKNO FM Stations is a pair of public radio stations based in Memphis, Tennessee, that serve the "Mid-South" region with local fine arts and classical music programs, as well as news and information programs from the National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and American Public Media...

, the local public radio affiliate.

Historically, Opera Memphis has presented a combination of locally-produced operas and touring shows from the Metropolitan Opera Company. Since the early 1990s, Opera Memphis has presented unique productions exclusively. Currently, Opera Memphis mounts three mainstage productions per year.

The administrative offices of Opera Memphis are presently located at the Clark Opera Memphis Center in East Memphis
East Memphis, Memphis
East Memphis is a region of Memphis, Tennessee, that includes several defined and informal subdivisions/neighborhoods such as Colonial Acres, White Station-Yates, Sherwood Forest, Normal Station, High Point Terrace, Belle Meade, Normandy Meadows, St. Nick, Pleasant Acres, Balmoral, and Ridgeway...

. Composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 Michael Ching
Michael Ching
Michael Ching is an American composer and conductor.Ching was born in Honolulu in 1958 and raised in New Orleans and St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Duke University where he studied with composers Iain Hamilton and Robert Ward. Upon graduation, he was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio...

 has been at the helm of Opera Memphis since 1992. Soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 Kallen Esperian
Kallen Esperian
Kallen Esperian, born in Barrington, Illinois on , is an Armenian-American lyric soprano.-History:After earning her degree at the University of Illinois, Kallen Esperian went on to win the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in 1985...

 has appeared in many Opera Memphis productions, including Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...

, 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...

, Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...

, and 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...

. She made her debut in the title role of 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...

at Opera Memphis in 2007.
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