Utah Festival Opera
Encyclopedia
The Utah Festival Opera is an opera company based in Logan, Utah
. The company performs four fully staged works with orchestra in repertory every July and August at the Ellen Eccles Theatre
on Logan's Main Street. The works performed range from opera
s to operetta
s to musicals.
The company was founded in 1992 by operatic tenor
Michael Ballam
, a music professor at Utah State University
, and a native of Logan. Besides being director of the company, he has also sung lead roles in many productions over the years.
Naughty Marietta
by Victor Herbert
was the first work performed by the company in 1993, along with Puccini
's La bohème
and a double bill of Trial By Jury
and The Impresario. Up through the 2000 season, there were three works in repertory. This increased to four in 2001. Usually those four works consist of two operas and two musicals. The 2006 season consisted of Marriage of Figaro, The Music Man
, La bohème
, and Man of La Mancha
.
The offices and scene shop of the company are located adjacent to the Eccles Theatre in the Dansante building, a former dance hall. The Dansante also has a recital hall.
In 2007 the Opera purchased the 350 seat Utah Theatre, and is undertaking a major gut-renovation of that facility, hoping it will be completed by summer 2011, which will allow addition of 2 - 3 smaller works there.
Logan, Utah
-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...
. The company performs four fully staged works with orchestra in repertory every July and August at the Ellen Eccles Theatre
Ellen Eccles Theatre
The Ellen Eccles Theatre was built in 1923 on Logan, Utah's Main Street. Then known as the Capitol Theatre, it was a home originally to vaudeville and opera. As vaudeville died out, it became used primarily for community events, and increasingly, movies...
on Logan's Main Street. The works performed range from 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...
s to operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s to musicals.
The company was founded in 1992 by operatic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Michael Ballam
Michael Ballam
Michael Ballam is the general director of the Utah Festival Opera, a professor of music at Utah State University, an accomplished operatic singer, pianist and oboist. His professional operatic and recital career has spanned nearly three decades and four continents...
, a music professor at Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
, and a native of Logan. Besides being director of the company, he has also sung lead roles in many productions over the years.
Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta (operetta)
Naughty Marietta is an operetta in two acts, with libretto by Rida Johnson Young and music by Victor Herbert. Set in New Orleans in 1780, it tells how Captain Richard Warrington is commissioned to unmask and capture a notorious French pirate calling himself "Bras Priqué" – and how he is helped and...
by Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
was the first work performed by the company in 1993, along with 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 La bohème
La 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...
and a double bill of Trial By Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
and The Impresario. Up through the 2000 season, there were three works in repertory. This increased to four in 2001. Usually those four works consist of two operas and two musicals. The 2006 season consisted of Marriage of Figaro, The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, La bohème
La 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...
, and Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
.
The offices and scene shop of the company are located adjacent to the Eccles Theatre in the Dansante building, a former dance hall. The Dansante also has a recital hall.
In 2007 the Opera purchased the 350 seat Utah Theatre, and is undertaking a major gut-renovation of that facility, hoping it will be completed by summer 2011, which will allow addition of 2 - 3 smaller works there.