With Placido Domingo as Artistic Director and a new opera house on the horizon, The Washington Opera moves boldly forward on the great adventure that began over 40 years ago. In 1956, the sound of opera rang out in Washington, heralding the birth of a new opera company. Four decades and countless artistic leaps later, The Washington Opera is continually making musical history.

The artistic direction of Placido Domingo provides part of the excitement. The company is also developing its own world-class opera house in the former Woodward & Lothrop building in downtown Washington, D.C., scheduled to open in 2001. That’s not bad for a company that started in a university auditorium with two productions a year, but only fitting for one that, over its four-decade history, has achieved the stature of the world’s great companies and plays to standing-room audiences.

The Washington Opera earned its position of leadership in the musical world without the crucial government support typical in most world capitals, in a city without the strong business base that helps fund many U.S. companies. It has done so by reason of the excellence of its performances, the number and quality of its new productions, its discovery and nurturing of important young talent, its use of English Surtitles and, not least, the international collaboration system it has pioneered with leading foreign companies.

From 1980 to 1995, under former General Director Martin Feinstein, the company grew from 16 performances of four operas to 67 performances of seven operas, while the budget increased from $2 million to $12.6 million. In 1980, the Opera did not own a single opera set; by 1996 the company had originated and built 50 new productions, becoming one of the most prolific producing companies in the United States.

The beginnings of the company were unusual, for it was founded by a music critic, Day Thorpe of the now defunct Washington Star, along with a few other visionary souls who decided that the capital should have its own operatic enterprise. He called it the Opera Society of Washington (later renamed The Washington Opera), enlisted members of the National Symphony Orchestra and engaged Paul Callaway, organist and choirmaster of the Washington Cathedral, as music director.

Setting the mood for its subsequent history, the Opera Society began its existence not with a tried-and-true staple, but with two performances on January 31 and February 1, 1957, of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. Performances were held in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, whose shallow stage and next to non-existent orchestra pit were ill suited to staged opera. Conductor Callaway had to hold rehearsals in New York, for that is where his singers were; props had to be assembled from various sources including the Turkish Embassy. Nevertheless, the production was a huge success.

Another offbeat offering was immediately scheduled: a double-bill of Gian Carlo Menotti;s The Old Maid and the Thief and The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore, thus beginning a longtime association with the composer that includes the 1986 world premiere of Goya, starring Placido Domingo and televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances. Igor Stravinsky, too, came to Washington and conducted a pair of his operas, Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex, which were recorded by Columbia. Composers like Paul Hindemith, Samuel Barber, Lee Hoiby and Alberto Ginastera were also here in those early years directing, conducting or supervising productions of their operatic works.

Since there was no “company” in the literal sense, each production had to be conceived individually, and financial support scraped up opera by opera. Even so, the company achieved remarkable results and, in 1967, commissioned the world premiere of Alberto Ginastera’s Bomarzo. Frequently, though, success came at a price. In 1971, for instance, Frederick Delius’ Koanga, an American premiere, was the only opera that the company was able to mount.

With the enthusiastic support of Roger Stevens, Chairman of the Board of the then new Kennedy Center, Artistic Director Ian Strasfogel led the company into the Opera House with the world premiere of Ginastera’s Beatrix Cenci. The ensemble has since held its performances at the Kennedy Center.

Giving performances in the 2,200 seat Opera House and the more intimate 1,100 seat Eisenhower Theater allows the company to perform in settings that reflect each opera’s proper acoustical ambiance. The introduction of English Surtitles in 1984 proved an instant hit and Surtitles are now used for all productions.

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To purchase tickets by phone, please call 202-295-2400 or 800-876-7372.

Visit their Web site at: http://www.dc-opera.org