Tulsa Opera

Tulsa Opera, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the 18th-oldest opera company in the United States and was ranked by Opera News magazine among the 10 favorite regional opera companies in the nation. The company produces three operas each season performed at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

The 2015-2016 season features Puccini's La bohème, Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, and Saint-Saëns's Samson & Delilah.

In 1948, five Tulsans, Bess Gowans, Ralph and Ione Sassano, Mary Helen Markham and Beverly Bliss, formed the Tulsa Opera Club. On December 4 of that year, the organization performed Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata, with local singers.

By 1953, after already changing its name to Tulsa Opera, Inc., it became evident that the format of presenting light operas and operettas twice yearly with one or two paid professional singers was no longer sufficient for an increasingly sophisticated Tulsa audience. With the presentation of Madama Butterfly in November 1955, featuring imported professional singers for all principal roles, Tulsa Opera successfully completed the transition to grand opera and made a giant step toward national prominence. In 1977, the Tulsa Performing Arts Center was built. Since that time, nearly all operas have been presented in the Center's Chapman Music Hall. Former directors of Tulsa Opera include Carlo Moresco, Edward Purrington, Bernard Uzan, Nicholas Muni and Carol I. Crawford. From 2008 until 2016 the company’s Artistic Director was Kostis Protopapas, who had previously served as Associate Conductor and Chorus Master under Carol I. Crawford. Currently (July 2016) the company's General Director and CEO is Greg Weber and its Artistic Director is Tobias Picker.

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