Cleveland Opera
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Cleveland Opera was Cleveland, Ohio's leading professional opera company from 1976 to 2006 but, following a 2006 merger with Lyric Opera Cleveland, a new institution was formed and it is now known as Opera Cleveland. The company is scheduled to give its first staged productions from April 2007.
The original company was founded by David Bamberger, Carola Bamberger and John D. Heavenrich in 1976 and presented its first season that year with sold-out productions of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Rossini's The Barber of Seville. By 1984 it had become the resident opera company at Playhouse Square Center, with performances at the State Theatre. The company played an integral part in the revitalization of Cleveland's historic theatre district and was a leader in the movement to make theatres accessible to the physically challenged.
The company was managed from March 1976 to April 2004 by David Bamberger as General Director and Carola Bamberger as Associate Director. In that period, the company presented 122 full productions of 74 works by 43 different composers spanning the history of musical theatre from Monteverdi to the present. Its casts included some of opera's greatest artists. Among them were Roberta Peters, Jerome Hines, Sherrill Milnes, and (in concert) Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras.
In addition to operas and operettas, Cleveland Opera presented several musical theatre favorites, such as West Side Story, Man of La Mancha and My Fair Lady. It received international attention by commissioning and presenting a world premiere opera by a noted Rock musician: Stewart Copeland of "The Police". The opera was "Holy Blood and Crescent Moon". The company was also noted for “Cleveland Opera on Tour”, an extensive education and outreach program. It was a member of OPERA America, a national organization which oversees and helps the development of opera across the North American continent.
Following the Bambergers' tenure, the Board of Trustees and the new management selected by the Board instituted policies which, within 18 months, had placed the company in severe financial straits. In 2006, it merged with a small summer company, Lyric Opera Cleveland, to form the new institution, "Opera Cleveland".
