Chautauqua Opera
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The Chautauqua Opera is the resident summer opera company of the Chautauqua Institution. It is the oldest continuously active summer opera company in the U.S, having been founded in 1929, and it has produced several operas during the Institution's nine-week summer season every year since. Opera productions are performed in English in Norton Memorial Hall, usually on specific Monday and Friday evenings throughout the season.
Currently, the Chautauqua Opera is under the general direction of Jay Lesenger. Its 2005 season included performances of Puccini's Madam Butterfly, Ward's The Crucible, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and Willson's The Music Man.
In addition, the Chautauqua Opera runs the Young Artists Program, training highly talented young singers who plan to pursue careers in operatic music. Members of the Young Artists program present recitals on Thursday afternoons called "Artsongs at the Athenaeum Hotel", as well as two pops concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and two musical theatre revues during the summer season.
