Anchorage Opera

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Anchorage Opera (AO) is a professional opera company located in Anchorage, Alaska and is a member of OPERA America^[1]

[edit] History

Anchorage Opera was one of the first major performing arts institutions established by Americans in the Circumpolar North. The company has it roots in the vision of opera singer Marita Farrell and philanthropist Evangeline Atwood. Farrell and Atwood worked together to produce grand opera in Anchorage. They secured financing, assembled performers and coordinated with the Anchorage Symphony for an orchestra. After Farrell left Alaska, other opera enthusiasts and performers helped to keep the venture alive. The company was officially incorporated as Anchorage Civic Opera in 1962.

In the early 1960s, the company put on a series of cameo presentations including Rigoletto and Faust, which were all performed on the stage of the old Sydney Lawrence auditorium (the current site of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts). Later within this time frame, the company, under the auspices of the Community College (now the University of Alaska, Anchorage), recruited Willard Straight to direct and help lead operations. Under Straight’s guidance, several full-length operas (including Cosi Fan Tutti, The Elixir of Love, and Carmen) were presented in Anchorage.

During the mid 1960s, the directors of AO recruited Elvira Voth (then director of the Anchorage Community Chorus) to take the helm. Voth inherited a company with a large coterie of singers, dancers, musicians and production personnel along with a very energetic Board of Directors.

Voth was a tireless advocate not only for AO, but for all the performing arts organizations in Anchorage. During Voth’s time with the company, several prominent Alaskans such as Jan Ingram (the company’s first full-time professional manager) and Gloria Allen (acclaimed opera singer, producer and administrator who moved to Anchorage from New York City in the mid 70s) helped make the company successful.

In 1979, the company, still under Voth’s leadership, recruited Michael More, a 3rd generation Alaskan and trained operatic tenor with a burgeoning national career, to help guide the company through its next phase of growth. By 1985, AO had become recognized as one of the nation’s leading regional opera companies and was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the six most promising Opera Companies in the United States.

Since 1985, AO has had a succession of committed leaders including Jim Wright (now serving as General Director of Vancouver Opera, BC.), Don Hoak, Bill Russell, Peter Brown and Ed Bourgeois. During the Summer of 2007, after a nationwide search, AO’s Board of Directors elected Torrie Allen as the new General Manager.