Muddy River Opera Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Located in Quincy, Illinois, the Muddy River Opera Company was founded by Mary Anne Scott and Mary Jane McCloskey in 1989 as a non-profit arts organization. The company was incorporated in 1990. Scott and McCloskey had two goals in mind: to make professional operatic performances and educational opportunities available to the tri-state area. In keeping with the mission of its founders, the company consistently produces two to four operas a year. As an outreach to wider audiences, most MROC productions of foreign-language operas are performed in English translation, though the company has mounted productions of Puccini's La bohème, Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Italian, utilizing English supertitles when doing so.
The company hires professional singers, directors, designers and musicians for every production. Auditions for roles in all productions take place in Quincy, St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois prior to the beginning of every new season. The company also utilizes the Quincy community's impressive reserve of professional and amateur singers, musicians and artists.
Contents |
[edit] Major Repertoire
MROC has produced both traditional and twentieth-century operas and operettas including: Die Zauberflöte, La bohème, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Pirates of Penzance, The Merry Widow, Jonah, The Medium, La traviata, Die Fledermaus, Così fan tutte, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, HMS Pinafore, A Little Night Music and Carmen. In late May of 2008, the company will present Donizetti's comedy L'Elisir d'Amore.
[edit] Collaborations
The company collaborated with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra in producing Hänsel und Gretel, Evita and Jekyll & Hyde. The Tenderland was also produced during the 1995 Copland Festival.
[edit] Premieres
In November 2002, MROC staged the Midwestern premiere of David Conte's Gift of the Magi, an opera based on the O. Henry short story with a libretto by Nicholas Giardini.
[edit] Children's Educational Outreach
Part of the company's mission is to educate local grade school students in Quincy, Adams County and Hannibal, Missouri about opera, singing and performance. Some past children's operas, performed in Quincy University's MacHugh Theatre, include The Mini Magic Flute, Alice in Opera Land, Noye's Fludde, The Toy Shop as well as several works by Seymour Barab: Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood.
[edit] POLIS Participation
Quincy University offers a POLIS (Pursuit of Learning in Society) course for local Seniors, which meets in December each year. Meeting for two hours a day for two weeks, the course concerns opera and specifically the production presented in January of the following year. As part of the course, local university music professors have presented talks on the opera.
