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| Our History | ||||||||||||
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Opera North is a not-for-profit that began life in 1981-82 as an offshoot of the Parish Players, the community theater in Thetford, Vermont. The late David Strohmier directed such standards as The Mikado and HMS Pinafore with the able musical assistance of the young director of the Dartmouth Glee Club, Louis Burkot. After Strohmier moved elsewhere, Burkot was appointed Artistic Director in 1987, and the company continued to expand in size and ambition over the next two decades. Today, Opera North is recognized as the Northeast's premier summer opera festival, with a proud track record of presenting high-quality productions in the intimacy of the 710-seat Lebanon Opera House, and of serving as a career launching pad for Young Artists. Over its 26-year history, Opera North has presented a wide variety of repertoire, including Ariadne auf Naxos, Susannah, The Medium, The Tender Land, Albert Herring, A Midsummer's Night's Dream, Carmen, The Magic Flute, Tosca, La traviata, Madame Butterfly, The Barber of Seville, The Tales of Hoffmann, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, Falstaff, Turandot, The Marriage of Figaro and Romeo & Juliet. Graduates from the Opera North Young Artists Program have gone on to perform at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, and throughout America. Each year, 20-25 singers and 5-10 coaches, conductors and assistant directors are selected from a highly competitive national application pool. Opera North stays active during the off-season as well. The winter series, Sherry & Sopranos, presents informal talks on opera topics at private homes. As spring comes to northern New England, a team of Young Artists visits schools and public venues throughout Vermont and New Hampshire introducing children, teens and adults to the wonders of opera.
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