Our Beginning »
Amarillo Opera was founded in April 1988 and was incorporated in 1989. BRAVO, the Amarillo Opera membership support group, was established one year later with 75 charter members.
Our Mission »
The mission of Amarillo Opera is to celebrate the voice by providing high caliber operatic performances to the Texas Panhandle, nurture local talent through community outreach and build passion for opera.
Relationship with Amarillo College »
Since the beginning, a strong working relationship with Amarillo College has enabled the company to grow artistically, financially, and administratively. Today, Amarillo College continues to provide administrative facilities, rehearsal and performing spaces, and a line item budget to assist with production expenses.
Our Growth »
In 1995, Amarillo Opera was accepted as a professional member of OPERA America, the national service organization for opera. That same year, main stage performances moved from the 240 seat Amarillo College Concert Hall Theater to the 2300 seat Civic Center Auditorium. Since spring 2006, the Opera has been a resident company of the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts.
Awards »
Amarillo Opera has received the prestigious Success Award from OPERA America for its internationally acclaimed Education/Community Engagement Programs. The State of Texas Senate and House, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Texas Parent Teacher Associations, the Texas Regulatory and Protective System, the NAACP, the Amarillo Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce are among the local, statewide and national organizations that have recognized the company for its work. OPERA America selected Amarillo Opera to be one of the first companies to receive its highly competitive Opera Fund grant in 2004.
Populace Served »
Amarillo Opera serves up to 500,000 people annually through its comprehensive outreach programs and educational services. The company has a history of adventurous programming – more than ten original works by former Composer-in-Residence Gene Murray have been seen throughout the Texas Panhandle, West Texas, Eastern New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Murray’s The Wage of Sin was co-produced with KACV-TV as a special television opera in 2005 and his Legend of Columbus was performed in the Palo Duro Canyon Amphitheater.
The Present »
The company is committed to developing the next generation of American operatic artists, making sure that the Texas Panhandle plays an important role in the future of opera in America – an in developing a style of production committed to the development of regional artistry, representative of regional sensibilities and of the highest international standards that can be produced on a regional budget.
In December 2010, Amarillo Opera’s production of Rigoletto was voted one of the top three fine arts performances of the year by readers of the Amarillo Globe-News. The following January, our redesigned 2010-2011 season brochure and our 2010-2011 season program won ADDY® awards for creative excellence in print – the only Amarillo arts organization to win the Arts, Brochure category.
The company routinely participates in The Santa Fe Opera apprentice artist auditions, where selected company General Directors have an opportunity to hear some of the country’s most promising singers. Young singers annually audition for the company in Amarillo, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Agents regularly submit singers from around the world to sing in Amarillo Opera productions. In December 2011 the company began a series of telecasts with its critically acclaimed production of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème on Panhandle PBS. That broadcast as well as subsequent productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Madame Butterfly, The Marriage of Figaro and La Traviata now reside in the permanent online archive at pbs.org where they can be streamed on demand to audiences around the world free of charge.
