1999-presentThe Opera Goes Global 1999 – Stephanie Blythe debuts / 2001- partnership with Finland’s Savonlinna Opera Festival for Wagner’s Tannhäuser / 2003 - first opera in Czech (The Cunning Little Vixen) / 2004 – Rizley Education Endowment Fund created / 2005 – first opera in Russian (Eugene Onegin) / 2006 – Spanish surtitles introduced (Carmen) and co-producing company of The Little Prince / 2008 – Sarah Coburn debuts |
 Little Prince Graham Phillips and Pilot David Adam Moore in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince
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1989-1998Approaching the Golden Years 1990 – Artistic Director Nicholas Muni’s contemporary staging of La Traviata creates a national stir / 1991 – Laven Sowell awarded the Governor’s Arts Award / 1994 – General Manager Myrna Ruffner secures a National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Grant for Tulsa Opera’s Endowment Fund / 1997 – Carol I. Crawford named General Director |
 Tulsa Youth Opera is created in 1997 with a production of Hans Krása’s Brundibar.
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1979-1988Coming of Age 1979 – Third annual production added / 1980 – Simon Estes debuts / 1984 – surtitles (English translations) introduced / 1987 – The Wall Street Journal praises Tulsa Opera’s 1987 Don Carlo for “a cast that even La Scala would be envious of” |
 Luciano Pavarotti is greeted by Ed Purrington for the superstar tenor’s 1981 Endowment Fund benefit recital.
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1969-1978Opera on the Move 1975 – Edward C. Purrington named General Director and new Opera headquarters constructed / 1976 – Conductor Judith Somogi debuts / 1977 – Aida performed in the new PAC / 1978 – President’s Council founded |
 Beverly Sills in the 1978 I Puritani, her last performance in Tulsa before retiring entirely from the opera stage.
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1959-1968Early National Prominence 1959 – Il Trovatore features opera superstars Jussi Bjoerling, Leonard Warren, and Elinor Ross / 1960 – Anna Moffo debuts and 4,000 prism chandelier is covered in Life magazine / 1961 – First Opera Ball |
 Music Director Carlo Moresco, General Manager Jeanette Turner, Virginia Torres (founder of the Children’s Opera Workshops), and Chorus Master Laven Sowell celebrate an opening night performance.
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1948-1958The Beginnings Professional opera singers Ralph and Ione Sassano incorporate the Tulsa Opera Club in December, 1948 and produce Verdi’s La Traviata in downtown’s Central High School / The Guild of Tulsa Opera is formed in 1955 |
 The original Tulsa Opera Headquarters building at 1610 South Boulder was purchased by Lady Maud Lorton Myers.
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Pictorial History by Decade
2013/14 Season
The Marriage of Figaro
October 18 / 20, 2013
Elmer Gantry
February 28 / March 2, 2014
Carmen
May 2 / 4, 2014
Tulsa Opera, 1610 South Boulder, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74119-4479 ©2010-2012 Tulsa Opera. All Rights Reserved. Tulsa Opera is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization presenting productions made possible, in part, by funding from our patrons, the Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.