What People Say

“What an incredible show of talented artists! Tulsa Opera, you never disappoint! Thank you for an unforgettable evening!” – Mona W.

“We were so fortunate today to have members of the Tulsa Opera at our school as part of the Opera on Tour program. My students were captivated from start to finish by the performance.” – Kristin T.

“Amazing cast and talent. The scenes and costumes were first rate. I was so impressed! I will definitely return.” – Amy M.

“Tulsa Opera is lucky to have one of the great modern composers of our time as artistic director! We are traveling from Hollis, NH to celebrate his new post and wonderful production.” – DongSup R.

“We had a fantastic time and my kids enjoyed the new experience immensely!” – Elizabeth T.

“I love Tulsa Opera. The staging, costumes, directing, and singing is superior.” – Judy B.

In the News

Oklahoma Magazine – July 2021

Operatic Ambitions
“Tulsa Opera has been around for almost 75 years, and we’re proud to offer not only professional operas for the public, but education programs that reach over 25,000 students across the state each year. Most of the kids we reach won’t be opera singers, but that’s not our ultimate goal; if we’ve created well-rounded arts lovers, we’ve succeeded.”
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Tulsa World – June 2021

Tulsa Opera announces 2021-22 season
Tulsa Opera plans to take audiences out to the ballpark once again, as well as staging new productions of operas centered around dynamic female characters — Richard Strauss’ “Salome” and artistic director Tobias Picker’s “Emmeline” — for its 74th annual season.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 2021

‘The Road We Came’ and ‘Greenwood Overcomes’ Reviews: Commemorating Black History and Artistry
My favorites were the two performances by the superb young bass-baritone Davóne Tines… Also memorable was Issachah Savage, who channeled his lavish, buoyant tenor into directness and simplicity for H. Leslie Adams’s “Prayer.”
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Air Mail – May 2021

Opera Pick of the Week: “Greenwood Overcomes”
A starry roster of Black opera singers presents a free-wheeling playlist in kaleidoscopic styles, including eight world premieres, all expertly accompanied by Howard Watkins, a chameleon of the piano.
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Opera News – May 2021

“Greenwood Overcomes”
The [concert] had a cumulative power worthy of the solemn occasion. When all eight singers took the stage for the finale, J. Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” one particular lyric had a special resonance: “Sing a song full of the faith that our dark past has taught us.”
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Tulsa World – May 2021

Review: ‘Greenwood Overcomes’ features songs dealing directly with faith, love and hope
The first concert in the city’s history to be devoted entirely to the art music by living Black composers… an evening of songs that dealt directly with two of the most fundamental things in human life — faith and love — and how those two elements come together to produce one of the most precious things on can possess: hope.
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Tulsa World – April 2021

Tulsa Opera adds performance for ‘Greenwood Overcomes’ concert
In addition to the in-person performances, the Saturday concert will be live-streamed free of charge on Tulsa Opera’s website, tulsaopera.com, and will be available to be viewed through May 31 — the date in 1921 when the Tulsa Race Massacre began.
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Tulsa World – January 2021

Arts Scene: Opera legend Leona Mitchell to be featured on ‘Tulsa Opera Live!’
Opera star and Oklahoma native Leona Mitchell will be the guest for the next “Tulsa Opera Live!,” the company’s series of conversations between composer and Artistic Director Tobias Picker and leading figures in the opera world.
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Tulsa World – October 2020

Review: Tulsa Opera hits a home run with ‘Rigoletto’ at ONEOK Field
Tulsa Opera’s “Rigoletto” accomplished [the spectacle of opera] with aplomb and artistry and richly deserved the audience’s standing ovation.
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FOX23 News – October 2020

Tulsa Opera partners with TPS to engage music students while learning virtually
Aaron Beck, the Artistic Administrator and Director of Education for Tulsa Opera says the goal is to create opportunities for students to stay engaged in performing arts, especially during this time of virtual learning.
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Tulsa World – April 2020

Arts Scene: Tulsa Opera ‘Staying Alive’ with video series
Tulsa Opera has launched a series of on-line videos titled “Staying Alive,” featuring Tulsa Opera artists sharing short performances from wherever they may be in self-quarantine.
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Tulsa World – March 2020

Outlook 2020: Arts
Tulsa Opera’s season has been all about fascinating women, from the fiery “Carmen” to the innocent “Madama Butterfly.” The next woman to be featured is “Emmeline,” an opera composed by Tulsa Opera’s Artistic Director Tobias Picker.
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Tulsa World – February 2020

Review of “Madama Butterfly” by Tulsa Opera
This is only the second time Natale has performed the role of Cio-Cio San, the teenaged girl who unwittingly gives her life over to a callous American sailor in Giacomo Puccini’s opera. Yet Natale inhabits this character fully, with a vocal performance of such expressiveness, character and control that the distinction between performer and part practically disappear.
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Tulsa World – February 2020

Tulsa Opera to present ‘Madama Butterfly’ for the 10th time in company’s history
Puccini’s opera is one of the most performed works in the standard opera repertoire. Tulsa Opera’s upcoming production, which opens Friday, Feb. 28, at the Tulsa PAC, will be the 10th time the opera has been performed in the company’s 72-year history.
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Tulsa World – December 2019

12 best moments in Tulsa’s arts scene for 2019
In the title role, Lucia Lucas is nothing short of a revelation. She possesses a voice that can rattle the rafters with its power, without ever sacrificing subtlety of expression. It is a voice filled with character in every sense of the word, as flexible in expression as Lucas is in taking on the myriad personae Don Giovanni adopts as he goes about his lecherous business.
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Tulsa World – May 2019

Review: Tulsa Opera’s ‘Don Giovanni’ delivers a unique take on a classic
It’s a bold way to end this well-known story, and I’m sure there will be some who won’t accept it. But they also likely won’t stop talking about it, which is exactly the effect a work of art should produce.
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Tulsa World – February 2019

Review of Tulsa Opera’s “The Little Prince”
Sunday’s performance was highlighted by some exceptional performances, beginning with the Tulsa Opera Youth, led by Aaron Beck, who served as the show’s chorus and were impressive from first note to last.
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Tulsa World – February 2019

Strong women, Oklahoma premiere make up Tulsa Opera 2019-2020 season
In a statement, Picker said the upcoming season builds “on our current season’s theme of inclusion by turning the spotlight to extraordinary female characters and the artists that will portray them.”
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Tulsa World – February 2019

One busy ‘Little Prince’: Star of Tulsa Opera production has already played Carnegie Hall
That DiMaio’s schedule precludes him from finding the time to peruse the less-than-100 pages of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” says a lot about how much this young performer is in demand.
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Tulsa World – February 2019

Owasso graduate-turned-famed singer to star in Tulsa Opera’s ‘The Little Prince’
The Kansas City resident has graced a number of prominent stages across the country and is returning to her hometown this weekend to perform in “The Little Prince” at the Tulsa Opera.
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Tulsa World – February 2019

Tulsa native comes full circle in ‘Prince’-ly role
“That production was really how I fell in love with opera in the first place,” Price said. “Now, to be back in my hometown and being in this production, I have to admit, it feels a little weird. But in a good way.”
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Tulsa World – October 2018

Review: Singing is a cut above in Tulsa Opera’s ‘The Barber of Seville’
The vocal fireworks begin early, with LaBrie’s performance of “Largo al factotum,” full of agile phrasing and an appealing swagger, and continued with Coburn’s “Una voce poco fa,” in which she served up a plethora of coloratura explosions of tonal colors and ornamentation.
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Tulsa World – July 2018

Tulsa Opera names new interim executive director
Ken McConnell, currently the company’s chief administrative officer, has been named interim executive director and CEO. Greg Weber will continue to play a role with the company while pursuing other opportunities.
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Broadway World – July 2018

Tulsa Opera Names New Chief Executive Officer
“We feel it is a win-win for Tulsa Opera and our community,” says Board of Directors President Kate Davis.
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Tulsa World – April 2018

Superb singing highlights Tulsa Opera’s production of ‘Turandot’
All the beauty is on display in Tulsa Opera’s season-ending production.
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Tulsa World – April 2018

Soprano finds the fire within the ice queen ‘Turandot’ in her Tulsa Opera debut
Alexandra Loutsion makes her Tulsa Opera debut in a role she says got a ‘bad rap.’
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Tulsa World – March 2018

Tulsa Opera makes history with transgender woman in principal role
The company will present Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” with transgender baritone Lucia Lucas in the title role.
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Broadway World – February 2018

Tulsa Opera Announces 71st Season, Era of Inclusion Sets Stage
After a two-season hiatus, the 2018-19 season returns to three fully staged opera productions.
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Tulsa World – February 2018

Review: ‘The Stars Align’ for Tulsa Opera’s 70th anniversary
A wide-ranging program with a diverse cast of performers, professional and amateur alike.
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Tulsa World Business – October 2017

REVIEW: THE TULSA’S OPERA ‘FAUST’ REACHES HEAVENLY HEIGHTS
You have to give the devil — and the angel — their due.
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Tulsa World Business – August 2017

5 QUESTIONS WITH GREG WEBER OF TULSA OPERA
It’s an encore for the general director and CEO.
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Tulsa World Arts Scene – May 2017

TULSA YOUTH OPERA PREMIERS “THE SNOW QUEEN.” Hans Christian Andersen published his fairy tale “The Snow Queen” in 1844, and since then, this tale has spawned dozens of plays, ballets, books and films — the most famous being the Disney smash hit, “Frozen.”
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Tulsa World Reviews Tosca – May 2017

TULSA OPERA’S ‘TOSCA’ DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. It’s called “the eternal triangle” for a reason. Stories of amorous obsession involving three people and how the pursuit of these passions inevitably go horribly wrong.
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Tulsa World Reviews Puccini to Pop – February 2017

TULSA OPERA’S “PUCCINI TO POP” CAME TO ITS CONCLUSION, singer Alyson Cambridge referred to what had just transpired in the Tulsa PAC’s Chapman Music Hall as the “start of a new era” for the organization.
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Opera News Reviews The Pearl Fishers – January 2017

EVEN IF GEORGES BIZET hadn’t written Carmen, he would be remembered as the composer of what may be the most popular duet ever written for tenor and baritone, created for his first major commission.
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Tulsa Opera Presents “The Pearl Fishers”

October 16, 2016 – As far as Tobias Picker is concerned, he may well have composed “The Pearl Fishers.” He didn’t — “The Pearl Fishers” was written by Georges Bizet in 1863, some 90 years before Picker entered.
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Soprano makes debut in Tulsa Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers”

October 16, 2016 – Sarah Shafer wasn’t sure for the longest time if opera was for her.
“I grew up in a musical family — my father is a pianist and my mother is choir teacher — and I always loved to sing, but I was…
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Creating A Word for “The Pearl Fishers”

October 16, 2016 – Denni Sayers has a simple plan as the director of Tulsa Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers.” “I really want to give the audience the sense that they are being taken very far away, to a beautiful, exotic place,”…
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