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  Connecticut Opera Association 226 Farmington Avenue Hartford, CT 06105 860-527-0713/ 860-293-1715 fax info@ctopera.org Founded in 1942 under the directorship of Frank Pandolfi, The Connecticut Opera is the sixth oldest professional opera company in the United States. Under the dedicated leadership of Mr. Pandolfi, who served as General Manager for 32 years, The Connecticut Opera brought most of the major international opera stars of that time to Hartford. The years following the Pandolfi era were dedicated to the task of restructuring towards a total theatrical company, with improved sets, lighting, costumes and stage and musical direction emphasizing young and talented artists on the rise, and away from the star system. In the mid-seventies, the opera's award-winning educational and touring company, Opera Express, was founded. To date, Opera Express has brought operatic programs to more than 3 million youths, senior and disadvantaged citizens in this region. During the early 1980's, The Connecticut Opera received national and international recognition through pioneer arena productions of Aïda and Turandot. In the spring of 1999, the Board of Trustees embarked on an aggressive path of growth and re-invention for the company. This change in direction was marked by a change in management structure – from that of a single General Director to a management team headed by General and Artistic Director Willie Anthony Waters, and Managing Director Maria Levy, a position now held by Linda Jackson, dividing the artistic and administrative activities of the company. The artistic goals of the company are to become one of the leading regional opera companies in the country, presenting a balanced mix of well-known and emerging artists, stage directors and conductors. At the same time, The Connecticut Opera will continue to enrich the lives of the residents of Central New England, with the goal of expanding its outreach programs to serve a wider geographic and ethnically diverse constituency. The first step in achieving this goal was creating a new program related to our main stage productions, called "The Magic of Opera." Each year, approximately 1000 young children attend a behind-the-scenes look at an opera production at The Bushnell, hosted by General and Artistic Director Willie Anthony Waters and other members of the staff. In July of 2000, the company presented the first operatic concert in Bushnell Park, with orchestra, chorus and six talented soloists. Approximately 5,000 individuals attended the free event. July of 2001 saw the beginning of a collaboration with Girls, Inc. of Hartford in a program funded by The Hartford and the Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust. Now in its third year, the program, called "Take Center Stage," introduced 40 girls from Asylum Hill and other Hartford neighborhoods to opera. It is the goal of Connecticut Opera to continue to elevate its artistic product, at the same time as reaching out to more and more diverse audiences through imaginative programming and outreach efforts. |
