Opera Grand Rapids Today
Michigan is home to two opera companies, Opera Grand Rapids and the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit. Now in its 41st season, Opera Grand Rapids the State's longest running professional company. Currently there are 138 opera companies in the United States and Canada.

Each season Opera Grand Rapids produces three main stage productions using a regional chorus, the Grand Rapids Symphony and national talent. Opera goers in 48 counties across the state attend Opera Grand Rapids' events, with an average attendance of 17,000 people per season.

The Early Years
In the years following the Second World War, West Michigan was home to several community and civic theater companies that occasionally produced musical comedies and operettas. During this period, the only grand opera in the region was presented by touring companies that passed through infrequently. By the middle 1950s things had begun to change.

Opera in West Michigan started at the St. Cecelia Music Society. During the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, the Society staged a number of small-scale opera productions. Some of these early productions, which were sung to the accompaniment of a solo piano, went on tour to Battle Creek and other area communities. Although they were modestly produced, the operas at St. Cecelia became home to a dedicated group of participants, who wanted to bring grand opera to the region.  

By the middle of the 1960s, the group was ready to formalize its efforts. Although the first performance didn't take place until 1967, the company that would eventually become Opera Grand Rapids was actually formed in May of 1966.  

At that time, a group called the Opera Association Committee, with Joan White (now Joan Gillett) as temporary chairperson, began to lay the groundwork.   Discussions were held with Grand Rapids Civic Theater and the Grand Rapids Symphony, both of which offered their strong support, and with Calvin College, which offered the use of its Fine Arts Center on the Knollcrest Campus.

By July of 1966, the Opera Association of Western Michigan was officially incorporated.   Founding officers included John F. Gilmore as president, Joan White as executive vice president, Marnie Houseman as secretary, and R. Edwin Owen as treasurer.    Carl Karapetian, musical director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, and Paul Dreher, director of Civic Theater, agreed to serve as artistic directors.   They would also serve as conductor and stage director, respectively, for the Association's productions.

In February of 1967, the Opera Association kicked off its first fundraising drive and announced plans for its first production, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro , to be given five performances the following June. On April 20, The Grand Rapids Press reported that the Association had announced ticket prices for the production.   The best orchestra seats would sell for $7.50 for opening night and $4.00 for other evening performances.

An evening musicale with a special introduction to The Marriage of Figaro was planned for April 21. However, the event was sparsely attended when tornadoes struck the region. One unnamed board member, who spent the evening in his tuxedo under his kitchen table waiting for the all clear, described the evening as the "dressiest tornado anyone has ever seen".

Undaunted, the Association moved ahead with plans for The Marriage of Figaro. Musical rehearsals were held in Maestro Karapetian's home. A cast of talented local artists was assembled. A volunteer stage crew, with considerable help from the staff at Civic Theater, began to assemble the settings, properties and costumes.

As opening night approached, the local press was very supportive. The Grand Rapids Press and The Grand Rapids Times both ran large spreads of photos taken in rehearsal. On May 30, 1967, two days before the opening performance, The Press ran an editorial that proudly announced "Opera Comes to Grand Rapids ." The editorial went on the praise the efforts of the Association and to encourage area music lovers to buy up the 5,000 seats available for the five scheduled performances.

On June 2 , 1967, the long-awaited day finally arrived. The Marriage of Figaro opened at the Calvin College Fine Arts Center Auditorium.   The cast, including Richard Sjoerdsma, Julianne Kelly, Edward J. Huls, Catherine Barrow, Thixton Sprenger, Lois Poppen, Judith Coulter and James Drummond, acquitted itself admirably.   The five performances were played to enthusiastic audiences and rave reviews.

Under the headline "Local Opera Unqualified Success", Gerald A. Elliot's review in The Grand Rapids Press described the production, musically, as being of   "consistently high caliber".   Mr. Elliot went on to praise Paul Dreher's staging, which abridged the lengthy recitatives by substituting a clever narration provided by Paul Drummond in the character of Don Basilio.   He concluded his review by offering the opinion that, "In the Opera Association of Western Michigan this part of the state has something of outstanding musical merit to preserve and nurture."

A review in The Almanac echoed these sentiments, saying, "Some of West Michigan's best singers were cast in the roles and they sang and acted very well indeed", and that "Special praise should be given to the orchestra that Karapetian put together."   The Almanac opined that, "The Opera Association of Western Michigan should be congratulated for this first outstanding achievement."

Flush from their inaugural success, the members of the company celebrated in fine style.   In a column called "Judy Jots it Down", The Grand Rapids Press reported that, following the final performance, cast and crew adjourned to the Fisk Lake home of Dorothy and John Champion for a party dubbed "Figaro à Go-Go". (Don't forget, this was 1967.) The partiers assembled on the Champion's dock for a celebration that included awards to company members and skits parodying the production.  The Press soberly reported that the "Exit for each performer was off the dock, right into the water."

The Marriage of Figaro marked an auspicious beginning to grand opera in West Michigan. In all, about 3,500 people bought tickets to hear that initial production. Although the revenue generated from the sale of those tickets was barely enough to pay the bills, it was enough to encourage the intrepid pioneers of the Opera Association to persevere in their endeavors. They and their successors would continue to produce grand opera in West Michigan for the next thirty-seven years. Thanks to those trailblazers and to those that followed them, the Opera Association of Western Michigan would eventually blossom into Opera Grand Rapids, a proud regional company with a strong national reputation.