The Opera Company of Middlebury (OCM) is set to offer a rich tapestry of operatic events, from showcasing youth talent to presenting timeless classics. This year’s lineup includes a blend of Mozart’s divine compositions, Puccini’s iconic operas, and original works that celebrate local culture. With performances ranging from intimate readings to grand stage productions, this season promises to captivate audiences with diverse narratives and exceptional talent from both budding artists and seasoned professionals.

Opera's Rising Stars and Timeless Tales: A Journey Through Music and Culture

OCM and VICA (the Vermont Italian Cultural Assoc.) are co-hosting this Zoom conversation on the life and works of Giacomo Puccini. Filippo Ciabatti (Music Director of the Opera Company of Middlebury and Artistic Director of Upper Valley Baroque) and Alejandro Roca (Lecturer in Music and Opera Coach at Yale University and Artistic Director of the Young Artist Program at the Opera Company of Middlebury) will focus on two of Puccini's most iconic operas, La Bohème and Gianni Schicchi, which will be presented by OCM in June.

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A Conversation on Puccini Through Two of His Most Iconic Operas

Online

Between them, Ambrose Cusick, Jane Jensen Waggoner, George Lane, and Wanda Sullivan represent EVERY Youth Opera production from its inception in 2019 through the spring season of 2024! Now pursuing music degrees in college, each of them has returned to join YOC's summer Project Serenade concert series in retirement homes and several have already appeared in OCM mainstage productions and worked as interns. Accompanied by YOC Music Director, pianist Mary Jane Austin, they will also be joined by members of the current Youth Opera production, Dear Diary, performing selections from this all-Mozart co-production with the Vermont Youth Orchestra.

Meet the Singers: Youth Opera’s Rising Stars

Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society

Two real-life couples present a concert of love songs in the brand new Doug & Debby Anderson Performance Studio, followed by a wine and chocolate reception in the lounge. With a silent jewelry auction from Jewels with a Purpose and sweet treats from local chocolatiers and bakeries, it’s a fabulous evening that supports music in Middlebury!

La Dolce Vita: Love Songs & Sweet Treats

Town Hall Theater

Once again, YOC Founder Sarah Cullins will work within a school to study, rehearse and perform Purcell’s iconic opera. After successful residencies at Burlington and Colchester high schools in the last two years, this winter’s project will be a combined production of Middlebury, Vergennes and Mount Abraham high schools, culminating in a performance on December 13 and 14.

The Dido & Aeneas Project: Addison County

Mount Abraham Union High School

Once again, YOC Founder Sarah Cullins will work within a school to study, rehearse and perform Purcell’s iconic opera. After successful residencies at Burlington and Colchester high schools in the last two years, this winter’s project will be a combined production of Middlebury, Vergennes and Mount Abraham high schools, culminating in a performance on December 13 and 14. 

Join the talented teen singers of the Opera Company of Middlebury’s Youth Opera program in their fall opera-scenes production: a spoof on a Gilbert & Sullivan podcast! Scenes from Iolanthe, Patience, and The Mikado have been woven into an inventive script by guest Stage Director Erik Kroncke. Music Director Mary Jane Austin leads from the piano. 

YOC Fall Workshop: Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas

Faith United Methodist Church

CVUUS

Waterbury Congregational Church

1:00pm – Pre-Show talk about Scalia/Ginsburg and "The Interlopers" with Maestro Filippo Ciabatti and Composer Jorge Martïn at Memorial Baptist Church

OCM Mainstage: SCALIA/GINSBURG with THE INTERLOPERS

6:30pm – Pre-Show talk about Scalia/Ginsburg and "The Interlopers" with Composer Jorge Martïn at Memorial Baptist Church


OCM Mainstage: SCALIA/GINSBURG with “THE INTERLOPERS”

6:30pm – Pre-Show talk about Scalia/Ginsburg and "The Interlopers" with Composer Jorge Martïn at Memorial Baptist Church

Learn more about the production including cast bios, synopsis, listening recommendations, and more here!

Project Serenade concerts feature Youth Opera singers from current and former productions and are a fundamental part of our community service. Concerts are offered for free at retirement residences, long-term care facilities and community centers throughout Vermont. This concert will be free to the public!

Youth Opera Company: Project Serenade at Island Arts

Save the date for this wonderful comic opera production with full orchestra! 

Filippo Ciabatti will be giving a pre-show talk at 1:00pm at Memorial Baptist Church across the street from the theater. 

Learn more about the production including cast bios, synopsis, listening recommendations, and more here!

OCM Mainstage: LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT (The Daughter of the Regiment) Matinee

La scala di seta, first performed at Teatro San Moisè, Venice on May 9, 1812, is based on L’Echelle de soie by Eugene Planard. 

The beautiful Giulia, in defiance of her guardian, Dormont, has secretly married Dorvil. Every night, she lowers a silken ladder for him to climb up to her room, sometimes resulting in sticky situations when he doesn’t find his way back down in time. Meanwhile, Giulia’s guardian is arranging for her to marry Blansac, one of her own husband’s friends, but she and Dorvil are determined to trick Blansac into falling in love with her cousin Lucilla instead. Giulia’s servant, Germano, is brought in on the plan, despite his own hopes of perhaps winning Giulia’s favor, which he shares with several others in the household. Dino, Dormont’s brother, also has eyes for Giulia. Soon they all get caught up in an inevitably delicious web of confusion, misunderstandings, and hidden interlopers as Giulia and Dorvil try to protect their secret marriage.

Young Artist Opera: Rossini’s LA SCALA DI SETA (The Silken Ladder)

Doug Anderson will be giving a pre-show talk at 6:30pm at Memorial Baptist Church across the street from the theater. 

Learn more about the production including cast bios, synopsis, listening recommendations, and more here!

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Tickets  $61 Rows B-D / $77 Rows E-M / $94 Balcony prices include Town Hall Theater Fees

OCM Mainstage: LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT (The Daughter of the Regiment)

Save the date for this wonderful comic opera production with full orchestra! 

Jim Pugh will be giving a pre-show talk at 1:00pm at Memorial Baptist Church across the street from the theater. 

Learn more about the production including cast bios, synopsis, listening recommendations, and more here!

Opening Night Prosecco Reception to follow the performance. All are welcome. (Non-alcoholic option available.)

Jim Pugh will be giving a pre-show talk at 6:30pm at Memorial Baptist Church across the street from the theater. 

Learn more about the production including cast bios, synopsis, listening recommendations, and more here!

OCM Mainstage: LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT (The Daughter of the Regiment) Opening Night

Get ready for an unforgettable evening of music and celebration as you meet (and hear!) the talented cast of our upcoming production of LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT. Join us at the for a captivating event where the principal singers, covers, and pianist will showcase their favorite arias or musical theater pieces. This intimate gathering promises to be a delightful treat for opera enthusiasts and music lovers alike. Hors d'oeuvres and cash bar.

Meet The Singers

Puccini’s bittersweet love story arrives in cinemas on April 20, with soprano Angel Blue starring as the French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess. Maestro Speranza Scappucci conducts Nicolas Joël’s glittering 1920s staging, which transports audiences from the heart of Parisian nightlife to a dreamy vision of the French Riviera.

Met Live in HD Presents: LA RONDINE

Come celebrate the beauty of the Italian traditions of opera and Venetian style glass blowing at the AO Social Club.  An enchanting evening that seamlessly blends the timeless craft of glass blowing with the soaring melodies of opera!

Tickets $75

Your ticket includes Italian appetizers and beverages provided by Dedalus Wine and Zero Gravity Craft Brewery. Co-sponsored by the Vermont Italian Cultural Association. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Youth Opera Company: Italian Night at AO Glass

AO Glass

Featuring opera scenes and songs from the Italian bel canto tradition, A Country Store Opera showcases the talents of 14 Vermont teen singers from 10 different schools. The original story, written by YOC founder Sarah Cullins, takes place in the local country store of the fictional town of Venice, Vermont. You will meet Addie, the young store owner, Nemo, the townie who is in love with her, Duke, the moonshine kombucha brewer, Bella, the shepherdess who sells fruits and flowers at the farmer’s market, Johnny and Janet, the siblings who work at the store, Alma, their widowed aunt, Mark and Joe, the high school seniors who just came back from a trip abroad to Italy, Tessa and Vicky, the high school girls who are fascinated by their tales of the “real” Venice, and finally, Kat and Tabby, two formerly cranky goth NYC teens who moved to VT during the pandemic and ultimately adopted Vermont as their home. With support and product donation from local businesses such as Vermont Flannel, Vermont Smoke and Cure and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, this production celebrates Vermont traditions, Vermont products and Vermont talent! Led from the piano by YOC Music Director Mary Jane Austin.

Youth Opera Company: A Country Store Opera

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 | 11:00 am (rebroadcast) | Run-time 3h10m

On March 27 (rebroadcast), two singers at the height of their powers—radiant soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim—come together as the star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct one of the repertoire’s most romantic scores.

Met Live in HD Presents: ROMEO ET JULIETTE

On March 9, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of ill-fated love, deadly vendettas, and family strife, with stellar soprano Lise Davidsen as the noble Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented—and thrilling—heroines.

Met Live in HD Presents: LA FORZA DEL DESTINO

On January 31 (rebroadcast), acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell brings a vital new production of one of opera’s most enduringly powerful works, reinvigorating the classic story with a staging that moves the action to the modern day and finds at the heart of the drama issues that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries.

Met Live in HD Presents: CARMEN

All 85 members of the choral program at Colchester High School perform this timeless 17th century opera by Henry Purcell. This second installment of Youth Opera’s Dido and Aeneas Project continues the mission of putting the students’ input front and center while crafting a totally unique production reflecting their distinctive understanding and perspective of the piece. Made possible by a generous grant from the Vermont Arts Council’s Artist in Schools program, this is a co-production of the Youth Opera Company of OCM and the Colchester High School Music Department. Music and stage direction by Melissa Towle and Sarah Cullins.

YOC's The Dido & Aeneas Project

On January 6, ancient Babylon comes to life in a classic Met staging of biblical proportions. Baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her thrilling turn as his vengeful daughter Abigaille.

Met Live in HD Presents: NABUCCO

A staged performance of Mozart opera selections in collaboration with the Vermont Youth Orchestra.

More information coming soon!

Mozart Scenes: Youth Opera Company + Vermont Youth Orchestra

Elley-Long Music Center

A staged performance of Mozart opera selections with piano.

More information coming soon!

Mozart Scenes: Youth Opera Company

Featuring opera scenes and songs from the Italian bel canto tradition, A Country Store Opera showcases the talents of 14 Vermont teen singers from 10 different schools. The original story, written by YOC founder Sarah Cullins, takes place in the local country store of the fictional town of Venice, Vermont. You will meet Addie, the young store owner, Nemo, the townie who is in love with her, Duke, the moonshine kombucha brewer, Bella, the shepherdess who sells fruits and flowers at the farmer’s market, Johnny and Janet, the siblings who work at the store, Alma, their widowed aunt, Mark and Joe, the high school seniors who just came back from a trip abroad to Italy, Tessa and Vicky, the high school girls who are fascinated by their tales of the “real” Venice, and finally, Kat and Tabby, two formerly cranky goth NYC teens who moved to VT during the pandemic and ultimately adopted Vermont as their home. With support and product donation from local businesses such as Vermont Flannel, Vermont Smoke and Cure and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, this production celebrates Vermont traditions, Vermont products and Vermont talent! Led from the piano by YOC Music Director Mary Jane Austin.


Stowe Community Church

Director Douglas Anderson reimagines this classic opera as a contemporary urban tale. Puccini's characters are young artists who have come to the big city to make a name for themselves.  "As we all learned in the 70s and 80s," says Anderson, "those ambitions are easily dashed." It's a timeless story of hope, struggle, romance and disappointment, all bathed in the most glorious music ever written. With a superb cast of professional singers from across the country and a full orchestra under the baton of Maestro Filippo Ciabatti. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

OCM Mainstage: LA BOHÈME

Hear the stars of tomorrow in the Opera Company of Middlebury’s Young Artists Program production of Puccini’s hilarious one-act Gianni Schicchi. Eastman Opera Theater’s Pat Diamond directs a cast of 10 up-and-coming professionals and five local talents in a uniquely staged production in Town Hall Theater’s new Doug & Debby Anderson Studio. Coached and conducted by Yale Opera faculty YAP Artistic Director Alejandro Roca, Young Artists also understudy principal roles in the mainstage production of La Bohème and appear in the ensemble. 

Opera Company of Middlebury

Apr 11, 2025

Mozart Scenes: Youth Opera Company + Vermont Youth Orchestra

Apr 12, 2025

Mozart Scenes: Youth Opera Company

Apr 13, 2025

Mozart Scenes: Youth Opera Company

May 15, 2025

Youth Opera Company: A Country Store Opera

Jun 6, 2025

OCM Mainstage: LA BOHÈME

Mar 25, 2025

A Conversation on Puccini Through Two of His Most Iconic Operas

Mar 9, 2025

Meet the Singers: Youth Opera’s Rising Stars

Articles & News

Opera Company of Middlebury