Cleveland Opera

Opera Cleveland is Cleveland, Ohio's professional opera company, formed in 2006 following a merger between two existing opera companies: the New Cleveland Opera Company (dba Cleveland Opera, which operated from 1976 to 2006), and the area's other professional opera company, Lyric Opera Cleveland. Cleveland Opera was incorporated by David Bamberger, Carola Bamberger, and John D. Heavenrich in March 1976 and presented its first season in October and November of that year with sold-out productions of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Rossini's The Barber of Seville. By 1984, it had become the resident opera company at Playhouse Square Center, with performances at the State Theater. The company played an integral part in the revitalization of...