Santa Barbara Opera Association

See schedule oas the only presenter of professional Opera serving Santa Barbara county, our company's diverse repertoire includes popular Opera favorites, lesser known operas, contemporary american works and a world premiere (stephen schwartz's seance on a wet afternoon) featuring regional and nationally-recognized artists. Opera Santa Barbara's expanded 22-23 season included one grand Opera classic and four Santa Barbara premieres and: puccini's tosca (october-granada theatre); rossini's la scala di seta (november-lobero theatre); perla's an american dream (february-lobero theatre), the light in the piazza (march-center stage theatre), and wagner's the valkyrie (april-lobero theatre)(june-granada). More than 4000 attended these productions.

See schedule ochrisman studio artists program. Opera Santa Barbara develops the next generation of Opera singers, educators, and administrators by providing mainstage performance opportunities, master classes and administrative internships to emerging professionals. Now in its 15th year, this competitive program was expanded from 3 to 12 artists with a new geographic focus on california-based artists. In addition to receiving personalized voice lessons and theatrical training, our studio artists performed roles in all of the company's mainstage productions this season in addition to holding lead roles in our Santa Barbara premiere of adam guettel and craig lucas' award winning musical the light in the piazza. The chrisman studio artists also headlined our first thursday community performances, and presented a special performance of an abbreviated version of gilbert and sullivan's the pirates of penzance on board the tall ship "mystic whaler" as part of the celebrations of the 150 years of the stearns wharf at the Santa Barbara waterfront.

See schedule oeducation & outreach: thanks to a generous grant from the robert and mercedes eichholz foundation, Opera Santa Barbara was able to offer free student matinee performances for two of our mainstage operas: rossini's la scala di seta and perla's an american dream. Over 1000 students attended these. These performances were identical to the public performances of the operas, full length, with orchestra and all scenic elements. Each was followed by a q&a session with the cast and creative team.