Artistic Initiatives

Composer In Residence

The Opera Company of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group in New York, is proud to announce the nation’s first comprehensive, collaborative operatic Composer In Residence (CIR) program. Funded over five years by a $1.4 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the CIR program will provide a highly individualized professional development path for two of today’s most promising opera composers, selected on a competitive basis during 2011 and 2012. The goal of the CIR is to foster tomorrow’s American operatic masterpieces through personalized creative development and intensive, hands-on composition opportunities. Learn more

American Repertoire Program

The Opera Company of Philadelphia is committed to being a leader in the creation and life of new American opera, and the American Repertoire Program is OCP's intent to produce an American work as a part of each season for the next ten years. The first opera in the series is Dark Sisters in June 2012. A new opera with music by Nico Muhly and a libretto by Stephen Karam, Dark Sisters has been co-commissioned with New York's Gotham Chamber Opera and. Music-Theatre Group. Subsequent works may be performed at either the Academy of Music or as part of the Aurora Series for Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater. The Opera Company will continue to research composers and librettists that fit with OCP's repertoire, commissioning, and casting goals.

For more information on the American Repertoire Program, contact us.

If you are interested in supporting the American Repertoire Program with a gift, please contact us here.

Chamber Opera Symposium

The Opera Company of Philadelphia is grateful to the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative for providing funding for the first annual Chamber Opera Symposium (COS) in June 2011. This three-day, by-invitation conference will bring together leading producers and commissioners of chamber opera from the U.S., Canada and Europe for an in-depth, facilitated discussion of the future of this unique, intimately-scaled genre. This year's Chamber Opera Symposium is scheduled to coincide with the Opera Company of Philadelphia's Aurora Series at the Perelman production of Phaedra, which marks the U.S. Premiere of this work by renowned German composer Hans Werner Henze. The 2012 COS will convene around the premiere of Nico Muhly's Dark Sisters, a new co-commission with New York's Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group. Questions about the Chamber Opera Symposium? Contact us

OCP Production Center

Established in the 1993-94 season with the construction of The Magic Flute, the talented artists and craftsmen at OCP’s Production Center have built over 36 original, full-scale productions, including scenery and costumes which have subsequently been rented by prominent opera companies and conservatories all over the United States and Canada. Interested in renting a set for your upcoming opera? Learn more or contact us.