The $2.5 million investment will support Opera Philadelphia’s artistic planning and development, the creation of a new guest services center to better engage and build relationships with contemporary consumers, increased national marketing, and the festival launch in 2017.

“For much of the past decade, Opera Philadelphia has worked tirelessly to weave the art form into the civic fabric of Philadelphia’s public spaces,” said Opera Philadelphia Board Chairman Daniel K. Meyer, M.D. “From pop-up Random Acts of Culture, to the annual Opera on the Mall broadcast at Independence National Historical Park, to bold, collaborative, and site-specific works like Svadba-Wedding and ANDY: A Popera, the innovative programs presented by Opera Philadelphia have always had key support from Knight Foundation. They have been a vital partner in bringing opera to new audiences and stages year after year, and we are thrilled about this major investment in the future of opera in Philadelphia.”

The inaugural festival, O17, takes place from Sept. 14-25, 2017, when Opera Philadelphia and its collaborators will offer more than 25 performances at multiple venues across Philadelphia. Elizabeth Cree, a chamber opera by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, receives its World Premiere in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. Underscoring the company’s commitment to programming works relevant to its multicultural community, Opera Philadelphia also presents the World Premiere of We Shall Not Be Moved; developed by composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph from the company’s Hip H’opera program in local inner-city schools, the new opera will be directed by the legendary Bill T. Jones in the Wilma Theater. A site-specific double bill pairs Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Monteverdi’s tale of two warriors – one Christian, one Muslim – with I Have No Stories To Tell You, written in response to Monteverdi’s work, by Lembit Beecher and librettist Hannah Moscovitch. The two operas will be presented together as War Stories in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exclusive East Coast appearance of Barrie Kosky’s renowned production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute will be mounted in the Academy of Music, with a free HD video broadcast at Independence National Historical Park in Opera Philadelphia’s celebrated Opera on the Mall series. As the inaugural Festival Artist, superstar soprano Sondra Radvanovsky will give a solo recital in the Perelman Theater and conduct a Master Class with emerging artists. Opera Philadelphia is also commissioning a short performance piece to interact with the world-class collection of the Barnes Foundation, where the work will receive its World Premiere.

The October 2015 announcement was met with positive feedback from both opera lovers and the media. The New York Times said Opera Philadelphia would “add more performances in a way better tailored to opera fans.” The Philadelphia Inquirer called festival O “a bold move aimed at making Philadelphia a compelling stop on the opera-lover circuit.” The Washington Post reported, “Opera Philadelphia has been working on becoming the very model of a modern opera company.”