MasterVoices has a long history of performing operatic repertoire. In 1998, Robert Bass (Music Director from 1980-2008) instituted the Opera-in-Concert series, beginning with Verdi’s Nabucco. This series continues to this day and has featured many world-class artists including: Deborah Voigt, Eric Owens, Salvatore Licitra, Dolora Zajick, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Angela Meade, and Nathan Gunn. Here is a sampling of these works:
1942: Boris Godunov, Modest Mussorgsky
1982: Montezuma, Roger Sessions**
1984: Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin
1984: Dmitri, Anton Dvořák*
1985: Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven
1987: La fiamma, Ottorino Respighi**
1989: Friedenstag, Richard Strauss**
1997: Fierrabras, Franz Schubert**
1998: Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi
1999: Giovanna d’Arco, Giuseppe Verdi
2000: La Gioconda, Amilcare Ponchielli
2001: Macbeth, Giuseppe Verdi
2002: Oberon, Carl Maria von Weber
2003: La forza del destino, Giuseppe Verdi
2004: Un ballo in maschera, Giuseppe Verdi
2005: Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven
2006: Le Villi and Act III of Turandot with ending by Luciano Berio**, Giacomo Puccini
2007: The Maid of Orleans, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
2008: Jupiter in Argos, George Frideric Handel *
2009: Alceste, Christoph Gluck
2010: The Grapes of Wrath, Ricky Ian Gordon**
2011: Moïse et Pharaon, Gioachino Rossini
2012: Beatrice di Tenda, Vincenzo Bellini
2013: Mefistofele, Arrigo Boito
2016: Dido and Aeneas, Henry Purcell
2016: 27, Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek**
2018: Orphic Moments, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice/ Matthew Aucoin’s The Orphic Moment
2022: Carmen, Georges Bizet, translation by Sheldon Harnick
*– U.S. Premiere
**– N.Y. Premiere