Welcome

When we said Des Moines Metro Opera was up to big things, we meant it!

Year by year, production by production, we moved with purpose and strategy towards our milestone 50th anniversary occasion in 2022. We unveiled the new Lauridsen Opera Center in 2019 and delivered hope and light in the dark days of a global pandemic in our 2020 virtual season. We realized the urgency behind a return to safe, in-person performances in 2021 while honoring the passing of our founder Robert L. Larsen. And in 2022 we arrived at five “wow” projects for a 50th anniversary. Each were historic milestones for the company in their own right.

Now, following the successful completion of our 50NEXT endowment campaign, we can envision the next 50 years from a position of financial strength. Forward movement in changing times requires big dreams. We’ve certainly dreamt large. And you’ve dreamt with us! I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished together. I hope you are, too. I remain deeply grateful and humbled by the broad and generous support from so many loyal friends. Now we’re already looking forward to the next big projects.

In December I heard a libretto reading of the expanded version of American Apollo with text by Lila Palmer. Next Damien Geter will set her words to music. The Apollo project is putting wind in my sails these days, and I look forward to sharing it with you in 2024. Before then we have five productions to prepare for you in the 2023 season.

Bizet’s ever-popular masterpiece Carmen returns to our stage along with the company premieres of two fairy tales from the fringe: Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, featuring operatic superstar Christian Van Horn, in a new production led by director Kristine McIntyre and international visual image composer and Des Moines resident Oyoram, will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen; and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges has been tempting us for years. It’s an absurdist comedy with a wacky plot, some incredible music, sung in English, with an allstar cast and led by the team that brought you A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rusalka, Chas Rader-Shieber and Jacob A. Climer.

Our summer season features not one, but two, 2nd Stages Series productions. Our longawaited return to Camp Dodge in partnership with the Iowa National Guard for The Falling and the Rising to be featured in tandem with a powerful one-woman show entitled dwb (driving while black) presented in various community locales around Des Moines in partnership with the African American Museum of Iowa. Both are among the most powerful of the season.

Ticket sales for 2023 are already ahead of 2022 with several dates nearly sold out. Don’t wait any longer to get yours! I’m looking forward to seeing you this summer. We have an opportunity, a responsibility really, to make magic in a world that so desperately needs it. Thank you for playing a part in making magic happen.

Michael Egel

The Linda Koehn General and Artistic Director