Nashville Opera Association


The Nashville Opera Association is a professional opera company in Nashville, Tennessee and is a member of OPERA America. The company currently offers four fully staged opera productions and an educational outreach program during an annual season which runs from October through April. Performances are offered at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Downtown Nashville and the Noah Liff Opera Center in the Sylvan Heights section of West Nashville. Designed by architect Earl Swensson, the Noah Liff Opera Center houses the company's executive offices, conference facilities, and a rehearsal studio.

History

The Nashville Opera Guild was chartered in 1981 under the direction of Mary Cortner Ragland. They produced their first opera, Madama Butterfly, in the same year. In 1987, the Nashville Opera Guild transferred its charter to the Nashville Opera Association. Two years later, they hired their first permanent director, Kyle Ridout, whose tenure lasted five years. In 1995, the former General Director Carol Penterman and current Artistic Director John Hoomes joined the Nashville Opera. The Nashville Opera merged with the Tennessee Opera Theater in 1997, increasing production from one or two to four operas per season. In April 2009 the Nashville Opera's new facility, the Noah Liff Opera Center, had its grand opening.
John Hoomes joined Nashville Opera in 1995 as the Artistic Director, and was named CEO and Artistic Director in 2012. As a freelance stage director, he has directed over 200 productions of opera and music theatre in the US, South America, and Canada.  The New York Times declared his Nashville Opera world premiere of Elmer Gantry “An Operatic Miracle...in Nashville.”  A June 2010 Opera News feature article acknowledged, “Hoomes has proved himself one of the most interesting stage directors in the regional market today with a seemingly limitless knowledge of repertoire.”
Since receiving his master's degree from Indiana University, he has worked for many professional opera companies including New York City Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Teatro Colón, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lake George Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera, The Florentine Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera New Jersey, The Opera Company of North Carolina, Pensacola Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Memphis, Arizona Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus, and Sarasota Opera.
Mr. Hoomes has directed a wide variety of opera productions including: Tosca, Andréa Chenier, La Bohème, Carmen, Die FLedermaus, Der Rosenkavalier, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, La Fanciulla del West, Salome, Don Giovanni, Ernani, Jenufa, Otello, Aïda, and Turandot.
In fall 2009 Mr. Hoomes directed the Tennessee premiere of The Fall of the House of Usher by composer Philip Glass, a state of the art, multi-media production which involved ground-breaking, immersion video techniques. This innovative production was critically acclaimed both by the Wall Street Journal and Opera News.
Mr. Hoomes staged the world premieres of Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, as well as a second new production of the same work for Florentine Opera, and the world premiere of songwriter Marcus Hummon's chamber opera, Surrender Road at Martha Rivers Ingram Hall in Nashville.
Hoomes also directed the “Southeastern professional premiere” of five contemporary pieces:  Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, David Lang's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Romulus Hunt by Carly Simon, Michael Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and an acclaimed production of Daniel Catán's opera Florencia en el Amazonas.  Mr. Hoomes later remounted Nashville Opera's production of Florencia en el Amazonas for the New York City Opera in the Rose Theatre at Lincoln Center.
In January 2017, he staged Nashville Opera's third world premiere, THREE WAY, by Robert Paterson and David Cote. Nashville Opera's world premiere production of Three Way was then remounted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June 2017 in collaboration with American Opera Projects.

World Premieres

1980-81
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
1986-87
1987-88
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1990-91
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1992-93
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1994-95
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1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
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2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17