Chautauqua Opera

Generally opera productions are performed in English in Norton Memorial Hall, usually on specific Monday and Friday evenings throughout the season.

The first production director of the company was Alfredo Valenti, who began Chautauqua's rich opera tradition with Flotow's "Martha" on July 19, 1929.

Valenti, who served as director for twenty-eight years, championed young American singers such as Rose Bampton, who performed that season and in 1930 and who, like many other stars at Norton Hall (such as Charles Kullman and Helen Jepson) went on to fame at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere.

This indicates a significant contraction of opera productions, which require substantial resources to rehearse and put on, and also suggests that Norton Hall is becoming less of the home for opera at Chautauqua; this pattern was repeated in 2015, with Verdi's Macbeth performed at the Amphitheater, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin performed at Norton Hall.

Members of the Young Artists program present recitals on Thursday afternoons at the Institution's Hall of Christ, as well as two concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and two revue performances during the summer season.