The company is resident at the Brown Theatre, as part of Kentucky Performing Arts.
Moritz von Bomhard founded the company in 1952 as the State Opera of Kentucky.
The company performed in the Columbia Auditorium until 1964, when they moved to the Macauley Theater (now called the Brown Theatre).
Thomson Smillie succeeded Bomhard as general director, and during his tenure, the company began to give some performances at Whitney Hall in 1984.
[1] Following interim leadership by William Blodgett, in 2016, Ian Derrer became the company's general director.