It grew out of the Kent State Light Opera, which was founded by James Stuart, formerly of the American Savoyards.
Educationally, the company offers young, talented vocalists and instrumentalists the opportunity to perform in a professional setting.
It generally performs seven or eight different works in repertory in the course of a nine-week season that attracts approximately 22,000 patrons annually.
In addition to eight Gilbert and Sullivan recordings, it has recorded Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta, Eileen, Sweethearts and The Red Mill; English-language versions of Emmerich Kálmán’s Autumn Maneuvers, The Bayadere, The Violet of Montmartre, Countess Maritza and Der Zigeunerprimas; John Philip Sousa's El Capitan; and Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King and The Firefly, as well as lesser-known or rarely recorded works like Veronique, The Arcadians, De Koven's Robin Hood, Zeller's The Birdseller, Das Dreimäderlhaus, Romberg's Maytime, Breton's La Verbena de la Paloma, William Walton's Facade, English-language versions of Offenbach's The Brigands and Bluebeard, Jerome Kern's The Cabaret Girl and Strauss's A Night in Venice.
The forty-page booklet enclosed with the set includes a company history and reminiscences of performers heard on the recordings.