Washington National Opera
Together, the two set out to seek funding and they found support from Gregory and Peggy Smith who provided $10,000 as seed money for a production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail which would be performed following the end of their summer season (which Calloway conducted) by the Washington Symphony Orchestra.
[2] The pair set out to seek a new public and, beginning with the first production of Die Entführung on 31 January 1957, the company presented opera in George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium, albeit a small venue with limited facilities.
[4] Four months later, the Society staged a double bill of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Old Maid and the Thief along with his ballet The Unicorn, The Gorgon, and the Manticore.
Successful presentations followed from November 1957 onwards: Fidelio; Ariadne auf Naxos; Idomeneo; a double bill of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Stravinsky's Le Rossignol (conducted by the composer); and a December 1961 The Magic Flute which resulted in an invitation from President John F. Kennedy at the White House for some excerpts from the opera.
By 1972 Ian Strasfogel, with considerable experience from working at the Metropolitan Opera, took over the helm with the aim of giving it a "businesslike foundation"[9] "it never had in its sixteen years, in spite of the excellent productions it has often achieved".
[10] One early success was a production of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the composer's widow, Lotte Lenya, in attendance.
[9] Other significant productions followed, but, in summing up Strasfogel's success, author Mary Jane Phillips-Matz concludes that "his main achievement, though, was his artistic oversight, for by the mid-1970s critics were regularly covering the Opera Society's extraordinary programming and grants were coming in from important foundations.
This was to have a profound impact on the company, especially since George London, after retirement from the stage, became Artistic Administrator at the Kennedy Center until its 1971 opening and then Executive Director of the Nation Opera Institute.
As described by Phillips-Matz, "at this point in the company's history, the programming was smart, varied, and exciting"[11] but progress was suddenly brought to a halt by the July 1977 heart attack suffered by George London.
"[11] Martin Feinstein succeeded London as General Director from 1980 to 1995 and "spent the next 16 years luring artists of the stature of Gian Carlo Menotti (who directed La Boheme), Daniel Barenboim (who conducted Così fan tutte) and Plácido Domingo (who debuted in Washington in 1986 with Menotti's Goya "[12] Feinstein brought in many young singers long before their first appearances at the Metropolitan Opera.
[13] This expansion took place during the period of Feinstein's tenure when he greatly increased the number of performances per season, which had a phenomenal effect on ticket sales (the audience reportedly grew from 32,000 to more than 100,000).
During the 2007/08 season, WNO produced three rarely staged operas: William Bolcom's A View from the Bridge, G.F. Handel's Tamerlano, and Richard Strauss' Elektra.
The American Opera Initiative continues and has produced works such as Penny by Douglas Pew and Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli.
[18] Following the departure of Plácido Domingo as General Director at the end of the 2010-2011 season, the Kennedy Center took control of the opera company effective on 1 July 2011.
