When you think of opera, you may think of a concert hall with crystal chandeliers, an audience dressed to the nines and a performance made up of a huge cast, intricate storylines and massive set design. In an effort to break this connotation, OK City Opera is a non-profit opera company whose tagline is “traditional opera in non-traditional spaces,” bringing incredible opera performances to approachable venues for Oklahomans to enjoy.
Spearheaded by Artistic Director Danielle Herrington and Executive Director Alexandria Velders, OK City Opera was founded in 2017 as a local chapter of the non-profit Opera on Tap, which is based in New York. The goal was to bring opera to the people in unexpected locations, specifically bars and restaurants. During their years as Opera on Tap, Herrington and Velders produced the recurring 10-Minute Festival, featuring short operatic works. One piece from the 2019 festival was called No Justice, No Peace by composer Chris Prather. In 2021, following a year-and-a-half hiatus during COVID, Prather approached the company with his completed full-length opera of the same name. The world premiere of No Justice, No Peace was produced from the initial workshop to a full staged production in 2022. “That project was the catalyst for us to decide we were ready to step away from Opera on Tap and grow into our own entity,” Velders said. And so, this executive team applied for a 501c(3) last summer, and OK City Opera was born.
OK City Opera has partnered with OK Cider on Film Row, where members of the company perform monthly variety-style shows with song choices revolving around a specific theme. “Our shows are usually 90 minutes long, with an intermission. Showtime is 8 PM and tickets are just $15. OK Cider is family-friendly, so you can bring in food and have a drink and enjoy the show,” Velders said.
The roster is about 45 professional singers, who rotate based on the theme of the show. These musicians arrive prepared to sing their selected aria and ready to rehearse any ensemble numbers just two hours prior to the performance.
The first show of this season, Dueling Divas and Dazzling Duets, occurs Aug. 16 at OK Cider, which is a crowd favorite and one of its biggest fundraisers. “We will have four different duels that we plan throughout the night that is singer versus singer within a certain category. Each vocalist will sing an aria, then the audience will vote with their dollars on their favorite,” Velders explained.
“It is just a really fun way to get the audience excited about opera and also raise money for our small nonprofit,” Herrington elaborated. “The arts community typically focuses on outreach to children, but we think there should be outreach for adults, as well. These performances provide a space for adults to be immersed into opera in a way they have maybe never had the opportunity to be before. We create a visceral, vibratory experience that is so much more than just watching a performance on the internet.”
Other themes this year include Aria Grab Bag on Sept. 27, where the audience will draw song titles to determine the set list, a Halloween spectacular on Oct. 31 and All Fached Up, a gender bend on Nov. 21.
In addition to the monthly performances, OK City Opera also produces the two-day Micro Opera Festival each spring, which focuses on performing new works and commissioning local composers to write new short operas and musicals.
