Opera Omaha

Opera Omaha, the only professional opera company in Nebraska, began in 1958 as the Omaha Civic Opera Society, a volunteer association. With tremendous community support, it became a fully professional opera company by 1970. From the beginning, Opera Omaha was instilled with a spirit of adventure. In the Civic Opera Society’s first season (1958-1959) along with its premiere production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in the Joslyn Art Museum Concert Hall, additional performances followed: Puccini’s Tosca, held at Boys Town; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, at Ak-Sar-Ben; and Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at Technical High School.