Previews and Talks
Every season, Madison Opera supplements its performances with innovative ways to explore the breadth of the art form.
Want to learn about an upcoming production? Try one or more of four FREE options:
1. Attend a one-hour Community Preview, featuring a performance by a Studio Artist.
2. Watch the one-hour Digital Preview, which streams live and then remains available on YouTube to watch whenever it suits you. (The Digital Preview features photos of cast members’ pets!)
3. Attend Opera Up Close, a two-hour preview event that features a roundtable with the artists and creative team from the upcoming opera.
4. Attend a half-hour Pre-Opera Talk, taking place inside the Overture Center, one hour before curtain.
Want to take a thematic dive into centuries of opera, its composers, and its artists?
Watch Opera Talk with Kathryn Smith, a series of online talks exploring new topics each season.
Read below to find out dates, times, topics, and more.
Community Previews
Join Madison Opera for free previews of our operas at local retirement communities! Madison Opera staff will offer a multimedia look at each opera’s composer, history, and our upcoming production, including a performance by a Studio Artist. All previews are FREE and open to the general public.
Norma previews
September 29 at 7pm | Oakwood Village (West)
September 30 at 7pm | Capitol Lakes
Postcard from Morocco previews
January 6 at 7pm | Capitol Lakes
January 12 at 7pm | Oakwood Village (West)
Carmen previews
March 23 at 7pm | Oakwood Village (West)
March 24 at 7pm | Capitol Lakes
Digital Previews
Have tickets to a performance? Thinking of buying some? Join General Director Kathryn Smith for a multimedia preview of each show, with an entertaining look at its composer, history, and music, as well as information on Madison Opera’s production.
Watch live for the chance to ask questions of Kathryn during the preview; the previews will then remain online for you to watch whenever you wish.
Digital Preview: Norma | Streams live, October 8 at 7pm CDT
Digital Preview: Postcard from Morocco | Streams live, January 14 at 7pm CST
Digital Preview: Carmen | Streams live, March 31 at 7pm CDT
Opera Up Close
Come to the Madison Opera Center for a series of entertaining and informative behind-the-scenes previews of each opera. General Director Kathryn Smith leads a multimedia exploration of the history of each opera, followed by a roundtable discussion with the production’s leading artists and creative team.
Opera Up Close is held at the Margaret C. Winston Madison Opera Center, 335 W. Mifflin Street.
Admission is FREE.
Norma Up Close
Sunday, October 25, 1-3 pm
Postcard from Morocco Up Close
Sunday, January 31, 1-3 pm
Carmen Up Close
Sunday, April 18, 1-3 pm
Opera Talk with Kathryn Smith
Opera contains so much more than what happens on stage in one production. In these hour-long lectures, General Director Kathryn Smith takes a dive into centuries of history, thematic connections, and stories, illustrated with slides, video, dry humor, and cute animals.
Priestesses and Goddesses | Streams live, September 17, 7pm CDT
Whether worshipped or leading the worship, opera heroines are often deservedly placed on a pedestal. Join Kathryn in the divine realm of operas such as Norma, La Calisto, Iphigénie en Tauride, Les Troyens, Das Rheingold, The Pearl Fishers, and beyond, with a side journey to look at some of the divas most famous for these roles.
One and Done | Streams live, December 10, 7pm CST
Operas come and opera go…. Quite a lot of operas “go,” as it happens. In the first half of the 20th century, the Metropolitan Opera presented a number of operas for a mere handful of performances. Some had longer lives elsewhere; some disappeared from the repertoire altogether. Take a dive with Kathryn into titles such as Mona Lisa, Saint Elisabeth, La Fille de Madame Angot, Cyrano, Madeline, Anima Allegra, Manru, Cleopatra’s Night, and much more.
…And Other Duties as Assigned | Streams live, March 11, 7pm CDT
An opera singer’s job description may, on its surface, seem reasonably straight-forward: to sing and act brilliantly. But just like any job, certain roles call for other skills: sword fighting, castanet playing, horse riding, juggling, tap-dancing, and maybe a bit of light trapeze work. Join Kathryn for a look at some of the more famous (and infamous) job duties that opera roles have required over the past centuries.
All Opera Talks will stream via YouTube. Watch live for the chance to ask questions of Kathryn during the talk; the talks themselves will remain online for you to watch when it suits you.
Looking for more? Check out the archive of previous Opera Talks here.
Studio Artist Recitals
Join Madison Opera’s Studio Artists for hour-long recitals of arias and ensembles from opera, art song, and more. Recitals are FREE and open to the public.
December 1 at 7pm | Oakwood Village (West)
December 2 at 7pm | Capitol Lakes
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March 7 at 3pm | Capitol Lakes
March 9 at 7pm | Oakwood Village (West)
Opera Postcards from Madison
Like love notes to our hometown, our Opera Postcards pair performers and places to bring you soaring music, a little bit of drama, and a lot of smiles. Watch below as we take you to the Children’s Museum, Central Library, Chazen Museum of Art, Olin Park, and the Overture Center for the Arts.
