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 | Will stream live on October 8
Digital Preview: Postcard from Morocco | Will stream live on January 14
Digital Preview: Carmen | Will stream live on March 31
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.
The Opera Talk schedule and topics for 2026/27 will be posted in July 2026; read below for the topics from the 2025/26 season!
A Musical Diagnosis: Opera and Medicine
Watch on YouTube
In the stereotypical opera, the heroine dies of a tragic disease – one that does not prevent her from singing before she dies. Medicine figures into more than just operatic death scenes, though. Join Kathryn for a dive into medicine in opera: the patients, the doctors, the diseases, and the strange elixirs that don’t always work as intended.
Opera Takes a Holiday
Watch on YouTube
‘Tis the season! While opera companies typically don’t perform around the holidays – theaters are full of Nutcrackers and Christmas Carols – opera characters themselves celebrate the occasional holiday. Take a sleigh ride with Kathryn into pieces from La Bohème and Werther to Cavalleria Rusticana, Parsifal, Paul Bunyan, La Juive, Moses und Aron, Silent Night, and more.
The Art of Operatic Disguise
Watch on YouTube
Did you know that the addition of a mustache, cape, or half-mask renders you completely unrecognizable, particularly while you’re singing? Many opera plots turn on disguises, some more convincing than others. Join Kathryn for a peek into the closet of operatic disguises, from comedies like Così fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, and The Barber of Seville to more serious works like A Masked Ball, Fidelio, Rigoletto, and more.
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.
