Over 38 seasons, the company has produced over 150 operas by 85 composers, 20 of them world premieres. Particular premiere highlights include Michael Dellaira’s Secret Agent (2011; Kaye Playhouse in New York, Armel Festival in Szeged, and Opéra Théâtre d’Avignon), Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre (2016; Kay Playhouse, CD released by Naxos in 2017) and the US premiere of Louis Andriessen’s Anaïs Nin/Odysseus’ Women (2016; National Sawdust in Brooklyn). Although we are the nation’s oldest opera company devoted to contemporary opera, CCO is very much a work in progress. Francesca Campagna, CCO’s General Director since 2019, has been working to expand the company’s footprint in New York, to form partnerships with like-minded institutions, and to identify gifted composers with distinct voices. Campagna is positioning the company to find new audiences and new ways of presenting opera, and to continue to develop works that challenge our audiences. As CCO prepares to enter its fourth decade, we embrace the vital subjects of the day, from social justice to issues of climate and sustainability.
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