Opera Birmingham

Opera Birmingham, the only professional opera company in Northern and Central Alabama, has entertained audiences for 60 years. From its humble beginnings in 1955 to the current Diamond Anniversary Season, Opera Birmingham has produced world-class operatic productions and concerts that have been hailed by critics and loved by audiences.
Founded as the Birmingham Civic Opera, under the leadership of Martha Dick McClung, director of Opera Theater at Birmingham-Southern College, the company’s first production was Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly followed the next year. Since then, the Opera has produced over 50 different operas, and has brought hundreds of the best operatic performers from all over the world to Birmingham’s artistic doorstep.

After merging with Southern Regional Opera in 1986, the company became Birmingham Opera Theater for its 1987 season, and finally Opera Birmingham in 1996. The current General Director, Keith A. Wolfe, leads the Opera into its fifth sixth decade.