Manitoba Opera was founded in 1969 and incorporated in 1970, with its first production being a concert version of
Giuseppe Verdi's
Il Trovatore in 1972. The Opera's first fully-staged production was in March 1973 with
Madama Butterfly. From the 1970s through 1998, the Opera led by the artistic direction of
Irving Guttman, known as the "father of opera in Western Canada." In November 2007, the company staged its first full-length original production,
Transit of Venus, composed by
Victor Davies, with a libretto by
Maureen Hunter, based on her stage play of the same name. Tyrone Paterson had been Music Advisor and Principal Conductor since 2004. == Alumni ==