In 1976,
Leigh Gerdine, Laurance L. Browning Jr. and James Van Sant co-founded OTSL. They hired
Richard Gaddes, who at the time was working at The
Santa Fe Opera, as the company's first artistic director. They signed him as full-time general director in 1978 at the suggestion of Ed Korn, who was brought in as a consultant from the
Metropolitan Opera. Gaddes acknowledged that the model for OTSL was The
Santa Fe Opera: That was not a coincidence. I always say that John Crosby sired the Opera Theater of St. Louis. The whole concept was modeled on Santa Fe, and part of the idea was that the apprentices here would feed into St. Louis. Which they did. The first season in 1976 presented eleven performances of
Britten's
Albert Herring,
Mozart's
The Impresario,
Menotti's
The Medium, and
Donizetti's
Don Pasquale. This mixture of some standard works, and some new and unconventional operas, was to continue in future seasons and characterize the company's approach. This was achieved on a budget of $135,000. The young singers included
Sheri Greenawald and
Vinson Cole. During the early seasons, the company had a major influence with such achievements as first joint
BBC/
WNET telecast of
Albert Herring and in 1983 the first appearance by any U.S.
opera company at the
Edinburgh International Festival. The first production of a Japanese opera in
Japan by any American company was followed by a return to
Tokyo in September 2001 to present the Japanese premiere of the classic
Genji Monogatari, adapted as an opera by
Minoru Miki as
The Tale of Genji. Well-known directors
Graham Vick,
Jonathan Miller, and
Mark Lamos have made U.S. operatic debuts with OTSL, as did
conductors
Leonard Slatkin and
Christopher Hogwood.
Colin Graham served as OTSL's director of productions from 1978 until 1985.
John Nelson was OTSL's music director from 1985 to 1988, and principal conductor from 1988 to 1991. Other notable U.S. singers, including
Christine Brewer,
Susan Graham,
Denyce Graves,
Dwayne Croft,
Thomas Hampson,
Jerry Hadley,
Patricia Racette,
Sylvia McNair, and
Stephanie Blythe have made appearances in St. Louis productions. As of their 2025 Festival Season, OTSL has presented 45 world premieres, including: •
Stephen Paulus:
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1982) • Cary John Franklin:
The Loss of Eden (2002) •
David Carlson:
Anna Karenina (2007; libretto by
Colin Graham) •
Terence Blanchard:
Champion (2013; libretto by
Michael Cristofer) •
Ricky Ian Gordon:
Twenty-Seven (2014; libretto by
Royce Vavrek) • Jack Perla:
Shalimar the Clown (2016; libretto by
Rajiv Joseph after Salman Rushdie's 2005 novel
of the same name) • Huang Ruo:
An American Soldier (2018; libretto by
David Henry Hwang) •
Terence Blanchard:
Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2019; libretto by
Kasi Lemmons) •
Tobias Picker:
Awakenings (2022; libretto by
Aryeh Lev Stollman)
Champion,
Twenty-Seven, and
Shalimar the Clown were part of an OTSL series of commissioning new operas, under the "New Works, Bold Voices" initiative. In addition, OTSL has given at least 14 American premieres, including
Michael Berkeley's
Jane Eyre;
Benjamin Britten's
Paul Bunyan;
Rossini's
Il viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Reims); and
Judith Weir's
The Vanishing Bridegroom (under the title
Highland Wedding). The company trains young artists in the
Gerdine Young Artists program, named for Opera Theatre's founding board chairman, Leigh Gerdine. The Gerdine Young Artists serve as the annual chorus for the company, as the company does not retain a resident chorus. OTSL chorus directors have included Donald Palumbo, Cary John Franklin, Sandra Horst, and Robert Ainsley. In February 2020, OTSL announced the appointment of Walter Huff as its next chorus director. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic however, Huff never formally took up the post. ==Administration==