In 1996, Winter's first opera score, replacing
Arthur Sullivan's lost score to
Thespis, was given its world premiere by the
Ohio Light Opera, where Winter then became the composer-in-residence. His second score,
The Carp, replacing
Alfred Cellier's lost score, was requested in 1998 by The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive for its Web Opera series. It was orchestrated and performed by the Ohio Light Opera in 1999. From 1997 to 2004, Winter was Composer-in-Residence at the Ohio Light Opera, and oversaw productions of many of his opera translations, including
Boccaccio (von Suppé),
The Gypsy Baron (Strauss),
The Merry Widow (Lehàr) and
Die Fledermaus (Strauss). The OLO commissioned a number of critical editions of seldom performed
operettas, starting with
Victor Herbert's
Eileen (1997), utilizing Herbert's original manuscripts in the collection of the
Library of Congress. Similar reconstructions followed: Herbert's
The Red Mill (2001) and
Sweethearts (2002), and
Reginald De Koven's
Robin Hood (2004). These works were issued as CDs on the Newport and Albany labels. In 2009, Winter restored Victor Herbert's
The Magic Knight. He has performed similar services for various organizations, including the
Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization's new engraving of Hammerstein's
Carmen Jones. In later years, he sang with the Pendleton Men’s Chorus for whom he translated and arranged music, also arranging music for the
Oregon East Symphony. Winter died of cardiac arrest on October 8, 2019. ==References==