Welcome to DMMO
Des Moines Metro Opera has taken its place as a major American summer opera festival and is one of the Midwest’s largest performing arts organizations, annually producing over 100 performances in the metro area and around the region. The company’s summer festival season runs from May through July of each year during which three operas are performed in repertory. The summer festival season takes place in the intimate 467-seat Pote Theater at the Blank Center for the Performing Arts in Indianola, Iowa. All productions, regardless of language, are performed with English supertitles above the stage.
Unique among local arts organizations and national opera companies, the company’s programming encompasses a distinctive mix of styles from five centuries of composition, with a special emphasis on fascinating combinations of early and mid-20th century masterpieces infrequently heard in the United States. Recent seasons have seen Elektra with Peter Grimes; The Love For Three Oranges with Bluebeard’s Castle; Wozzeck with Candide; and Salome with Pelléas et Mélisande as well as next season’s The Rake’s Progress with The Cunning Little Vixen. Seasons generally open with a standard from the operatic or American musical theatre canons and nearly all productions of the festival are presented in new and original productions in one of the world’s most remarkable and intimate performing theatres. We demonstrate that opera is a contemporary and creative art form.
A special priority is given to thoughtful casting, important role debuts and showcase opportunities for some of the opera world's most important rising talent. Recent seasons have featured John Holiday, Christian Van Horn, Sara Gartland, Ben Bliss, Sydney Mancasola, Joshua Guerrero, Raven McMillon, Vanessa Vasquez, Jon Burton, Sun-Ly Pierce, Alexander Birch Elliott and Barnaby Rea. Current debuts include Duke Kim, Vartan Gabrielian, Chad Shelton, Alex McKissick, Justin Ausitn, Brandon Cedel and Edward Nelson. Featured alongside these singers are esteemed, accomplished artists such as Joyce Castle, Gwen Jones, Ashraf Selwailam, William Burden, Mary Dunleavy and Simon Estes as well as members of the company’s acclaimed Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Artist Program in comprimario roles. Together, DMMO creates a spectacular array of professional talent assembled from across the world.
DMMO enlarges experiences through curated series of concerts, lectures, art shows, film screenings and unique performance collaborations such as those in our 2nd Stages Series. We cultivate the next generation of musicians and music lovers through programs like the Apprentice Artist and the OPERA Iowa Programs. The company has earned a reputation for quality and a loyalty that annually draws audience members from more than 40 states and every zip code in the metro. DMMO believes that an entirely professional theatrical organization should be a cornerstone of our growing region and we serve that need.
DMMO receives annual reviews from industry publications such as Opera with Opera News and Opera Today. The company has also been featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, the Kansas City Star, The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune, which said in 2017, “Shrewd programming, thoughtful casting and top flight production values have won the company wide acclaim. Those big-city opera snobs who would equate regional opera with provincial opera haven’t reckoned on DMMO.”
