About DMMO

"Such high production values and careful casting make DMMO a find" - The Wall Street Journal

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-20^th 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, Duke Kim, Ben Bliss, Sydney Mancasola, Leah Hawkins, Joshua Guerrero, Raven McMillon, Vanessa Vasquez, Jon Burton, Norman Garrett, Sun-Ly Pierce, Alexander Birch Elliott, Barnaby Rea, Vartan Gabrielian, Chad Shelton, Alex McKissick, Justin Ausitn, Brandon Cedel, Jonas Hacker and Edward Nelson. Upcoming debuts include Ryan McKinny, Hera Hyesang Park, Dorothea Herbert, Joélle Harvey and Sam Carl. Featured alongside these singers are esteemed, accomplished artists such as Joyce Castle, Gwen Jones, Ashraf Sewailam, 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 New Yorker, 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.”

INTIMACY
100% of the seats in our 467-seat theater are closer to the center of the stage than the front row at the Metropolitan Opera or the Lyric Opera of Chicago, so you are up close and personal with the powerful drama on stage.

DRAMA
The scale, combined with the focus on storytelling—all of Des Moines Metro Opera’s productions are sung in original language and feature English titles projected from two locations above the stage—helps to turn beautiful music into powerful drama.

DYNAMIC REPERTORY
Standard operatic masterpieces have consistently been presented alongside works from our own land and in our own language. Our new commitment to presenting at least one opera new to our company each season began in 2012 with Eugene Onegin, 2013's Elektra, 2014's Dead Man Walking and Le Comte Ory, 2015's Jenůfa, Three Decembers and La hija de Rappaccini, 2016's Orphée et Eurydice and Galileo Galilei, 2017's Billy Budd, A Little Night Music, María de Buenos Aires and Soldier Songs, 2018's As One, Rusalka, Flight and The Tender Land, 2019's Wozzeck, Glory Denied and Bon Appétit!, 2021's The Queen of Spades, Platée, and Fellow Travelers, 2022's Porgy and Bess and A Thousand Acres, 2023's Bluebeard's Castle, The Love for Three Oranges, dwb (driving while black) and The Falling and the Rising, and 2024's Pelléas et Mélisande and American Apollo.

OUTSTANDING ARTISTS
Central to Des Moines Metro Opera’s mission is to provide a stage for rapidly rising American-trained principal artists. DMMO principal artists frequently sing with many of the major opera companies around the world including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Minnesota Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Omaha, and several artists representatives.

Des Moines Metro Opera Stage Managers and Assistant Stage Managers are represented by The American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, the union that represents Artists in the fields of opera, ballet, modern dance and choral presentations.

BRINGING CULTURAL TOURISTS TO IOWA
We welcomed visitors and patrons from 5 countries and 40 states during the 2024 Season, and approximately 40% of our audiences came from outside the Des Moines Metro area. According to Opera America, Des Moines Metro Opera is second in the nation among summer opera festivals in the number of visitors attracted to performances from outside its home state.

REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION
Beyond our regular season, Des Moines Metro Opera reaches a year-round audience of nearly 26,000 young people and adults with such programs as the OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe, the Apprentice Artist Program.

A NATIONAL PROFILE
Our productions are covered and reviewed by national publications Opera News and Opera Today, and the company has been featured in the pages of The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune and The Kansas City Star in recent years.

FINANCIAL STABILITY
Des Moines Metro Opera can certainly claim artistic stature among leading American opera companies. The company’s endowment ratio is one of the highest in the opera field, thus ensuring longevity and demonstrating that a decision to invest in DMMO is a sound one.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE DES MOINES ECONOMY
Each year Des Moines Metro Opera increases the volume of scenery, props and other production items created from locally purchased materials. The company employs substantial numbers of artists and attracts contributors and ticket buyers who patronize Des Moines and Indianola-area shops, restaurants and hotels for the festival season. According to a 2022 economic impact study, Des Moines Metro Opera contributed more than $5 million in labor income and more than $12 million in local sales or output within Polk, Warren and Dallas counties.

AFFORDABLE PERFORMANCES
Tickets cost as little as $20, and the entire audience is invited to interact and socialize with artists following our performances in a meet-and-greet event that has become a hallmark of the company.

Our Repertory

Annual Report

Employment