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“Des Moines Metro Opera has become one of the country’s most successful smaller companies doing adventurous repertory in a 467-seat space.” The New York Times

Des Moines Metro Opera has established itself as one of America’s leading summer opera festivals and one of the Midwest’s largest performing arts organizations. Each summer, the company presents three operas in repertory in the intimate 467-seat Pote Theatre at the Blank Performing Arts Center in Indianola. All productions are performed in their original languages with English supertitles.

Unique among American opera companies, DMMO presents a dynamic repertory spanning four centuries of music, pairing beloved classics with rarely performed masterpieces. The company’s artistic philosophy is rooted in discovery, creating conversations across eras, styles, and traditions while inviting audiences to experience familiar works in new ways.

Recent seasons have seen The Love for Three Oranges paired with Bluebeard’s Castle, Wozzeck with Candide, Salome with Pelléas & Mélisande, The Rake’s Progress with The Cunning Little Vixen and this season’s Of Mice and Men with King Roger. Nearly all festival productions are presented in new and original stagings created specifically for one of the world’s most remarkable and intimate performing spaces. The relationship between artists and audiences in the theatre creates an immediate and deeply human experience, demonstrating that opera remains a vibrant and creative art form.

Beyond the festival season, DMMO enriches the cultural life of the region through concerts, lectures, exhibitions, film screenings, and community partnerships. Through programs such as the Apprentice Artis Program, the Internship Program, and the OPERA Iowa tour, the company cultivates the next generation of performers, techicians, and audiences while providing a nationally recognized enivornment where emerging artists develop alongside established professionals.

Des Moines Metro Opera has earned a reputation that attracts audiences from across the United States and around the world. The company has been featured in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The Chicago Tribune. Following a performance of Pelléas & Mélisande, critic Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker that DMMO brought opera “as close to straight theatre as I’ve ever seen it.” The New York Times recently praised the company as “one of the country’s most successful smaller companies doing adventurous repertory in a 467-seat space,” while The Dallas Morning News called DMMO “the Midwest’s must-see summer opera festival.”

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

DRAMA 
The intimacy of the theatre places storytelling at the center of every performance. Productions are sung in their original languages with English supertitles displayed throughout the auditorium.

DYNAMIC REPERTORY 
DMMO is nationally recognized for adventurous programming that balances operatic masterpieces with rarely performed works. Since 2012, the company has presented at least one opera new to its stage every season, introducing audiences to more than 30 works ranging from Eugene Onegin and Jenůfa to Flight, As One, Pelléas & Mélisande, The Cunning Little Vixen, and King Roger.

OUTSTANDING ARTISTS 
At the heart of Des Moines Metro Opera’s mission is a commitment to nurturing exceptional artists. The company serves as a creative home for singers, conductors, directors, designers, technicians, administrators, and arts professionals at pivotal stages of their careers. DMMO alumni can be found throughout the performing arts world, contributing to many of the industry’s leading organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Garsington Opera. Through its collaborative and artist-centered environment, DMMO continues to help shape the future of the operatic field.

BRINGING CULTURAL TOURISTS TO IOWA 
During the 2025 Festival Season, DMMO welcomed patrons from 42 states and six countries, with approximately 40% of audiences traveling from outside the Des Moines metropolitan area. According to Opera America, DMMO ranks among the nation’s leading summer opera festivals in attracting out-of-state visitors.

REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION 
Through OPERA Iowa and other education and community engagement initiatives, DMMO reaches nearly 25,000 young people and adults annually across the state.

FINANCIAL STABILITY 
Des Moines Metro Opera can 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, costumes, 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.