Oklahoma Today Winter 1983-1984 Volume 34 ... - Digital Collections

ack when Oklahoma was known mostly for its
crude oil, cowboys and Western swing, a bunch of
highbrow Tulsans who'd rather sing along with
3Verdi than Bob Wills formed the Tulsa Opera Club. Opening
night, 1948, featured "La Traviata" staged in a high
school auditorium. a
The result was an enthusiastic hometown sell-out, but:a
admittedly oiltown opera, rather than grand. 9.
That was 35 years ago. Today, national critics and
season ticket holders, some of whom travel more than 500
miles for a performance, call it brmk.0.
Tulsa opera knows the score, producing the only fullscale
grand opera between Dallas and Chicago. As an opera
hub, its reputation is greater among buffs nationwide
than in Tulsa itself.
Still, standing-room audiences, I
posed primarily of Tulsans, have thrilled to
I the likes of Beverly Sills. And the diva, whc
sang two ~erformances of Bellini's "I Puritan?
as $ncipal artist with the local company,
returned the compliment. The Tulsa
production, she said, "could have gone anywhere
in the world."
Still, it's not so much superstar singers
but the frequently adventuresome bill of I
.
fare that's gained Tulsa national attention.
A full-blown Wagnerian opera is a rarity in America.
The Tulsa Opera accepted the challenge in 1980 with a
I
$230,000 production of "Die Walkuere," the first time
that a ~agnerian opera had been performed uncut on an I
Oklahoma stage. d 5
The marathon production ran from 7 p.m. to 11:30
p.m. And the ~os-An~eZes Times, which flew a reviewer in for I
the occasion, glowed: "Tulsa had mustered a perfor-
Left. i9e beautifulgeisha Cio-Cio Sun (Diana Sowiem) mourns the faithlessness ofher American husband, in a tragic moment from "Ma-
dama Butteffi'y. "Above. EdwardC. Purrington, Tulsa Opera'sgeneral director, addresses the tmupen before a performance.
Winter 27