Austin Lyric Opera

Description

Founded in 1986 as Austin's first professional opera company, Austin Lyric Opera has rapidly gown to become a major cultural asset for the city and the Central Texas region. Austin Lyric Opera offers operatic productions fusing the performances of major international artists with the best rising American talent in a commitment to produce opera of national stature. Austin Lyric Opera has over 8,000 season subscribers and plays to a main stage audience of almost 40,000 in dominantly sold-out performances. Austin Lyric Opera has developed a consistently strong ratio of earned to unearned income in the 50% range. The company maintains its own 65-member orchestra and its 60-member chorus is the heart of the company. In 1996, the Board of Trustees approved a plan to open a community music school in a facility which would also house a large scale rehearsal hall and administrative offices. In April of 2000, upon completion of a $4 million capital campaign, this dream was realized when the Opera moved into its new Opera Center and opened the Armstrong Community Music School.